Michael

from the series Movie Corner…

By HOWARD MCQUITTER II

2/5 Stars
2026
Biopic
Lionsgate

When I first saw the trailers for Michael in January and February I was elated to say the least to see director Antoine Fugal’s Michael. Every day on YouTube, television, and elsewhere, the public was inundated with the trailers on Michael Jackson. And why not? The late Michael Jackson, the top entertainer- dancer- singer on Earth, dazzled millions of fans across the globe. After all, wouldn’t this be the “perfect” biopic?

The film opens up in 1966 with the Jackson 5 and concludes with a big-time performance at Wembley Stadium in1988. Michael’s nephew Jafaar Jackson plays him. Michael and his siblings are growing up in Gary, Indiana, in a Black working class neighborhood under an authoritarian father. Joe Jackson is aptly performed by Colman Domingo and he drills his sons to be the best musicians in the music business, both R&B and Pop, with the help of Motown mogul, Berry Gordy. The children’s mother, Katherine Jackson, is raising her children in the Jehovah Witness sect. Outside of one scene when Katherine mentions “Jehovah” briefly to a young Michael, there’s nothing else that hints of a religious household.… Read the rest “Michael”