Skip to main content

Whiplash (2014) - Review


"I'd rather die drunk, broke at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remembered who I was."

It's a simple story about a drummer enrolled in a prestigious music school aiming to become the next big thing and his ordeal when he gets into a class of a hardcore teacher.

Never in a million years would I have thought that a movie like this would make me sweat and raise my heart beat like crazy. I'm not particularly a fan of Jazz or drumming, the subject matter of the movie, and yet this movie somehow managed to do the impossible for me. WOW, just WOW.

Miles Teller, the guy who I have mostly seen in small secondary roles, was amazing as the lead in this movie. What made me even more appreciative of him is the fact that he did almost all of the drumming by himself, no special effects or whatever. And then there is J.K Simmons, who plays the hardcore teacher in the movie. He just blew my mind with his acting. His intensity was mesmerizing, so awesome.

The direction of the movie is spot on. I mean, there aren't any useless or non required stuff, only a small set of characters so we get all the focus on the main story. And best of all, is the intensity, which slowly but surely keeps on increasing as the movie goes forward and then explodes in the finale. I honestly was at the edge of my seat, with my hands sweating like crazy, and my heart beating like I was sprinting, during the finale. And the world wasn't in danger, the human race didn't face extinction, the favourite character wasn't dying or anything etc etc, it was just a drumming (plus ensemble) performance, that's the beauty of this film. Hats of to the team that made this film.

One of the best film of last year, easily. A must MUST watch.

9/10

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) - Review

This movie is based on a true story about the attack on an american embassy and a secret CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, on the 9/11 anniversary in 2012. And how a few numbers of of Ex-Soldiers managed to repel the attack. Directed by Micheal Bay, I was surprised to see him holding back his Bay-ism and deliver a straight forward focused film. The story got a long build up at the start, setting up the location, the characters and the situation. And then chaos. What I liked most about this film was the fact that you felt just as lost as the soldiers and people in this movie. The confusion, the chaos, the uncertainty, it was delivered quite nicely, creating tension and thrill. There are a lot of characters in the movie, but ultimately it is focused on these soldiers, and while the movie could have done a better job developing them, what it did was good enough in a sense that it worked for the movie. I liked em. Acting varied, with some delivering pretty good performances. Also, again wi...

Baywatch (2017) - Movie Review

Baywatch is a movie based on the old TV series of the same name. It's about a bunch of lifeguards on a beach who try to uncover drug smuggling in their area...yeah, that is the plot. It's dumb, it's stupid, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, it's not good, but it wasn't horrible either.  The movie actually had some fun in it. The Rock, as always, was charismatic, funny and likable; and Zac Efron, surprisingly, was similar to that. He got ripped AF for the movie. Alexandra Daddario was fun as well, although any movie gets bonus points for just including her in my book. Priyanka Chopra was in it as well, and between her in this and Deepika Padukone in XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, Priyanka definitely was the better one.  There were legit funny scenes sprinkled throughout, but there were also a shit ton of scenes that tried too hard to be hilarious but fell flat instead. Baywatch also had a large dosage...

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) - Movie Review

Being the FIFTH part of a franchise, initially I had some doubts about this film. But after seeing the good reception it got, my hopes were up and rightfully so. Rogue Nation continues off from where Ghost Protocol left, with Ethan Hunt getting a new mission to take down the rogue spy agency called the Syndicate. Tom Cruise is well, Tom Cruise. He was awesome yet again. The one that was surprisingly great was the female lead, Rebecca Ferguson. She acted great, she was sexy, she was lethal and she was a total badass. Best MI girl to date. Her chemistry with Tom Cruise was also great and it is one of those VERY rare times where I ACTUALLY liked the romance/lovey dovey subplot. Movie handled it very well. It wasn't prolonged or anything, it wasn't cheesy or cliched or typical, it was just right. The supporting cast was also great. Simon Pegg's character once again showed how to handle comic relief properly in a movie. He was funny, he was awesome and he wasn't jus...