Movie Review: Whiplash

Whiplash, the dazzling debut film from writer/director Damien Chazelle, is undoubtedly the most intense and nerve-racking movie of the year. Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons deliver performances of a lifetime and Chazelle proves to be just as virtuosic behind the camera as the musicians/characters in the film.

Teller stars as Andrew Neiman, a fresh faced, first year student at the finest music academy in NYC. He's a nineteen year old drum prodigy who yearns to be "one of the greats." His drive is noticed early on by the school's infamous head conductor, Terence Fletcher (Simmons), who's notorious for pushing his students beyond the edge of sanity to achieve results. What happens next is a mind blowing update of the classic unstoppable force vs immoveable object troupe, or Tom vs Jerry, Itchy vs Scratchy...pick your poison. Neiman's unbridled passion for his craft, coupled with Fletcher's blood lust for immortality amongst the pantheons of jazz greats, results in a terrifying onscreen rivalry that slowly but surely morphs into the weirdest buddy picture of modern cinema. Neiman and Fletcher may be at odds but as the film progresses we see that they are really just two sides of the same OCD riddled coin. Can the student surpass the teacher, or will he be decapitated by flying objects during rehearsal? Imagine Anakin Skywalker being trained by Lee Ermey from Full Metal Jacket instead of Obi-wan and you'll start see what Whiplash is all about.

The film's opening scene foreshadows the rest of the movie. Neiman is practicing alone in an empty classroom and then Fletcher pops in and talks some trash to motivate him. That's basically the entire film in a nutshell. It's amazing how such simple story, with a minimal supporting cast, can prove so captivating in the long run. Chazelle's script, inspired by his own experiences at music school, is sharp and packed to the brim with band geek jargon [TEMPO TEMPO TEMPO] and nods to jazz legends; just as his choice of cuts and closeups really beefs up the tension during the already insanely intense performance sequences. Throw in J.K. Simmon's mind blowing, career defining performance and you've got not only one the best films of the year, but one of the best debut films ever.

Chicks With Drums: Lux (2)

In honor of my previous DrumTHRONE inductee, Mr. Igor Cavalera, here is the lovely Lux covering Sepultura's thrash classic, "Arise." She's fast folks =p

DrumTHRONE: Igor Cavalera

Igor Cavalera was one of my earliest drum heroes. I remember having geeky discussions about who was better, Igor or Dave Lombardo (that's what teenage metal heads do man) and being torn. The dude is a natural behind the kit. An amazing combination of speed, power, grooves and a unique playing style that is all his own.

80's hair FTW

Igor first rose to prominence playing with his brother Max in thrash metal legends Sepultura. In the late 1980's, Sepultura took the underground metal world by storm. They started out as a sort of proto-death metal band and Igor's playing was fast but kind of sloppy. Then, at the ripe old age of 17, Sepultura released Beneath The Remains, a certified thrash classic, and Igor began perfecting his trade mark drum sound. Unfortunately there aren't too many HD videos of Igor's playing in the early days. Here is his isolated drum track from "Inner Self" to illustrate his awesomeness though.


Flash forward to the early 1990's. Sepultura begin to step away from their trash metal comfort zone and begin incorporating more elements of their native Brazilian music into their sound. Igor's tribal drumming on 1993's Chaos A.D. and especially on 1996's Roots, set the standard that just about every Nu-Metal band in the late 90's/early 2000's would rip off.



Igor and his brother Max had a falling out after Roots. Max left Sepultura but Igor and the rest of the band continued on without him. They kept going for nearly a decade until finally, Igor and Max resolved their brothers quarrel and Igor left Sepultura to form Cavalera Conspiracy in 2006. Sepultura still exists as a band to this day but it's basically a karaoke/tribute band at this point. The Cavalera brothers started that band, without Max or Igor, they cease to exist in my mind.

Igor remains one of my favorite drummers but I must say he has one of the oddest, most painful looking drum setups I've ever seen. Just look at his toms. I'd break my wrist in a minute playing his kit.

arthritis incarnate

Now in his 40's, Igor seems to have grown past the confines of "metal" music. He's a successful DJ and member of electronic music duo MIXHELL (performing alongside his wife) and also a father of four. Either way, I'm just stoked the Cavalera brothers are back together and cranking out the jams again. It's the closest thing to a Sepultura reunion we'll ever see, and any excuse to have Igor bashing the drums again is fine with me.

Chicks with Drums: Fumie

found this girl on youtube the other night. All I know is that she's Japanese, likes metal, and tears up the drums! Here she is nailing this Children of Bodom song. Too bad she hasn't updated her channel in over a year. Oh wells.

Chicks with Drums: Meytal Cohen

Time for another installment of, well...you know.
Meytal is one of the reasons why I love Youtube and prefer the internet to television. She's a talented musician, likes metal/hard rock, is cute (DAT SMILE) and likes hitting things with sticks! *swoons*

She's amassed quite a following online since she began posting regular cover videos on her channel last year. I always look forward to her updates and hope to one day, see her live with some type of band or act...rocking out.

Chicks with Drums: Lux

Because you demanded it:

I give you...Chicks with Drums.

This ties in with my previous DrumTHRONE: Dave Lombardo post quite nicely. Today I leave you with the lovely Lux doing a cover of Slayer's "Postmortem." Lux is as talented as she is adorable and I'm not quite sure how but she also plays drums in heels.

DrumTHRONE: Intro

As revealed in my LEGENDARY interview with Zombies Everywhere back in June...I'm a drummer. Well sometimes. Living in an apartment and trying to practice one foot blasts all night is kind of impossible. Sadly, for the past few years my drums have been crammed into various garages and guest rooms at friend's houses. I only get to play them once in a blue moon but hey, when I do it's pretty fun/tiring/awesome. Here's an old clip of my girlfriend goofing around on my kit (6 piece Gretsch Catalina Ash...ebay FTW!).



The drums are somewhere else now, in a smaller room and set up in a much smaller configuration. Woe is me. etc. etc.

So this marks the beginning of a new installment here at Jim's Fear I like to call DrumTHRONE. It's like the drum geek version of Crunch Time, but instead of wetting my panties over heavy metal guitar riffs, I'll gush over the dudes that bash shit real good with sticks. Stay tuned the first official installment soon!

Black Metal Lulz: Frost

Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad aka Frost, is one of the most talented drummers in extreme metal. He currently drums for both Satyricon and 1349 and has done guests spots for a bunch of other black metal bands. The dude plays lightening fast double bass and bashes his drums with POWER. There's an almost manic quality to his playing that's both inspiring and unsettling at the same time.


Accolades aside, Mr. Frost's appearance in the 2009 black metal documentary, Until The Light Takes Us successfully shits over his insane musical prowess and makes him come off as some trend hoping poseur. Although I strongly disagree with the way Frost is portrayed in the film, even I couldn't help but lol at this airplane scene:

you see that kid's face at the 0:13 mark!? Damn that's some good unscripted stuff. Talk about taking it all a little too seriously. Lighten up Frost...you're scaring the kids!