Whiplash

A manipulative masterpiece. Actually, it has nobody to root for or to relate to – J.K.Simmons is almost a demonic caricature and Teller, with his drive to be the best of the best whatever the price, feels more like an unlikeable mule. But even with that, Whiplash is best enjoyed as an adrenaline ride where you can relish with how Teller hits those drums and Simmons screams and throws chairs at him. And then you don’t even notice those cheap crutches. 75 % (2015-01-14)

It never occurred to me that I would see such a great and well-made drama. This movie is also about music, but the focus lies on the story and the relationship between the two main protagonists. The young and talented Andrew, played in an exquisite way by Miles Teller, gets regular dressing down from the brutal conductor Terence Fletcher, who might be a bastard with the best catchphrases in this millennium. The comparison of J. K. Simmons’ role to those of other movie psychos, for example from Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now, is really apt. You won’t believe until you watch this. And the hardest to believe will be the ending itself, which for me immediately became one of the most important and fundamental dramatic film endings I have ever seen. I stared at the screen and sweated for the actors. This was one of the most challenging films I've seen in a very long time... but it was worth it! (2015-01-31)

I long ignored this film due to its genre, but The Queen's Gambit has awakened something new in my film heart, a liking for sports or musical films, especially those about the journey to fame, where an outsider dazzles everyone, and this also applies to Miles Teller, who delivers a great performance. But it is J.K. Simmons who elevates the whole film from above average to perfection, covering 70% of the runtime, and whenever he is on screen, it becomes captivating, shocking, funny, rough, and uncompromising. He delivers a demonic performance, and for a long time, nobody in the film commanded as much respect as him. Surprisingly entertaining and engaging from beginning to end, the finale is exquisite. In the drama genre, I think it's the pinnacle. 10/10. (2021-02-02)

I don’t remember ever wanting to clap as hard during the end credits as I did this time. An excellent film, even though there is no one to root for and J.K. Simmons in particular portrays a monster only a tiny bit less scary than Anthony Hopkins’s character in The Silence of the Lambs. I wouldn’t be surprised if Whiplash wins Academy Awards for sound and editing, especially since it has no competition among music films with respect to sound. (2015-02-17)

Packed with energy (a real risk of leg cramps caused by nonstop stamping to the rhythm). Drummer Full Metal Jacket following the rhythm of the first Rocky movie which, however, often (and above all unnecessarily) scores its own goal by too obvious intensified emotional calculation in the behavior of (intentionally) not nice characters/plot twists. And so the same question can be applied to Whiplash, which the creators themselves indirectly ask the viewer during the footage: Was/is it worth it? (2015-01-09)