Whiplash

Steve Williams · Nov 22, 2014

Saw this film today and one word.......fantastic

This is a most unusual story topic for a movie but I must admit I was glued to the screen for the entire 107 minutes

From IMDB....

A promising young drummer enrolls at a cutthroat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.

Miles Teller plays the young drummer and J.K. Simmons (Juno and Farmer's commercials) plays the brutal mentor who brow beats and undermines his students for the sake of bringing out the best in them

The story is simple and straight forward but it is refreshing at the end of the year to finally see some of the year's best films, this one for me is in my Top 5 so far this year

I anticipate Oscar nods for J.K. Simmons as Best Supporting and quite possibly a nod for best picture

Definitely a film worth seeing
Its metric scores are

IMDB 8.7/10

Rotten Tomatoes 96%

MRQE 90%

This is probably the highest rated film I've seen since Gravity also had a 96%

FrantzM · Nov 27, 2014

I saw it today and was going to open a thread about it. The movie is simply great. For any who caares about music it is a must see. One may not like the plot. There is no way anyone who cares about music would come out of this movie unmoved... A interesting view on music playing ... In one word: hard. getting to the greatest level in music requires mch more than talent. It is a close to a sacerdoce.

Please take a time to go see it and then listen to your system . Music willbe for a few days the focus...

Saw Interstellar and liked it . I was so tired I dozed off some but what I saw when woken up was very good. So, tomorrow I will go and see it again this time rested

..

es347 · Nov 28, 2014

Steve Williams said:
Saw this film today and one word.......fantastic

This is a most unusual story topic for a movie but I must admit I was glued to the screen for the entire 107 minutes

From IMDB....

A promising young drummer enrolls at a cutthroat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.

Miles Teller plays the young drummer and J.K. Simmons (Juno and Farmer's commercials) plays the brutal mentor who brow beats and undermines his students for the sake of bringing out the best in them

The story is simple and straight forward but it is refreshing at the end of the year to finally see some of the year's best films, this one for me is in my Top 5 so far this year

I anticipate Oscar nods for J.K. Simmons as Best Supporting and quite possibly a nod for best picture

Definitely a film worth seeing
Its metric scores are

IMDB 8.7/10

Rotten Tomatoes 96%

MRQE 90%

This is probably the highest rated film I've seen since Gravity also had a 96%

Steve...did Gravity get good reviews? Really? We hated it...wow!

Steve Williams · Nov 28, 2014

It did. Can you remember the Oscars

Whiplash is a tough movie to watch but so far it is number one for me however many great ones starting now or soon to start in December

The most enjoyable movie I've seen this year "so far" has been Gone Girl

I do expect my faves to change in December

es347 · Nov 28, 2014

Oscars? What is that?

marty · Nov 28, 2014

Just saw Whiplash and loved it. Can anyone tell me who did the actual drumming, particularly in the film's climatic "Caravan"? Was it the actor Miles Teller and was it really his drumming we saw on film? Apparently Miles "dabbled" in drumming in his past but its hard to accept that the masterful drumming was saw in the movie's drumming scenes were his even though some looked convincingly so. BTW, for the connoisseur, the famous wind-down, wind-up routine shown in the film was originated by Buddy Rich, but unfortunately, the reproduction of it was not quite the same as any true Buddy Rich version. Rich had unerringly accurate timing. You couldn't do better with an atomic clock if you tried. However, in the movie, some of the wind-up notes were off just enough to let you know that, whoever recorded it, it probably was not authentically Buddy Rich. He had no equal in that regard. Still, it was a gripping movie and worthy of 2 potential Oscar acting nominations. Surely JK Simmons is on the short list for best actor thus far.

Steve Williams · Nov 29, 2014

marty said:
Just saw Whiplash and loved it. Can anyone tell me who did the actual drumming, particularly in the film's climatic "Caravan"? Was the the actor Miles Teller and was it his drumming we saw on film? Apparently Miles "dabbled" in drumming in his past but its hard to accept that the masterful drumming was saw in the movie's drumming scenes were his even though some looked convincingly so. BTW, for the connoisseur, the famous wind-down, wind-up routine shown in the film was originated by Buddy Rich, but unfortunately, the reproduction of it was not quite the same as any true Buddy Rich version. Rich had unerringly accurate timing. You couldn't do better with an atomic clock if you tried. However, in the movie, some of the wind-up notes were off just enough to let you know that, whoever recorded it, it probably was not authentically Buddy Rich. He had no equal in that regard. Still, it was a gripping movie and worthy of 2 potential Oscar acting nominations. Surely JK Simmons is on the short list for best actor thus far.

It sure looked like the kid was the drummer

I agree about JK Simmons

marty · Nov 29, 2014

Found a famous version of the wind-down/wind-up on you tube. This was when Buddy Rich as already a ripe 65 year old. The year was 1982, during which he suffered a heart attack during a concert in the Dominican Republic playing with Frank Sinatra and Carlos Santana. The You Tube clip below was filmed during another famous concert with Sinatra in 1982 called Concert for the Americas, and Buddy's wife said he collapsed in the Green Room shortly after this solo. You can see him wobble and barely stand up as he walks off stage after his performance. It's ridiculously impossible, but true, that he died within 5 years of this performance. His technique, speed and timing was in a league of his own. There will never be another Buddy Rich.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeyyGmd5dvM

Steve Williams · Nov 29, 2014

Great video

The sweat was just pouring off him

marty · Nov 29, 2014

Much to my shock an amazement, it seems that Miles Teller actually did 90+% of the drumming in the movie! I don't know what his future career as an actor will look like, but it sure as hell looks like he could drum for any jazz big band around.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/whiplash-editing-miles-tellers-drumming-751403

http://nypost.com/2014/10/04/how-miles-teller-learned-to-fake-drum-like-a-pro-in-whiplash/

Steve Williams · Nov 29, 2014

I thought it was him. The kid clearly was drumming the entire film.

audioarcher · Nov 29, 2014

I liked this movie as well. Amazingly it was shot in only 19 days.

KeithR · Dec 2, 2014

Steve Williams said:
It did. Can you remember the Oscars

Whiplash is a tough movie to watch but so far it is number one for me however many great ones starting now or soon to start in December

The most enjoyable movie I've seen this year "so far" has been Gone Girl

I do expect my faves to change in December

I agree, Gone Girl has been my fav by quite a bit.

Looking forward to Wild, Unbroken, and a few others by year end.

Steve Williams · Dec 2, 2014

audioarcher said:
I liked this movie as well. Amazingly it was shot in only 19 days.

The director is also age 28

Steve Williams · Dec 15, 2014

Hard to believe this film was not nominated for Best Picture for the Golden Globes

Shadowfax · Jan 29, 2015

Sorry I started another thread as I missed this one.

Although Miles Teller did go thru a 2 or 3 month drumming boot camp, he did not do all the drumming you hear in the music. Nate Lang, who plays the other drummer Carl did the really hard parts that are edited in to the soundtrack. Miles played sax but had never drummed. Miles is also local to me, from Downingtown PA which I thought was cool.

JK Simmons is so intense in this film I got agitated and nervous every time he went off. He should have won Best Actor and the film itself should have won something since the content was so powerful and close to possible reality compared to some of the other movies up for awards each year.

I only found this film because I scan the Redbox site for suggestions. I never saw it advertised and until this thread, not even talked about.

Steve Williams · Jan 29, 2015

JK Simmons has won the Golden Globe, American Film Critics Award, The People's Choice Award and The Screen Actors Award for Best Supporting. I'm sure he will win the Oscar as well. Truly a remarkable film.

Frank750 · Feb 14, 2015

Just saw this tonight. Great movie! Very entertaining.

jazdoc · Feb 14, 2015

Maybe it's because I have a student in conservatory but I didn't care for this one. JK Simmons was great and deserves all the accolades he is receiving but the idea that an expensive, highly ranked school would tolerate an instructor's verbal abuse and intimidation in this PC day and age strains credulity...

audioarcher · Feb 14, 2015

jazdoc said:
Maybe it's because I have a student in conservatory but I didn't care for this one. JK Simmons was great and deserves all the accolades he is receiving but the idea that an expensive, highly ranked school would tolerate an instructor's verbal abuse and intimidation in this PC day and age strains credulity...

I get where you are coming from, but they did not tolerate it. They fired him. The film did not really mention how long he had been an instructor that I recall.

I liked the film but also felt that the plot could have been more realistic. I could say that about any film though.

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