Two New Movies with Two Very Different Reactions

I think that title tells you what you’re about to read here, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, my reaction will not be all too different from the critics who have already seen these films. The other day, Netflix released Hillbilly Elegy, which was adapted from the memoir of the same name by J.D. Vance. The very next day, Hulu released the holiday romantic comedy, Happiest Season. Based on that very limited information, I’m sure your assumptions of what was good and what was bad is actually wrong!

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Book Review: Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

At the insistence of one of my friends, and the promise of a film adaptation, I finally decided to give J.D. Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, a chance. It was quite a thought-provoking and somewhat somber read. While he grew up in Ohio like me, there was a lot that I couldn’t relate to personally, but there were many things he described that I’ve at least witnessed in my lifetime.

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