Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Jamie Foxx is underrated (exclude his Oscar).

Sometimes, I don't think Jamie Foxx gets enough credit for his multi-hypenate dominance. (Yeah, I know he's won an Oscar, Grammys, other awards etc., but exclude that). In the modern era of multi-hypenate actor/singers (Miley, Leighton Meester, Scar Jo, LiLo, Jessica and Ashlee), let's not forget the dopeness that is Jamie Foxx. Seriously, his talent is off the chain. Bonus Jams has been down with Jamie ever since the In Living Colour days. We even liked The Jamie Foxx show (which carried the O.G. version of The WB for years (exclude Dawson's Creek and Felicity)).

Here is just a sampling of some of my favorite clips that I found on youtube.



I mean, this clip pretty much sums it all up. Jamie can sing, play piano, do stand-up, do comedy, and act (his impression of Luther in this clip is spot-on). He's just straight up an ENTERTAINER!



Jamie's tribute to Serena Williams is incredible. He even had Tom Cruise, Samuel L., and Lebron rolling in this clip. I'm not saying these guys are the authorities on comedy, but Jamie is pretty ridiculous in this clip. Straight ENTERTAINMENT here.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

This Is It: Would have been the greatest concert of all time. ALL TIME!

WARNING: SPOILER ALERTS BELOW

Michael Jackson: This Is It -
Basically, this post-humorous documentary takes BTS footage shot during MJ's concert rehearsals (maybe from the 2 or 3 best rehearsals he had) for his would-have-been 50 concert stint in London and shows viewers what that concert would have been like - pretty much THE GREATEST CONCERT EXPERIENCE OF ALL TIME. OF ALL TIME! (Sorry Taylor Swift).

This concert had everything. Pyro. Dope cinematic sequences. Great wardrobe. Dancers blasting onto the stage. A pretty tight band (the female guitarist is ridiculous!). And of course, MJ showing his artistic genius and singing/dancing some of his all-time mega-classics.

For the most part, MJ still got it. A very Brett Farve-like performance during his rehearsals (of the 4 TD variety vs. Green Bay). For a 50-year old dude, he was still hanging w/ his 20-something dancers. And in a lot of moments, the band and dancers were trying to keep up with him. (MJ still knows his shizz.) I was most impressed with MJ's voice. Despite conserving his voice during most of the rehearsals shown, he still sounded awesome (at one point he felt the music on one song, went off, and sounded ridiculous). Clearly, MJ was at home on the stage. This is the lab where the mad genius did his magic.

For an MJ fan (moderate or super), I think you'll be down with this film. You get to see and hear MJ perform your favorite songs in new and exciting ways. Also, seeing MJ do all these little things to make performances better was one of my favorite things in this doc. MJ suggesting a pause here, and extra leg kick there, holding a note here, etc., was so on point it was insane. We get to see a master practice his craft. And, even if he was doing these concerts to pay off debts, he didn't just half-ass his way through rehearsals. He truly cared about putting on the most ridiculous show of all time. As a fan, you gotta appreciate an artist putting in the time and effort to give you the best entertainment experience possible.

For a fan of documentaries, you'd probably wish for more back-story, interviews, personal life revelations, and story arc. But, MJ was shooting this BTS footage for his own personal library allegedly, so the footage wasn't really intended for a documentary persay. However, this doc does give people a chance to see MJ in a different light than the last decade or so of his life. No tabloids, no paparazzi, no eccentric behavior. Just an all-pro working on his game.

MJ's practice clothes is pretty awesome in this doc, except for the Ed Hardy sweats he wore in a few scenes. Even MJ had his faults...