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EP. 21 Whiplash (2014)
146 Plays1 year ago
Nick & Gerald review Damien Chazelle's masterpiece Whiplash!
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Transcript
Introduction and Movie Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys One Screen. My name is Nick. And I'm Gerald. And today, the day has finally come. We're reviewing one of my all-time favorite movies, Whiplash. I've been telling you to watch this fucking movie for years. Literal years. I'm so excited to get into it. But before that, a little pre-com.
Social Media and Contact Information
00:00:28
Speaker
Plug it in. Plug it in.
00:00:32
Speaker
A little pre come but before that a little plug action um So before that might as well plug our socials not even in oh A little plug action. bug plugin Follow us on Instagram, two guys, one screen pod, and then send any comments, concerns, requests at two guys, one screen pod at gmail dot.com. Letterbox are also linked in the description. The new tick tock will be in the description as well. Yeah. Send us an email. Give us a follow. Follow the page, please.
Recent Movie Pickups
00:01:24
Speaker
I, unfortunately you don't have any physical media pickups this week. Do you have any you'd like to share, sir? I have three. Thank you for asking. So the first one I found at Dollar Tree. Shout out to him. Uh, it's called ghost team one. Arouse the dead.
00:01:47
Speaker
What the fuck are you talking about? it ah It's a from the way it says on the back, it's a found footage movie where they move into a house ah and they're all horny and they discover a demon that wants to fuck them. Second, I have Ma Ma. That's a shout out. Shut up, Ma.
00:02:16
Speaker
Uh, I didn't see this when it came out. It looked pretty shit, but it was $5. It's like, you know, she's partying with the kids and then I guess she kills them. I don't know. Who is the one on the front? Octavia Spencer. Okay. Yeah. Part of her. Yeah. And then something I'm very happy that I found, not that it's hard to find, but I wish it was the Scream Factory version, but this version will do. Uh, the 2004 unrated director's cut remake of Dawn of the dead for ive never seen that i have to say it five hours. Have you seen the original? No, I haven't seen any of them. The remake is actually really good. I will have to give that a watch. I agree.
00:03:04
Speaker
Yeah, ah those are those are some cool interesting unique pickups you got there. ah Only one of those are good movies. Hell, yeah.
Passion for 'Whiplash' and Damien Chazelle Films
00:03:15
Speaker
All right, so we're going to get into Whiplash.
00:03:20
Speaker
Which again is literally one of my favorite movies of all time. I fucking love this movie. The movie came out in 2014, directed by Damien Chazelle of of lala land fame babylon the first man which i haven't seen the first man uh babylon i think is kind of mid but that's kind of actually it's not a hot take i think it's a hot take to like babylon have you seen it babylon what's it about is that movie with uh what's your name margarabi oh you haven't seen it yeah it's like
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, it's one hundred and eighty nine minutes. Oh, hell no.
00:04:01
Speaker
um Lala and have you seen seen Lala Land?
'Whiplash' Cast and Synopsis
00:04:06
Speaker
Sorry. So this movie came out in 2014 and it stars Miles Teller, who's a well-known actor, who's in Top Gun Maverick, Project X.
00:04:18
Speaker
Divergent in surgeon remember that whole series they try to do it didn't work. It didn't work at all He was in the fan for stick yikes. I keep thinking in here stick Just said that's what people call a fan for stick. Okay fan whores dick. Honestly, it's terrible.
00:04:35
Speaker
ah I I always confuse him with the guy who plays the main dude and ready player one and They do look very similar, right? And the guy from Baby Driver. Yeah, they all look so similar. yeah There are all these white men, all these white men, same haircut. ah So my Miles Teller plays Andrew Neiman. I'm saying his last name, too, because I'm going to probably call him Andrew and Neiman during this episode. Yeah.
Opening Scene Analysis: Andrew and Fletcher's Dynamic
00:05:04
Speaker
JK Simmons, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, plays Fletcher ah Terence Fletcher.
00:05:11
Speaker
to you.
00:05:14
Speaker
but sir Jim Jim Reiser. I read that wrong. Paul Reiser plays Jim, who is ah Andrew Neiman's father. Melissa then Benoit, maybe Benoit, who knows? Like Chris Benoit, shout out to him, actually. Don't shout out Chris Benoit.
00:05:39
Speaker
ah She plays Nicole and really gets just the fucking wrong and wrong end of the stick in this movie. i Man, I felt bad for her so much. Austin Stowe plays Ryan Connolly. Nate Lang plays Carl, who is the alternate drummer.
00:05:58
Speaker
And then... Yeah, the rest of the cast... We don't really care about... Well, we care about them, but they're not major roles. Key and Alan? Yo, Key and Alan is a Studio Core member! Hey! There's only... There's only receiving credit? Uh... Acting credit is for Whiplash? Let's go. Shout out to Key and Alan. You fucking legend. Don't get hurt. CT. Alright, so...
00:06:27
Speaker
What were your your overall non-spoiler thoughts about this movie? It really took me by surprise. I did not expect this level of engagement for a movie about drumming. I'm not gonna lie to you. It's ah it's so good.
Fletcher's Teaching Style vs. Host Experiences
00:06:49
Speaker
All right. We'll start from the top. If you haven't, if you have not seen this movie, um, I won't be surprised because my coast hasn't seen it. It's been out for 10 years. Do you really need to, I'll say that yeah you need to watch it. The letterbox average rating is like a 4.4. It movies are really good. All right. So yeah, the movie opens. We are in a long semi-dark hallway and it is a shot of our main character, Andrew drumming.
00:07:18
Speaker
Uh, and it slowly zooms in. He's just practicing, just jamming out, having a good time. And Fletcher, more of us like silhouette appears in the doorway and he's like, Who are you? How many, like, what's, what year are you in? He's ah Andrew, the freshmen. And he goes, do you know who I am? Which is like already kind of set the tone for what's going to happen in this goddamn movie. sure And, uh, this whole scene is great. He's like, so you know, I'm looking for players, right?
00:07:49
Speaker
And then he's like, how can you stop playing? So then Andrew just starts playing again. He goes, did I ask you to start playing again? Yeah. He calls him a wind up monkey.
00:08:00
Speaker
um So Fletcher goes, let me hear your rudiments. ah And he goes, all right, do a double time swing, which I don't know what that means. But he does it. Well, he doesn't do it fast enough at first. Then Fletcher starts clapping. And he starts to do it again.
00:08:16
Speaker
and you're The camera goes to Andrew trying to do a double time swing and you hear the door slam and Fletcher's out the door. Then he comes back in and Nieman's like, oh, maybe there's a chance. And he's like, I forgot my hat and he or his jacket. Oopsie daisy. And he leaves. I should say. Besides this movie being absolutely amazing, I did orchestra for eight years. I was a cellist.
00:08:44
Speaker
if you wanna call it being a jealous, but I did this. I just feel like a lot of music school trying to perfect your craft is somewhat relatable. I mean, what happens to this poor kid is not, but sure, ah at least that part is.
Andrew's Personal Life and Dedication to Drumming
00:08:58
Speaker
So Andrew leaves the school and it's like, a just film him leaving. And I'm guessing their point here was like, he stays a late to practice. He's there all night. We cut to, he's at the movies with his father. The father puts raisinets in the popcorn.
00:09:14
Speaker
What psychopath does this? And Andrew tells them, nah, yeah I each eat around them. I don't like raisinets. I'll just eat around it. It's fine. You like raisinets? No. I was going to ask you your go to movie snack, actually. Go to movie snack is definitely Sour Patch Kids. Yeah, I probably could have guessed that. I have developed a bit of a ritual as far as what's that look for? Routine? Ritual. Shadow Coast. It's a good song.
00:09:45
Speaker
I do a coke and a coke. What movie theater are you going to that gives you coke? ah Regal gives Pepsi AMC does coke and Alamo also does coke. Really? Yeah. Oh, it's only Regal changed. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I get a coke as I was like a fucking adult and I get a peanut M&Ms. Sometimes I'll do a popcorn, but it gets stuck in your teeth. It's just like, I don't even fuck with peanuts like that, but like peanut M&Ms, they hit so different, dude. it's They're so good. So that's typically what I get. I also i also get a Pepsi. So your local theater is a regal.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah. And also you like back in the day when we went, it was, it's a recent change. Cause when you, we went to theaters and grown up as kids, that was always Coke. You think it's like the last like five years, maybe three, three, probably. I think less than that. Yeah. Cause I went back. I think I noticed it when I went home and I went and saw Wonka and I was like, Oh, they have Pepsi here. Hmm. I think I texted you about it. I don't remember. You probably did. Probably did. So that the theaters in raising that's in popcorn. Crazy.
00:11:02
Speaker
Andrew's telling his father, I guess the ads are playing or something that Fletcher saw him play. And they referred him as like, oh, he saw you? He's like, yeah, he saw me. Just like, he's this mystical figure in the industry or at the school at Chafer. Almost like a legend figure. Right. And we follow Andrew home. He has an apartment. And there's a whole party on. A whole party on. There's a whole party going on next to his apartment. It's, it's, it's.
00:11:33
Speaker
He kind of looks at it and just goes inside. I think the point of this scene here was to be like, yeah, he's not going out. He's a loner. He has no a lot of friends. So he goes to sleep and we cut to.
First Rehearsal with Fletcher's Band
00:11:51
Speaker
Andrew at rehearsal with they're called the Nassau Band. And he's set up the drum kit, tune it, whatever.
00:12:01
Speaker
And he notices a couple making on it making out, and again, it's like low in revives, he's not gonna see, he doesn't have a chance at love, he's gonna die alone, I don't know. Maybe it should be me being a pessimist. And there's some dude in the band talking shit about something he's trying to listen to, and then he notices the door, there's like a shadow like kind of standing there, and like then it just goes away.
00:12:26
Speaker
And after their rehearsal, Andrew's walking in the hallway and he stops and sees Fletcher conducting his band, which is called Studio Band. And ah Fletcher, like the scene is so cool because he peaks his head in the window and Fletcher's already looking out the door like already knows he's there. Yeah. And he freaks out, runs away. And we cut to Andrew practicing some more. And the class Conley comes in.
00:12:55
Speaker
And there the the black dude was all like, oh, man, it's great to have you back or whatever. Oh, that was the next one. Oh, is it actually? Yeah. Oh, OK. Because they have. um
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, so like you said, Connie walks in and ah another guy, the basis, I think, is like, yeah, it's great to have you back. Andrew does whatever he wants. And they were rehearsing and Andrew's literally playing. Jesus freestyling the music as they're rehearsing and their conductor looks over at him and he's like, like, what are you doing, man? Um, so as they're rehearsing, Fletcher busts the door open, ah walks in. And, uh, I think this is such big dick energy, man. He walks in and the other teacher, like, that doesn't bow down, but he's like, he's like, I'm gonna get out of the way now.
00:13:46
Speaker
He's like, do what you want to do, sir. Yeah. He's like, I'll be I'll be out of your way. He looks over their music and he calls it cute. Yeah. And he goes down the line and he has each ah player in the in the band play a certain bar or measure of the music for him. Does the trumpets, the trombones, the saxophones.
Fletcher's Abusive Rehearsal Tactics
00:14:09
Speaker
He gets the first chair of the What is the flute clarinet? One of those. I think it was actually saxophone. It was saxophone. Yeah. You go. It's a girl and he goes, let's see if you're a first year because you're cute or because you can play. And he cues her in and she's completely late. Doesn't play in tune. He's like, yep. Yeah. Cause you're cute. Um, goes over to the drums and has Conley, uh, play double time swing. And then he has, uh, Andrew play double time swing.
00:14:42
Speaker
And at first Fletcher's like, all right, thanks. He starts leaving and he turns around and he's like, all right, jump with me. And Connelly gets up and he's like, no, Neiman or Andrew. Um, so Andrew walks over to Fletcher, like follow him out and Fletcher's like, yeah, tomorrow morning, this room at 6am. Don't be late. Don't be late. We cut the movie theater.
00:15:06
Speaker
And well, actually, so Andrew goes and sits back down and they keep rehearsing. And you can tell his mind is like somewhere else of like, holy shit, I just got in a studio band and like he's not even paying attention. So we cut to the movie theater.
00:15:21
Speaker
and we see the receptionist, Nicole, and he asks around a date, and this is crazy, I would literally jump off a fucking bridge. His confidence right now is through the fucking roof. Yeah, he is that bitch. Dude just walks up to her, he's like, hey, you know.
00:15:37
Speaker
I've been here a while. I see you a lot. I see you a lot. I've been thinking, you wanna maybe go out with me? And she says, please go away. As a joke. i would If someone said, please go away, I'm throwing myself off a balcony. And he's like, whoa. And she's like, no, no, no, no. its so I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. And he walks away. He's hyped. He's like, life has never been better. They're going to go to a pizza place.
00:16:02
Speaker
now when i First saw that I was like he's not gonna make that date oh Really? That was what yeah, I was like he's gonna be practicing or whatever and missed the date Well, I'm sure if you thought that you never expected how they break it off. Yeah, not at all fucking crazy ah So he's hyped a cut to the next morning and the clock he's clearly overslept 603 when he wakes up and he is rushing to get there. He falls down a flight of stairs. He's a this it's a mess. He opens the door. There's nobody there. He's like, huh? And he walks outside in the hallway and it says on the on the paper outside the door that rehearsal starts at nine. So he just sits there at at nine until nine o'clock for like three hours. He just sits there.
00:16:55
Speaker
Yeah. So Fletcher's fucking with him already. Already he's playing mind games. The band starts to file in and the core drummer, Carl, uh, you know, Andrew tries to be a cordial with him. Like, Hey, how's it going? He's like, just turn my pages. Like I want to hear anything out of your mouth. Straight dickhead, straight dickhead energy. And this is fucking great. So he turned, he tunes the drums. He asked the piano player for a ah a tone, a note, a B flat.
00:17:24
Speaker
Hey, look at you with with tiny details. Thanks, dawg. And this random dude in the the band yells, milk the cunt. And we're all just kind of like, huh, milk the cunt? Which I guess means, like, let's tune the let's tune the band.
00:17:43
Speaker
They start tuning the band. ah They finish, and they show the clock. The clock strikes like 9 AM, m whatever it was. Like secondhand, boom, 9 o'clock, Fletcher, doors fly open, he walks in. Everyone stands at attention, like it's military. They all have their heads down. That's what I was going to say. no Nobody's making eye contact. No one's looking at them. Except for Nieman. Yeah, Nieman's just kind of like, what's going on? Yeah.
00:18:09
Speaker
Fletcher walks in, greets everybody. He says, we have a new ah new student, new member, who is called The Squeaker. Whoa. um And they he goes, all right, we're going to play Whiplash, which is the name one of the pieces. And they start playing. And Andrew forgets to turn the pages for Carl. And Carl is like, fucking turn the pages. um So they're playing. And Fletcher stops.
00:18:34
Speaker
the band, and he goes tells his student, Parker, Parker, that's not your boyfriend's dick, do not come in early, which is wild. So that's just setting up for the crazy shit that Fletcher says. And then they go to reset, and this is yeah this is, I think about this, this lives in my head rent free all the time. It does like a close up of like each instrument getting ready, like someone putting like a trumpet to their mouth or whatever, and this guy drains,
00:19:04
Speaker
that's Eliva out of his trombone and it all like falls in there. It's like, it's like a quarter cup of saliva. It's gross. disgusting i Think about it all the time. It's so gnarly. They start rehearsing again. Fletcher stops the band. There is somebody playing attitude and it's so funny the way Fletcher frames this. So when I was, when I first watched this, you know, it's my first time seeing it, uh, Andrew, uh, tuned the drums earlier.
00:19:34
Speaker
So I was thinking the entire time, oh, shit, Andrew didn't tune the drums properly. I was like, he's going to fuck it up. That's yeah, that's a that's a valid thought. You know, it's funny. I love this movie so much and I don't remember the first time I watched it. I couldn't tell you really. It wasn't in theaters. I must have seen it like during the pandemic. Maybe I don't know. Streamed it. Yeah.
00:19:57
Speaker
So Fletcher frames this whole thing, he's like, either someone is intentionally trying to sabotage my band by playing out of tune, or even worse, they don't know they're out of tune. So he kind of narrows it down, he has like, you know, the Reeds plays like, oh, here it is. And he walks over to this little fat white kid, and he calls him Elmer Fudd.
00:20:23
Speaker
Um, and Fletcher, he goes, all right, you know, play whatever bar and any plays. And he goes, do you know if you're in tune or attitude and, uh, Elmer Fudd looks down and he's like, he's like,
00:20:39
Speaker
there's no bar There's no bars bar down there look at me but um So This kid is just crippled like no confidence, and he just admits. He's like yeah, I'm the one that's out of attitude and Fletcher's like yeah get the fuck out He's like is a happy meal. He was like maybe your mind wasn't on a happy meal. You'd be fucking paying attention and
Andrew's Practice Struggles and Family Conflict
00:21:04
Speaker
after he leaves Fletcher tells the band that it was actually this kid Metz who was out of tune. But Elmer Fudd didn't know. And that's even worse than, you know what I mean? is that ah Is that typically how it went? Not to that extent. Getting kicked out for playing out of tune? No. No, but yeah we get. Go ahead. Would you get called out for it?
00:21:29
Speaker
ah I loved my my teachers. If they're listening, shout out Mr. and Miss Hammond. You guys are fucking amazing. um they were fantastic but if we were out of tune typically like our our group was so much larger than their band like we had like 30 to 40 kids that'd be like oh someone in the cello section is out of tune guys watch your intonation over here and then like if it was really bad it was a group thing that have us They'd have us just, like, just that group play, like, just the cellos play. And we'd play each note of the bars, like, and just hold, like, let's say it's like G-A-B. We just hold a G note for a long time. And she'd be like, hear how this sounds right. Now go to the next one, A. And if it wasn't right, she'd be like, so-and-so, fix your finger. So-and-so, like that. And you'd go until you got it right. ah Yeah, no one's getting kicked out. Metz was out of tune, but it was, Elmer Fudd didn't know what he was playing into, and so.
00:22:23
Speaker
ah Fletcher calls for a break tells the band that the squeaker is on when they come back um So we cut to Andrew writing in counting which but I don't know what the fuck he was writing. That's not how you write counting ah And this shit is just the mental warfare Fletcher walks over this is where it starts I mean, you could argue with starter from the, the opening scene of like, why'd you stop playing? Did I tell you to start playing? Yeah, it's just, what I mean, this man is, this is when it starts getting physical. This man is cerebral. So Andrew, uh, Fletcher has a heart to heart with. Andrea says, like, Oh, you know, to make your parents, Andrew tells, uh, Fletcher, his father is a writer and his mom dipped out.
00:23:11
Speaker
early and he's like, Oh yeah, you know, just go out there, have fun, relax. You're here for a reason. And he's like, say it, say you're here for a reason. He makes Andrew say it. And Andrew says it. And after Fletcher walks away, Andrew has like a smirk on his face, like, yeah, I should feel good about myself. And then we cut back to rehearsal and he goes, all right, we're gonna play whiplash, but we're gonna play it slower.
00:23:35
Speaker
And he has Nieman start playing it. And he has him do fills, which is like, I guess, like just do every one. I don't know, like, you know, fill the gaps. He's like, yeah, we got ah Buddy Rich, the next Buddy Rich here. And he stumbles on something. I didn't catch it because I don't know. And it.
00:23:57
Speaker
yeah and but this is like the classic meme of like uh not quite my tempo it's like a huge thing on the internet is that's like a big meme and uh he's like oh you're rushing do it again oh you're dragging and he's cordial at this point and he slowly gets like angry and angrier uh and andrew is kind of flustered because he's gotten singled out on his first day with his band and
00:24:27
Speaker
Fletcher goes to like start him and he starts playing even without a cue and he's like, wait for me, like take a minute. So then he starts him and it looks like he's like back on track. Fletcher starts like nodding his head and he starts to walk away and he just turns around and wails a chair at him. Bro. Yeah. Ain't no way.
00:24:51
Speaker
and And Fletcher goes, do you have any idea why I threw a chair at you? And he's like, are you rushing or are you dragging? And Nieman doesn't know. He has no idea. He goes, start counting. So Nieman starts counting out loud. And Fletcher intentionally starts smacking him in the face. But it's like it's like to as if a note was being played.
00:25:19
Speaker
And he's like, was I rushing or was I dragging? And Nieman doesn't know. And he says to him, if you deliberately sabotage my band, I will fuck you like a pig. He's just fucking brutal, dude. ah But Nieman
00:25:41
Speaker
So he goes, I'll fuck you like a pig. And then he's like, sight read whatever measure. And nemen it just sounds like a jumbled mess. And he's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or not. Yes. Yeah. and And Fletcher goes, I didn't know they allowed retards into Shae Ferture. Can you read music? And he goes, sight read. But he just speaks. He goes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:26:09
Speaker
And he's like, what are you a fucking acapella group play the kit and the kid is like the drum set, right? It's just so it's just so funny ah and even starts crying and ah Fletcher goes are you one of those single-tiered people doing a double fucking rainbow to you?
00:26:30
Speaker
fucking ruthless yeah And He goes, hey, tell the class you're upset. And he keeps making them say it like over and over and until it's loud enough. And then he called them a friendless, faggot lip piece of shit whose mommy left daddy when she found out he wasn't some famous a writer. Or he didn't make it big, essentially. like
00:26:56
Speaker
ah After that Neiman rushes home and this was this little part I caught I thought was interesting like he must be like visibly upset and he walks outside and there's these two bases talking to each other and he just walked by like very very upset and they'd like don't even like bat and I like What was that? It was just like nobody cares like being an adult. It's like really pushing you to the to understand like how little He's not worth anything it's ruthless out here. Yeah, I And even practicing more, he moves all of his shit, his toothbrush, his mattress, all into his room where he's been practicing his drums. And they show this gnarly blister on his hand from when he's been drumming and he puts a ah single bandaid over it. And then it bleeds the bandaid and he puts the second one on on top of it.
00:27:48
Speaker
ah Frustrated that he can't play what he wants to play.
00:27:55
Speaker
Band-Aid falls off his blood all over the drum kit, gnarly. We cut to a date, the date with Nicole at the pizzeria. This is one of the most cringiest dates I've ever seen.
00:28:09
Speaker
I think some of it's good here. You do? Uh, yeah, I think parts of it, I think work really well, but like when the music's on and he's like, Oh yeah, this is so-and-so by so-and-so and this year it felt cringe, but like he's a fucking, he's just obsessed with yeah music is music. Yeah. And,
00:28:29
Speaker
you know, he's going to shake. He's, you know, asking what she wants to do and she's not really sure. She's from Arizona. She's going to Fordham and he's like, so Fordham was just a random choice or and she's like, well, Fordham accepted me and I'm just not really sure I want to major in yet. And she's like, well, why do you want to go to Shafer? And he's like, because schfffer I'm going to share because of the best, you know, music school in the country. And Andrew's very set in like what he wants to do and she's not. and It almost feels like he's criticizing her for it. Right. Without saying it.
00:28:59
Speaker
or maybe saying it intentionally, but by the end of it, he's able to reconcile the date and the
Breakup with Nicole and Drumming Obsession
00:29:07
Speaker
date ends before it cuts the next scene of her touching his foot with her foot. And it's like, what's the action? This dude, this dude's fucking a douche. and I mean, you know, we cut to the Overbrook jazz competition.
00:29:24
Speaker
And Andrew peaks through his little doorway and he's Fletcher talking to a friend of his and his friend has a daughter who's very, very young. Probably like two or three. And he's like, oh, are you going to play piano in my band when you're older? And she's like, yeah. And he's like, all right, give me a high five.
00:29:44
Speaker
And then, you know, that conversation ends and he sees Fletcher walking towards the door. So he moves out of the way and Fletcher walks and goes, all right, cocksuckers. He's just like, this is like the duality of man. He loves calling everybody cocksuckers. Shout out Joey Diaz. He gives him a pep talk about, you know, this bar or whatever. And over here, don't play out of tune. Tells the band if I see one of these fucking music folders,
00:30:08
Speaker
yeah Again, like it's not going to be good. It mentions that at these jazz competitions that you know reps from like Lincoln Center, these big venues are always there looking for new talent.
00:30:21
Speaker
And he's like, we will not, something that they're not going to lose the competition to because his band is a bunch of limp dick, sour note flyer than their girlfriend's chest, pussies. That's what he calls them. And then the little, I can't even say a little, that's rude. The guy walks in to tell, a guy walks in to tell Fletcher that they're ready to go on and, uh,
00:30:46
Speaker
When he walks in, Fletcher is still finishing this pep talk, if you want to call it that. And he's like, get the fuck out of here before I demolish you. yeah He his sentence and the guy is still standing there. He's like, I can still see you. I can still fucking see you. Minnie me, he calls him Minnie me. It's fucking funny. So they go up, they have, they perform a song, a piece, and it goes fine. Carl gives Andrew his music folder.
00:31:14
Speaker
And Andrew walks over to grab a drink at the vending machine. He's drinking mug root beer, by the way. Is he you caught what he was drinking? and It was mug root beer. And he sees like these two people down the hallway talking, and he's like kind of like eavesdropping, like looking at him and his back is to the folder.
00:31:33
Speaker
And then Carl appears and he goes, so where's the folders? Oh, yeah, it's right here. And it's not there. The folder's gone. You lost the fucking folder. Oh, he's freaking out. And he knows. Oh, yeah. Fletcher fucking warned them. Keep the folder on you at all times. Right. So they have to tell Fletcher and Carl's Fletch is like, well, why the fuck would you give it to Neiman? And he says, if you give a calculator to a monkey, they're going to try to turn the TV on with it.
00:32:06
Speaker
ah so
00:32:09
Speaker
ah Oh, he actually said if you give a calculator a retard, but whatever. And, uh, call can't play the, the, the, the charts as they call them. But Neiman has it down by memory. He's like, I can't, I can't play it without, you know, right. And he's like, are you fucking kidding me right now? You're doing this for how long? He's like, I get anxious. I get nervous. So they throw Neiman up there to play whatever by memory and Neiman does it. It goes over and Shafer wins.
00:32:42
Speaker
So we cut to the next rehearsal day and obviously everyone in the band thinks that Nieman intentionally took Carl's folder to like sabotage Carl and get a spot. And we hear the piano player say to Nieman, don't touch my shit, man.
00:33:01
Speaker
yeah ah fletcher When Fletcher walks in, Carl is on the drum kit and
00:33:10
Speaker
Fletcher's like, I don't got time for alternates today, man. He's like, don't forget to turn Neiman's pages. like He's really just brewing this toxic, toxic environment. That's what it is. It's a very toxic environment. And I'll talk about it later, but I don't know how he gets away with it for so long. Right.
00:33:28
Speaker
ah We cut to... This family dinner, which is fucking wild, honestly, I mean, in the in the vein of British Terabithia, ruthless. Andrew is in the kitchen with his father and he's telling him, yeah, I think Fletcher likes me
Jazz Competition and Manipulative Tactics
00:33:45
Speaker
more now. You know, I'm I'm I'm in the band. I'm a core member in the band. And they also done a dinner and they're with some cousins.
00:33:53
Speaker
And Travis is a college football player who is an MVP and his brother, even his other cousin is in model UN n and, uh, his aunt, I guess she was, yeah. And Andy with your drumming, like very condescending, like who like, yeah, it's not going to come anything. Um, and he was like, well, actually, you know, I'm doing, I'm doing X, Y, and Z. I mean, core BAM being competitions and someone asks them, you know, does that get you a job?
00:34:20
Speaker
And he's like, no, but it's a stepping stone. And then they go back to talking about Travis's 93 yard touchdown. And he even has to cut it and be like, well, it's division three. Like, who fucking cares? You're fucking, you're nothing. The end of this conversation, which is mentioned earlier in the film about Charlie Parker, who was a ah famous drummer, only became Bird, which I guess is like his nickname because ah Jones threw a symbol at his head, which I guess is, you know, ends up being uh, Terence Fletcher is mantra. Like I'm just going to push these kids to the fucking limit. Right. And began this conversation and they're like, yeah, but he was on heroin and died at 30. And Andrew's like, well, they're talking about it. We're talking about him right now at a dinner table. And he's like, I'd rather be 30 and die and be remembered than be 90 and be a nobody. Um,
00:35:14
Speaker
And his cousin goes, well, if you think this is fucking good good, if you think that, you know, division three football is a joke, come play with us. And Andrew says four words you'll never hear from the NFL burned to the max. And this is fucked up. This is why I really don't like the dad says to ah to Andrew. Have you heard from Lincoln Center yet? Like even the dad is not on board. yeah Can you stand up for your fucking kid?
00:35:40
Speaker
So this whole thing is just like, they're all very dismissive of Andrew's choice to be a musician. Which is why I said like, you know, bridge terabithia vibes. Sure. But I don't know. Again, I mentioned it then, like just give your kid a chance, you know, let your kid explore their hobbies and if they can make something out of themselves, you should support them for it. Right. I 100% agree.
00:36:08
Speaker
or just don't have kids if you hate them so much. Well, that too. Shout out the second. Shout out getting snipped. Uh, we cut to the next day, rehearsals ending and Fletcher's like, grab the new chart on your way out. He makes a Nieman stay
Sean Casey's Story and Music School Pressure
00:36:29
Speaker
back. I guess Nieman was doing well and Nieman's like, Oh, I'm going to get like, you know, a pat in the back and Fletcher shows him the new tempo.
00:36:37
Speaker
And it's double time swing. And he goes, well, you you know, I actually found somebody just like I found you in a hallway practicing that I want to have play the piece. And it's Conley from the Nassau you know where Andrew move moved up from. Conley already has the chart in his bag. Flush already gave it to him. fucking And they both auditioned for the spot. So Andrew is literally sight reading, which is not easy. I, you know, it's, it's your first time looking at the music. You're trying to get a vibe, the tempo, the notes.
00:37:07
Speaker
Andrew obviously can't play it. ah Conley didn't even bring his own drumsticks, and he asked Andrew after Andrew auditions if he can use his drumsticks, which is fucked up. right And Andrew's like, give me one more chance. That'd be like someone asking you, hey, can I borrow, give me your bow. Yeah, like, huh? And Conley does it, obviously, without any issue, because he's had the music all day. He has been practicing all fucking day.
00:37:35
Speaker
Conley's elected to Core. He becomes the new Core drummer. Andrew freaks the fuck out, but Fletcher dismisses him because he gets a phone call and he walks away. Andrew follows Fletcher into his office, and Fletcher's like, not fucking now. and Fletcher looks distraught. He's like, I don't have fucking time for this. Get the fuck out. Then we get this scene, and this is diabolical. Not diabolical, just fucked.
00:38:04
Speaker
ah Andrew and Nicole are out to lunch somewhere and Andrew lays out why they should break up so Andrews like all I think about is drumming and all I want to do is be great and this is gonna lead to resentment because you're not gonna let me be great and Eventually, we're gonna hate each other. I'm gonna hate you for that. You're gonna hate me for that. It's this very long and very quickly spoken speech and Nicole's face is just like, huh, what are you talking about? Like, do you know that that's going to happen? He's like, yes. Also, she's like, I would stop you from being great. She said, you know, what for a fact, he's like, yeah, I know it for a fact. And then she goes, and she goes, I'll be forgotten because I don't know what I want yet. He goes, yes. She's like, what the fuck? Yeah, she's like starts like almost crying. She like looks at him and she's like, what the fuck is wrong with you?
00:38:58
Speaker
Yeah, I mean wild thinking on his part. yeah And then she gets up and she's like, you're right. We shouldn't be together. And then she just storms out.
00:39:09
Speaker
ah we cut After that, we cut to Andrew rehearsing again. And he makes an ice bath of like a pitcher of ice water. And he's practicing. And he can't practice fast enough. He can't get it right.
00:39:22
Speaker
And he starts to call himself a dumb motherfucker dumb bitch. Yeah. And he sticks his hand. You see his hand go in the pitcher ice water and like all the blood is just just the clear water just turns red. It was a really nice shot. It's a nice shot, but it's way too much red for that, honestly. Yeah, I get what I did it, but.
00:39:45
Speaker
We cut to the next day at rehearsal, and obviously Conley's on the kit. Fletcher walks in, and he's not happy. And he's like, yeah, you can put your instruments down for a second. I want to tell you this story about this kid named Sean Casey, who was a student of his six years ago. He said that Casey was basically a hot mess, couldn't play.
Intense Rehearsal and Psychological Games
00:40:07
Speaker
He's like, but nobody saw what I saw in him. He couldn't play his scales.
00:40:12
Speaker
I forgot to mention Fletcher before he starts the story puts a disc in like a stereo and let you hear this classical music playing. It's just like a ah trumpet or some kind of solo. And it's Sean Casey's playing. Right. And Fletcher goes on to say that Casey became ah from third trumpet to first trumpet at Lincoln Center, which is like a big deal. And he's like, I got a phone call yesterday that Sean Casey died in a car accident. And Fletcher's pretty distraught.
00:40:43
Speaker
He's like, all right, you know, let's let's start playing. I think it's still whiplash or care of it. I'm one of the two. It's with it still, honestly. And this is like the fifth or sixth time I've watched this film. This watch, I was like, maybe the students are thing like, all right, he's a little upset to take it easy on us. They play maybe three notes. And he's like, no, we're not fucking doing this. And Fletcher kicks colony off the kit. He puts an even on and he was this is your chance to earn the part which he said earlier is like earn the part if you want it when Neiman was in the office and Neiman can't do it throws Carl on there Carl can't do it and he tells the rest of the The band members is like go get a coffee take a shit. He's like go take a dump see you back in 10 10 minutes 20 minutes me a fucking hour who knows I
00:41:34
Speaker
So the rest of the band is waiting. really cool There's a really cool scene where a member is washing his hands in the bathroom and you just hear Fletcher screaming and wailing shit.
00:41:47
Speaker
ah
00:41:50
Speaker
So they're just rotating and now it's just... Fletcher is just degrading them. Neiman gets up and he calls Neiman a worthless Jaime fuck. No wonder mommy left. This is the most intense scene in the movie, I think. This is when it this is crazy. As far as like I still think the open the rushing or dragging in the beginning Neiman's first practices to me is the most intense. That's just my opinion to me. But it's opinion. I think this is the most like physically traumatizing.
00:42:25
Speaker
Oh, to the yeah. Yeah. And the kids, right. Kids, but they're like adults. But you know what I mean? The students.
00:42:33
Speaker
ah So obviously he even fucks it up. Carl gets on and Carl's gay. And why I laugh at that. And Fletcher's like, hopefully you can play faster than you give hand jobs and he fucks it up.
00:42:48
Speaker
Conley gets on, Conley's an Irish looking kid, and he calls him an Irish McPatty Cracker. It's fucking terrible, dude. And Neiman starts playing, and Fletcher walks over and starts banging a cowbell in his ear. ah Throws every other piece of the drum kit that he's not using. Literally across the fucking room, just just shut up. Yeah.
00:43:16
Speaker
Neiman's hands are full of blood. He's still playing. And Fletcher stops and me, goes, congrats, Neiman, you earned the part. He makes the alternates, Carl and Conley, cling the blood off his drum kit. And the clock says 2 a.m. I don't know what time they started at, but at one point flashed earlier it was eleven twenty. I think they started at nine. Yeah. I mean, that's fucking brutal. No wonder their hands were just.
00:43:43
Speaker
Covered in blood. Fucking covered in blood. It finishes and Fletcher's like, tomorrow, concert, 5 p.m., give yourselves two hours to get there. And he goes, or don't, I don't go fuck. Whatever.
Car Accident and Public Failure
00:43:57
Speaker
And we cut to the next day, Nieman's on the bus going over the parts and he and he's like, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. And this lady turns around, looks at him like, just fuck you doing? You fucking psychopath?
00:44:11
Speaker
and the bus gets a flat so they drop them off at some station and there's no cabs and Fletcher's like where the cabs are Fletcher Nieman's like where the cabs so honey you got to call a cab yeah I call that income for a while He goes to a rental car place, which where the fuck was this? Right. He just runs and just because they're in like the middle of like some highway thing. Yeah. And he's just he's running for like Forrest Gump type shit like just finds this random car rental place. And I don't know if you've ever rented a car, but it takes a long ass time. Always every time. So how the fuck is he getting this done so quickly?
00:44:51
Speaker
it's yeah I don't know it's part of the story I guess just even movie magic for sure so he rents a car and he gets there late Connelly is set to play and this is where Neiman stands at the Fletcher and he's like Connelly's not playing my fucking part and he tells Connelly turn my pages bitch Yeah. Fletcher tells Neiman he isn't shit. The only reason why he's relevant is because Fletcher found him in the hallway and Fletcher told him to come play in what's it called in the studio band and he gave him the part and blah, blah, blah. He calls him a weepy willow shit sack. He's like, you can't play the part if you don't even have your own fucking sticks.
00:45:34
Speaker
Right, so Neiman forgot his sticks. At the car rental place. So he has to drive all the way back to get his... it's it's wepe It's way too late. It's over, it's over. Yeah, Fletcher's like, if you're not back here by 5.30, then Conley's playing the part.
00:45:50
Speaker
So Neiman drives all the back, gets his sticks, gets back in the car. He's on the phone with somebody telling him, tell Fletch with my fucking part and gets in a car accident. I did not expect a jump scare. I did not expect the jump scare in this movie. It was a jump scare for you? Yeah. I guess the first time I watched it probably was. I don't remember. That's the problem. He gets T-boned by a fucking tractor trailer. Yeah. And if you think that's crazy enough, he crawled out of the car.
00:46:18
Speaker
And he's like, I need my drop, my my my sticks, my sticks. Thank you. And the guy's like, are you OK? And he just grabs his sticks and just runs off. He's running to like the place where they're performing. And he is. He is covered in blood. Like his head bleeding. Yeah. Head is bleeding. He's lost a lot of blood already. His hands are bleeding from earlier the in the day, like.
00:46:47
Speaker
Yeah, it ain't good. So he runs in like while I said like they're basically about to play and he pushes colony off the kit. And he starts playing and while he's playing, he drops a stick.
00:47:01
Speaker
And he's like trying to pick it up, he's trying to play with one hand. And for some reason, I'm sure they just put like the studio recording music like in the background of this film. But when he like drops the stick, like the drums don't sound any different. yeah like It just sounds the same. right ah Fletcher stops the band because Nieman is fucked up. And he walks over and says, Nieman, you're done, Nieman. And then Fletcher walks over to the mic and says, sorry about that, you know whatever, whatever. And Nieman gets up and tackles his ass.
00:47:32
Speaker
And he's like, I'll fucking kill you. And trying to like punch him and shit. And then Connelly and I think it's Carl. Drag him out, drag him out, drag his ass out. And I don't know. That was definitely way too far. Intense. On Nieman's part. Yeah. ah We cut to.
00:47:53
Speaker
Andrew's sitting in like a hotel lobby. I don't know where they are. There's some kind of lobby. At first I thought it was a therapist office, but it's not.
Legal Aftermath and Teaching Methods Discussion
00:48:00
Speaker
No. It might be like the head office or like the ah dean's office of the college or something.
00:48:07
Speaker
Yeah, something like that. and I think she's a lawyer. Oh, she a lawyer. OK, I think she's a that's why I think she I don't know. Oh, yeah, that would make sense because the parents are right. So he's sitting with a lawyer who reveals she's asking, do you know you know who Sean Casey is? And it's revealed here that Sean Casey didn't get in a car accident, and kill himself. He hung himself because he suffered from anxiety and depression, which started when he was a student under Fletcher.
00:48:37
Speaker
And it's kind of this part of the film goes flops back and forth between the aftermath of Neiman getting dragged off stage in his conversation with the lawyer. So she says that and it cuts to Andrew like home somewhere. And it's a letter from Schaefer saying he's been dismissed.
00:48:57
Speaker
uh he's watching childhood videos of himself playing the drums and then it cuts back their conversation and he and andrew says flusher didn't do anything and it's like dude why you lying to yourself that flusher didn't do anything you know that he definitely had a mental toll on you uh right and this is where the lawyer says you can sign an document he'll never know what you did and the father He's really flip-floppy. wish He's probably one of the worst characters I think I've ever hated in my life. Because he's like, oh, I'd never let anybody hurt my son. Like, now he wants to be supportive of dad. You didn't fucking stand up for your son with your own family. But now, all of a sudden, you're just standing up for him when there's a lawyer in front of you? Yeah, like, no. Fucking fake-ass bitch. So Andrew goes, just tell me what to say. And he ends up ratting Fletcher.
00:49:50
Speaker
Uh, and he quits the drums. It's like this, it reminded me of when, uh, Toba Maguire, when he quits being, he spied me, he throws the, uh, stupid with a dumpster. Yeah, that's what it reminds me of. you And you seem like put the drum kit in the closet and like throw some shit out.
Teaching Philosophy and Greatness Pressure
00:50:07
Speaker
And he starts working at a deli or a coffee shop, whatever it is.
00:50:12
Speaker
He, it shows him looking at his phone and he thinks about calling Nicole who has no contact ID. She's so funny. Like that, that photo of like the, on androids for like oh no contact. Oh, it's like such a throwback. Well, like a little, almost like a stick figure dude. A little face.
00:50:27
Speaker
ah
00:50:30
Speaker
He thinks about calling Nicole and doesn't call her yet. And he walks by, he's itched outside eating a piece of pizza, just vibing. And he walks by a live jazz place and it says on the chalkboard outside that Terrence Fisher is starring or featuring with like the regular band. So he walks in and Fletcher's playing piano, not only quantum, but he's playing either whiplash or caravan, just in a slow tempo on the piano. ah And Andrew's like watching like kind of, not in awe, but just like,
00:50:59
Speaker
Holy shit. And right after Fletcher finishes the piece, he looks out into the audience and sees Neiman and they make icons act. So Andrew's like, I'm out of here. I don't want to fucking talk to this guy. Talk to this guy. He's going to. He knows. He's like, this he knows. And Fletcher is like fucking Batman. He's just right behind him like immediately. He like fucking teleported to this kid. And he gets a packed jazz venue. Yeah, it's just like custom. He's like, Andrew.
00:51:29
Speaker
Is it full? Huh? And it cuts to them, they're sitting down having a drink. And this was interesting. You know, Fletcher's like, I don't if know if you know this, but I'm not a Shafer. And Andrew's like, yeah, I heard. He's like, yeah. Did you quit? Yeah. What happened? And he's like, yeah, someone from Sean Casey's family probably got me to try to get me out. And he tells me he's he's and doing some conducting with a pro JVC band.
00:52:00
Speaker
and how he feels misunderstood and that he's his mantra, as I was saying earlier in the episode, has always been to push people to their limits. And if we don't do that, you never get a Charlie Parker. You never get the all time greats without that. And ah Fletcher admits to Andrew that he's never had his own Charlie Parker. I'm very sure that Andrew saw himself as Fletcher's Charlie Parker.
00:52:27
Speaker
Sure.
Jazz Festival Performance Invitation
00:52:28
Speaker
But do you believe in what Fletcher's saying here? Well, that's, it's an interesting conversation because Not all of this is real, but there is some realistic aspects. Like this movie came out six years before ah the Michael Jordan doc, The Last Dance came out on Netflix. And there's a whole episode of that series dedicating to how aggressive Michael Jordan was in pushing other players at practice. So I do think there's some validity to it.
00:53:04
Speaker
Do you need to go to the extremes that flusher went to? Absolutely not. But it's not like people haven't done this before. Michael Jordan won fucking six rings in a row. Yeah. Do you think it's like ah a generational thing? Yeah, I do think our generation and younger are softer for sure. Like software I don't think I don't want to say it's not. But I can't possibly see this actually happening at schools ah in today's modern era.
00:53:32
Speaker
maybe in like smaller public, like smaller private schools, but I can't see it happening in like major schools. I was going to say it's more private. Um, Colleges I mean I went to The culinary Institute of America and it's a little I mean my college had less students than our high school did right and a lot of the kitchens were in basements like you'd go downstairs in like the basement and I'm not ratting or shitting on the CIA at all, but like the chefs really have Any liberty do whatever they want down there they I'm not saying it's Terrence Fletcher levels, but like
00:54:12
Speaker
We had a chef really like fucking gave it to you sometimes like verbally at least Not physically, but we did have this one chef chef martini rip just passed away like two weeks ago um He was a very like very, you know happy like positive demeanor But he would be like we'd get like a dry goods delivery in and he'd be like, oh look We got red wine vinegar and he'd toss it to you And like these are like glass bottles. And like if it broke, the bottle would just shed like oh shattered. It was just like fucking weird. But I do think like some of these smaller schools you can get away with more than. But obviously this came out and Shafer got dumped. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like there's a balance at some point. Like to what point are you going to push somebody before? It's like, all right, that's kind of abuse. you jordan Jordan did it and it worked for him. Yeah. But you shouldn't be breaking the psyche.
00:55:08
Speaker
of people that you're trying to teach because, you know, as with Sean Casey, like mental health is such a real thing nowadays. Like if you are the responsibility, like if you're responsible for someone that killed themselves, like you're going to jail. Oh yeah, for sure. Like you're not just getting fired from your job. Like there's going to be legal action. I agree. And I think it's not like what you said. It's a generational thing too. I mean, they're,
00:55:36
Speaker
Our parents, parents were like in war, youre like actually in war, like one of the biggest ones. Yeah. Uh, so they had this conversation and on the way out, Fletcher tells Neiman, Hey, I need to, you know, my drummer is not really cutting it. It's all the, all the classics that you know and love.
00:55:57
Speaker
Or maybe you don't love, I don't know. He's like, hey, we're doing whiplash and caravan. Yeah, if you want to come play these. And oh, we missed this part. During this conversation, Fletcher says that the two most harmful words in the English language are good job, which is wild. You think so? I was kind of vibing with it. I mean, I'm not for participation trophies. But Sean did a good job isn't the worst thing you could say.
00:56:27
Speaker
No, it's not the worst thing, but and I ah kind of understand where like if you so tell someone good job, that means that like if you're given like minimal effort and you like just pass by and you're like, Oh, good job.
Final Performance and Showdown
00:56:39
Speaker
That means they can fully expect just the minimum out of you. You know what I mean? Sure. I think, I agree with what you're saying. I just think it depends on the context of like when it's happening because like certain things,
00:56:55
Speaker
are black and white, like, you either did a good job or you didn't, and then other things have gray area. And it's like, if we have a shitty service at work, it's like, oh, you know, a good job, we made it happen. It's like, we didn't do a good job, but we we got through it. That's like a better way to look at it than saying good job to somebody. I agree with you there for sure.
00:57:13
Speaker
There's two different meanings to good job. Sure. Fletcher offers Nieman to come draw him for him at the JVC concert. And Andrew's like, Oh, what about Connelly? And he's like, yeah, Connelly was just incentive to push you even harder. And then he asked about Carl Tanner as his last name. And Tanner has swapped out to pre-med.
00:57:34
Speaker
Pussy. Pussy. Like, that's going to be harder, dog. No, but saying pussy is like even reinforcing the toxic fucking environment, too. Right. And cool scene. Again, Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man Vibes opens the closet and sees the drum kit. And he tries to, he calls Nicole and apologizes in a very awkward way. And he's like, yeah, I'm sorry. But, you know, anyways, if you want to come to this concert and she's like what what are you talking about and she says on the phone she has to check with her boyfriend so obviously she's not interested in him anymore yeah I mean you can see Andrew's face he's just like defeated but he's still talking to her like oh it's okay yeah cool yeah but like you're you were a douche sure yeah yeah I mean you should fully expect this to be happening
00:58:26
Speaker
Also, it was in this scene. So Andrew, this is I had never caught this before until this watch. what like All we know is that Fletcher offered him to come back to to play in the JVC festival concert, whatever. The next scene is him calling Nicole. We have nothing we have no sense of time in between. But what I noticed on this watch, when he's holding the phone to his ear, he already has a band-aid back on his fingers again. They're all bloody.
00:58:54
Speaker
Oh, so he's been practicing. So he's been going at it. Okay. Yeah, which it was super cool to pick up on this because it took me four or five watch to pick that up because it was pretty confusing. Like you haven't been playing for this like, you know, period of time.
00:59:08
Speaker
And you're just going to jump right up on there. But it makes sense that he's been practicing this whole time. So he when he on the phone, the call, yeah, his hands are all bloody. And we get to the jazz concert and Fletcher seems a lot nicer. He's with, you know, an older group of people and.
00:59:26
Speaker
he's like yeah you know we're gonna go out there and perform remember there's people out here watching and Fletcher goes up to the mic and he audibles it was premeditated it's not an audible but he he's like yeah we're gonna play this new piece called whatever I forgot what it's called and Andrew has to like riff through the entire song and the bass player's pissed Yeah. What the fuck you doing? Well, Fletcher like walks up to him after he says that and he's like, I know it was you, you little shit. Of course, Fletcher knew. Yeah. ah After the song ends, Fletcher walks over. to So this is how fucked Fletcher is. Like Fletcher is, it's his reputation as well. Like this whole movie, his monster, like don't sabotage my band. He sabotaged his own band to sink Neiman's future. Right.
01:00:18
Speaker
And and fuck like the rest of their careers like he just I mean, that's diabolical. That is terrible. That's like some real psychopath shit. Like you are you are so stuck on this fucking kid. That's chess, not checkers. Right.
01:00:35
Speaker
So. After the song ends, Neiman's obviously pissed and Fletcher walks over because maybe you don't have it and he walks and Fletcher walks over to the mic and starts talking about whatever and Andrew gets up and leaves.
Themes of Obsession and Commitment
01:00:48
Speaker
or goes to his dad who was there, trying to be supportive again. Fake bitch. Fuck you, dad. And hugs his dad, and the dad's like, let's go home. And Neiman's like, nah. And he goes back in. And ah Fletcher goes to announce the next song, and Neiman just starts playing. And Fletcher's like, what the fuck you doing, man? And he's like, I'll cue you.
01:01:14
Speaker
So he starts playing the drums. I believe this is Caravan when they play it first. And they play Caravan. And when the song ends, Nieman doesn't stop playing. Just keep going. He just keeps playing. Like the lights the lights turn off. Like he's just still playing. And Fletcher's like, dude, what the fuck are you doing, man? Again. And he's like, I'll cue you.
01:01:37
Speaker
and Nieman goes on to do this epic solo. I'll be honest, the towards the middle of it, like he just reduces his movement to playing two notes very slowly. The slow-mo there, to me, is a little tiresome. I don't love it, but I get why they did it, like this the shot of like the cymbal with the sweat and the blood drops on it. yeah It's cool, but I think it's a little bit too long. It has a stay for a little bit too long, yeah.
01:02:07
Speaker
and ah Eventually Fletcher buys into this solo thing and he's like, yeah, come on. He's like raising his hand like let's go and Right as the band goes into whiplash, you know You see Neiman go to smack a drum and it just cuts the block and that's the end of the film. I Mean this film is fucking epic Yeah, I feel like ah just talking about it does not do it justice.
01:02:34
Speaker
No, no, I mean, yeah, it doesn't. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. But I mean, this is it has so much to say about like. Just commitment, obsession and like, as we were saying earlier, like Charlie Parker would never be discouraged. So like Neiman, it's just fueling Neiman. He's manipulating Neiman to like push himself even harder than he thought was possible. That's why he goes back into to play the last two songs, because he's um i Also, I also feel like as much as f flesher like is is like pushing him to like be as best as he can I feel like he's also doing it to like float his own ego Yeah, I never thought about like that but yeah, it's true he's like yeah, I fucking taught him everything he knows I did this Yeah, cuz he also says like any fucking dummy can go up there and wave a stick and conduct right like his thing It's like, you know, actually push people to their limits and make them better which is pretty fucking it's it's kind of selfish
01:03:34
Speaker
Right, and it it probably is his it's his legacy. Yeah. Well, yeah, I'm at a five star. I didn't even hide my rating. of this i I love this movie. Yeah, I saw that you you watched it like. Three times you've ranked it on letterbox and each time has been a five star, and this one was like, how do you not like this film? That's yeah, that's how I feel. No, it's very accurate and um I know I didn't have like a lot of insight on this because it was my first time watching and you were in the music industry in school. I played an instrument in school. You played an instrument in school. So I didn't really have much input on the actual musical side, but I'm also giving this a five star. Oh, fuck you. Let's go.
01:04:26
Speaker
This movie was so fucking good. Like, I don't understand why it took me so long to watch this. Because in my head, I was just thinking, it's just playing drums. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. But I got a movie because like I was talking to my boss yesterday about I was like, oh, I rewatched Whiplash.
01:04:48
Speaker
He's like, oh, that's that said drummer movie, right? And like, dude, watch it. It's more than like it's a drummer movie. It's so fucking good. I'm curious what his reaction is going to be to it. Yeah. youve I mean, when my fiance gets home tonight. Yeah. I might ask her really well watch it. Like, i'd I'd watch it again today. Like, that's how fucking good it is. Really? Yeah. Oh, dude, watch it again. Yeah, i it's great. It's amazing. I want one person doesn't love it and they're wrong.
01:05:16
Speaker
Um, I loved it so much. I actually like went on online and I was looking for the 4k steel book. So I wanted it so fucking bad. What is that? one yeah Cut that cut that. Uh, so I was looking at the 4k steel book because I loved it so much. And oh how much do you like it?
01:05:40
Speaker
Well, your local movie store i had it for a reasonable price. They had it for $40. I would have bought it. For sure. 100%. So obviously, it was a Best Buy exclusive. So it's out of print. And on eBay, it's going for $120. Fuck. But that movie came out 10 years ago. Who knows when that seal book got released? Probably 10 years ago. Yeah. Like, we weren't even doing this yet.
01:06:05
Speaker
No, we weren't. And knowing how rare it is, I'm really pissed off that I didn't see you pulled in 2014, dude. Yeah, it's true. It's like the height of the MCU. Yeah. And looking back at all that, I'm really sad that we paid full price for a lot of those movies is what it is.
Podcast Wrap-up and Recommendations
01:06:24
Speaker
But yeah, Whiplash is a fucking amazing movie. I only have two films to recommend if you like that.
01:06:32
Speaker
ah Tar is a movie starring Cate Blanchett, and it is ah it's in a similar vein of how far will you push yourself in your obsession perfection. And she actually is a conductor of an orchestra. So there's your still musical vein. And then a movie which, spoiler alert, we might be reviewing for the podcast, Black Swan, stars Nali Portman, Mila Kunis, and ah it follows Nali Portman's more of like what you were saying the mental psyche of like trying to be great and having a mental breakdown and how far she'll go to like be the best those are both i mean black swan i like a little more than tar but they're both phenomenal movies what do you have black swan rated i think it's at a four right now okay i think whiplash is better i mean from a five to a four it's not a crazy drop but that's the difference to me well i think a five you would be calling it like damn near perfect movie
01:07:29
Speaker
I mean, I think whiplash is perfect. I agree. I'm just saying, besides the the part where Neiman drops a stick and the music's still the same. Besides that, I think it's a perfect movie. Right. So little yeah things that don't affect your viewing.
01:07:44
Speaker
um The only film I can recommend is not even close to anything that this movie is, but if you watch whiplash and you're like, Oh man, I want more of like the psychopath, like instructor, uh, just watch like the first half of full metal jacket, no ah verbal abuse. Yeah. If you like verbal abuse, just watch that. Yeah. I think that movie's only good until that. And then after that dude kills himself, it's like, who cares? Yeah. Once they go to war, the movie kind of goes downhill.
01:08:14
Speaker
Yeah. All right. I think it's a podcast.
01:08:20
Speaker
That's a podcast. Follow us on Instagram. Two guys, one screen pod. Email us at two guys, one screen pod at gmail dot.com. Follow us on letterbox. Link in the description. Tell us how much you like this movie. If you don't like it and you can actually have think of a good reason why you don't like it, let me know. But I few and far between people don't like this film.
01:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, if you don't like it, you know, send us an email. Send us an email. And not chat GPT generated. Right. Be legit about it, you know? Yeah. We'd love to hear from you. Until that, until next time, we'll see you next week. Toodles. Fuck you, Mark.