How To "Get A Job" In The 21st Century

Get a Job (2016)

Rated R

Starring Miles Teller, Anna Kendrick, Bryan Cranston, Alison Brie, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jorge Garcia, Nicholas Braun,

Directed by Dylan Kidd

The Story:

Will (Teller), Jillian (Kendrick) and their friends are done with college and ready to set forth into their careers and life. Except they are all about to learn that life is never easy and whatever you thought you had planned, hopefully you wrote it down in pencil or dry erase marker.

This is an odd duck of a movie.

Apparently it was trapped in limbo for several years before it was finally released, seemingly direct to DVD.

Which is a shame, as the movie has a wonderful ensemble cast and it tackles the tough job of finding employment and balancing a life, whether it's straight out of college, or in the case of Will's father (Cranston) when he is suddenly let go and has to start over again.

The stories are a little disjointed, and could have used a tighter narrative to join them all together, but at the end of the day you have a cast of really likeable characters that are faced with the prospect of growing and learning or running and hiding.

The cast is essentially what makes this movie, and every character, from the leads to the supporting characters make the most of their personalities and screen time and will win you over as the movie rolls along.

You'll be proud of the choices they make, and while there may be "all happily ever aftered with a big bow on the end", it's just the sort of ending you would want them, or yourself, to have.

Can't beat that.

Final Grade:  C+

You'll Never Forget The Events Of "Parkland"

Parkland (2013)

Rated PG-13

Starring Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, Ron Livingston, James Badge Dale,

Written and Directed by Peter Landesman

The Story:

November 22nd, 1963. Dallas Texas. A chilling date in history shown from the perspectives of the many lives that were woven together over the course of the next few days in the most harrowing fashion. One day changed the course of America, and these people were all first-hand witnesses as it happened.

There is a lot to cram into 90 minutes of movie.

You know how you can complain that a movie was too long, or felt like it took forever?

The opposite could be held true here.

Apparently it was planned as a miniseries for HBO, but alas, that didn't pan out, and what's left is made up as Parkland.

The movie takes its name from Parkland Hospital, where they took Kennedy after he was shot.  It was here that the medical staff (Efron, Harden and many more) work frantically to save his life. Then they are tasked just days later with trying to save another gunshot victim.

Then there is Mr. Zaprudar (Giamatti) who goes out to record the President and winds up with the footage of a lifetime that takes such a huge toll on his life.

There's the Dallas FBI Agent (Livingston) who learns that Oswald was in the bureau very recently.

Speaking of Oswald, his brother's (Dale) story is perhaps the most tragic of the whole group.

Finally there is Agent Sorrells (Thornton) who realizes he is the first Secret Service head to lose a President.

Taking a sad true story, and adding a layer of lives that were profoundly affected by that tragedy makes for a harrowing experience that should have been extended, but for what they managed to create, well done.

Final Grade: B