A new Michael Jackson biopic raises a familiar question… do audiences actually want the truth, or just a great show?
This week, my co-host Sarah Hanlon and I unpack the new film Michael and the growing trend of biopics that trade accuracy for spectacle. When a story as complex as Michael Jackson’s gets streamlined into a crowd-pleasing concert experience, what gets lost… and does it even matter?
They explore the art vs. artist debate, the power of nostalgia, and why some cultural icons remain untouchable—no matter how complicated their legacy becomes.
It’s a conversation about storytelling, memory, and the uncomfortable space where fact and entertainment collide.
I sit with host Deb Hutton on NewsTalk 1010 to talk about where people are getting their news, the first lady of “Heated Rivalry” fans, Bob Seger Bars and I review the musical biopic “Michael.”
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the biopic “Michael,” the grounded fairy tale “The Bearded Girl” and the action thriller “Fuze.”
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” to talk about the latest lawsuit regarding Amy Winehouse, why Sydney Sweeney was cut from “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and some other surprising stars who were excised from famous movies. Then, I review the new biopic “Michael” and suggest some cocktails top enjoy while watching the movie.
SYNOPSIS: Jaafar Jackson, son of Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson, and nephew to Michael Jackson, plays his King of Pop uncle in the flashy new biopic “Michael.”
CAST: Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Juliano Krue Valdi, Miles Teller, Colman Domingo. Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
REVIEW: Michael Jackson’s rise to fame and the accompanying tribulations are given a high gloss treatment in “Michael.” From the hardscrabble upbringing in Gary, Indiana and the Jackson 5 to a stratospheric solo career and the isolation of fame, it’s a Wikipedia page come to life and projected on the screen.
The front row seat to the life and (most of) the legacy of Michael Jackson (Juliano Krue Valdi as young Michael. Jaafar Jackson as adult Michael) begins with the well documented rise of the Jackson 5 and the physical and emotional abuse at the hand of Michael’s controlling father Joe (Colman Domingo). “Let me tell you something,” says Joe. “In this life, you’re either a winner or you’re a loser.”
The road to stardom begins when Motown founder Barry Gordy (Larenz Tate) signs the band and helps launch the Jackson 5 to national stardom.
From Joseph and Katherine Jackson’s (Nia Long) humble living room to MTV and the world’s biggest stages, Jackson grows up in public, personally and professionally, amid a swirl of triumphs and personal struggles.
Before you ask, yes, Bubbles makes an appearance in “Michael.” He’s a CGI version of the chimp once kept by Michael Jackson as a pet, but he feels about as real as anything else in this crowd-pleasingly tuneful but sanitized and safe biopic.
The story of triumph over adversity, of genius and creative vision, begins in a dark place. Joseph Jackson, father and manager of Michael Jackson and The Jacksons, played with malignant vigor by Colman Domingo, puts his five sons through their paces with the intensity of a Marine drill sergeant. These early, ugly scenes of abuse hit hard as young Michael is driven to perfection at the end of his father’s belt.
But what begins as a hard-hitting biography soon settles into a more familiar greatest hits style movie propped up by Jackson’s prodigious back catalogue of music. Director Antoine Fuqua, working from a clichéd script by John Logan, settles into authorized biography rhythm, highlighting Jackson’s many successes without ever going deep.
In the film’s final half hour, Fuqua decides to give up on the story completely. “Michael,” much to the delight of the audience I saw thew film with, shifts from biopic to concert film with several show-stopping performances from Jaafar Jackson.
Jackson, who spent two years training for the role, nails his paternal uncle’s physicality, especially in the elaborate musical numbers, like the dramatization of the making of the “Thriller” video, and concert scenes.
A replication of the electrifying debut of M.J.’s moonwalk on the “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever” special is almost as exciting as it was when Michael did it in 1983. It’s a blast of loud and proud nostalgia that plays really well in IMAX, as do most of the musical performances.
What’s missing is insight. It’s all uplift as Michael, robbed of his childhood, finds his way through the world, shedding the influence of his father in favor of charting his own course to superstardom.
As with other authorized music biographies like “Elvis” or “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the story’s rough edges are mostly shaved away. The thorny issue of the 1993 sexual assault allegation was addressed in the film’s original cut but had to be scrapped due to a legal agreement with the accuser’s family. According to the Wall Street Journal, a sequel is already in the works for 2027 or 2028 that will address those allegations.
Jackson was a complicated figure, but the movie isn’t interested in exploring those complications in a meaningful way.
We see close-ups of his favorite book, a children’s picture book of “Peter Pan.” We learn of his admiration for Charlie Chaplin but virtually nothing about his relationship with his brothers, who are treated like extras in the story, the evolution of his signature fashion style or the inspiration for his songs, save for “Thriller,” which seems to have been initiated by Vincent Price’s “House of Wax.” Janet Jackson fans may also be left wondering why there is no mention of her.
“Michael” is beyond lightweight. It’s a “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” style music bio, except for when it is in motion; singing and dancing. As a biography, it’s a pretty good concert film. The musical numbers are terrific, nicely performed by Jaafar Jackson, whose mimicry of his uncle’s signature moves is spot on. These sequences are head-turners and should please fans looking for a blast of in-your-face nostalgia.
Michael Jackson is one of the biggest selling performers of all time, and one of the most documented, so perhaps there aren’t any revelations to be had seventeen years after his death. But it is a shame that the adventurous spirit that characterized the superstar’s best work is missing from the film.
The new rom com “You People,” starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy and Lauren London and now streaming on Netflix, has the frank social commentary of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” mixed with “Meet the Parents” family dynamics.
Directed and co-written (with Hill) by “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, “You People” begins as unhappy, socially awkward thirty-something Ezra (Hill) wonders if he’ll ever find a woman who understands him. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a man who ever wanted to be in a relationship so badly,” says Ezra’s best friend Mo (Sam Jay), “besides Drake.”
The part-time podcaster and full-time office worker’s pampering mother Shelley (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) wants him to settle down, but there are no prospects in sight until he mistakenly jumps into fashion stylist Amira’s (London) car, mistaking it for an Uber.
It isn’t exactly love-at-first sight—“You’re a Jew from West L.A.,” she says. “What do you know about culture?”—but over time love blossoms.
“You’re dating a Black girl?” asks Mo. “I have never felt so understood by somebody in my entire life,” he replies.
It’s all sunshine and roses with Ezra and Amira, but this is a romantic comedy, so there have to be obstacles to their happiness. That friction comes in the form of the couple’s parents.
Ezra’s folks, Shelley and Arnold (David Duchovny) are rich, progressive and cringey in their attempts to prove to Amira that there isn’t a hint of racism in the family.
Amira’s parents, the devoted Nation of Islam Muslim followers Akbar (Eddie Murphy) and Fatima (Nia Long), do not warm to Ezra, and make no secret of their feelings over lunch at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles.
“So,” asks Akbar, “do you hang out in the hood all the time, or do you just come here for our food and women?”
“You People” takes on hot button subjects, like cultural differences and racial divides, but this is, at its heart, a rom com, so at the end, hurdles will be overcome and happily-ever-afters will be had. That is a given, not a spoiler, just reality, but it is also the weakest part of the movie.
“You People” is at its best when it puts the seasoned cast on screen together. The scenes that gather the young couple and the two sets of parents are highlights, delivering laughs and plenty of situational humour. Subtlety is not on the menu, but Louis-Dreyfus and a deadpan Murphy milk every laugh out of the script, playing up the cultural and faith-based differences that open between the families like a yawning chasm.
“You People” grasps at cultural relevance, but does so with a heavy, although well-intentioned, hand. As the run time moves towards the closing credits, the misunderstandings and accentuation of differences becomes repetitive, miring down the story, despite the efforts of the cast.
The comedy pros keep it as fleet footed as it can be. Only Murphy could get a laugh with a line like, “You shat your slacks?” and I was happy to take the giggles where I could as the movie wound down to its Rom Com 101 ending.
“You People” doesn’t exactly waste its bold face name cast—there are some very funny moments within—but the film’s predictable finish blunts much of the edgy/awkward humour that came before.
In “Missing,” a new high tech missing person thriller now playing in theatres, the main character turns to her computer server when the police fail to protect and serve.
A sorta-kinda sequel to the 2018 high-tech missing person movie “Searching” starring John Cho, “Missing” tells its story through a series of browser windows, on a screen or through a computer, security or surveillance camera.
Storm Reid is June Allen, a typical Los Angeles teen tethered to her phone, screens and social media. When her mother Grace (Nia Long) and newish boyfriend (Ken Leung) jet off for some alone time in Colombia, June is put in charge. But just because Grace will be basking in the sun almost 4000 kilometers away, doesn’t mean she won’t be keeping a digital eye on her daughter. “Keep your location on the entire time I’m away,” she instructs the teen.
As soon as the plane lifts off June looks up articles on-line like “How to Throw a Rager… On a Budget” like any teenager left in charge would do, but when Grace goes incommunicado, June becomes concerned. Calls to her mother’s hotel don’t provide any comfort.
“I’m calling about a guest you had,” she says. “Does anyone speak English?”
“I’m sorry,” comes the reply.
With no information forthcoming she contacts the F.B.I. who inform her they have no jurisdiction to investigate in Columbia. “The best thing you can do is wait by your phone,” says Agent Park (Daniel Henney).
But why should June wait by the phone when she has an arsenal of the latest technology at her fingertips? Doing a deep dive, she looks for clues as a kind of digital Dick Tracy, and finds out more about her mother’s past than she bargained for.
“Missing” is almost as anxiety inducing as the three dots that come up when you’re waiting for someone to text you back.
Because this is a technological thriller, the usual visual genre tricks don’t apply. There are no darkly lit alley ways, shadowy corners or smoke-shrouded backrooms.
Instead, the screen is filled with dialogue boxes, blown-out YouTube videos, FaceTime pop-ups and Google search bars. The information gathering aspect of the story may look like something that would confuse and confound Philip Marlowe, but the procedural is the same as other, classic Private Eye movies. One bit of information leads to another, and June pieces the mystery together with the panache of a seasoned detective.
There are one or two obvious plot holes that defy logic, but mostly the techno presentation conveys both the backstory and the procedural aspects of the plot in an effective and inventive way.
Providing the all-important human connection is Reid, who, as June, is a resourceful heroine who takes matters into her own hand. Best known as Rue’s younger sister on the HBO drama series “Euphoria,” she brings a daughter’s concern to the tale that warms up the movie’s overwhelming, cool techno vibe.
Whether the screenshot style of “Missing” will one day be regarded with the same side eye as found footage movies are today remains to be seen, but in the here and now, it is an exciting format, at once familiar and yet completely new.
Take one part “Key and Peele,” add the appeal of an internet cat video and you have “Keanu,” the new kitty caper comedy from Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. The big screen debut of the sketch comedians isn’t purrfect but it has some furry funny moments.
At the beginning of the movie the Allentown Brothers (the heavily made-up Key and Peele) shoot up a drug lab, killing everyone inside. The only survivor is a kitten who makes a run for it, escaping the carnage and who, after a trek across Los Angeles, ends up at the doorstep of stoner photographer Rell (Peele). It’s fortuitous for both of them. The kitten needs a home and Rell, who was just dumped by his girlfriend, desperately needs a companion. By the time Rell’s pal, family man Clarence (Key) stops by, the lonely guy has bonded with the cat, now named Keanu. When Keanu is stolen in a burglary these two button-down guys take a walk on the wild side, tracking down Keanu’s new owner, gang leader Cheddar (Method Man). Taking the street names Shark Tank and Techtonic they infiltrate the gang, take drugs (“It’s like you’re smoking crack with God!”), get shot at and rescue the cat. “We in the market right now for a gangster pet.”
The SPCA is going to love “Keanu.” The cat hero isn’t exactly the main character, he’s more of an excuse for the action, but he may be the most memorable film feline since Blofeld’s cat. The stars of the show are Key and Peele who bring the strengths of their sketch show to the movie. Key’s facility with voices and words coupled with Peele’s elastic face keep things interesting in what is essentially a skit stretched to feature length.
Unlike me, who couldn’t resist some terrible cat puns while writing this review, K&P don’t go looking for the “purrpatrator” of the crime or anything like that. Instead the movie is a mix of down ‘n dirty jabs—for instance, the local strip club is called Hot Party Vixens or HPV—fish out of water gags, a brilliant celebrity cameo and a fixation on George Michael that borders on the pathological. Throw in a few shoot outs and some quirky characters—thanks to Will Forte as Rell’s pot dealer and Jason Mitchell as gang member Bud—and you have a movie that aspires to be a spiritual cousin of 80s action comedies like “Beverly Hills Cop” or “48 Hours.” It doesn’t quite scale those heights but there are enough laughs to keep things interesting, especially if you are a cat lover.
When the nine old friends of “The Best Man’s Holiday” get together for Christmas it’s like a cross between a soap opera and a reality show. Imagine “As the World Turns” as told by Teresa Giudice and Flavor Flav.
In this sorta sequel to 1999’s “The Best Man,” The Sullivans, NFL legend Lance (Morris Chestnut) and wife Mia (Monica Calhoun), plan on a happy Christmas holiday when they invite their closest friends to spend the Christmas holidays at their palatial home.
Here’s a scorecard of the attendees: Former best selling author Harper (Taye Diggs), his pregnant chef wife Robin (Sanaa Lathan), network head (and Harper’s former flame) Jordan (Nia Long), school dean Julian Murch (Harold Perrineau) and his ex-stripper wife Candace (Regina Hall), heavy-lidded party boy Quentin (Terrence Howard) and Shelby (Melissa De Sousa), a reality TV star.
Instead of eggnog and Yuletide carols around the hearth, however, old rivalries rear their ugly heads before a tragedy reminds everyone what friendship is all about.
“The Best Man’s Holiday” is one long cliché. The script telegraphs every plot twist and turn with the subtlety of a kick to the shins and never misses an opportunity to overplay a big melodramatic moment or perform an illegal tonal u-turn mid-scene.
And yet it is a crowd pleaser.
Sometimes clichés are clichés because they’re true and resonate with people, and I guess that is one of the strengths of “The Best Man’s Holiday.” You’ll see everything coming a mile away, you’ll feel manipulated but you’ll also laugh and maybe even shed a tear.
It’s a film built for audiences who enjoy the vulgar rowdiness of reality TV and the comforting clichés of soap opera storytelling.
Is it a good film? Not really, but the better-looking-than-average ensemble cast brings with them loads of charm and the chemistry they share actually puts you onside with the characters despite the paint-by-numbers script.
They’re all engaging performers but Howard stands out in one of his rare forays into comedy.
“The Best Man’s Holiday” isn’t “Best Of” list material but despite being about half-an-hour too long is engaging holiday fare.
