Whiplash (as reviewed by a jazz musician) 

As a billionaire orphan who fights crime at night, The Dark Knight was...okay.

As a tempo, this wasn‘t quite mine.

The part that got me was when Fletcher said that the other drummer ( forgot his name) dropped out of the band and went into pre med. Pre med school is extremely stressful and the fact the guy would rather be in pre med school than Fletchers class says a lot.

When i saw whiplash for the first time, i was so freaked out that he was able to count 215 by memory and i thought at some point i’d need to be able to do that as a musician

As a meth dealer, Breaking Bad was . . . ok

As a professional memes critic, this comment section was...okay

I played percussion for a elementary school band and Whiplash got everything accurate to my experience. Ive had my teacher throw a chair at me, yelled at 2 inches from my face, and humiliated both in private along with band mates

Ironically, the guy you called a “jock” was the actual recorded drummer on the tracks

As a certified ogre, Shrek was…… ok

As a persons whose dog died, John wick was ok

Jazz is not the point of the movie. The movie wasn’t supposed to make people feel inspired about music. It wasn’t supposed to raise jazz on some sort of platform. The point of the movie was to create a story about a person who just wants to be remembered. The problem with that is that throughout the movie he is losing himself along the way. So by the end of the movie his EX has a new boyfriend and his dad doesn’t even recognize his son anymore. The only one who actually gives him approval for his toxic actions is his toxic teacher who had been emotionally manipulating him throughout the entire movie and finally got what he wanted.

I think the scene of Fletcher in the jazz club was more of a way to show just how stuck in the past he was, and how mediocre of a player he really was. Which makes his motivation to force Neeman to succeed even more complex, almost like how a mother may use a beauty pageant to force their daughter to succeed where they could not so that they could selfishly live their dream vicariously. On another note, throughout the film, I always saw Neeman portrayed more as an outsider to the Jazz world, clinging on to the idealized vision of Buddy Rich that he was basically given to him by his dad. The scene at the dinner table pretty much solidifies that aspect of his character, and how he idealized the past just as much as Fletcher does. Neither of them are willing to move into the future of jazz.

As a pastry, Life of Pi was....confusing

As a marine biologist, The Spongebob Squarepants movie was...okay

The scene of Fletcher playing the most bland jazz you could ever listen anywhere I believe was entirely intentional. But he did a great job at that! I felt like it was exactly the opposite of what he demanded from his students, even tossing in some unintended sharps or flats would have given it some more jazz flavor. It’s the ultimate ‘do as I say, not as I do!’

I had a band teacher in high school who was almost as bad as Fletcher. Took 4 years to get him fired and actually sent to court for all he did, but he traumatized pretty much all the students he ever met.

As a Jedi, Star Wars was...okay.

as a paleontologist, _Jurassic Park_ was... okay.

I would like to point out the fact that Miles Teller played the majority of the drumming scenes himself, with only a few audio edited in where it didn't write line up. But I want to give credit where credit is due. He is truly an amazing actor and did truly amazing in this role. Also, the dinner scene with his family, so freaking accurate. Especially growing up in Texas, football is such a big deal that the fine arts are often overlooked by people who don't understand them and therefore don't care about them.

The part that Andrew played 215 was perfect and jk was mad at him to just break him into tears not because he was not good enough it was because he wanted to break him so he could control him in the future

when black swan came out, a friend of mine who is a ballet dancer made a great comment when people asked him about it: "Is not a movie about ballet, its a movie about obsesion. So is not meant to be analized from the perspective of ballet, but psychology" I feel the same about this movie. The fact that is jazz is partially incidental.

As a stupid person, Dumb & Dumber was... okay.

Dude really said: Acktually 👆🤓

i actually go to school with the young actor for andrew. he told me he asked the director if he wanted him to play a paradiddle, and the director told him to just play whatever. justice for sam campisi!

It’s not a jazz movie. It’s a not drummer movie. It’s a story of passion, discouragement, and grit.

As a serial killer, The Silence of the Lambs was…….okay

There was also a scene where Andrew gets into a car accident. Later, Fletcher see Andrew injured and covered in blood. Instead of telling Andrew that he can't perform and must go to the hospital, he lets him perform in which he performed badly due to his injuries. This questions Fletcher's teachings and it showed how crazy and terrible Fletcher really is.

Whiplash was never about jazz. It was about obsession and passion over principle

-As a secret agent, Men In Black was...- *_This comment has been erased_*

As a Nazi, Inglorious Bastards was...okay.

This is exactly how I would picture an actual jazz musician criticizing anything

you watched it on your tablet in the middle of a park? that probably one of the worst ways to consume a movie

As someone who laughs randomly, The Joker was... Ok

As a salesman, The Office was... ok

The chair hierarchy might not be a thing in jazz bands, but it absolutely exists in marching bands. 1st chairs typically play solos, main melodies, and the more complex music parts. They are considered the best musicians for their sections, and all members of the band audition for their chair placement.

The part about music school parties is so on point. Back in college, me and the rest of the trumpet majors would pull our trumpets out at a party and drunkenly have high note competitions or take turns improving over a backing track. Why? Because it was fun.

As a member of fight club.. I’m not allowed to talk about it

Biggest part to take from this is that it's about the Obsessed Artist, not Jazz.

While I may be a musician who now plays black metal on bass I do find this movie fairly accurate to my experience playing classical music on piano. I was forced into the competition of it all. I was forced to have mannerisms that weren’t natural to me as well as to not have fun. I despised it. All I wanted to do was play music, possibly preform. I didn’t want to be compared to others. When I switched to bass and metal for that matter it was much more relaxed. There was no rigid standards that I had to fit. Despite playing the least relaxing music out there I find playing it relaxing. When I played classical it was stressful and horrible. There was fear before the competitions I attended basically against my will. Now when I preform at local festivals and venues there’s no fear, just joy. This movie isn’t so much about jazz, it’s more about the competition that comes with playing certain genres of music. Classical and jazz both have that aspect of competition and there are pressures that come along with it. Some may like the competition, but in my experience I have only ever seen it create toxic environments.

as a drummer who does play jazz, I have to disagree with the whole if you're hurting yourself you won't get better thing. punching the snare drum was a bit extreme but I've had my hands bleed several times from practicing higher tempos, it's kind of a normal thing. a lot of jazz drummers get bleeding during concerts cos they really go for it with the adrenaline

As a film student, this film was... excellent. No really, it’s brilliant.

This movie is like 2% about jazz. The other 98% is about a) what it's like to give everything you are to the pursuit of greatness, and; b) the power dynamics between an individual like that and a demanding instructor.

If you're looking for another Jazz Movie in pop culture, id suggest looking at Pixar's "Soul". I personally really liked it for the love of jazz that it portrays through the characters and at the animators own hands!

"It didn't happen to me, so it doesn't happen anywhere!" Nice one, bro.

i think the reason why we don't see students talking to each other and sharing music is because the main character completely isolates himself, we see that with the girl he was dating, he is so obsessed with impressing Fletcher that it's the only thing he cares about. his voluntary loneliness is very important to his character

As a student, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was ... Okay

As a jazz musician, this film was extraordinarily accurate.

Personally I, as a brass player myself, took the "sharp the ninth" as playing said sharp ninth especially sharp so it rings well in the chord. Some notes and intervals have to be played flat or sharp so they fit.

As a filmmaker, watching a movie in a tablet, in the middle of a park, it's not okay!

As an entomologist, the Bee Movie was... ok

I was in a jazz band playing piano, and one of two players, so we had to take turns playing. Trouble is, I never had jazz training, don't read music note by note, don't follow the count, never practiced, but the band director was pretty chill, our music transcribing sessions we would play online js games, and he would sneak us out to McDonalds for breakfast. Don't even know why I joined that band.

When youre wrong and pretentious.. you are this guy

As a penguin, Penguin’s Of Madagascar was....ok

Hey Adam, I am one of the guys back there in the trumpet section in the "studio band". You are correct that the guys with speaking roles were not pro musicians. I was the only "real trumpet player" back there, and the rest of the band was about half real musicians, half actors. As you know, this was a low budget film. One of the prerequisites for those actors when they auditioned for a role in the film was that they had to bring their own instrument. THAT LOW BUDGET! The other three trumpet players played in elementary school or middle school and brought their horns with them to the shoot. Additionally, it was interesting that there wasn't a music supervisor present to make sure all musicians looked realistic while playing. There were numerous times where those of us that were the real musicians had to advise the actors how to hold the horn or not to have a trumpet mouthpiece in the trombone (yes this really happened). Also, yes I sharped that 9. You can see me nodding my head in the film ;) Those of us who are real musicians had a good laugh about that line on the set. But hey...I just do as I'm told, I'm not the director!

Watched the movie on the IPad huh? Not really the way to watch a movie.

As a movie enthusiast I can't wrap my head how anyone would wanna watch a movie on a pad device. Kudos to you for noticing everything you did despite that factor.

This video wasn't quite my tempo

As a queen, Bohemian Rhapsody was...okay.

you had no idea what you were watching brother private this video

I think the point of Fletcher playing that Starbucks jazz is that to denote that he is so full of himself that he doesn't notice he became the thing he supposedly hates and despises so much.

6:14 Fletcher knew Andrew was on tempo, he was just trying to get under his skin to make him practice harder. He said later in the movie "there are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." Flecther was afraid that if he gave Andrew credit, he would get lazy.

This isn’t a movie about overcoming obstacles, it’s a movie about obsession.

The tuning the drum part is more accurate than you might think, most drummers I know aren’t tuning their drums to a particular note to match horn players but rather to get a certain tone quality on the drum.

As an astronaut, Interstellar was... okay

As a blind person, Daredevil was... Ok

As a Professional Virgin, Rent-A-Girlfriend was...okay.

A LOT of people are missing the point of this video and it shows by the comments…

I find the music in whiplash to be beautiful as well as perfectly replicating each separate tone of each scene.

It's not a movie about jazz, it's about striving for greatness. The sports movie analogy was spot on.

As Django, being unchained was... okay.

Whiplash isn't even about music, it's about the American work ethic. Psychological terror, unbearable pressure, completely nonsensical instructions, no kind of work life balance whatsoever. This kid is at war now. "Being best" makes more sense to him than the music ever will.

I agree on almost everything you had to say but there’s a couple of things I’d like to touch on that I believe you missed the point, one being the “lack” of joy for music. While no there isn’t any scene of Andrew showing a certain song or artist he loves to listen to, to someone, he expresses his joy of music in other ways. One being his knowledge of knowing music, in the pizzeria you can see him brighten up as he recognizes the song played within the restaurant and informs the girl who’s on the drums, showing his passion for the music. His joy for music is also shown all over his room, from charts, exercises, posters and cassettes. His “joy” of music comes from being a student and practicing from day to night. Something I do myself. While I know you don’t think that “joy” is the same for everybody and the way expressing it but I do think that you might have overlooked that musicians like yourself find joy of overworking themself in practice which is shown throughout the whole movie. Second thing I’d like to touch on is practice itself, while you’re right, you get more use of practice by being patient playing, having correct form and stopping yourself from injury. This movie is based off the hunger of wanting to become one of the greats in music. Which I relate to and I know many others relate to as well. Meaning that, while yes we know that there’s better ways of practice sometimes you become to stubborn and procede to go passed your limit to try to improve within a short amount of time. I’ve gone through many sleepless nights practicing trying to out perform my peers the next day of class, even if it meant my hands would become super tired and sore the next day due to improper posture from being so tired. And lastly circling back, is the want of becoming one of the greats. Like i said before, I relate to this a lot, and find the most joy out of it when it comes to music. Wanting to climb a hill that seems almost impossible is the most joy I can get out of anything I believe, aside from putting on a great performance like Andrew did in the final scene. There’s joy played throughout the whole movie, but may be overlooked because of how dark it may be for example, out performing your peers and being deemed as better than one another, you see how Andrew brightens up and he’s called to go to studio band instead of his classmate, or when he’s placed as a “core”, this gives Andrew joy as he has practiced through all of his free time to gain these positions , another example, is when he breaks up with his girlfriend, as bad as it seems, the script was written very well as I’ve done it myself, you see Andrew almost act emotionless as he’s breaking up with his girlfriend which seems very un normal, but he does so because he knows how much free time he’s going to get back to use for his end goal, which too brings him joy. While it may be dumb to others, a deep passion for something will make you do crazy things, and it may no make sense to others it is totally justified to those who are willing to do so. Just wanted to share this perspective who believe that there too wasn’t any joy within this film:) great video by the way, taught me a lot about this film I didnt know before and this is my favorite!

As a deer hunter. Bambi was ok.

My interpretation of the scene with Fletcher playing in the jazz club was more to show that he was a hypocrite. Fletcher demands that his students constantly push themselves to reach musical excellence even though he himself as a musician is uninspired and amateur. I thought it gave him more dimension as a character since it revealed that his passion for teaching came from a belief that if he himself could never be a great musician, at least he might be able to inspire one of his students to become one.

knowing it by heart and having it memorized means the same thing

Perfect review! I always thought they went overboard with the script! This brings great light to the film vs. reality...thank you!

as a chemist, breaking bad was...okay

As a person with hairy feet, The Lord of the Rings was...okay

2:24 it's weird because I've heard this sort of thing from musicians so many times but my family actually accepted my interest in music and have supported me completely, and they all like my music, but when I got into making movies, all that support I got from making music vanished, my parents mainly. they really believe I shouldn't be doing it, so naturally I've put a pause on making music and I've gone balls deep into film.

Six years higher education in jazz studies - if any prof treated me that way just once I would have walked out and dropped the class. The absolute least inspiring thing to me in learning music would be threats and abuse.

As a Mentally Disabled Fish, Finding Dory was... What was i talking about?

As a pretentious jazz musician, this video was... perfect

I went to music school for drums and percussion and this is one of my favorite movies of all time. I had some perfectionist teachers that would throw sticks across the room when frustrated, but nothing like the psychological war that Fletcher waged. I thought it was brilliant

There's no need to apologize because this is fun. Granted, this movie isn't about music. The jazz takes a second place to the theme and story telling but its still fun to analyze and pick everything apart

In order to properly analyze this movie, I watched it on an ipad outside with a bunch of other shit happening around me.

I think some people in the comments are forgetting that the review is being delivered by a MUSICIAN not a FILM CRITIC

As a toy, Toy Story was… okay.

From the title alone, I expected this video to be lathered with eyerolls, pomp, and condescension. You did not disappoint..

As an executioner, the Passion of the Christ was... okay.

As a basketball player, Space Jam was PERFECT

Hahaha that last shot of you practising superimposed over the drum punching is a wonderful and funny summation of your argument. Can’t wait to see Sungazer in Sydney!!

My dad was almost the same way as Fletcher. He was a musician and he tried to teach me but he was a perfectionist and *absolutely lost it* when I couldn't play right the first time and no matter how much I practiced it wasn't good enough, it got so bad I swore off playing instruments. I still enjoy music and dabble in making music now but nowhere near the stuff my dad can do

As a Brazilian, Adam watching a movie on a tablet AT NIGHT at a park was... not okay.

As a somali pirate, pirates of the Caribbeans was... okay

Adam, I've been looking for that video from a few years ago of your original composition with a small ensemble. I loved it but I don't remember what you called it.

i’d hate my life if i went through every movie and critiqued it to this level

Ok was Memento, as a tattoo artist.

As a mathematician, Good Will Hunting vastly overestimates how many girlfriends we can get and underestimates how many therapy sessions we go to.

Excellent review! Watching your review, I remain convinced that this film would have benefited way more from the drum corps setting than jazz big band. The physical demands, the berating, even the practice sessions (to an extent) all play more realistically. The competition would be there. People literally do earn their spots on the drumline. It would, of course, be a bit of a different story though. Drum corps is almost exclusively anchored to conformity. There would be no world where an extended drum solo finale would be possible. Perhaps the line could go rogue and write their own notes, but it would probably be to the detriment of the larger band. And I think the story would be focused more on the individual vs the group in an ensemble rather than the achievement of greatness at all costs ... or maybe a little bit of both? Another interesting turn of tone for drum corps is, while many musicians go on from drum corps to have lasting musical careers, it's usually entirely different from the type of performance they gave in the corps. Unless they become a marching instructor themselves, they would likely move on almost immediately to a style of music with more longevity. Sure, there's transferrable skills, but like no one will care if you're playing shirley murphys or just accented triplets. It's overboard.

Thanks for this video. I had much the same reactions to the irregularities in the movies. Still and all though, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. As a quick side note, I once got to hear Buddy Rich chewing out his band from a hallway outside their dressing room. It was one of the highlights of my life. :)