#4 Whiplash

Why do I love JK Simmons? Easy: J Jonah Jameson. Why ELSE do I love him? His portrayal of Terence Fletcher in Whiplash.

This is another in a long line of movies that I hear about, hear are good, but where the title seems to betray the goodness of the movie itself, and it gets set on the back burner for one reason or another. The reasons don't matter. But with the constant stream of movies being released our of Hollywood alone (which is a small fraction of  the entire gamut from which to choose) it doesn't take much to slip off the radar and not resurface. A last chance before they drop off into obscurity seems to be the  flurry of top-10 lists that crop up at this time of year, reflecting on the year that was, and anticipating the feeding frenzy that will be the Academy Awards at the end of February.

So now I'm catching up.

Whiplash is a simple, intense, personal story of a music teacher who cares so much about bringing out the best in his students that his means justify his ends. Everything else is just the journey. The story is a little formulaic, but fascinating, and driven completely by the wonderful energy of JK Simmons as that teacher. I actually wonder why this role was considered a "supporting role" (for which he won best actor in a supporting role at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars) instead of a lead. I have to lookup how that's defined. Perhaps because it's not really his story, but the story of a young drummer who enters a music conservatory to further his passion, and how he and Fletcher interact to move him towards his goal.

The music is Jazz, and although I'm wouldn't consider myself a Jazz fan, I did enjoy the music, and the emphasis on the drumming gives a new appreciation for the genre.

Just  a few other faces round out the cast, including the appearance of Paul Reiser as the drummer's father. This was perhaps the father Paul Riser would have turned into twenty years after "Mad About You" finished, although Helen Hunt was nowhere to be seen.

Recommend? Absolutely!