I can't remember a time in my life when Michael Jackson's music wasn't a part of it. So, of course, I was devastated when he was taken away from us far too soon. Needless to say, his new movie "This Is It" was a must-see for me. I snapped this picture of posters plastered on the streets of Manhattan last week...

Chelsea, I believe.

I was very happy to get my hands on that ticket...it's already added to my memorabilia collection!

One of my big decisions...what to wear to the premiere? I settled on that MJ shirt that I got at Michael's 2001 Anniversary concert series. I had never worn the shirt before, so I had to really dig to find it. It was a little snug since I was skinnier when I 1st got the shirt, but hey...I felt like it accentuated my curves quite nicely ;-)

I hosted the Z100/KTU world premiere of the movie with Diane Prior! Before the movie started, I took a few shots of the excitement going on outside the theater. Forgive me for some of the pictures being blurry, but my camera settings were a little bit off...

I am so trying to get my hands on one of those larger-than-life Michael Jackson banners that hung above the escalators! Seriously, I asked the Sony Pictures rep AND the movie theater manager, lol! I'm not giving up I tell ya!

Security was bananas at the screening! As soon as we reached the top of the escalators, we were greeted by that diligent security worker.

I ran into college students Danielle & Eve. They were pretty excited to get their tickets!

And I thought that little Romello was absolutely adorable in his Michael Jackson shirt! He was with his dad. It's amazing the amount of new and younger Michael Jackson fans there are since his death. A whole new generation of kids is now learning all about Michael. My niece Erin, who's in middle school, is now obsessed with Michael! And I'm officially the best Aunt ever since I got her into the Houston screening of Michael's movie last night! I gotta shout out to my friend and former co-worker Madd Hatta for setting that up for me. She was so thrilled and LOVED the movie! I actually loved the movie myself. Keep scrolling down to read my official review of the movie. Meanwhile...

The staff at the movie theater went all out with their Michael Jackson shirts, glittered hats and sequined gloves! They greeted us at the theater door in full MJ gear!

And that's part of the lovely crowd that I watched the movie with! Here's my official review:

The crowd in our theater was really fun! Before the movie started, we watched the red carpet arrivals for the Los Angeles premiere of the movie, which also aired all over the world. Some of the celebrities who attended were Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Nia Long, Jennifer-Love Hewitt, Jamie Kennedy, Paris Hilton, Adam Lambert, Corbin Bleu and Vivica A. Fox. Originally, none of the Jackson family members were committed to attending the premiere, but some of his brothers did show up after all...Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon.

We were a little anxious to start watching the movie, but sitting through the premiere wasn't so bad. Once the movie finally started, we were all mesmerized! Watching Michael perform, I quickly realized that all of those so-called Michael Jackson experts who came out of the woodworks after his death were wrong! He wasn't this frail, skeleton of a man who could barely get around and barely sing. He was about to be 51-years-old and he danced better than the 20-year-old dancers on stage with him! He even sang better than the backup singers! I read another review of the movie that was favorable, but that also mentioned being kind of disappointed that we didn't see Michael's children in the movie, didn't see any insight into Michael's personal life and emotions and didn't hear Michael singing every song right out. They even suggested that at times, Michael seemed like a shadow of his old self. Well I take exception to those points because from all of the movie previews I saw, this was supposed to be a film featuring footage of Michael's concert rehearsals. Not once was I EVER under the impression from the previews that I would see Michael's children in the movie. Not once was I EVER under the impression from the previews that I would have insight into Michael's personal feelings and life. I saw exactly what the previews suggested...a REHEARSAL film. I certainly understand why Michael didn't sing every song all the way through with all his heart and soul. Why? Because it's a rehearsal and he was trying to preserve his voice for his upcoming live concerts. But when Michael did sing, he sounded AMAZING! The whole movie, I kept wondering where was this fragile man that so-called Michael experts were speaking of shortly after his death?! Sure, he was super-skinny...but he certainly wasn't fragile by the looks of those amazing dance moves! And although I'm no medical expert or insider from Michael's personal camp, I'm hard pressed to believe that he was the major drug addict that people were painting him as. Yes, I'm sure he had his drug battles...he even admitted to going to rehab. But he didn't carry himself like a person who was drug-addled and incapacitated.

I was also impressed by how on top of his game Michael was as it related to his music and his art form. Watching "This Is It", you're reminded of what a genius of a performer and artist Michael was. He knows every single note of every one of his songs and he doesn't hesitate to instruct the band when they're not playing the notes correctly. He wasn't this frail, shy guy when it came to running his career. In the movie, we see him being forceful and commanding when instructing the concert crew on how to perfect his show's imagery, music, dance moves and such. And there were several scenes in the movie that made us scream with laughter! I was surprised by how funny Michael was! Even when he wasn't trying to, he managed to get some laughs from us! And Michael had these sayings that I'll be quoting from the movie for years to come...'let it simmer!,' ' 'the love,' & 'let it bathe in the moonlight' are just some of the hilarious Michael sayings that I'm gonna add to my personal conversation repertoire from here on out! When you see the movie, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, lol. And I think it's worth pointing out that while watching the movie, you'll see that Michael was a bit of a diva (or should I say divo) sometimes. He was also sassy and sarcastic at times. The movie also shows us amazing new "Thriller" & "Smooth Criminal" film productions that Michael filmed for the concerts and even a segment where Michael performed Jackson 5 songs.

So although the movie didn't give us insight into Michael's personal life, it did give us something we hadn't had the pleasure of seeing while he was alive...unprecedented insight into his creative process and access into the makings of a concert series that would have truly been a wonderful comeback for Michael. Yes, a comeback...even though he was billing them as possibly his final concerts. We experienced a whole range of emotions while watching the movie...excitement, laughter, tears and surprise. When do we ever experience all of those emotions just by watching a concert documentary?! We came out of this film loving Michael even more! While it's in theaters and when it comes out on dvd, Michael Jackson's "This Is It" is hands down, unequivocally a MUST-SEE!

Shelley Wade