Whiplash -------

Film about a young jazz drummer being emotionally abused by a maniacal tutor. Saw it with Chris at the Odeon. Unbelievably tense for a film about jazz. Really engaging. My only criticism is that it does seem to support that Malcolm Gladwell thing that if you practice for a billion hours you will become a genius. Altho having said that it also kind of doesn't. Also lots of blood for a film about Jazz. Pat, you should see it, it will probably mirror your experiences with Nat

Taken 3

I first saw 'Taken' without knowing anything about it and was blown away by its 1980s action film-style brutality. I also particularly like the very French islamaphobia that runs through it.... Liam Neeson must protect his American WASP princess daughter's virginity from Albanian and Arab muslims! Anyhow in the second one his wife gets taken and in this new one nobody gets taken. Its set in LA rather than someplace full of foreigners so Neeson's ability to get away with mayhem and destruction seem less plausible. This move makes no sense, has terrible dialogue and the action sequences aren't even all that good. Not recommended.

I watched Scandal the other day, as I've been reading lots about that era (Profumo, Rachman etc.). The film looks really good but overall a bit underwhelming - it turns out it was supposed to be a TV series but the script was massively trimmed into a film, so lots of elements of the film (the nexus of Establishment powers involved in the whole affair, Peter Rachman, the cold war, the end of the MacMillan government) are fairly superficially handled in favour of the overarching Stephen Ward/Christine Keeler love story.

I thought 'Whiplash' was great, and that the final scene made it definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

The emotional torment and abuse heaped on the drummer certainly made me think of Hygiene rehearsals.

One bonus of the film was that it made me check out this little beauty -

The Muppet Show - Animal Vs Buddy Rich Drum Battl…: https://youtu.be/jHOej4eG9i0