I saw him live in Cardiff on the Dangerous Tour in 1992. I saw the opening night of the History Tour in Prague in 1997, and two of the Wembley dates the following summer. I also had tickets for the opening night of the This Is It concert last year. Not just tickets either, Thriller VIP hospitality tickets – costing over a grand for the pair.

I opted for the printed holographic ticket instead of a refund, I have the Michael Jackson Opus book and yes, I used to subscribe to ‘King’ magazine.

It’s safe to say I’m something of a fan.

Therefore the chance to review Michael Jackson’s This Is It on DVD is something not to be missed.

When I heard the news last summer that Michael was rushed to hospital I sat, like many people across the world, transfixed by the news channels while checking websites for updates. Twitter fell down with the clamour for news and Facebook was alive with rumours and hearsay – sadly most of it turned out to be true. The tragedy every fan had feared had finally happened, at the worst time possible.

Many believed that Michael wasn’t in good physical or mental shape and that the concerts wouldn’t have gone ahead regardless. The video footage that was compiled to form last year’s theatrical release of This Is It proved otherwise.

Michael was in fine shape and the concerts were ready to go. This would have been the pinnacle of his career in terms of liver performances, and thankfully it was recorded so that we do get the chance to enjoy it in some form, even if it is incomplete.

This Is It has an eerie quality all of its own. The empty stadium, the casual nature of the presentation, the fact that the production was never performed; it all makes for awkward viewing. Putting that aside however and you have a truly spectacular concert showing that Michael was still at the top of his game, both vocally and artistically.

Highlights of the show include the specially shot video footage for the introduction of Thriller and the tear inducing final performance of Billie Jean, which earns Michael one last ovation from the watching dance troop, many of whom would have grown up watching him dance.

The film starts off in a tearful manner, but doesn’t dwell on what happened. The film is about Michael as a performer and about the concert that he worked so hard to put on. It’s a celebration of life and talent, rather than a lament at the loss of it.

Watching this in the cinema I was caught between two contrasting emotions. I was delighted that I got the chance to watch it, to enjoy it and was singing along at certain points as though I was at the concert in person. I was also devastated that the concert itself would never be seen live, as it was intended.

Special Features

In the weeks following Michael’s death I tried to avoid the television as much as possible as I knew every TV channel would try to capitalise on the event by hashing together old footage from various videos and putting out ‘tribute’ programmes. I’d seen all of this footage before and didn’t want to see the same sequences over and over, in what was basically just an attempt to gain ratings from fair-weather fans.

The special features on The Is It however contain more than 2 hours of unseen footage, and as someone who has edited together behind the scenes footage from Michael’s Stranger in Moscow video for a screening at the 40th Birthday Bash in London in 1998, I know my ‘unseen’ footage from my ‘often seen’ footage.

The highlight of the special features has to be the unfinished rehearsals, where you see footage from rehearsals that wasn’t included in the film. The stand-out section here is the rehearsal footage for Dirty Diana, where a huge bed had been created for Michael to perform on with a pole dancer. The bed included poles at each corner, and a roof structure, where we see the talented pole dancer swinging around and performing while the bed itself is encapsulated in fire.

This would have been one of Michael’s raunchiest stage routines.

Another interesting aspect of the special features concerns the search for his dancers, where a talent show similar to ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is held, featuring dancers from all over the world flying in to win one of the 11 places on the crew. This would have made a great series in its own right, and features some very talented dancers.

There hasn’t been a DVD (or video) release of Michael’s that has given this much insight into his creative process as he was such a private man. This release gives you that tinge of sadness that the concerts never happened, but the feelings of joy experienced when watching it far outweigh any negatives.

This, as Michael said himself, is it.

With his death came the inevitable increase in sales for his music and DVDs as he topped the download charts with Man in the Mirror and his music videos were bought en masse once again, as though it were the mid eighties. The mid eighties was Michael’s peak, when the Bad album spawned five US number ones and the movie Moonwalker was released.

Moonwalker was a Michael Jackson extravaganza. A movie that featured documentary clips of Michael and the Jackson Five, some of Michael’s music videos and a short story about Michael saving the world from drug obsessed crime baron Mr Big (played by Joe Pesci).

Moonwalker starts with a live performance of the download number one single Man in the Mirror before going into the documentary montage that takes you through the early days of Michael’s career, from his debut, through his Grammys and through the many highs that he enjoyed.

The movie also features the music video for the bonus track featured on the Bad album CD version, Leave Me Alone, which perfectly sums up Michael’s career and his relationship with the media.

The actual plot of Moonwalker finally kicks in as Michael stumbles onto the evil plans of Mr Big, causing him to be a marked man. Michael is chased by Big’s troopers, only to transform into a high performance car (way before Michael Bay got his hands on Transformers) and speed off towards the 1930’s Chicago club for the famous Smooth Criminal music video. This is perhaps Michael’s greatest video and without doubt the highlight of the movie, as Michael makes his way through the club to the tunes of Smooth Criminal, dispatching bad guys as he goes.

The finale of the film sees Michael take on the whole of Big’s army, before Transforming again into a giant robot, and then a spaceship.

This movie comes from the genius mind of Michael Jackson. It may not flow as a normal, narrative driven, movie would, but this doesn’t disguise the brilliance of Moonwalker. It’s escapist, it’s imaginative, it’s pure Michael Jackson.

The only downside to this DVD release is that it doesn’t feature any special features, but Michael Jackson’s numerous other DVDs more than make up for that.

Brand comes out to the strains of “Supersonic” by Oasis and launches into a routine about being famous in the United Kingdom versus America. Naturally, he talks about his lack of recognition and his MTV VMAs gig, including the ridiculous promotional ads he did with L.L. Cool J and Britney Spears. Brand pokes fun at how MTV executives tried to market him as an edgy comedian.

Through observational humour, Brand candidly talks about how the audience at the VMAs did not get his style of humour. He shares some of the bits that MTV would not let him say, including what a hypocrite Kanye West is. Brand also takes the time to address some of the insane death threats he received based on this appearance. He points out how silly they are and then pokes fun at them.

This stand-up special gives Brand the opportunity to do his thing as he struts the stage, commenting on several topics. He delivers a very energetic concert which is designed to show the comedian in his natural environment. This concert probably won’t convert many new fans but for those who enjoy his comedic stylings, you should enjoy it.

Special Features:

“Loose Cannon Drunk Girl” is outtakes from his concert where he repeatedly deals with a rabid female fan in the front row.

“An Englishman in New York” sees Brand let loose in Times Square riding around in a limousine with his buddies. He walks around the streets spontaneously interacting with people who have no idea who he is except that he may be famous.

“The Notorious 2008 VMA Monologue” is included in case you missed it when it aired on MTV. Here it is in all of its infamous, uncomfortable glory as many of his jokes go over like lead balloons. He takes a few digs at the Jonas brothers which go over even worse. At many points, you can almost hear a pin drop and it often looks like Brand can’t wait to get off the stage.

This is the second volume of Before they were Superstars and features Brock Lesnar, Tazz, Al Snow, Randy Orton, Christopher Nowisnki. Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Torrie Wilson and Rob Van Dam, the latter being something of a disappointment. Fans of RVD will know that before he broke through into wrestling he appeared a number of decidedly dodgy martial arts action flicks playing such characters as ‘The Claw’. Van Dam’s film career was then on a par with what I presume Van Damme’s is now. Confused? Indeed I would love to see both Van Dam and Van Damme team up, either in the ring or in some brother in trouble action movie. The potential is huge.

Anyway, back to the DVD. The profile of RVD didn’t even mention his less than successful film appearances, which was the part I was truly waiting for. Instead it covered his school days, holidays and refusal to lose the weight required to make the high school wrestling team. His goal of becoming a pro-wrestler took a turn for the better though when he discovered that the Iron Sheik lived not too far from him. Would you be able to tell from RVD’s style that the Sheik trained him? Me neither.

By the impact that The Next Big Thing made in the WWE you would assume that he’d been winning everything he ever entered in the sport of wrestling. Not so apparently. In fact, Brock was described by his High School coach as ‘nothing special’. He was big, yes. He was strong and aggressive. He also had his fair share of defeats. Brock himself said that if he had achieved his goal and won the state championships he probably wouldn’t be in the WWE now. He had some unfinished business that made want to prove that he could be a winner.

We get treated to some of the footage from Brocks early bouts in High School, and his temper at defeat was clear to see. Thankfully we never see that in the WWE, probably because he hardly ever loses.

The once great wrestler of Tazz takes us back to his high school, where he seems almost proud to boast of its dangerous reputation. There is a sadness in his voice as he sees that the football field has actually been improved, so that no more can players slam each other into exposed manhole covers. Strangely Tazz says that the proudest moment in his career was debuting in the WWE, yet since he arrived his ring status has gone so far down the pecking order that he now doesn’t bother at all. Instead working on his commentary career. Paul Heyman happily takes the plaudits for discovering Tazz and admits to trying to coax the brawler into using the microphone as Tazz refused to speak in public. He’s certainly over that now.

Al Snow was a tale of dedication and belief if ever there was one. He’d been wrestling for 15 years before he finally made the breakthrough into the big time. He actually debuted in the WWE as ‘Avatar’, a character based on a Power Ranger, but Vince wasn’t impressed and sent Al Snow packing back to whence he came. Al was distraught by this at having waited so long for his break only for it to end after one performance. The discovery of a mannequin head gave Al the character angle he was looking for and it wasn’t long before Vince called him back.

It’s strange for Randy Orton to be featured on this series, as there was never really a time before he was a Superstar. The second third generation Superstar in the WWE (the other being The Rock) Randy was destined for greatness from the star. Other than interviewing his father and grandfather there wasn’t much they could show. Maybe in a few years he’ll have some highlights, but for now you may as well skip this one.

Christopher Nowinski’s arrival in the WWE was well publiscised. Losing at the last hurdle to Maven in Tough Enough he went back to the indy circuit in the hope that six months down the line he could try again. As he said himself, there was no way the WWE would invest so much time and money in making him into the bad guy to just let him go away. According to Nowinski’s football coach, he was a lazy player and needed a kick up the ass to get him motivated. I guess that’s what the WWE gave him as well.

Shawn Michaels was actually fired by Vince McMahon?!? It’s true, HBK was dismissed for a ‘bar incident’ that he denies. Still, it gave Shawn a chance to hone his skills and come back to the WWE some time later the Heartbreak Kid.

All of Michaels’ friends were jealous of his good looks and his way with the women, yet for some reason Shawn would always deny it. He was very shy apparently, we’d have never guessed. Shawn dropped out of college to become a pro-wrestler, after convincing his dad that it was the right thing to do.

The pioneer of ruthless aggression, John Cena has made one of the biggest impacts in the WWE. Not bad for someone who just likes getting naked a lot and doesn’t take himself seriously at all. An exhibitionist inside and outside of the ring John loves to show off his body. That’s about all of the background you get on Cena, need we any more? One of the special features on the DVD is Cena’s debut match against Kurt Angle though, and that is definitely worth watching a few times.

On the Chris Jericho section we get to find out what Y2J is all aboot. Chris met up with Lance Storm when they were both trying out to be pro-wrestlers, and Lance said he was relieved to see Chris because everyone else had no chance of making it. That’s why the two of them latched onto each other; they were both natural athletes. OK Lance.

Some of Chris’ early work on the indy circuit and in WCW is mightily impressive. Of all the Superstars featured Chris is the one you see as a child and say ‘yeah, he’s gonna make it.’ Of course another aspect to Y2J is his musical ‘talent’. He could have been a rock star, or a wrestler. I think he made the right choice. Still, there are plenty of opportunities for fans of Jericho’s vocal abilities to see how that all started.

I’ve saved the best to last, the delectable Torrie Wilson, surprise surprise had trouble with her weight. Not surprising actually when you learn that she was told, as a 14 year old, to lose 5 lbs by a modelling agency. If girls are told this by people they look up to, can we complain when so many develop anorexia or bulimia? Thankfully sh overcame her weight problem when she realised that athletic body building women looked better than thin unhealthy women. Being told not to lose any more weight by her modelling agency also hammered home the fact that she was too thin.

Torrie, like so many attractive girls, had an army of brothers watching her every step. They’re together again for this film telling how difficult it is to see Torrie in matches, and bikini contests when she’s their little sister. Tough break guys.

Special Features

This DVD also features a selection of bonus moments, among them is an interesting tale of pain and dedication from Al Snow about he spent all of his money to compete with some wrestlers. It sounded like a con to be honest, as he didn’t actually get anything out of it apart from bruises and pain.

HBK’s debut as one half of the tag team ‘The Rockers’ is also featured, with Vince commentating. I found the commentary more interested to be honest. He’s speaking like a commentator but you know he’s actually evaluating new talent like this, and if they don’t impress they won’t compete again.

One of the best debuts of all time is featured when Chris Jericho entered WCW in 1996. His match against Alex Wright was a classic.

We also get to see RVD’s dedication, or is it desperation, in full when as a teenager he accepts the Million Dollar Man’s challenge to kiss his feet in the ring after a match. Disgusting.

There are also two Easter Eggs on this DVD on John Cena and Chris Jericho, highlight their names on the right of the screen and press right.

There’s a lot of information on this DVD but also a lot more that has been left out. It would be nice too if just once when people were interviewed about celebrities whom they knew as kids would come out and say that they hated them. Still, what is here is great for the fans.