Review:

Whiplash has all the emotion of a drama and all the intrigue of an action movie. Whiplash really shouldn't have worked for me; a melodrama about a drummer in a music college and his border-line abusive teacher. Miles Teller is surprisingly terrific and of course J K Simmons can do his J Jonah Jamison anger and outrage, but he really nails every beat in Whiplash. There were some extraneous scenes that really didn't move anything forward and the ending didn't really drive the film home (although many disagree and love the ending), but nearly everything about Whiplash is outstanding. The cinematography is great and there were some very cool shots and even though I hate Jazz, the sound design was great and they really used the score to enhance the movie rather than just to add more Jazz to irrelevant scenes. Is Whiplash a movie I can see myself watching 20 more times? No, definitely not, however I can see myself comparing new movies to it 20 years down the road. Whiplash is not a movie for me, everything about the premise puts me too sleep, but Whiplash has artistry and cinematic depth that take what I thought would be a lame plot to true work of storytelling. Nothing fell flat; you feel every emotion and you experience every scene. This is the kind of movie that should be winning best film; not Oscar-bait that just checks off the boxes.