Spider-Man's J Jonah Jameson should have pre-warned audiences of what JK Simmons would go on to do in Whiplash, but not even three whole films of Simmons motor-mouthing as Spidey's newspaper impresario was enough. Because in Whiplash, as Shaffer Conservatory conductor Terence Fletcher, Simmons is the schoolteacher of you nightmares, if schoolteachers were still allowed to throw objects at your head. Terrorising music student Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller, also terrific) in a bid to make this talented new musician the best by any means, Fletcher will do anything - include threaten to "f**k you like a pig" - if he think it'll draw out the best performance. His pupils, in the face of this quasi-Sergeant Hartman, are terrified. Of course, Fletcher wouldn't be nearly as successful a character if writer-director Damien Chazelle had made him just another psychotic, bellowing sharp insults because it's fun for the audience to watch (and it is fun). There is actually a soul in there, beneath the steely exterior - watch Simmons in the jazz bar scene, when Fletcher convinces Andrew and the viewer that his approach may actually be the right one after all.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
