Oscars!: Whiplash

-

Movie: Whiplash
Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Supporting Actor (J.K. Simmons), Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay

So, this film is intense. A kid who's really driven and not terribly socially adept gets into one of the best music schools out there because he wants to be a jazz drummer, and meets up with the hard-ass, brilliant, auteur prof (J.K. Simmons) who really just wants to make the next jazz great by pushing someone good until they excel (or break). Is that so much to ask?

Whiplash is a hell of a ride. It's the director's first film (he wrote and directed it) -- he couldn't get funding for it (and it was shot on a shoestring, basically) and so he made it into a short film and took it to Sundance, where it did very well and then he got the funding for the feature length version. This film is basically every indie filmmaker's dream process come true. J.K. Simmons is ferocious -- he is a musical predator that you never know whether he's going to accept you as part of the pack or turn on you without warning. It was uncomfortable to watch him in places -- if you've ever been bullied by a prof, this movie makes you squirm.

That said, the music... it's amazing. And Miles Teller who plays Andrew, the lead drummer, actually does all his own playing, including that freaking incredible 9 minute solo at the end. This is the shortest movie in the list, which is frankly refreshing -- not only because it doesn't feel like a marathon, but because it's a hard sprint all the way through, and you really can't fathom that you could have ridden that rollercoaster any longer than you just did.

As for the nominations -- J.K. Simmons for Best Supporting Actor. I'm behind it. He was amazing -- he owned that entire film. Holy cats. Sound mixing was pretty damn amazing too. I don't think it will get Best Picture, but that's okay. We should see more awesome work from Damien Chazelle in the future, and who wins Best Picture for your first indie film? Save something for the rest of your career, you know?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Character Creation: Blue Rose

-
Image
Character Creation! Okay, so since we're on break, it's time to make a character, and thus Matt and Al and I will engage in creating one for a game that is long overdue: Blue Rose . Currently out of print (to my knowledge) Blue Rose was one of the first overtly inclusive RPGs, inspired by the fantasy romance properties of Mercedes Lackey, among others, where "fantasy romance" really means "fantasy that isn't primarily a heterosexual male fantasy," because really it's all fantasy no matter what. Still, the focus is on community and groups, inclusion instead of exclusion, and on that score "romantic fantasy" is the moniker the game itself chooses. Blue Rose is a True20 game, so some of this is going to be super familiar system-wise. The setting is the kingdom of Aldis, which has entered an era of peace after the Shadow Wars of the Sorceror Kings. Nearby kingdoms still struggle under the Shadow, but the heroes of Aldis strive to defen...
Read more

Five months later....

-
Image
Here, it's a picture of a cute pig from the Internet. Enjoy. So, Dear Reader, the last we saw of each other was when I got that amazing survey back and could not figure out what the heck I was going to do with it. (I am much closer to doing something with it, btw, but that'll take another few months.) I had every intent of posting again, and soon, but then... well, my dissertation ramped up and ate my life. I've been making good progress, but I'm on something of a deadline at the moment, so I'm forced to ignore pretty much everything that isn't it, including this blog. I still love you all, though. Truly. Would Little Piglet lie to you? No, it would not. Oink. In life updates though, in the past five months: Both my sons are graduating high school I've finished drafts of three and a half chapters I've been a guest at a convention (Breakout Con in Toronto, ON!) I've been elected president of a game developers trade organization (IDGN!) I...
Read more

#RPGaDay2015

-
Image
It's time for #RPGaDay2015 again! I'm a little behind, so I'll start catching up today and finish catching up tomorrow.  Day 1: Forthcoming Game You're Most Looking Forward To I think I'd have to say, based on the con I was just at, that the game I'm most looking forward to is Bluebeard's Bride , by Whitney Beltran, Sarah Richardson, and Marissa Kelly, coming from Magpie Games. I got to play a game of it on Saturday night (thanks Sarah!) and it was fantastic. There's some really, really, really good work going on there, and I'm excited to see it fleshed out and on paper.  Day 2: Kickstarted Game You're Most Pleased You Backed Again, since it was here today, I'd have to say Feng Shui 2 from Atlas Games. Cam and company did a heck of a job on this game -- it's fun, it plays well, and it's all the stuff I loved about Feng Shui with none of the stuff I hated. And it came in the mail today! I'm looking forward to play...
Read more