I write this post every year to acknowledge some of the movies that I've made a conscious decision to skip watching. In some cases there's a reason, and in some cases there's just a lack of enthusiasm. I've got very strong completionist tendencies, so I hope writing about some of these films this way will help me put any lingering doubts to rest. So, here are seven films below that didn't make the cut this year. I reserve the right to revisit and reverse my viewing choices in the future. However, I still haven't watched anything from last year's list.
"Smile" and "Speak No Evil" - Horror is always a tough category for me. 2022 was a great year for horror movies, and I liked plenty of them. However, I still take a pause whenever I encounter films with more nihilist attitudes. "Nope" and "Barbarian" aren't going to keep me up at night, but a movie like the Dutch thriller "Speak No Evil," about a family's annihilation, hits way too close to home. European horror films also tend to get under my skin way more than their American counterparts, because they're more willing to go to upsetting places. As for "Smile," it immediately turned me off because of the creepy imagery, and because I learned that the plot is essentially the same as "It Follows," but with more graphic violence, and they actually show the creature. No thanks.
"To Leslie" - I'm sure that this is a good movie, but the more I learn about the campaigning controversy around the Oscar nomination for lead actress Andrea Riseborough, the cooler I get on actually watching the film. Frankly, "To Leslie" has all the earmarks of a typical Oscar "Also Ran." It's a woman struggling against addiction story, it's got dysfunctional family relationships, and it's got a "big heart." Good grief, I'm glad the campaigning wasn't more prevalent, because that sentiment is just awful. It's not like I've got some bias against the smaller films - "Aftersun" is a similarly underseen indie made on a shoestring budget. However, "To Leslie" had absolutely no buzz and no critical attention outside the Oscar voter bubble. The only person I could find who had it on their year end Top Ten list was Richard Roeper.
"Nanny" and "Emergency" - I've wrestled with some guilt over both of these titles, because they both deal with the black experience at their cores. One is a genre film about a recent African immigrant who is haunted by supernatural forces. One is a dark comedy where two black college guys try to help an unconscious white girl with disastrous results. However, they're both also films I would be avoiding no matter the background of the main characters. Anything involving early motherhood guilt has been rough for me since "Thelma," and "Emergency" just sounds like some unholy combination of "Superbad" and "After Hours" that offers an excess amount of anxiety that I don't need in my life.
"Emancipation" - I could have grouped this together with the previous black-led films, but "Emancipation" needs to be singled out for additional comments. First, since Will Smith got his Oscar, I no longer feel obligated to watch the self-serious prestige projects that he's been so keen on after giving up blockbuster stardom. But more than that, Antoine Fuqua hasn't made a film I've liked in far too long, and I have no interest in watching him take on a Civil War era story. Maybe if he had a different leading man or if there were any kind of enthusiasm from critics or viewers, I'd feel differently. As it stands, I'm more than happy to leave this at the bottom of my list
"A Man Called Otto" - Finally, we have to talk about Tom Hanks. I'm thrilled that this movie is doing well in theaters, but I was never going to watch it. I've already seen the film it was based on, "A Man Called Ove," and disliked it. This is a straight remake from what I've seen from the trailers and viewer reactions, so I'm not interested. I'm glad Tom Hanks has a win, but it's coming after a long string of underwhelming appearances like the leads of "Greyhound," and "Finch," and his notorious turn as Colonel Parker in "Elvis." As our reliable everyman has moved into parts for older actors, the quality has taken a serious nosedive. And it's such a shame.
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