Review of Whiplash (2014) by Bobby F — 13 Aug 2016

An excellent movie, deserving of the hype and craze it had amassed by late 2014 - a movie that bucks tradition along major beats, yet it manages to make us feel familiar with the format like any good underdog sports story - until we are hit with how certain characters may actuary behave in their given scenes..Then, you think you've got all the cliches and tropes nailed down, and have the movie's mid-way point conflicts all figured out...

....However, by the time you've realized you were oh so wrong, you're already left holding the bag of very non-traditional twists and endings which is surprisingly refreshing in a genre that tends to follow the same major beaten pathways. In a world where movies are audience screen-tested, tweaked, and then constantly shifted further and further away from the director's original ending to appease idiot masses, this gem of a movie is not afraid to leave you thinking and guessing (and if you really, really don't like being given the ability to fill in a few holes on your own, you can find the closest thing to an alternative ending via the director's interviews on the interwebz).