Having thought on it for a day. Really the only reason I cannot like the teacher even after the end is because it seemed he was going to let it go and move on with his life. Had he been convinced that the kid had the potential to be one of the greats, I think he would have pursued him even after being fired and knowing it was him. Like, had he intentionally set up to play at that bar because he knew the kid would visit it.

Again, I don't like the coincidence of the kid just walking by and noticing the sign. I would have liked it better if the movie had established that bar as a place the kid visited regularly to hear jazz and the teacher got the gig there for the reason of trying to get back into the role of the kids mentor.

He made the statement that the great ones wouldn't let anything deter them. So then shouldn't he be the same way about finding a great one?
To me it seemed the teacher had actually just given up and only by luck did he run across the kid again and get to re-interject himself into his life.

I guess that could really be the point of the movie though. That the teacher really was an ahole and he inspired greatness from the kid on pure accident. And his methodology wasn't to find a potential great one and mold them by pushing them, but rather just be an absolute ahole to a bunch of good young musicians and hope that it will result in spontaneously creating a great out of one of them.

I don't mind the coincidence of him finding his teacher in a bar. But I agree it bothers me that the teacher was just going to move on with his life and forget about the kid. Not only that, but he actually tried to ruin the kid's career with the first song of the final show. I guess he's happy at the end because he realized he had found one of the greats, but he was trying to ruin his life 15 minutes earlier. That's the only thing that bothered me. Good movie though.

***spoilers****

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Not only that, but he actually tried to ruin the kid's career with the first song of the final show.

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But I could see that as the teacher thinking, this is the only way I can truly motivate this kid to bring out the great performance he has in him. I have to convince him that I am betraying him and trying to ruin his career. From that he can either embrace his greatness to beat me and then see I was only doing it to bring him to greatness or he can give up in which case he doesn't deserve to be in the music business if he doesn't have the fortitude to know he's great.

Similar to how he kicked the that kid out that wasn't really out of tune, but he didn't have the confidence to know he wasn't.

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Exactly

Another question I had at the end.

What was the teacher going to do if the kid left? I didn't see an alternate drummer. Where they just going to play the songs with no drums?

How's your tempo?

http://www.concerthotels.com/got-rhythm

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Finally watched it.

****** kinda spoiler*********






Other than the unrealistic scenario of him just happening upon a bar that mean teacher was playing at. I thought it was perfectly done.

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I know one person who lives in NYC, and last time I visited, I ran into them on the street. It's not that unrealistic

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How's your tempo?

http://www.concerthotels.com/got-rhythm

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886

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How's your tempo?

http://www.concerthotels.com/got-rhythm

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815....good thing I'm a guitar player and not a drummer

825 here

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I don't mind the coincidence of him finding his teacher in a bar. But I agree it bothers me that the teacher was just going to move on with his life and forget about the kid. Not only that, but he actually tried to ruin the kid's career with the first song of the final show. I guess he's happy at the end because he realized he had found one of the greats, but he was trying to ruin his life 15 minutes earlier. That's the only thing that bothered me. Good movie though.

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The kid wanted to create music. The teacher wanted to create a musican. And they were both fine with sacrificing rhe kid to make it happen

I just watched it again and I have to say that the ending is creeping into my favorite top five finale of all time. Just incredible.

I thought it was very good, but not as great as many on here thought it was. There were some eye rolling moments from an educator standpoint.

I saw this about 5 days ago. I watched it with my 3 boys. It hit me so hard in so many ways. For one thing, I don't think there are many Terrence Fletcher types around anymore. As an older guy who played a lot of sports, I knew some Terrence Fletcher's. My boys could not fathom such a person. It's funny, too, because those guys did usually get the most out of me, but at such a cost. I hated most of them, and they seemed to me to be terribly unhappy and bitter people.

As for the performances in the movie, so much has been said about Simmons, and he was amazing. But I thought Miles Teller was eqially amazing. What a brilliant young actor. His transformation from scared little page-turner to top drummer telling Fletcher "you can't let him play, it's my ****ing part"! was perfect.

Same with the phone call to his old gf. His subtle expressions after the call said everything so succinctly and perfectly.

Then, his quick transformation back to the scared kid when Fletcher busted him with the song he didn't know.... Only to have him hug his dad and realize.... **** it. **** that horse's ass. I'm not going out like that.

Then the realization of the bittersweet fact that that's what Fletcher wanted all along, and that Neyman's success would be shared by Fletcher. Just amazing and thought-provoking on so many levels.

"Andrew, what are you doing"?
"I'll queue you"
"Okay."

For the same reason doctors have trouble watching medical shows and cops have trouble watching cop shows or movies. Its tough to separate yourself from the profession and when you know that stuff like that could never happen in real life, it knocks the movie down a bit. It also didn't help that I knew going in to the movie that the Charlie Parker story was BS. And like I said, I thought the movie was very good, I just didn't think it was brilliant like everyone else did.

Do you teach music at a high level? Because other than super technical issues with the musical aspect I really don't see much that I would think impossible about it.

Football coaches have been fired for less. I just don't think that could happen, even at a university level.

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Football coaches have been fired for less. I just don't think that could happen, even at a university level.

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And football coaches have gotten away with a lot more if they get results.

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Football coaches have been fired for less. I just don't think that could happen, even at a university level.

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you do realize that we're only a few years removed from a football coach at a major university basically raping little kids in the locker room and he got away with it for years. definitely not an apples to apples comparison, but i think assuming that something couldn't happen at any type of institution is pretty naive.

the type of music school depicted in the movie is where kids are sent to become great, and i think that most people that attend those types of places, or send their kids there, accept that the teaching "methods" may be a little unorthodox, but they get results. on a sports level, i wouldn't compare it to a college football coach....would probably be closer to something like the high end tennis/gymnastics academies that kids are sent off to. ever read about some of the crazy stuff that happens at those places?

But he's a teacher, bro. He knows how everything works in education at all levels. Don't question him.

Fletcher is over the top for sure, and I agree that his behavior is less possible today than it used to be, but stuff still happens. Just recently, 2 college basketball coaches got busted for verbal and physical abuse of their players. Both got away with what they did until it was caught on videotape.

Surprised nobody has said this, but Fletcher reminds me of Bobby Knight. Look what he was able to get away with in the name of success.

Some of them want to abuse you and some of them want to be abused.
Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree?

Glad this got bumped. I watched it a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it! One of my favorite movies that I've seen in a long time. The messages in it were things I've talked with people about a lot and it was amazing to see it portrayed like that.

GREAT movie!

Yes I realize he was fired, I just think he would have been fired earlier in real life. And again, I thought the movie was very good, there were just some things that bothered me a bit. I just don't think a music teacher at a university could get away with things like that.

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Yes I realize he was fired, I just think he would have been fired earlier in real life. And again, I thought the movie was very good, there were just some things that bothered me a bit. I just don't think a music teacher at a university could get away with things like that.

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At a regular university, probably not. At one of the most prestigious music institutes where their entire reputation was almost completely dependent on one instructor who is known to bring out the best, I could easily see it.

AHEM!!!

BOBBY KNIGHT!!!

I watched this "on demand" over the weekend.

I'm not sure that I have a good movie to compare it to. It was very unique and very very good.

Great movie

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How's your tempo?

http://www.concerthotels.com/got-rhythm

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I got a 908.

Not sure if that score should be better seeing as I was a drummer in middle & high school.

I wanted to come find this thread because this movie has been on my radar for a long time and I finally got to watch it last night. That being said, I'm still not sure what to think of it.

The acting, premise, and technical aspects of the movie were top notch, especially for the budget they had, and this one had me questioning why I watch movies. It was a great movie and I think accomplished what it set out to do, and thats what made me hate it. Its a great movie that I hated watching. I appreciate everything about it, including the story, but I just didn't enjoy the experience of watching it. I was angry, frustrated, and pissed.

Mission Accomplished Whiplash.

also, one small *****: I KNOW people like this exist, because I have experienced them in the workplace, but it was pretty laughable that Fletcher commanded so much respect. In the greater world, this guy is a POS band geek who is involved with a dying form of music. Like I said, its funny, because I know these people exist, but I really was suprised throughout his carreer he hadn't had his s**t pushed in.

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also, one small *****: I KNOW people like this exist, because I have experienced them in the workplace, but it was pretty laughable that Fletcher commanded so much respect. In the greater world, this guy is a POS band geek who is involved with a dying form of music. Like I said, its funny, because I know these people exist, but I really was suprised throughout his carreer he hadn't had his s**t pushed in.

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The egos with high-level music folks are insane. INSANE.

I saw this movie about a month ago and had no idea what it was about prior to tuning in. I have to say this is the best movie I've seen in a long time! While his tactics were extreme I never got the feeling like this could never happen. It hit home for me in different ways. I've always responded better to difficult teachers/coaches. Our basketball program in the late 80's/90's was unmatched because we had a basketball coach that was similarly intense. He would routinely kick players off the team but their parents would make them come back the next day and apologize to the coach & team. When he finally retired due to health issues our program never achieved anything near what he accomplished. I've always appreciated the toughness they instilled. It carried over to other things I was involved in. I know my HS band director probably wanted to yell at kids from time to time. In college, our best band director is still there for a reason. He is a no nonsense kind of guy and that's why he is where he is. He still is very effective without using those tactics as in Whiplash but then again he's conducting a band of over 400+ not 20 students.

Also, the desire to be great and how he dedicated himself was pretty damn awesome.

908 first try beetches. but i'm a drummer.