Steve Pond over at The Wrap decides to figure out if there is any Oscar love available for the new Michael Jackson money grab documentary, This is It:
Makeup: Let’s see – the AMPAS definition is “any change in the appearance of a performer’s face, hair or body created by the application of cosmetics, three-dimensional materials, prosthetic appliances, or wigs and hairpieces, applied directly to the performer’s face or body.” I think we have a winner! Except that stuff was all done in the service of real life, not the movie …
Song: The fact that the “new” song, “This Is It,” turns out to have been co-written in 1983 by Jackson and Paul Anka is a pretty reliable indication that no songs were written for the movie. In fact, they couldn’t have been, because there wasn’t a movie when the footage was shot.
Score: Even if there’s original music composed to fill the spaces between Jackson’s songs, there’s probably not enough of it.
Sound editing, sound mixing: Yes.
Visual effects: David Copperfield-style stage effects don’t count.
Documentary feature: Maybe next year. To allow time for the multi-level judging process, the documentary eligibility period began September 1, 2008 and ran through August 31, 2009, with an extension to September 31 granted to some films. Without a seven-day run in L.A. and New York during that time, a film isn’t eligible.
20 Responses for "This Ain’t It"
I don’t see a Best Doc nomination next year. The only concert film to ever be nominated was Woodstock, which won 40 years ago.
Truth or Dare (Madonna) couldn’t get in. Scorsese couldn’t do it with either The Last Waltz (The Band) or Shine A Light (The Stones). And he’s Scorsese.
wow, snobbery at its finest
I should add that Buena Vista Social Club was nominated but it’s not really a concert film.
Sasha:
New ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Trailer
http://www.cinematical.com/2009/10/28/alice-in-wonderland-trailer-new/
LOL Mike.
On the other hand Roger Ebert did a very nice write-up of this movie.
This movie is really getting good reviews. I will be seei g friday.
http://www.ktla.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=2902f581-8b77-4348-b340-a5dcc558b2af&src=front
Wait, is Sam Rubin really saying its going to be nominated for Best Picture!?
Yeah millions love Michael Jackson and post-death people are memorializing him (to the highest degree), but c’mon a concert doc for Best Picture? Directed by the HSM guy, lol.
Saw this last night in chicago. It was brilliant.
i was wondering about this in terms of oscar possibilities…if it was eligible, i could totally see it winning.
plus, a lot of cynical critics are giving it great reviews.
Saw it last night at midnight, definitely one of the best moviegoing experiences of the year. It exceeded my already high expectations.
i just reviewed it on my blog if you are interested:
http://oscarwrestler.blogspot.com/
Its truly an amazing film. I wouldn’t be shocked if it made TONS of money, and slipped into the running for Best Picture
The movie is really great. It’s not just a money grab. Not the way it was put together anyway. It’s a love letter to Michael and the fans at the same time. It’s my favorite film of the year. I cried so hard most of the time, but bopped along with some songs, and did the Beat It choreography in my seat. I’m going to try my best to go back at least once more before it’s out of theaters.
I’d definitely give it a nom for BP.
Is the film a money grab to the studio? Absolutely 1000% it is about money. Is the film a money grab to the filmmakers? Absolutely 1000% it is not about money. Kenny Ortega worked very closely with Jackson on the concert and so this film wasn’t just an afterthought. He throughly cared about it. It will be huge at the box office. It was outpacing every other film ever two weeks ago with pre-sales and I’m sure that didn’t slow down much. It’s sure to find its way into the sound races and it could very well find it’s way to a Best Picture nomination.
This movie went to my Top 10-list of the year (so far), but I can’t see it being nominated for Best Picture. Best documentary – next year – maybe.
Seen it last night at 11, WAY better than I had anticipated. Too bad it did not make it in time for this year’s doc award. I would be surprised if it is nominated for bp, though it’s not impossible.
Thinking back on it, its a shame that madonna’s truth or dare wasnt nominated for documentary. That remains a damn good concert documentary. This is the mj equivilant and just as brilliant.
I watched it, and enjoyed it. I was shocked how well his voice has held up after all these years. Not to mention the moves. The guy was in GREAT shape up to the very end. Its really awesome that we get to see glimpses of what the shows in London would’ve been like. Its really NOT awesome that we have to pay AEG Live to see it though. It was a fun time at the movies. I consider this to be a superior moviegoing experience to most concert films I’ve seen. I’ve always been cold on the idea of sitting in a movie theater and watching a concert. You’re not even the audience they’re performing for. Its like secondhand entertainment. This, however, was more intimate and gave you more of an impression that you are a part of the experience. Ultimately though, it would’ve been WAY cooler of AEG if they had just released this stuff to watch free of charge in honor of the King Of Pop. Oh well.
Well, it must have cost them a lot of money to put that show together right? It’s not like they found this footage somewhere and are now making money on it. All the dancers and musicians and renting the Staples center and all the CGI stuff they were doing, AEG paid for that right? If they did, I think they put enough money into this concert series and now movie that they should be justified in making money on it. Or am I totally wrong about who was paying for that stuff?
You’re right about them paying for all of that stuff. But they had already made back a large chunk of the money they spent when they offered people a “special commemorative ticket and program designed by Michael himself” in lieu of a refund to the concerts. Not surprisingly, a lot of people were more than willing to take them up on the offer, in honor of the King Of Pop, so technically this film (and soundtrack, don’t forget) is really the second cash grab to not only make their money back, but turn a (very) handsome profit.
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