|
April 24, 2026 
|
|
|
Hi, movie fans!
The new Michael Jackson biopic is hitting screens, and there’s quite the divide between fans and critics. Box-office expectations are sky-high. As my colleague Brooks Barnes points out, moviegoers are primed for the film, with the domestic take expected to be at least $70 million on opening weekend, and the international haul likely to be that strong, too.
But Barnes adds, “Reviews have been brutal. (‘Can’t be taken seriously.’ ‘Disconnected from reality.’ ‘Frustratingly shallow.’)” It should be noted that “Michael” ends in 1988, before any allegations against Jackson surfaced, and some critics have objected to the less-than-complete look at his life. (Though there’s been no official word, a sequel is probably in the works.)
Our own review, by Alissa Wilkinson, was more measured but no less damning. She likened “Michael” to a greatest hits album ably performed (by Jackson’s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson) “but strung together in repetitive false-note ways that are insulting both to audience and subject.”
It’ll be interesting to see what moviegoers think of the film once they can see it in theaters. Speaking of a new biopic in theaters, “I Swear” tells the story of John Davidson, the Scottish activist who has Tourette’s syndrome. Americans probably know him best for that terrible incident when he involuntarily shouted a racist slur at the BAFTA movie awards in February. The movie obviously doesn’t cover that, but it is a “missed opportunity,” in the words of our chief critic, Manohla Dargis, who writes that the director Kirk Jones “overplays every beat and hard sells each emotion.” Oof.
What are our critics recommending? “Two Seasons, Two Strangers,” based on two manga works, “gently balances tidiness and looseness, connection and alienation and artifice and the natural world,” writes Ben Kenigsberg. I haven’t seen it yet but I’m intrigued.
Whatever you end up watching, enjoy the movies!
|
STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS |
|
|
