Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines.
1. Will someone who likes the '50s please buy this Dallas house for sale? There's a '50s Dallas home for sale near Ferguson Road that's being described as a "fantastic opportunity to update a home on a creek in East Dallas." Here's an idea: How about buying this house and leaving it just as it is?
2. Italian restaurant at Plano's Shops at Legacy to close after 15 years. A longtime Italian restaurant dating back to the '90s is bidding us alla prossima: Nicola's Ristorante Italiano, which has been doing authentic northern Italian food at the Shops at Legacy since 2005, will close at the end of August.
3. Cinemark dollar theater in Plano upgrades with luxurious amenities. Cinemark Movies 10 in Plano, which for the past 25 years has offered residents of Plano and the surrounding area second-run movies at discounted prices, is being transformed into a luxury, first-run theater by its parent corporation.
5. Sophisticated supper club with '60s vibe swings into Uptown Dallas. A new bar from a deeply experienced hospitality team is adding a unique nightlife experience to Uptown Dallas. Called Clover Club, it's a multi-level concept now open at 2404 Cedar Springs Rd., in the space that has housed such bygone entities as Nikkei, Medici, Lift, and Teddy’s Room.
The Clover Club menu was created by chef Anthony Van Camp.
Photo by Louis Rajsich
The Clover Club menu was created by chef Anthony Van Camp.
Among the complicated figures in pop culture history, Michael Jackson has to be at or near the top. On one hand, he’s responsible for some of the most enduring music of all time, thrilling generations with his voice and dance moves. But his later years were marred by accusations of child sexual abuse and erratic behavior, including his premature death at the age of 50.
So the new biopic Michael is a tough one to judge from a critical standpoint, not least because director Antoine Fuqua and writer John Logan have elided - perhaps temporarily - the thornier parts of Michael’s history. Instead, this film focuses on the 20-year period in which Michael (played as an adult by Michael’s nephew Jaafar Jackson) goes from the prepubescent lead singer of the Jackson 5 to one of the biggest music superstars of all time.
That choice puts an overly sympathetic tint to Michael’s story, as he spends most of that time under the thumb of his domineering father, Joseph (Colman Domingo). Joseph has a vision for Michael and his brothers, and he pushes them hard in a quest to become rich and famous. Even when they achieve that goal, though, Joseph refuses to let up, holding onto Michael even when it’s clear he should go out on his own.
As a reminder of the enormous impact Michael Jackson had on the music industry and world at large, the film is successful. Fuqua and Logan include plenty of music, naturally, but they seem to be most interested in depicting Michael as a human being. They lay it on thick, whether it’s showing him spending time among his family members away from the stage, hanging out with bodyguard Bill Bray (KeiLyn Durrel Jones), or visiting sick kids in hospitals. The message that Michael is a harmless, good person couldn’t be clearer.
The film hints at but doesn’t really explore Michael’s oddities. His obsession with kids literature and movies, especially Peter Pan, are seen as inoffensive quirks, as is his menagerie of animals, including a creepy CGI version of Bubbles the chimp. His arrested development seems to be partially blamed on his parents treating him like a child well into his adulthood, and the resulting fallout is not (yet) addressed.
Many viewers will be most interested in the music sequences, and - save for some repetitive shots of fans fainting at the mere presence of Michael - they are handled well. Whether it’s at home, in the studio, on the set of the “Thriller” video, or at live performances, the film manages to fully get across just what a phenomenon Michael was at his peak. The staging and editing of each scene is dynamic, complementing Michael’s other-worldly abilities well.
If there is one reason to see the film, it is the performance of Jaafar Jackson. Whether he’s capable of doing any other kind of role is undetermined, but his portrayal of his uncle is compelling, as he demonstrates singing, dancing, and acting skills in equal measure. He’s aided by an equally great performance by Domingo, who - with the help of facial prosthetics - overcomes the trope of the bad father. Nia Long and Larenz Tate are also good in smaller roles, but Miles Teller is an odd presence as Michael’s manager.
There are reports that legal complications prevented the filmmakers from using previously-shot scenes delving into accusations against Michael, and there are rumors that a second film will be made about the last 20 years of his life. But that speculation can’t absolve Michael of showing all the positive aspects of Michael Jackson’s life and not even touching any of the negative ones.
