You know the most outrageous thing left out of the documentary? THEY DIDN'T EVEN MENTION VINCENT PRICE. His contribution to the album wasn't even discussed lmao. Like how did this happen? Like you said, the whole product felt more like a highlight reel and less like a documentary. YET I enjoyed it. & I'm so glad the trilogy is complete and we now have a thriller documentary
The only parts I didn’t like were the fact that they kept using footage we already had, especially when they kept cutting off the new pieces of footage in half and not giving us the full thing
I feel like the doc was made for more casual fans, which is fine, but for such a behemoth album like Thriller, we deserved a project that highlighted more of its sonic genius and the creative process. I expected so much more from a director who also happens to be a music journalist/critic. Spike’s docs were much more compelling, IMO. The parts that I found most enjoyable were the unreleased footage (of course), Rich and Tone’s commentary, and the brief discussion about Michael’s vocal prowess and how influential his style is. Gotta agree with your rating of 6.5 for sure.
Spike is a filmmaker. He knows how to keep the audience engaged. I don't know why they didn't get him to do this one. I still hope Spike goes ahead and does one anyway.
Spike should have directed it. It makes a difference when a director is a true fan of their subject. Nelson George doesn’t love MJ. he’s a critic and not an artist. Such valid points from you and everyone here. Spike is a storyteller and it would’ve had some narrative cohesion that this one lacked. I think we all found joy in the HD clips of never before seen MJ footage. otherwise it was disjointed and had no soul to it. This was a slap in the face to the mammoth that is Thriller. I don’t mean to be harsh or ungrateful, but the estate continues to mishandle Michael’s legacy.
"Nelson George doesn’t love MJ. he’s a critic and not an artist." 100% spot on. Yes. He was the problem. He wasn't the right person to do this doc and it shows.
- I wished they talked about the making of the Thriller album cover. - How Michael was working on Thriller during the Triumph tour with the Jacksons. - None of the Jacksons even spoke on the documentary, they could have also given more insights since they were on the Triumph tour before Thriller came out.
I honestly think it was a misstep to allow another director to do this documentary after establishing such a relationship with another. Spike Lee would have done a much better job on this film in my opinion. And if I’m not mistaken, am I wrong that this director/writer has a controversial history with Michael? Or did I make that up? Idk. It was good but I agree with most of your assessment.
You are not mistaken, Nelson George was really a bad choice. I have a couple of books of his written specifically about Michael. And know what: I do not like the attitude. It is cold and not amicable at all.
I appreciate your honest take. I think the feedback is helpful for the estate for the next projects. I really wish there had been interviews from the family. Like what was Michael feeling and experiencing personally behind the scenes. They got to see the creative process during the demos. Also PYT & Lady in my life deserved more. I’d love to see a full length, high quality video of the triumph concert and background stuff if available. Victory tour is great but triumph is my favorite.
The footage they have for the Victory tour looks/sounds so much better than anything we have. It's a crime that they're just letting it sit there, next year is the 40th for Victory so hopefully they'll bless us with all that footage.
Just think about how long it took to get an official DVD release of Motown 25. It was post-50th if I’m not mistaken. So we could be waiting quite a while for Victory footage.
They seriously need to release a complete concert film from Kansas with that footage. If they had any video from the last few shows where Jackie was also incorporated, then that needs to see release as well!!
I think if Spike Lee was directing it would have been a lot better. Spike Lee showed a love and depth for Michael’s artistry that I feel this one lacked.
I agree with everything you mentioned, there was no continuity in the story telling , they skipped some songs , there was no real depth , I wish we could’ve gotten more unseen footage , that’s why I anticipated this doc, & polo G paid homage to Smooth Criminal which isn’t even on Thriller , I know they used him, BTS , & the TikTok montage to show MJ ‘s relevance in a modern world but it was misplaced, they should of did that in closing , I’m very disappointed, I give it a 5 out of ten, some RUclipsrs have made better Docs than that , “The Detail” is definitely one
Hi MJ Fangirl, I agree with your assessment 100%. I feel Spike Lee's Docs were more cohesive. Spike delved into the essence of each song and took you into the state of mind as to why the song was written or why he sang a song a certain way. I do like the doc overall because of the subject matter.
I loved the documentary because it showed how Mike strategically made appearances with certain people and had certain people on the album so he can get the album on a global level and broke his way onto Mtv.
The documentary was good but of course we already knew 90% of the info 💪🏾❤️. The other 10% was unseen footage and recordings, that i absolutely loved. I was expecting more as well😬. I can't wait for this Biopic 🤗💓🦋🌻👑🌎🎶❤️❤️❤️
I grew up with thriller, and I abosultly Loved it!! To see tons of footage that ive never seen before, i was blown out of my mind. Not just that, but just everything about it. I loved! 10/10
The new 4K footage was great to see, but that’s about it. Honestly, the commentary on the tracks themselves was lacking. How did they totally skip over Lady in My Life? Compared to Bad 25 and Journey from Motown, what people said was just so surface level. I wished they would’ve talked more about the recording sessions themselves, like the The Girl is Mine section. I was kind of surprised that that was the deepest it went.
I’m 35 and have been an MJ fan for about 30 years. The only new piece of info I took away from the doc was the story about the ET story book. Had no idea it was pulled etc. I suppose for a stand alone documentary there is only so much ground they can cover. Perhaps a 2/3 part series would have worked better to fully flesh out the album and impact it made. Having said all of that the blu ray quality footage of the victory tour is glorious!❤
The story of the ET Storybook being pulled (because of record label conflict with Epic and MCA who the album was recorded for) has been common knowledge since 1983.
Rare footage was one of the only highlights for me. I love how celebratory it was but I do wish the songs were broken down more, and I wish the sequencing was better. I was looking forward to unheard info, but it lacked for me. I am still grateful we got this though.
I actually loved the really enchaned audio from the Jackson's victory tour. There's so much garage audio and video online from that Era it was so nice to hear it so beautifully
Humbly, my comment is and to use the phrase “At the end of the day”,… I felt in an hour and a half they touched on many important and also touching points. I felt we were lucky to have an hour and a half as well as I felt blessed we got to see what we got to see. You said, they waited longer to bring in Thriller, and that did have me thinking however, I figured it was to build up to Thriller. I loved it. The quality of filming was great… There were many interviews and footage of Michael I had never seen. ❤❤ I truly give it five stars✨✨✨✨✨ in the amount of time, I think it was done very well, informational, and was high-quality. Ps I love Michael Jackson and have done so much research over the years. I started watching him when he was first in the J5 many many years ago…❤✨🌻👑🌻✨❤️
My dear friend, I liked Thriller 40 , overall it's great, I'm so happy we got to see it ,I was transfixed watching the rare footages of Michael, so amazing! Also Im glad they included many footages of beat it ,I love beat it so much, I watched it 3 times just to see the rare footagesof Michael, still think they could mention PYT and lady in my life and mention more of Matt Forger, also mention Vincent price and Vincent Patterson, they were a vital part of whole Thriller universe, the best selling and the greatest album of the world of all time .
There was so much to say about Lady in My Life, like the fact that they edited out the second verse of the song to shorten it so the album would fit under 45 mins. It would have been nice for them to play that verse, or have people talk about that decision.
I think that the estate might release the victory tour full concert footage and the reason why I feel this way is because if you remember that The Jackson’s Family Dynasty had some unreleased footage of the victory tour in Los Angeles as well as Thriller 40 Doc but I think thriller 40 doc is all Los Angeles footage but I hope and pray that they do release the Los Angeles Victory Tour Concert.
Looking at the timestamp for the documentary was the first clue that I wasn't going to walk away satisfied... It didn't even clock in at 90 minutes which was a telling sign that the true meat and potatoes of not only Thriller the album but the impact of it would not be fully explored in this release. This could've EASILY been over two hours. I saw someone online suggest that a Thriller documentary should've been a 3-parter. Episode 1 could've been the production and songs. Episode 2 could've covered things like Motown 25, the short films, Victory Tour, etc. Episode 3 could've been focused on the success and impact of the Thriller era. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but sadly it is my LEAST favorite of the MJ documentary trilogy. As you said at the start of the video, we've been spoiled by Spike Lee doing these things and this one just didn't cut it. MAYBE by the time Thriller 50 rolls around we'll get a proper documentary.
I’ve learned more about the Thriller album by two gentlemen who worked on it with Michael from their RUclips channel “Stories in the Room” by the synthesizer programmer, Anthony Marinelli and Quincy Jones’ production assistant, Steven Ray. So many gems on their podcast that make you feel inspired by Michael and want to do better in life. Overall, it was still a pretty good documentary but I think Nelson George could’ve done better.
this...review is on point, pretty lady...if he were alive still the documentaries, all...would've been produced better...Bad 25 is still my favorite documentary...
I enjoyed this doc, but it didn't reach the standard of the MJ docs done by Spike Lee.. Like you, I also wish they had covered Lady in My Life - one of MJ's best vocals in my opinion and one of my favorites. I liked the scene where MJ is sitting at a table in his green top just talking. I wanted to see more random video of Michael just being Michael - just behind the scenes. I feel that to do this topic justice - the documentary should have been about 3+ hours long.
I enjoyed the documentary overall. The 88 minute running time had me scratching my head when I first heard this was the final cut they'd show us. However, we'll get to see more footage either from the two hour version they saw in Amsterdam or on a blue ray release. It hopscotches all over the making of the album, but it was nice to learn that Michael wanted to tour for Thriller, but Joe wanted him to do one last tour with his brothers. The Victory tour footage was great and it would be cool to see it in its entirety. I'm going to watch the documentary again, because I think I may have missed some moments I didn't pay close enough attention to. Glad you liked it as well and here's hoping we get to see a longer cut of the film.
When I found out Nelson George was making the doc, my expectations lowered, respectfully. Only cause he’s a critic. I personally think Spike should have done it. The doc was solid though.
OH MY GOD THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!! I’m glad I’m not the only one who had these thoughts. I definitely didn’t like how they kept jumping around, I also thought that the first few minutes of going from 2300 Jackson Street to Off the Wall wasn’t necessary cause it of course has been covered before (Journey from Motown to Off the Wall for an example). I felt like they were skating on the ice, but not going beneath the glacier when it came to discussing the making of the songs. There were SO SO MANY stories that they could have told. I definitely agree when you said that you didn’t feel like you got to know Michael’s creative process during this time. I also felt like they misrepresented Michael (sort of riding “separating the art from the artist” train for some reason, why they did that or why I get that feeling, I’m not sure why) and if others get that impression, then shame on the Estate. I also felt like they did Walter Yetnikoff dirty, they made him seem like he was a jerk. I basically felt like I was watching the Thriller 25 EPK from many years ago
It was ok, but I’m sincerely hoping they don’t bring Nelson George near any more MJ material and retain Spike Lee for future projects. The remastered archival footage is primarily what held it together for me. It felt rushed, and was merely a collection of clips, rather than a cohesive documentary. The Tik Tok segment was unnecessary lol. It didn’t examine the songs on the album enough. For a project that MJ and his team really dug into with all they had, this documentary fell very short of the bar. No complaints with who was featured (outside of Tik Tok lol). The inclusion of MJ’s intentions to really put a fire under the whole industry was very impactful. To see and hear him voice his unfiltered opinion on the state of MTV and music videos of that time was really good.
My favorite previously unreleased footage that they showed in Thriller 40 was definitely Paul & Michael recording "The Girl is Mine", such an underrated song!!
Let's chat below! PS am I the only one who may have actually loved the trailer more than the actual documentary in the end? Also- a short thing I wanted to share is behind the Patreon wall so we can discuss more privately (no pressure but- it's there!) www.patreon.com/posts/thriller-40-5-94016153?Link&
Hi mj fan girl, I totally agree with you, I liked it overall but it's not the best for the greatest and best selling album of the world of all time, I love the amazing rare footages though, sad they skipped PYT and lady in my life completely, they should continue with the chronological order including those two amazingly beautiful songs, also they should include more about Matt forger and Greg phillingane, those are my thoughts, I hope in future documentries they will go with great Spike Lee.🙏♥️🤟👑🦋🌻
First off haven’t seen it. Don’t have Showtime or Paramount. I think the reason Spike Lee’s project resonated with us as fans is maybe because Lee is an actual fan/had love for the person and that can be felt through his work. The Showtime special is more surface & driven by the Estate’s business interest in growing the Estate.
I wasn't impressed. They seem to just scratch the surface. They could have done a multiple episode series. Or maybe Spike Lee would have made the difference. 🤷🏿♂️
I’m the odd person out apparently because I liked it more than the Spike Lee documentaries. And while the Thriller 40 documentary didn’t coincide with the albums release date, it DOES coincide with the release date of the Thriller short film. It was released exactly 40 years from the date of the short film. As a lifelong fan since the early 1980s, I very much appreciated the new footage I had not seen before and the footage we’ve all seen that’s finally in high definition. We as fans always expect more and the Thriller 40 documentary does have its flaws but even critical acclaim movies has their flaws. The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of focus on PYT and The Lady In My Life. But overall I was very pleased and rated it 9 out of 10 stars. And we finally have a Thriller documentary!
I loved it. I was vibing to every second of a song they were playing. Also all 4k snippets of the Victory Tour were amazing. I learned a bit as well from it so all in all 9/10.
I think the fans should collaborate and come together to make some kind of documentary, there is a lot of people who have the skills and talent, there's a lot of incredible fan made content that's already out there, material that is outstanding, I've come across some amazing things, and for what you do as a fan, MJFANGIRL, the way you contribute is very admirable, and I appreciate and thank you for your efforts, also, don't worry about keeping up appearances, keeping things real, is always a good thing in my opinion, to add, it's a shame that the documentary had a lot of potential to be mind blowing spectacular and it just didn't live up to expectations, there's so many things that they could have included, maybe official production people should listen to the fans more, we have ideas too, I wish more of the songs on the albulm had an official music video to go with them 🌸
I loved the doc! Esp. the unseen footage. Paul and Mike in the Studio, amazing!! Sonic Fantasy is the more intense doc about Thriller, for sure. But i loved this one as well.
I agree! Loved the documentary but I think Spike Lee had us spoiled lol. I was expecting the doc to be similar to the Off the Wall and Bad docs. It was still amazing but I was expecting more. I really wish Spike Lee did this doc
Love your take on this. What was missing that could of helped this- (Did they show anything on Lady in My Life?), wish they had alternate clips of Motown 25. Even just him bowing and walking off the stage would have been fire, I wanted to see the breakdancing cut out of Beat It, billie jean new circle walk, not the video we all see on youtube, behind the scenes of Victory or rehearsal or him in his hotel, new billie jean video footage, was there talk of another video? like Human Nature (OMG just hearing how Toto guy came up with Human Nature would have been nice, yeah, not sure if the estate limited time for Victory tour footage... a lot of these clips are on youtube that's why I was disappointed.
Very weird doc. Spike loved MJ and it shows in his work. Thriller 40 was produced without any heart or soul and felt like an exercise in commerce than anything else. Real shame.
THINGS THEY LEFT OUT #1 VAN HALEN GUITAR CATCHING ON 🔥 DURING THE “BEAT IT” STUDIO SESSION #2 DIDNT BRING UP HOW THEY PICKED JAMES INGRAM VERSION OF “PYT” INSTEAD OF THE ACTUAL PYT SONG THEY ALREADY HAD #3 THEY DIDNT BRING UP MJ CALLING UP WALTER Y. AND WANTING TO SCRAP THE ALBUM BC PPL DIDNT BELIEVE IT WOULD SALE OVER 2 MILL #4 THE FIRST VERSION OF THE ALBUM CAME OUT FLAT AND MJ STARTED CRYING AND QUINCY J TOLD EVERYBODY TO COME BACK TO THE STUDIO THE NEXT WEEK TO TOUCH IT UP AND MIX IT ALL OVER I COULD GO ONNNN RIP MJ
Thank you for your prospective. I was waiting to hear what you thought . You said what we all were thinking. I was ready to be glue to my seat ready to go but it was like watching a “fan’s making of Thriller”. Not impressed but hopefully in the Thriller 50 there is so much more to look forward to .
I was not impressed with the documentary at all. It was lackluster and lacked depth. I was bored! Sadly, Thriller failed to captivate my interest. Quincy Jones got way too much credit for his involvement with Thriller. Brooke Shields should have never been featured in the documentary. She was simply a trophy piece and nothing else. She had zero impact on Thriller other than fact she was his date at the 1984 Grammy Awards. Rich/Tone provided an indepth history of the dance . They knew the street dance and culture. Mary J Blige was real, and did not hold back on her fanship and enthusiasm for MJ during that period. I agree , a proper introducion of the Waters group was needed. Misty Copeland assessment of Michael Jackson having the physique of a dancer and ballet dancer were correct. Misty Copeland had expressed her in memoir how much of influence MJ had on her young life as a dancer. Misty is also a Virgo, so she could identity with the strong work ethic and perfectionism MJ brought the table. The documentary was haphazard and poorly done. I give it three stars out of 10.
I agree with you fangirl , we need more about The King Of Pop Michael Jackson and see can they put Spike Lee version in the documentary to Michael Jackson was a genius to me they try to hide alot from him and won't give him all his credit Michael Jackson open up doors for them to not just the artists for producer and lots other people in the business Michael Jackson was the best that was another reason why I became a strong fan of his music and him plus his brothers The Jacksons5 its more but give Michael Jackson his due😊
The part about ET was the only new information for me as a huge fan. It did make me look at Thriller the album differently though. After the documentary I saw it more as a “cross-over” album from Michael. All these years I didn’t see it that way. Just saw it as Thriller - the biggest selling album of all time. But from the perspective of Michael growing to stardom as an artist- it was a way to crossover from his off the wall (soul/funk/RnB) days.
They could have at least weaved or introduced Lady in my Life using Michael's 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley where he was telling Michael how Quincy asked Michael to "beg" when singing. And Michael had a shy smile!
Imo I think they are saving alot for the movie Michael that LionsGatr is doing..At least thats my hope because if not then I think they could've done so much better because just Thriller is so iconic!!! Also I do agree in that if another generation of MJ fans were to watch it,they don't know the stories behind the scenes stuff like those of us that have been fans for a long time like we do..He has such a huge history and its going to be quite the feat to tell his story..
But the 40th anniversary of the ACTUAL release of the THRILLER video on MTV was the same day, that's why they are calling it Thriller 40, they are playing into the MTV thriller release not the actual album release.
100 percent agree on the mixed bag feelings. Yes, the 4K footage was great and it was fun to hear some interesting tidbits from various producers, etc. But the fact they focused on TikTok and BTS over having some sort of narrative flow track-by-track like the "Bad" documentary was ridiculous. Plus, it's cool to see Michael's generational reach, but WHY are you focusing on showing a music artist who is sampling "Smooth Criminal" WHICH WASN'T EVEN ON THRILLER! So bizarre.
That part was totally bizzare! I personally didn’t even know that hip hop artist which made it even more uninteresting for me 😩😩😩 And what happened to mentioning Vincent Price? PYT? LADY IN MY LIFE? 🥺🥺 so many missed opportunities in my opinion
THERE NEED TO BE PETITIONS MADE AND MANY COMPLAINTS TO ESTATE OF MJ ANY AND ALL VISUALS OF MICHAEL JACKSON EVER MADE TO BE RELEASED ON 4K UHD OR UHD BLU RAY 🙏🏻❤️
I loved documentary, I wonder why Spike Lee didn't direct this Doc. I know they didn't get into EVERYTHING, but RUclips has several videos on ALL of the things not featured in the doc. Some are even featured on this channel.
I loved it even though it felt rushed and could've been longer. I agree with you about them not spending time on PYT and Lady in My Life, plus no mention of Vincent Price during Thriller! Other than that, it was an 8/10 for me!
I loved the Making of Thriller and Victory tour footage. I lean more towards the Spike Lee films, but I still enjoyed the Thriller documentary, I’ve watched it maybe six times already
Fair enough! I also loved the Making of Thriller footage. I looooved seeing him chilling in the white leather jacket , in the parking lot- not sure why that stands out to me but it was so cool!
@@MJFANGIRLTV that part stood out to me too. I wish the estate would just re-release Making of Thriller finally on DVD/blu ray and include all of that extra footage we haven’t seen
Overall, this is my least favorite documentary of the three, although I still enjoy it. Favorite moments are any of the interview of him in the teal sweater, and Michale speaking on how determined he was, how angry he was, his drive- ugh! Unbelievable and inspiring. It was sad to discover he not only hated the Victory tour and really did it to appease his father (leaving the highest selling album without it's own tour), but because of this, he did the Pepsi commercials he also did not want to do, and that changed (or ruined) his life
I agree with MJ Fangirl's assessment. The documentary was overall just good; not great. It wasn't focused enough; it was scattered. We needed more backstories behind the tracks on Thriller. And they should have gone in sequential order of all the songs listed. But I'm glad they included the remastered Victory Tour Footage. B+
I watched Bad 25 again after watching the Thriller 40 documentary. Bad 25 was far more in depth about the making of the album as well as the surrounding era around Bad. I wish Spike Lee had also directed Thriller 40. I think the documentary could have been made into a short series to cover the full impact of Thriller not only the making of it but the global impact on the music industry and pop culture.
And now a fantasy surprise press release from the estate for Christmas 2023 😂 >>> "In recognition of the fans continued support of the estate's products and Michael's legacy we are going to release a reasonably priced not for profit 4k Box Set of the 1984 Victory Tour including the HD version of Thriller, The Making of Thriller and a chance to contribute to the creation of the estates next Michael Jackson product"
The order of how the documentary was told , was how the events actually happened, the thriller video was the last event to take place for the album that’s why they didn’t mention it til 55 mins into the documentary.
Thank you for your honesty! When I listened to The Big MJ Debate's and TheMJCast's reviews on the rough cut of the documentary last year, I thought, if there are no improvements on the documentary (based on their opinions), I would be sorely disappointed. Lo and behold, I was disappointed that Saturday night. My overall opinion from watching the documentary was how us MJ fans were robbed and were given the short end of the stick. Like you said, it didn't delve deep into the making of the album. It should have been a two or three part series because IT IS THRILLER...THE BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM OF ALL TIME. I didn't understand why they created a a documentary that was underwhelming. Apart from the glorious unreleased footage, I already knew everything there was to know. We were definitely spoiled by Spike's past documentaries on MJ. He should have directed this documentary instead of Nelson George who spoke ill about Michael in the past.
Want a more extensive breakdown of the Thriller album, listen to this link below. No visual, but MUCH more rich and in-depth insight on the making of the album ruclips.net/video/WMO1FotPCrw/видео.htmlsi=_PhuedJZMbeiQ7Cv
so many things were missing, they didn’t do track by track, left out important details for certain songs & didn’t show as much behind the scenes footage as they should have. i wish spike lee would’ve directed he would’ve did wayyyy better
I personally wanted more detailed specifics on the songs including Lady In My Life. I thought there should have been more detail on the history of the songs. Of course the more popular songs got my coverage and featured than say Baby Be Mine and Lady In My Life. Hell even wack azz Carousel got a shout out and that was a throwaway song. That's what I felt was missing from the documentary as a MJ fan was more details on all songs regardless if chart topper or not. I did love how the out products of Thriller Motown 25 and The Victory Tour (with that crisp HD video) helped push further out the MJ mania! I appreciated Nelson George's efforts but truly and really wanted Spike Lee to have done Thriller like he did Bad and Off The Wall documentaries which gave details on the respective songs!! I wish there was coverage done of the Thriller photo shoot. Versus me relying on the Entertainment Tonight segment clip that is on RUclips. I wish Ola Ray was featured on there if they could easily feature John Landis and his costume director for Thriller wife.
You know the most outrageous thing left out of the documentary? THEY DIDN'T EVEN MENTION VINCENT PRICE. His contribution to the album wasn't even discussed lmao. Like how did this happen? Like you said, the whole product felt more like a highlight reel and less like a documentary. YET I enjoyed it. & I'm so glad the trilogy is complete and we now have a thriller documentary
Right??? Thats like a crime in itself the man really helped to set the atmosphere and wasn't even mentioned like not even for 1 second
Alot of ppl said that on X and I agree
Nah, I think when Thriller started going really well, he was trying to renegotiate and get more money or something
Spike Lee would've covered everything man, everything!
Good point about Vince
The only parts I didn’t like were the fact that they kept using footage we already had, especially when they kept cutting off the new pieces of footage in half and not giving us the full thing
Agree, I think they are probably saving that footage for the movie that they are making..
@@juliecote7479 the biopic?
There was no mentioning of Janet and La Toya who were on PYT.
@@ng5344іᥒ 𝗍һᥱ іᥒ𝗍ᥱr᥎іᥱᥕ 𝖿ᥲᥒs sᥲіძ ᥣᥲ 𝗍᥆ᥡᥲ ᥕᥲs ᥴᥙ𝗍 ᥆ᥙ𝗍 ᥲᥒძ ᥆ᥒᥣᥡ ȷᥲᥒᥱ𝗍 ᥕᥲs ᥆ᥒ і𝗍. іძᥱk 𝗍һ᥆sᥱ ᥕᥱrᥱ rᥱᥲᥣ ᥎᥆іᥴᥱs і 𝗍һ᥆ᥙgһ𝗍 𝗍һᥱᥡ ᥕᥱrᥱ 𝖿ᥲkᥱ ᥣ᥆ᥣ. (і rᥱsᥱᥲrᥴһᥱძ ᥡ᥆ᥙr ᥴ᥆mmᥱᥒ𝗍 𝗍᥆ 𝖿іᥒძ ᥆ᥙ𝗍 і𝗍 ᥕᥲs һіs sіs𝗍ᥱr ᥆ᥒ і𝗍. )
@@ng5344 yeah
I feel like the doc was made for more casual fans, which is fine, but for such a behemoth album like Thriller, we deserved a project that highlighted more of its sonic genius and the creative process. I expected so much more from a director who also happens to be a music journalist/critic. Spike’s docs were much more compelling, IMO. The parts that I found most enjoyable were the unreleased footage (of course), Rich and Tone’s commentary, and the brief discussion about Michael’s vocal prowess and how influential his style is. Gotta agree with your rating of 6.5 for sure.
This album should have gotten a series
Ep 1 The making of
Ep 2 The release
Ep 3 The videos
Ep 4 The impact and aftermath
Spike is a filmmaker. He knows how to keep the audience engaged. I don't know why they didn't get him to do this one. I still hope Spike goes ahead and does one anyway.
Yea my fav part was the unreleased footage. But without that it didn’t set this apart from other films for an intense fan
Spike should have directed it. It makes a difference when a director is a true fan of their subject. Nelson George doesn’t love MJ. he’s a critic and not an artist. Such valid points from you and everyone here. Spike is a storyteller and it would’ve had some narrative cohesion that this one lacked. I think we all found joy in the HD clips of never before seen MJ footage. otherwise it was disjointed and had no soul to it. This was a slap in the face to the mammoth that is Thriller. I don’t mean to be harsh or ungrateful, but the estate continues to mishandle Michael’s legacy.
and to reiterate everyone’s point: 90 mins is SO short especially bc the bulk of time they spent was not even on the actual content, process etc.
"Nelson George doesn’t love MJ. he’s a critic and not an artist." 100% spot on. Yes. He was the problem. He wasn't the right person to do this doc and it shows.
exactly he didnt even like mj when he was alive
Well said & absolutely agree🗣️💯
Agreed 💯
I enjoyed the documentary. I just wish there were more unseen footage and audio of Michael.
- I wished they talked about the making of the Thriller album cover.
- How Michael was working on Thriller during the Triumph tour with the Jacksons.
- None of the Jacksons even spoke on the documentary, they could have also given more insights since they were on the Triumph tour before Thriller came out.
Unfortunately they weren't on the off the wall one as well would have been nice if they were
@brentamania89 Jackie, Marlon and Joe were in the Off the Wall documentary
@@MikevsMazz it's been a little while since I watched it but they were talking at their current age I mean not when they were younger
@@MikevsMazzand Katherine
Around 1981 after that "Triumph Tour" and final show in Los Angeles. He start to work on "Thriller."
I honestly think it was a misstep to allow another director to do this documentary after establishing such a relationship with another. Spike Lee would have done a much better job on this film in my opinion. And if I’m not mistaken, am I wrong that this director/writer has a controversial history with Michael? Or did I make that up? Idk. It was good but I agree with most of your assessment.
You are not mistaken, Nelson George was really a bad choice. I have a couple of books of his written specifically about Michael. And know what: I do not like the attitude. It is cold and not amicable at all.
I appreciate your honest take. I think the feedback is helpful for the estate for the next projects. I really wish there had been interviews from the family. Like what was Michael feeling and experiencing personally behind the scenes. They got to see the creative process during the demos. Also PYT & Lady in my life deserved more. I’d love to see a full length, high quality video of the triumph concert and background stuff if available. Victory tour is great but triumph is my favorite.
what we need is all MJ concerts and videos in HIGH QUALITY ON BLURAY OR 4K PLS
BEST COMMENT 💯💯💯💯💯
The footage they have for the Victory tour looks/sounds so much better than anything we have. It's a crime that they're just letting it sit there, next year is the 40th for Victory so hopefully they'll bless us with all that footage.
4k Billie Jean performance
Just think about how long it took to get an official DVD release of Motown 25. It was post-50th if I’m not mistaken. So we could be waiting quite a while for Victory footage.
They seriously need to release a complete concert film from Kansas with that footage. If they had any video from the last few shows where Jackie was also incorporated, then that needs to see release as well!!
I think if Spike Lee was directing it would have been a lot better. Spike Lee showed a love and depth for Michael’s artistry that I feel this one lacked.
Yeah I was hoping he would cause the last two he did were great
This ☝️
I agree with everything you mentioned, there was no continuity in the story telling , they skipped some songs , there was no real depth , I wish we could’ve gotten more unseen footage , that’s why I anticipated this doc, & polo G paid homage to Smooth Criminal which isn’t even on Thriller , I know they used him, BTS , & the TikTok montage to show MJ ‘s relevance in a modern world but it was misplaced, they should of did that in closing , I’m very disappointed, I give it a 5 out of ten, some RUclipsrs have made better Docs than that , “The Detail” is definitely one
Hi MJ Fangirl, I agree with your assessment 100%. I feel Spike Lee's Docs were more cohesive. Spike delved into the essence of each song and took you into the state of mind as to why the song was written or why he sang a song a certain way. I do like the doc overall because of the subject matter.
Thriller 40!!!! It’s was good… i just wish it came out with the album🤘🏾
Your right.. this definitely wasn’t a Spike Lee joint!! Lol
I loved the documentary because it showed how Mike strategically made appearances with certain people and had certain people on the album so he can get the album on a global level and broke his way onto Mtv.
The documentary was good but of course we already knew 90% of the info 💪🏾❤️. The other 10% was unseen footage and recordings, that i absolutely loved. I was expecting more as well😬. I can't wait for this Biopic 🤗💓🦋🌻👑🌎🎶❤️❤️❤️
I grew up with thriller, and I abosultly Loved it!! To see tons of footage that ive never seen before, i was blown out of my mind. Not just that, but just everything about it. I loved! 10/10
3 second clips doesn’t count?
There was no mentioning of Janet and La Toya on PYT.
The new 4K footage was great to see, but that’s about it. Honestly, the commentary on the tracks themselves was lacking. How did they totally skip over Lady in My Life? Compared to Bad 25 and Journey from Motown, what people said was just so surface level. I wished they would’ve talked more about the recording sessions themselves, like the The Girl is Mine section. I was kind of surprised that that was the deepest it went.
I’m 35 and have been an MJ fan for about 30 years. The only new piece of info I took away from the doc was the story about the ET story book. Had no idea it was pulled etc. I suppose for a stand alone documentary there is only so much ground they can cover. Perhaps a 2/3 part series would have worked better to fully flesh out the album and impact it made. Having said all of that the blu ray quality footage of the victory tour is glorious!❤
The story of the ET Storybook being pulled (because of record label conflict with Epic and MCA who the album was recorded for) has been common knowledge since 1983.
Same. That part about ET was probably the only new information for me
It should’ve been a 3 part series 🤷🏿♂️
I agree… 90 mins wasn’t enough clearly
Rare footage was one of the only highlights for me. I love how celebratory it was but I do wish the songs were broken down more, and I wish the sequencing was better. I was looking forward to unheard info, but it lacked for me. I am still grateful we got this though.
LOVE YOU MICHAEL ❤❤❤❤❤
When I watched the making of thriller for the first time on RUclips I was like I can’t believe how amazing it was.
I actually loved the really enchaned audio from the Jackson's victory tour. There's so much garage audio and video online from that Era it was so nice to hear it so beautifully
Humbly, my comment is and to use the phrase “At the end of the day”,… I felt in an hour and a half they touched on many important and also touching points. I felt we were lucky to have an hour and a half as well as I felt blessed we got to see what we got to see. You said, they waited longer to bring in Thriller, and that did have me thinking however, I figured it was to build up to Thriller. I loved it. The quality of filming was great… There were many interviews and footage of Michael I had never seen.
❤❤ I truly give it five stars✨✨✨✨✨ in the amount of time, I think it was done very well, informational, and was high-quality. Ps I love Michael Jackson and have done so much research over the years. I started watching him when he was first in the J5 many many years ago…❤✨🌻👑🌻✨❤️
My dear friend, I liked Thriller 40 , overall it's great, I'm so happy we got to see it ,I was transfixed watching the rare footages of Michael, so amazing! Also Im glad they included many footages of beat it ,I love beat it so much, I watched it 3 times just to see the rare footagesof Michael, still think they could mention PYT and lady in my life and mention more of Matt Forger, also mention Vincent price and Vincent Patterson, they were a vital part of whole Thriller universe, the best selling and the greatest album of the world of all time .
@@nelumsooriampola I loved the documentary as well dear friend!
@lkm347 yes I love it too my dear friend ❤️ 🙏👑🤟🦋🌻
@@nelumsooriampola ❤️🙏🏼❤️
There was so much to say about Lady in My Life, like the fact that they edited out the second verse of the song to shorten it so the album would fit under 45 mins. It would have been nice for them to play that verse, or have people talk about that decision.
I think that the estate might release the victory tour full concert footage and the reason why I feel this way is because if you remember that The Jackson’s Family Dynasty had some unreleased footage of the victory tour in Los Angeles as well as Thriller 40 Doc but I think thriller 40 doc is all Los Angeles footage but I hope and pray that they do release the Los Angeles Victory Tour Concert.
Looking at the timestamp for the documentary was the first clue that I wasn't going to walk away satisfied...
It didn't even clock in at 90 minutes which was a telling sign that the true meat and potatoes of not only Thriller the album but the impact of it would not be fully explored in this release.
This could've EASILY been over two hours. I saw someone online suggest that a Thriller documentary should've been a 3-parter. Episode 1 could've been the production and songs. Episode 2 could've covered things like Motown 25, the short films, Victory Tour, etc. Episode 3 could've been focused on the success and impact of the Thriller era.
Did I enjoy it? Yes, but sadly it is my LEAST favorite of the MJ documentary trilogy. As you said at the start of the video, we've been spoiled by Spike Lee doing these things and this one just didn't cut it.
MAYBE by the time Thriller 50 rolls around we'll get a proper documentary.
What is your favorite from the 3?
MJ Fan Girl; Your DEATILED, Descrition of "Thriler 40" documentary is emotionally Helpful & informative. I really appreciate you and all you do
I’ve learned more about the Thriller album by two gentlemen who worked on it with Michael from their RUclips channel “Stories in the Room” by the synthesizer programmer, Anthony Marinelli and Quincy Jones’ production assistant, Steven Ray. So many gems on their podcast that make you feel inspired by Michael and want to do better in life. Overall, it was still a pretty good documentary but I think Nelson George could’ve done better.
This is exactly why we wanted SPIKE
💯
this...review is on point, pretty lady...if he were alive still the documentaries, all...would've been produced better...Bad 25 is still my favorite documentary...
Man I wish I had seen that I wish I had Paramount Plus in Showtime so I could have seen the documentary
I enjoyed this doc, but it didn't reach the standard of the MJ docs done by Spike Lee.. Like you, I also wish they had covered Lady in My Life - one of MJ's best vocals in my opinion and one of my favorites. I liked the scene where MJ is sitting at a table in his green top just talking. I wanted to see more random video of Michael just being Michael - just behind the scenes. I feel that to do this topic justice - the documentary should have been about 3+ hours long.
I enjoyed the documentary overall. The 88 minute running time had me scratching my head when I first heard this was the final cut they'd show us. However, we'll get to see more footage either from the two hour version they saw in Amsterdam or on a blue ray release. It hopscotches all over the making of the album, but it was nice to learn that Michael wanted to tour for Thriller, but Joe wanted him to do one last tour with his brothers. The Victory tour footage was great and it would be cool to see it in its entirety. I'm going to watch the documentary again, because I think I may have missed some moments I didn't pay close enough attention to. Glad you liked it as well and here's hoping we get to see a longer cut of the film.
When I found out Nelson George was making the doc, my expectations lowered, respectfully. Only cause he’s a critic. I personally think Spike should have done it. The doc was solid though.
OH MY GOD THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!! I’m glad I’m not the only one who had these thoughts. I definitely didn’t like how they kept jumping around, I also thought that the first few minutes of going from 2300 Jackson Street to Off the Wall wasn’t necessary cause it of course has been covered before (Journey from Motown to Off the Wall for an example). I felt like they were skating on the ice, but not going beneath the glacier when it came to discussing the making of the songs. There were SO SO MANY stories that they could have told. I definitely agree when you said that you didn’t feel like you got to know Michael’s creative process during this time. I also felt like they misrepresented Michael (sort of riding “separating the art from the artist” train for some reason, why they did that or why I get that feeling, I’m not sure why) and if others get that impression, then shame on the Estate. I also felt like they did Walter Yetnikoff dirty, they made him seem like he was a jerk. I basically felt like I was watching the Thriller 25 EPK from many years ago
It was ok, but I’m sincerely hoping they don’t bring Nelson George near any more MJ material and retain Spike Lee for future projects. The remastered archival footage is primarily what held it together for me. It felt rushed, and was merely a collection of clips, rather than a cohesive documentary. The Tik Tok segment was unnecessary lol. It didn’t examine the songs on the album enough. For a project that MJ and his team really dug into with all they had, this documentary fell very short of the bar. No complaints with who was featured (outside of Tik Tok lol). The inclusion of MJ’s intentions to really put a fire under the whole industry was very impactful. To see and hear him voice his unfiltered opinion on the state of MTV and music videos of that time was really good.
I didn’t get to see the documentary I’m going to watch it later today ❤❤❤ love you so much
My favorite previously unreleased footage that they showed in Thriller 40 was definitely Paul & Michael recording "The Girl is Mine", such an underrated song!!
Let's chat below! PS am I the only one who may have actually loved the trailer more than the actual documentary in the end?
Also- a short thing I wanted to share is behind the Patreon wall so we can discuss more privately (no pressure but- it's there!) www.patreon.com/posts/thriller-40-5-94016153?Link&
You're not! I agree totally it just didn't give what I thought it would as well. I was left wanting more for sure
Hi mj fan girl, I totally agree with you, I liked it overall but it's not the best for the greatest and best selling album of the world of all time, I love the amazing rare footages though, sad they skipped PYT and lady in my life completely, they should continue with the chronological order including those two amazingly beautiful songs, also they should include more about Matt forger and Greg phillingane, those are my thoughts, I hope in future documentries they will go with great Spike Lee.🙏♥️🤟👑🦋🌻
Not at all mj fan girl, I was surprised and disappointed that the actual documentary didn't include some of the great footages of the trailer .
They didn’t even talk about the making of the Thriller album cover
MJ in studio with Paul was beautiful..
First off haven’t seen it. Don’t have Showtime or Paramount. I think the reason Spike Lee’s project resonated with us as fans is maybe because Lee is an actual fan/had love for the person and that can be felt through his work. The Showtime special is more surface & driven by the Estate’s business interest in growing the Estate.
The lady in my life is very important ❤️❤️❤️ two couples dance at that wedding reception
Lady in my life is my favorite slow song by Michael so I'm really pissed that they just skipped over that song like it was nothing 😢
I was really disappointed too, that they completely ignored Lady in my life and barely said anything about Human Nature and P.Y.T.
I wasn't impressed. They seem to just scratch the surface. They could have done a multiple episode series. Or maybe Spike Lee would have made the difference. 🤷🏿♂️
I’m the odd person out apparently because I liked it more than the Spike Lee documentaries. And while the Thriller 40 documentary didn’t coincide with the albums release date, it DOES coincide with the release date of the Thriller short film. It was released exactly 40 years from the date of the short film. As a lifelong fan since the early 1980s, I very much appreciated the new footage I had not seen before and the footage we’ve all seen that’s finally in high definition. We as fans always expect more and the Thriller 40 documentary does have its flaws but even critical acclaim movies has their flaws. The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of focus on PYT and The Lady In My Life. But overall I was very pleased and rated it 9 out of 10 stars. And we finally have a Thriller documentary!
I loved it.
I was vibing to every second of a song they were playing. Also all 4k snippets of the Victory Tour were amazing. I learned a bit as well from it so all in all 9/10.
I think the fans should collaborate and come together to make some kind of documentary, there is a lot of people who have the skills and talent, there's a lot of incredible fan made content that's already out there, material that is outstanding, I've come across some amazing things, and for what you do as a fan, MJFANGIRL, the way you contribute is very admirable, and I appreciate and thank you for your efforts, also, don't worry about keeping up appearances, keeping things real, is always a good thing in my opinion, to add, it's a shame that the documentary had a lot of potential to be mind blowing spectacular and it just didn't live up to expectations, there's so many things that they could have included, maybe official production people should listen to the fans more, we have ideas too, I wish more of the songs on the albulm had an official music video to go with them 🌸
I loved the doc! Esp. the unseen footage. Paul and Mike in the Studio, amazing!! Sonic Fantasy is the more intense doc about Thriller, for sure. But i loved this one as well.
I agree! Loved the documentary but I think Spike Lee had us spoiled lol. I was expecting the doc to be similar to the Off the Wall and Bad docs. It was still amazing but I was expecting more. I really wish Spike Lee did this doc
it was good, but it felt like a making of thriller remake but is mj so i enjoy it
That’s a fair evaluation!
Love your take on this. What was missing that could of helped this- (Did they show anything on Lady in My Life?), wish they had alternate clips of Motown 25. Even just him bowing and walking off the stage would have been fire, I wanted to see the breakdancing cut out of Beat It, billie jean new circle walk, not the video we all see on youtube, behind the scenes of Victory or rehearsal or him in his hotel, new billie jean video footage, was there talk of another video? like Human Nature (OMG just hearing how Toto guy came up with Human Nature would have been nice, yeah, not sure if the estate limited time for Victory tour footage... a lot of these clips are on youtube that's why I was disappointed.
Very weird doc. Spike loved MJ and it shows in his work. Thriller 40 was produced without any heart or soul and felt like an exercise in commerce than anything else. Real shame.
I agree- I think Spikes love for Michael Jackson as an artist really gave the documentaries he worked on a lot of heart and soul
THINGS THEY LEFT OUT
#1 VAN HALEN GUITAR CATCHING ON 🔥 DURING THE “BEAT IT” STUDIO SESSION
#2 DIDNT BRING UP HOW THEY PICKED JAMES INGRAM VERSION OF “PYT” INSTEAD OF THE ACTUAL PYT SONG THEY ALREADY HAD
#3 THEY DIDNT BRING UP MJ CALLING UP WALTER Y. AND WANTING TO SCRAP THE ALBUM BC PPL DIDNT BELIEVE IT WOULD SALE OVER 2 MILL
#4 THE FIRST VERSION OF THE ALBUM CAME OUT FLAT AND MJ STARTED CRYING AND QUINCY J TOLD EVERYBODY TO COME BACK TO THE STUDIO THE NEXT WEEK TO TOUCH IT UP AND MIX IT ALL OVER
I COULD GO ONNNN RIP MJ
Wow! See those see amazing things even I had forgotten about. *sigh* we needed more context to the story
I believe it was the speakers that caught fire for beat it. Not the guitar, but yes there was so much to include.
Thank you for your prospective. I was waiting to hear what you thought . You said what we all were thinking. I was ready to be glue to my seat ready to go but it was like watching a “fan’s making of Thriller”. Not impressed but hopefully in the Thriller 50 there is so much more to look forward to .
Great interview Mjfangirl I agree with you. Keep up the good work
I love it i watched it 3 times last night i just wish it was 2 hours
I was not impressed with the documentary at all. It was lackluster and lacked depth. I was bored! Sadly, Thriller failed to captivate my interest. Quincy Jones got way too much credit for his involvement with Thriller. Brooke Shields should have never been featured in the documentary. She was simply a trophy piece and nothing else. She had zero impact on Thriller other than fact she was his date at the 1984 Grammy Awards.
Rich/Tone provided an indepth history of the dance . They knew the street dance and culture. Mary J Blige was real, and did not hold back on her fanship and enthusiasm for MJ during that period.
I agree , a proper introducion of the Waters group was needed. Misty Copeland assessment of Michael Jackson having the physique of a dancer and ballet dancer were correct. Misty Copeland had expressed her in memoir how much of influence MJ had on her young life as a dancer. Misty is also a Virgo, so she could identity with the strong work ethic and perfectionism MJ brought the table.
The documentary was haphazard and poorly done.
I give it three stars out of 10.
I love how great the quality of the victory tour footage i hope someone from the estate released it on dvd and blu ray one day
I hope so too- that would be so amazing
@@MJFANGIRLTV yeah and triumph and destiny tour as well
Hello MJFANGIRL, you've summed it all up. I had the same thoughts after watching the documentary. Thank you for your honest opinion on Thriller 40.
Thank you for watching. 💛
Greatest Documentary of the Year!!! Michael is the Greatest!
I agree with you fangirl , we need more about The King Of Pop Michael Jackson and see can they put Spike Lee version in the documentary to Michael Jackson was a genius to me they try to hide alot from him and won't give him all his credit Michael Jackson open up doors for them to not just the artists for producer and lots other people in the business Michael Jackson was the best that was another reason why I became a strong fan of his music and him plus his brothers The Jacksons5 its more but give Michael Jackson his due😊
How do you do the definitive Thriller doc....and NOT mention or play PYT and Lady In My Life?????
They should have let Spike do it
The part about ET was the only new information for me as a huge fan. It did make me look at Thriller the album differently though. After the documentary I saw it more as a “cross-over” album from Michael. All these years I didn’t see it that way. Just saw it as Thriller - the biggest selling album of all time. But from the perspective of Michael growing to stardom as an artist- it was a way to crossover from his off the wall (soul/funk/RnB) days.
South Central LA, parking lot shooting THRILLER ❤
BREATHTAKING..
YOUR 1000% RIGHT!!!
I agree with you bout lady in my life i wish we couldve seen him record lady in my life 😊
Me too! Would’ve been amazing
They could have at least weaved or introduced Lady in my Life using Michael's 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley where he was telling Michael how Quincy asked Michael to "beg" when singing. And Michael had a shy smile!
I agree with all your points. I wanted to see Michael and Quincy in the studio and Michael singing in the booth. The "making" of Thriller! 🤨
Imo I think they are saving alot for the movie Michael that LionsGatr is doing..At least thats my hope because if not then I think they could've done so much better because just Thriller is so iconic!!! Also I do agree in that if another generation of MJ fans were to watch it,they don't know the stories behind the scenes stuff like those of us that have been fans for a long time like we do..He has such a huge history and its going to be quite the feat to tell his story..
I hope that’s the case! I wish I had loved this documentary more :( but I did love all of the new footage
What interested me is how did they got those victory tour concerts so baby clear we need that RUclips
I know right?!
But the 40th anniversary of the ACTUAL release of the THRILLER video on MTV was the same day, that's why they are calling it Thriller 40, they are playing into the MTV thriller release not the actual album release.
Ahhhh I see
This makes sense! It probably explains why they didn't go into much depth about the albums production.
100 percent agree on the mixed bag feelings. Yes, the 4K footage was great and it was fun to hear some interesting tidbits from various producers, etc. But the fact they focused on TikTok and BTS over having some sort of narrative flow track-by-track like the "Bad" documentary was ridiculous. Plus, it's cool to see Michael's generational reach, but WHY are you focusing on showing a music artist who is sampling "Smooth Criminal" WHICH WASN'T EVEN ON THRILLER! So bizarre.
That part was totally bizzare! I personally didn’t even know that hip hop artist which made it even more uninteresting for me 😩😩😩
And what happened to mentioning Vincent Price? PYT? LADY IN MY LIFE? 🥺🥺 so many missed opportunities in my opinion
I know!!! 🤦🏻♀️ the end credits had me baffled as well. Like, what does that have to do with Thriller?
That was one of my favorites too with him chillin in the parking lot. But I felt and agree with a lot that you said.
THERE NEED TO BE PETITIONS MADE AND MANY COMPLAINTS TO ESTATE OF MJ ANY AND ALL VISUALS OF MICHAEL JACKSON EVER MADE TO BE RELEASED ON 4K UHD OR UHD BLU RAY 🙏🏻❤️
I loved documentary, I wonder why Spike Lee didn't direct this Doc. I know they didn't get into EVERYTHING, but RUclips has several videos on ALL of the things not featured in the doc. Some are even featured on this channel.
I loved it even though it felt rushed and could've been longer. I agree with you about them not spending time on PYT and Lady in My Life, plus no mention of Vincent Price during Thriller! Other than that, it was an 8/10 for me!
Spike lee should have done it is what I'm gathering from people are saying sounds like they rushed this one
I loved the Making of Thriller and Victory tour footage. I lean more towards the Spike Lee films, but I still enjoyed the Thriller documentary, I’ve watched it maybe six times already
Fair enough!
I also loved the Making of Thriller footage. I looooved seeing him chilling in the white leather jacket , in the parking lot- not sure why that stands out to me but it was so cool!
@@MJFANGIRLTV that part stood out to me too. I wish the estate would just re-release Making of Thriller finally on DVD/blu ray and include all of that extra footage we haven’t seen
They need to make a doc on Dangerous. Idk why they always skip that album?
Overall, this is my least favorite documentary of the three, although I still enjoy it. Favorite moments are any of the interview of him in the teal sweater, and Michale speaking on how determined he was, how angry he was, his drive- ugh! Unbelievable and inspiring. It was sad to discover he not only hated the Victory tour and really did it to appease his father (leaving the highest selling album without it's own tour), but because of this, he did the Pepsi commercials he also did not want to do, and that changed (or ruined) his life
Spike Lee should have directed this. He did an AMAZING job on BAD 25 so he should do all of them. That was the problem right there.
Detail did a better job breaking down the Thriller album than MJ Estate
I agree with MJ Fangirl's assessment. The documentary was overall just good; not great. It wasn't focused enough; it was scattered. We needed more backstories behind the tracks on Thriller. And they should have gone in sequential order of all the songs listed. But I'm glad they included the remastered Victory Tour Footage. B+
I have yet to watch it! :(
Take a shot every time she says LIKE.
I watched Bad 25 again after watching the Thriller 40 documentary. Bad 25 was far more in depth about the making of the album as well as the surrounding era around Bad. I wish Spike Lee had also directed Thriller 40. I think the documentary could have been made into a short series to cover the full impact of Thriller not only the making of it but the global impact on the music industry and pop culture.
I agree with you about the documentary I have mixed feelings as well it was some high points and some low points 🤷🏾
I enjoyed it overall..im glad they gave off the wall(his best album) some love
And now a fantasy surprise press release from the estate for Christmas 2023 😂 >>>
"In recognition of the fans continued support of the estate's products and Michael's legacy we are going to release a reasonably priced not for profit 4k Box Set of the 1984 Victory Tour including the HD version of Thriller, The Making of Thriller and a chance to contribute to the creation of the estates next Michael Jackson product"
I wish this were trueeee!
The order of how the documentary was told , was how the events actually happened, the thriller video was the last event to take place for the album that’s why they didn’t mention it til 55 mins into the documentary.
WBLS, plug❤..
Long island native...
Thank you for your honesty! When I listened to The Big MJ Debate's and TheMJCast's reviews on the rough cut of the documentary last year, I thought, if there are no improvements on the documentary (based on their opinions), I would be sorely disappointed. Lo and behold, I was disappointed that Saturday night. My overall opinion from watching the documentary was how us MJ fans were robbed and were given the short end of the stick. Like you said, it didn't delve deep into the making of the album. It should have been a two or three part series because IT IS THRILLER...THE BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM OF ALL TIME. I didn't understand why they created a a documentary that was underwhelming. Apart from the glorious unreleased footage, I already knew everything there was to know. We were definitely spoiled by Spike's past documentaries on MJ. He should have directed this documentary instead of Nelson George who spoke ill about Michael in the past.
Want a more extensive breakdown of the Thriller album, listen to this link below. No visual, but MUCH more rich and in-depth insight on the making of the album
ruclips.net/video/WMO1FotPCrw/видео.htmlsi=_PhuedJZMbeiQ7Cv
Great live chat
so many things were missing, they didn’t do track by track, left out important details for certain songs & didn’t show as much behind the scenes footage as they should have. i wish spike lee would’ve directed he would’ve did wayyyy better
i give it a 6/10
Hope Spike Lee Directs his version ...no tiktok segments
I personally wanted more detailed specifics on the songs including Lady In My Life. I thought there should have been more detail on the history of the songs. Of course the more popular songs got my coverage and featured than say Baby Be Mine and Lady In My Life. Hell even wack azz Carousel got a shout out and that was a throwaway song. That's what I felt was missing from the documentary as a MJ fan was more details on all songs regardless if chart topper or not. I did love how the out products of Thriller Motown 25 and The Victory Tour (with that crisp HD video) helped push further out the MJ mania! I appreciated Nelson George's efforts but truly and really wanted Spike Lee to have done Thriller like he did Bad and Off The Wall documentaries which gave details on the respective songs!! I wish there was coverage done of the Thriller photo shoot. Versus me relying on the Entertainment Tonight segment clip that is on RUclips. I wish Ola Ray was featured on there if they could easily feature John Landis and his costume director for Thriller wife.
I’m so grateful to be featured in the documentary as the dancer in #PoloG music video ! #Thriller40 ✨🕴🏻✨
That’s really cool!
I liked the making of Thriller better!!
Me too!