HILLBILLY ELEGY 🤮

HILLBILLY ELEGY, the new film based on the popular yet controversial memoir by J.D. Vance isn’t quite the monstrous piece of garbage that many reviewers would have you believe it is. It also isn’t the wonderful piece of Americana that some of the more conservative pundits decry it is either. It’s so wholly unremarkable that it just doesn’t warrant a strong opinion either way. Having a story of Appalachia folks told in a large budget film by well-known multi-millionaire Hollywood types feels completely mismatched, and while Amy Adams and Glen Close are fantastic as always, they add to the incongruity I felt for most of the film.

The score from Hans Zimmer and David Fleming is a highlight, although not up to par with other works by either composer. Perhaps a story from a more indie creative team would have worked better here, but I’m also at a loss as to why this story matters. Because you see, J.D. Vance is also quite unremarkable, and the entire thing makes you wonder why this movie ever needed to be made. The type of epilogue used in the film, when used in non-fiction pieces, feels like it should be reserved only for heroes and heroines, not an average guy who happened to sell a lot of just one book.

Since watching the film, I’ve flipped between recommending it or not, and have concluded it’s just not for me. Maybe I’m not the target demographic, and that’s okay, but it doesn’t excuse a movie that’s just not very good either.

HILLBILLY ELEGY is now streaming on Netflix.

THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES 2 🤮

The sequel to the semi-lovable CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES is an overstuffed outing that deserves to be hit in the face with multiple snowballs. The “fish-out-of-water” concept in the first movie placed Santa in the real world, where the second takes two generic kid actors and puts them in Santa’s lame CGI world.

The results? Audiences will be shouting "bah humbug” at the screen.

Avoid it on Netflix this holiday season.

KEVIN HART - ZERO F**KS GIVEN🤮

This self-indulgence would be just fine is it was funny. It is not. I sat there for the first half an hour with that stupid smile on my face, waiting for funny to happen. I did not. Kevin, so needy for the fame monster, does about an hour of standup on stage built in his living room, to a small, dutiful, mask-wearing, socially distanced audience. The camera kept cutting away to audience members slapping their knees and appearing, from behind their masks, to be laughing uproariously. You will not.

Kevin's previous stand-up specials have been hilarious so I can only imagine that this misfire is a result of his own needs to vent. Cheaper than a therapist for him - but I am not his therapist. KEVIN HART - ZERO F**KS GIVEN - and neither do I. <sigh>

Available on Netflix.