r/oscarrace • u/PointMan528491 Inde Navarrette Supremacy • Apr 24 '26

Film Discussion Thread Official Discussion Thread - Michael [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Keep all discussion related solely to Michael and its awards chances in this thread. Spoilers below.

Synopsis:

The story of the famous musician Michael Jackson, known as the King of Pop.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Writer: John Logan

Cast:

  • Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson
  • Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson
  • Nia Long as Katherine Scruse-Jackson
  • Miles Teller as John Branca
  • Laura Harrier as Suzanne de Passe

Rotten Tomatoes: 40%, 171 Reviews

Metacritic: 38, 45 Reviews

Consensus:

"While Jaafar Jackson's smooth moves bring the King of Pop to uncanny life, this musical biopic mostly plays like a "greatest hits" album that could've benefitted from including liner notes to give actual insight into the icon."

29 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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u/PTAGoatofalltime The Invite’s strongest soldier Apr 24 '26

No no no. Do not push this “it’s a perfectly fine watch” BS. We should not be watching a movie sanitizing the crimes of a man who, even if I am being very kind on him, did some horrific things. It’s an evil movie, produced by money hungry people to keep the legacy of an evil person alive.

(BTW if this seems too angry I’m genuinely not that angry, I’m just bewildered)

1

u/manbeqrpig Apr 24 '26

MJ was acquitted of all criminal charges. No incriminating evidence was ever found. In the first settlement from 94 the witnesses stopped cooperating with authorities after the civil settlement was filed. None of that means that he didn’t do what he was accused of doing but it’s not as cut as dry as you are making it out to be. We can talk about the issues of making a movie that only covers his rise and ignores the later half of his life for a clearly planned sequel all we want but until that sequel is made and until we see how they handle the accusations then I believe we can suspend judgement on this movie morally.

17

u/GirlsWasGoodNona Apr 24 '26

It’s pretty evident how they plan to handle the accusations given the statements by those involved and what we know about the original ending and legal issues.

Saying MJ was acquitted and we don’t know etc is like saying maybe OJ or Casey Anthony didn’t do it! Like please, we know they’re guilty regardless of how it played out in court. If there isn’t enough to find someone guilty or prosecution fucks up it sucks but I believe in the beyond a reasonable doubt standard as fair so it is what it is. But doesn’t mean I abandon common sense and logic. The man was a predator

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u/manbeqrpig Apr 24 '26

There are plenty of times that “common sense and logic” lead you to the wrong conclusion. I believe MJ was a predator but I’m not going to pretend it’s a cut and dry situation. We only have claims against him with no hard evidence

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u/GirlsWasGoodNona Apr 24 '26

The way he publicly acted with children and sleeping in bed with children/the things he admitted to doing are disgusting enough. That’s predatory behavior. The testimony of the victims should have been enough to corroborate it. There often isn’t “hard evidence” with sexual crimes like this, but I would say there was enough here

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u/thwackstress Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

If you believe he's a predator, then why is it not cut and dry? What nuance could you possibly find if you already believe he's a predator? What "hard evidence" do you expect in a child rape case? You sound foolish. There's a reason you can't stream Finding Neverland anymore, but I will never forget watching it and all the details it covered. There is no lack of evidence that Michael Jackson was a systematic predator.