Whiplash – Drum and Drummer

Hold onto your screaming daddies because I’m upset! Yes fanboys, we are covering Whiplash today. Quid Pro Mo brought to you by Filmbusters, check us out on their The Jesus Rolls episode! Hot Doggy!

Stats

Released: January 2014
Budget: 3,300,000
Worldwide Gross: 48,900,000
Director & Writer: Damien Chazelle
Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser

Breakdown and Analysis

• According to Oti, art does not need to follow strict rules.
• When JK Simmons is featured, you are guaranteed for a good time.
• Whiplash is a cinephile darling. It is a very prominent feature in people’s Top 5 or Top 10 best films list.
• Distilling into a definitive nutshell, films that resonate with KT. They establish characters within the setting. They then allude to why we should or shouldn’t care. We need to have an overarching narrative driving us through the movie. It would be nice to have multi dimensional secondary characters too. They need to add something, whether it be cautionary tales but give me something to hold onto. With films, 90 minutes is cute. 2 hours can be a bit much unless it is an Epic. KT didn’t feel as though any of this was achieved in the runtime. There were enjoyable moments but this was not from the writing. The story wasn’t there, the narrative wasn’t there but there were many quotable lines.
• If you’re gonna do insufferable, be JK ‘insufferable’ Simmons.
• Breaking Bad had a lot of bravado and quotable. However the story and character development never took off. There was a lot of fan service to chortle and giggle gaggle about.
• The heavy themes in this movie were addressed on a superficial level. If you’re good at playing the drums, is it normal to bleed? It’s not as if he was a martial artist punching rice.
• The crux of KT’s qualms is a lot of the themes that were introduced were surface level. They never really resonated or attached themselves to a specific character. Which is the downfall to Andrew. You can see he is really trying his best but the emotional scenes didn’t land because we didn’t know who he was.
• We saw the way he treated his girlfriend. His cousins. His family.
• For emotional investment, it is important to know what is motivating him. He’s not working in a job that pays the bills, he’s working toward his passion. So to not convey why, it makes it hard to latch onto his character.
• According to Oti, his motivation is simply wanting to be the best. KT does not agree. This is a proper screenplay that should have us care about his triumphs and comfort him in the lulls.
• There was no moment where KT felt like she was rooted for him or happy for him. When we have moments of perceived triumph, like Andrew tackling Fletcher it felt indulgent because there is no care factor. There is usually a point in a football movie, rousing speech moment that inspires all.

Unrelated but vital points

• We didn’t like Boyhood but Ethan Hawke so perfectly played the dead beat dad role. He should have won over JK Simmons.
• Whiplash: Uncut Gems Lite
• Oti is used to fighting that he doesn’t realise when we both agree.
• Planet of the Dwayne Johnson, we are sure this movie already exists.
• We save our negative episodes by quoting 30 Rock.

For Your Reference

Oti

[imdb style=”gray”]tt1279972[/imdb]

KT

[imdb style=”gray”]tt5727208[/imdb][imdb style=”gray”]tt0903747[/imdb]