historiandesiree Reviews

Extra (1994– )

Extra is Bad "News"

[1/10 · 19 March 2019]

The kind of show this is: Extra on 3/19/19 actually used footage of a paparazzi following Paris Jackson after her alleged suicide attempt, with the paparazzi asking with a laugh in their voice, "Can you just 'kill' that rumor for us then?" I mean is this the world we're living in? And if the paparazzi had no decency, how could Extra producers then have none either and air the exchange? The world could do without this show. I wish it didn't come on after the news so that you have to be so vigilant about changing the channel!

Whitney (2018)

Bottom feeding movie

[1/10 · 20 July 2018]

This movie is the worst of filmmaking: it's uninteresting AND it's offensive. You can always see the hand of the filmmaker in any work, but it's especially evident in a documentary. Here you can Tell that Kevin Macdonald, the writer director, has little to no respect for the audience or for Whitney Houston. He mines her life like a self interested thief continually looking for bits that will sucker punch the audience. He wants people to see this film obviously, and to talk about it. So, he throws in sensationalistic footage of Whitney, for example, negatively critiquing Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson. We are all entitled to dish, and yes somebody filmed it. It seems like somebody was always filming Whitney behind the scenes. But this footage didn't come out under Houston's watch. Not till Macdonald gets the go ahead to mine these films for his work. And of all the footage he found he sticks this in? Why? Apparently because it will make the press and get people to talk about and possibly see the film. Because it certainly adds little to the revelation of Whitney besides the fact that she said she didn't want to sell out. But he could have shown her saying this while leaving the critiques about the two ladies out. Again what does putting it in add to what we know about Whitney? And did Macdonald think at all about the effect showing this would have on the two women in question? An artist makes decisions about what they will do to others in order to make their work. And this the major problem again and again with this film. Macdonald's hand is careless. And the number one example of this: He lists the death of Bobbi Kristina Brown in the postscript of the film. Most people have heard that she died. But to tack this tidbit to the postscript of a film about her mother's life is base. Avoid this film at all costs. Whitney, you deserved a lot better.