8. Whiplash
There are some films where many aspects of the filmmaking process fall by the wayside and make way for something special. Whiplash is well shot, tightly scripted and features a great jazz score, but when all is said and done it's the central performances from Miles Teller and J. K. Simmons which remains imprinted on your mind. Simmons fully deserved his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, although anyone familiar with the HBO prison drama Oz will be aware of his knack for playing explosive nutcases. Here he gets the tone just right, as he bullies his student, drummer Andrew Neiman (Teller), in order to draw out the best possible musicianship he can. It's an intense movie which relies on the pitch perfect back and forth between its two leads and succeeds because of their unfaltering chemistry. The breathtaking energy in the final scene alone is enough to make Whiplash a modern classic.