Whiplash

his is a movie full of great performances in search of a great movie to put them in. JK Simmons is Terence Fletcher, a ruthless, maniacal jazz instructor at the top music school in the country. Miles Teller is Andrew, his newest student. What follows is something of a rehash of An Officer and a Gentleman with Fletcher berating Andrew, throwing stuff at him, throwing gay insults at his classmates, and generally just being a jackass. Then there's a conflict and a resolution. The end. Oh yeah, along the way we get a throwaway diversion with the girl at the movie theater, some wasted scenes with Andrew's father, a "My music is as important as your sports" scene with Andrew's family, and a whole lot of drumming. Simmons here is off-the-charts. Incredibly great. Intense, angry, maniacal, instructive, the whole nine yards. Unfortunately, the movie itself is really just a rehash of stuff we've seen before, told in a not-particularly-unique way. It's a good movie but nowhere near the tour de force it's been hyped as. 7/10.

Juno

Ellen Page is Juno, a 16-year old who gets pregnant by her boyfriend Paul, played by Michael Cera. Juno isn't ready to be a mom so she's going to give up her child for adoption by a couple played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. The movie is about Juno's relationship with Paul, with her dad & stepmom, and with the adoptive couple. In general, this movie works pretty well. I think I liked it more the first time I saw it but it's still pretty good on a second watch. It feels fairly authentic though Juno's dialogue is often really rude and is disaffected youth to the extreme and ends up being grating and annoying frequently. There are a lot of funny moments and the cast is terrific. Page and Cera were basically made for their roles and the supporting folks (Garner, Bateman, JK Simmons, and Allison Janney and a great cameo from Rainn Wilson) are all fantastic. Anyway, this one is pretty good, right at the Tabedoza line - 7/10.

The Music Never Stopped

Loosely based on a true story, Lou Taylor Pucci is Gabriel, a rebellious 1960s teen who ran away from home after a fight with his parents. He turns up 20 years later suffering from a brain tumor and the inability to form new memories and losing his short-term memory. Basically what the guy in Memento had. JK Simmons is Henry, Gabriel's stern father, struggling to make sense of the new reality of his relationship with his son. He is distant at first, angry at his son for disappearing and unable to relate to this new person occupying his son's body. When Gabriel's mother falls ill, Henry takes up the routine of daily visits. Through some pioneering research, it is discovered that music from Gabriel's teen years reactivates his memory and he becomes relatively normal. Henry forces himself to listen to Gabriel's music, all that noise he hated before, and develops a greater understanding of his son, his feelings, and the struggles he went through. Throughout the movie, we are given flashbacks to Gabriel's childhood to help fill out the story. This is a good movie with solid performances from Pucci (who played another character with mental difficulties in The Story of Luke and Simmons. It doesn't really break any new ground but it's well-done. You'll notice some similarities to Awakenings, no doubt because it's based on a case from the same author/doctor (Oliver Sacks). Anyway, this one is right at the Tabedoza Line™ - 7/10.