When I wrote my review of The Imitation Game in January, I said it set the high-water mark for film in 2014. And, when viewed from the perspective of all aspects of filmcraft, it did.

But when I finally saw Whiplash the weekend before the Academy Awards, I found myself feeling like I’d just been shot out of a cannon.

Every adjective you see on the poster to the left is, in fact, an understatement. “He can’t possibly mean that”, you think. I mean every word of it. See it, and then ask yourself when is the last time you saw a movie that got your blood racing that fast.

It’s bloody genius. We will be seeing a LOT more from director Damien Chazelle.