Part I and II of my favorite piece from one of my favorite spoken word artists. Shout out to the most recent dodged bullet to catch the vapors. #YouTriedIt #BoyBye
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Searching For Neverland
Ok so everyone knows I live and breathe Michael Jackson, and when it comes to “the commentary” you can usually expect me to be the biggest critic. Talk of another movie being made almost literally made my blood boil, like….. leave this man the fuck alone! Why is another movie necessary? WTF else need be said? How much more blood do you need from this stone???
Sigh.
But I watched.
About a half hour into "Searching for Neverland," I jumped onto Facebook to gauge people’s initial reactions and the few people who were commenting were not at all happy with what they were seeing. A couple of people said they couldn’t deal and turned the channel. But see, the rub with this stuff is that you kinda have to give it a chance. The mature fan understands nobody is ever going to BE Michael. That being said, in my opinion, Navi was about as close as anyone can expect to get. There were quite a few moments when I heard Michael, despite the Trini-British accent, and even more moments when I SAW Michael. I admit I was reluctant at first too, picking out every single thing I could come up with to discredit his portrayal, but once I got outta my feelings, it was fucken scary how much this dude gave me MJ. SCARY.
I had heard the movie was based on the book MJ’s bodyguards had written about the last 3 years of his life, but color me surprised when it was actually about the last 3 years of his life LOL. I mean, who didn’t think it was gonna be about the circumstances surrounding how he died and inside knowledge of some kinda of cover-up or conspiracy? In fact, they introduced Dr. Conrad Murray just once and his name was never even mentioned again until the end when detectives asked whether they believe he had killed Michael Jackson. The story really focused on what was going on in MJ’s life at the time; his financial situation, his being without a home, friends and family’s abandonment of him, and his struggle to strip away the “King of Pop” and just be a normal family man. It was sad to see some of these situations and how he eventually all but lost complete control of his life.
If you believe the bodyguards, you also thank God for them; that Michael had them during the time that he did when everyone else has turned their backs on him. You feel their pain and loss with his death. You feel the regret resulting from wishing they could have been there…. Done more. You also feel their relief in Mike finally being free of the prison his life had become. I appreciate that the movie detracted from his death and focused on his life – or at least the life he was trying so desperately to live, with his children. It was a little convenient that Bill got one of, if not the last phone call from Mike the night leading into his death – I wasn’t sure if that’s actually been documented or if it was done for effect – but that’s the stuff movies are made of. It worked.
So contrary to what even I would have thought my reaction to be, I liked the movie. I respect the casting, I appreciate the perspective and it left me feeling something other than any other MJ commentary I’ve seen. Can’t quite put my finger on a word for that feeling, but I think I might still be processing……
Sigh.
But I watched.
About a half hour into "Searching for Neverland," I jumped onto Facebook to gauge people’s initial reactions and the few people who were commenting were not at all happy with what they were seeing. A couple of people said they couldn’t deal and turned the channel. But see, the rub with this stuff is that you kinda have to give it a chance. The mature fan understands nobody is ever going to BE Michael. That being said, in my opinion, Navi was about as close as anyone can expect to get. There were quite a few moments when I heard Michael, despite the Trini-British accent, and even more moments when I SAW Michael. I admit I was reluctant at first too, picking out every single thing I could come up with to discredit his portrayal, but once I got outta my feelings, it was fucken scary how much this dude gave me MJ. SCARY.
I had heard the movie was based on the book MJ’s bodyguards had written about the last 3 years of his life, but color me surprised when it was actually about the last 3 years of his life LOL. I mean, who didn’t think it was gonna be about the circumstances surrounding how he died and inside knowledge of some kinda of cover-up or conspiracy? In fact, they introduced Dr. Conrad Murray just once and his name was never even mentioned again until the end when detectives asked whether they believe he had killed Michael Jackson. The story really focused on what was going on in MJ’s life at the time; his financial situation, his being without a home, friends and family’s abandonment of him, and his struggle to strip away the “King of Pop” and just be a normal family man. It was sad to see some of these situations and how he eventually all but lost complete control of his life.
If you believe the bodyguards, you also thank God for them; that Michael had them during the time that he did when everyone else has turned their backs on him. You feel their pain and loss with his death. You feel the regret resulting from wishing they could have been there…. Done more. You also feel their relief in Mike finally being free of the prison his life had become. I appreciate that the movie detracted from his death and focused on his life – or at least the life he was trying so desperately to live, with his children. It was a little convenient that Bill got one of, if not the last phone call from Mike the night leading into his death – I wasn’t sure if that’s actually been documented or if it was done for effect – but that’s the stuff movies are made of. It worked.
So contrary to what even I would have thought my reaction to be, I liked the movie. I respect the casting, I appreciate the perspective and it left me feeling something other than any other MJ commentary I’ve seen. Can’t quite put my finger on a word for that feeling, but I think I might still be processing……
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