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Thriller 40th Anniversary

My thoughts:

THE GOOD:
- the studio footage was for me the highlight of the doc. We never really see Michael in the studio creating or recording (aside from the childhood clip, and if you wanna count the footage they shot for Just Good Friends and IJCSLY); but we never see him create these songs and that was mind-blowing to see
- the Victory tour footage in HQ was fantastic, that goes without saying, it's use was great although I believe they could have given us more on the tour itself, and what effect it had afterwards but, oh well.
- the way we got to really feel the impact of the album was great as well, you really begin to understand the magnitude of the record, although I'm not certain it was ever mentioned the fact that it's sold over 100 million - which, you'd think they would
- giving Michael his credit for the songwriting and composing was awesome, I feel like that's been thrown aside in the grander scheme of his career, so it was nice to see them focus on his ingenuity as a composer
- also highlighting his genius vision for the album, and especially the Thriller video. All moments that vastly helped the viewer really understand how much of a visionary he was
- to keep going off that last point, you really leave the film with a greater respect for Michael as an artist that I didn't get from the Bad and OTW docs
- I wanted to listen to the album after watching this, they really make the hype around not only MJ himself, but his music

THE BAD:
- The scenes felt mashed together, and very out of order:
- the BTS and TikTok stuff shoulda been at the end to highlight the albums lasting impact. Also, IDK maybe mention all the mainstream artists that reference and pay tribute to MJ such as: Drake, the Weeknd, Bruno Mars, Beyonce, Rhianna, Kanye (hot topic I know), Jay-Z
- scenes felt like they were shuffled around, at one point we're talking about Billie Jean then we jump right back to WBSS,
- you can tell scenes were cut because; it was definitely a longer doc than what was released
- outside of the film footage for the thriller video/making of, victory tour, and the studio footage, just about EVERYTHING ELSE looked like it got downloaded off "youtube to mp4", I know for a fact there is a 4k scan of the pepsi commercial, theres a high quality tape of the Motown show, the ET tonight interview has been out in great quality for some time -- and they ALL got that AI upscale-cartoony look to them
- unpopular opinion: the lack of perspective from Quincy Jones kinda hampered it a little bit. I know they woulda had to ask for his permission to a) interview him (which he'd probably shoot down) or b) use archival footage (which he'd probably also shoot down) so I can't fault the director there but some more about what he did for the album might have been nice, regardless of how we feel about him now.
- it didn't go enough into the song production, as someone else said, the PYT demo being almost an entirely different song, Starlight to Thriller, talking about Billie Jean, or the other Paul McCartney tracks they did together; that would've been nice
- the hair-fire scene was really sad but they kinda moved on really fast; they made a passing mention but a little more on the event that started his drug addiction, which ultimately killed him would've been better, IMO
- the last 20 minutes felt rushed, like they had a time limit. This would have been great as a limited series with like 2-4 episodes:
1. his anger and determination after off the wall/ quick backstory/beginning production of the album
2. production of the album/ initial release/ beat it and billie jean films/motown 25
3. motown 25 aftermath/ thriller/ awards/ pepsi contract and incident
4. victory tour/ what happened after this era (what else he accomplished in his career)
- there should've been a passing mention of Thriller 25 in 2007, the song hitting top 10 in 2022
- Why weren't any Jackson family members interviewed? I feel like even if you want to use the "MJ wanted to separate himself from the Jacksons" narrative, that you should still interview them. They lived with him during his apex as an artist, surely one of them would have something interesting to say?

It sounds like I have a lot of complaints but I did enjoy it for the most part. It was created with the intent to capture Michael's visionary talent that nobody will ever be able to re-capture - it did just that, and I enjoyed it. However, some missing interviews, lack of discussion of "post-thriller success" and some washy editing bring it down a bit.
 
FMJP said:
- unpopular opinion: the lack of perspective from Quincy Jones kinda hampered it a little bit. I know they woulda had to ask for his permission to a) interview him (which he'd probably shoot down) or b) use archival footage (which he'd probably also shoot down) so I can't fault the director there but some more about what he did for the album might have been nice, regardless of how we feel about him now.
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I agree, but yet even the last time they interviewed Quincy, for Thriller 25, he was not very agreeable.
 
I only have seen a piece of it but I am shocked to see more footage of MJ (there is also the Donna Summer thing), this time in the studio with McCartney, wearing dark make-up: like doesn't anyone see the huge opportunity to let the public know once and for all that he first tried dark make-up before deciding to go for white.. aka proof that he didn't want to be white and it also was exactly like he said 'somewhere between OTW and Thriller'..?!
 
MJbr2 said:
Sonic Fantasy remains the most cohesive documentary on Thriller and Bad 25 is still the best official documentary. Thriller 40 is second, maybe.
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Unfortunately Sonic Fantasy doesn't have any of the music. It's gonna be way more sterile.
 
Victorious said:
I only have seen a piece of it but I am shocked to see more footage of MJ (there is also the Donna Summer thing), this time in the studio with McCartney, wearing dark make-up: like doesn't anyone see the huge opportunity to let the public know once and for all that he first tried dark make-up before deciding to go for white.. aka proof that he didn't want to be white and it also was exactly like he said 'somewhere between OTW and Thriller'..?!
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I definitely noticed this. It was really different. I need someone I can talk to about this. It's way too much typing to express these types of things
 
It was the documentary of the BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM OF ALL TIME. It was supposed to be big. It was a HUGE deal.

The documentary left me feeling that it was just an album that did pretty well and had some cool moments. Not the entire world revolution this was.
 
Rockin R said:
It was the documentary of the BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM OF ALL TIME. It was supposed to be big. It was a HUGE deal.

The documentary left me feeling that it was just an album that did pretty well and had some cool moments. Not the entire world revolution this was.
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I got that impression much more from the Bad Documentary. Which inadvertently, makes a lotta sense.
 
Its clear the emphasis was on the albums impact and influence. This doc isn't for us die hards. So with that in mind, I enjoyed it. The archival footage was the highlight for sure. Especially the victory tour footage. Its 2023. RELEASE IT. Not the best MJ doc, not the worst.

Bad 25 > T40 > OTW
 
I saw a newspaper clipping recently that claimed that a full-length video for “Beat It” (a la “Thriller”) was filmed and went unreleased. Having rewatched the “Beat It” segment, specifically the following unreleased scenes, I now firmly believe it, as I can’t imagine anywhere where clips this comparatively calm would go.

Which thus begins my new campaign:
#ReleaseTheMJCut

ibb.co

IMG-3781 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-3781 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-3782 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-3782 hosted in ImgBB
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AlwaysThere said:
I saw a newspaper clipping recently that claimed that a full-length video for “Beat It” (a la “Thriller”) was filmed and went unreleased. Having rewatched the “Beat It” segment, specifically the following unreleased scenes, I now firmly believe it, as I can’t imagine anywhere where clips this comparatively calm would go.

Which thus begins my new campaign:
#ReleaseTheMJCut

ibb.co

IMG-3781 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-3781 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-3782 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-3782 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
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A full length Beat It film ala Bad would actually be MJ's magnum opus.
 
I hope it will soon get a release in Denmark.

And hope I'll be able to buy it on Apple TV like BAD25 and OTW-doc.
 
GAgSpuWWcAAjoUs


https://twitter.com/x/status/1731380394879066580
 
NetflexKing said:
I see a few people complaining about TikTok and BTS , Polo G sections. I get where this anger comes from. But the reality is that this part is necessary to show the mainstream side of the modern media's approach to Michael, and imo I think it's good to actually have some gen Z artists/business people express their admiration for him.
Best for both worlds.
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Co-Sign
It would be even better if the estate got the whole BTS team on board to
champion Michael Jackson and Thriller.
Not only one track "Dynamite" channels Michael Jackson..., but quite a lot of the BTS's tracks and the
latest from one member JungKook " Standing Next to You" vibe's so very " Baby Be Mine "
We want Michael Jackson's legacy to live beyond generations and his appeal to transcend.
Kudos to Mary J. Blige, Mark Ronson, Usher, Polo G. and Brook Shields. The list can expand to include Offset and Cardi B. Justin Bieber, Beyonce
 
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I saw some people saying the Victory footage is sourced from 16mm and that's not entirely true. Patrick Kelly says it's a mixture of 16 and 35mm they were using, so I guess some angles were 16mm and others 35mm. For example, that front angle from afar is surely 35mm.
 
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