Miles Teller

WAR DOGS Review: The Wolfy Gun Bros of Miami

Stop me if you’ve heard it before: young guys run amok in their industry, making untold fortunes while binging on drugs and consumerism, breaking the law many times over until it all comes crashing down. War Dogs takes that familiar template from The Wolf of Wall Street and relocates it to the gun-running world of Miami for a bombastic journey that takes its stylistic cues from visual savants like Michael Bay and legendary storytellers like Martin Scorsese, remixing them for an occasionally fun ride that loses steam long before the credits role. (more…)

Whiplash (TIFF 2014 Review)

Whiplash (2014)

Dir: Damien Chazelle

J.K. Simmons’ wonderfully profane and shockingly abusive instructor Terrence Fletcher is an antagonist for the ages in Damien Chazelle’s rollicking sophomore feature Whiplash. A streamlined hybrid of a thriller and coming-of-age tale, Whiplash presents a bare-knuckle and bruised view of that most blood thirsty of all collegiate activities – playing in a jazz ensemble. Ostensibly about jazz drumming, the film probes the depths that devoted students must plumb in order to be (more…)