Whiplash is this year's little indie movie that could. Like Beasts Of The Southern Wild, The Kids Are All Right, and Winter's Bone before it, Whiplash is a Sundance film which earned solid reviews in the early days of January and slowly grew more and more momentum as more audiences got their eyes on the film itself. Bouncing from one festival to the next, Whiplash is an undeniable crowd pleaser that has made an impact on its audiences everywhere, including many potential Academy voters. The film, which was partially based on director Damien Chazelle's own experience with his high school jazz band instructor, tells the story of a would be jazz musician's emotionally abusive relationship with his incredibly sadistic band teacher. J.K. Simmons unforgettable performance as the villainous teacher from hell is the clear stand out of the movie, but Whiplash is also a remarkably well made film. With up-tempo pacing that draws its audience in, unless Fletcher's cruel antics bring up bad memories of a traumatic experience with a bad teacher, its hard to imagine someone not liking Whiplash. It's this sort of broad love and admiration that easily translates into a Best Picture nomination from the Academy. While some pundits may have Whiplash a bit further back in the pack due to its humble origins, the truth of the matter is, at this point, the film is basically a "lock". Like an intelligent jockey waiting to surge for the finish after the last turn, Whiplash has stayed in the back of the Oscar conversation all year and has come charging towards victory at just the right moment.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
