Whiplash

Tali: Whiplash tells the story of a promising musician and his brutal, to-the-limits instructor and their complicated relationship. New York Magazine says it best: "a gut-­twisting, appalling two hours, writer-­director Damien Chazelle has you wondering two things at once. Will Andrew finally succeed in wowing this most exacting of judges? And, more important: What can be gained by doing so when the man is manifestly psychotic?" Though at times both extremely painful and incredibly exciting to watch, this film left me with some very mixed feelings. On the one hand, both J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller were very great; on the other, was this film just a vehicle for Simmons to throw chairs and homophobic slurs at Teller and to get a reaction out of the audience? I haven't quite figured this out yet. Perhaps Leo can sway you one way or another. 76/100.

Leo: This movie was awesome and though on its surface it was just a well done "practice makes perfect" sort of movie, I thought it captured so much more. The one line in the movie that stuck with me (besides the various "I'm trying really hard not to laugh at these politically incorrect insults but it's not working" lines ) is that the words 'good job' "are the two most harmful words" anyone can tell you. While I don't think this is always true, the movie illustrates how much better someone can be when pursuing greatness and how much better it feels once it's achieved after never being told "Good job". Maybe altogether validation is nice to get, but it's that much better when it's genuine. Aside from that message, I thought it was an expertly done movie in terms of its cinematography with the drums (which was to be expected) and of course acting, especially by J.K. Simmons, who's character had, to quote R v Lohnes (a supreme court of Canada case) "an impressive command of the obscene vernacular". That being said, the movie did not have as much substance as its Oscar-nominated counter parts, even if I enjoyed it more. Leometer: 87/100.