1. Whiplash
Release Date: 16th January
The Talent: Damien Chazelle (Director); Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser
The Story: A promising young drummer enrols at a cut-throat music school where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realise a student's potential.
Why You Should Be Excited: Exhilarating. Extraordinary. Astounding. Electrifying. These are just a few choice picks from the abundance of review quotes that make up the poster for Whiplash. Only a select few other movies in recent memory have garnered such feverish universal acclaim, which is pretty amazing when you consider that the plot sounds suspiciously like it could lean towards cliché. It's that typical story where a prodigy, in this case a drummer, finds himself learning from a curmudgeonly yet brilliant professor. Yeah, been there, done that. And yet, by all accounts Whiplash is a spectacularly emotional and visceral experience that will chew you up and spit you out of the cinema, elated and exhausted. It has been described as a cathartic experience, a triumph of the highest order from young writer/director Damien Chazelle. Miles Teller, known for his smart-alec persona in comedies such as 21 & Over, has been described a revelation, but the movie sounds like it belongs solely to J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man series), who apparently attacks his role with animalistic fervour.
Do you agree that January looks to be a top notch movie month? Any new releases that we haven't spotlighted? Let us know in the comments.