Whiplash

*“Not quite my tempo” If you thought it was impossible to become physically drained by one single movie, then you were wrong. After watching Whiplash*, my heart is pounding and I am literally out of breath. This was more intense than any action film I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something because I’ve seen a whole lot of action films. But really, it creates such a tense environment with a constant threat of disaster, and it boggles my mind how they managed to pull that off, but they did, and it’s fantastic.  The film revolves around Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a drummer, aspiring to be one of the greatest musicians to ever live. He crosses paths with a very respected teacher named Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who is known for his extreme teaching methods. He brings him into his jazz ensemble, which completely changes Andrew’s life. But as he progresses, Fletcher starts to push him to the edge, and Andrew’s non-stop quest for perfection begins to affect not only the people around him, but his own sanity as well. Andrew’s descent from an aspiring drummer to a nearly insane perfectionist was pretty hard to watch at times. His determination turned into obsession. Miles Teller brings this to the screen really well, and he works great alongside J.K Simmons. Simmons was really terrifying here, and I say that as a compliment because Fletcher is obviously written to be a terrifying character. I can’t think of any real complaints here. It had a fantastic story unlike anything I’ve seen, and the film was just so investing and captivating. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, which is one of countless things that make Whiplash so darn great. 5/5 (100%)