Flasz On Film

Any list needs a bit of context so as to let the reader understand why some films they might hold in high esteem didn’t get to feature on my list. Now, I’m not one for ranking biggest disappointments of the year, so if you want to find out more about movies I didn’t vibe with at all, feel free to scroll through my reviews. However, I thought it would be a good idea to complement my Year in Review series by mentioning movies I didn’t see despite technically having an opportunity and/or an ability to do so.

1. Carry-On

While my record with Jaume Collet-Serra can be considered patchy at best, I am a sucker for a single-location thriller of the Die Hard variety. And I count myself among fans of Non-Stop with Liam Neeson, so there’s that. This little movie dropped on Netflix shortly before Christmas and I simply didn’t get a chance to have a look at it. I am not sure whether Carry-On would have made a difference to my end-of-year ranking, but something tells me (given my own proclivities towards “dad cinema”) it would have at least ended up mentioned among movies definitely worth checking out.

2. Blink Twice

I missed Blink Twice in cinemas on account of being out of the country. I realize you might be wondering why anyone should be excited for a movie that looks like a carbon copy of Jordan Peele and seems to add another line into the eat-the-rich cinema with a highly progressive slant. However, I think there is enough of a point of interest in Zoe Kravitz standing behind the camera in her feature debut, even if the movie itself seems to have disappeared from the zeitgeist almost immediately after waltzing out of theaters.

3. Woman of the Hour

Speaking of interesting women behind the camera, I also missed out on seeing Woman of the Hour directed by and starring Anna Kendrick. Being what I like to call a “localized biopic,” this movie has an interesting enough stranger-than-fiction premise bolstered by a period setting to make it an intriguing watch that I am sure I’ll find some time for in the near future. Serial killers and dating shows? And it’s a more-or-less a true story? Colour me interested.

4. The Bikeriders

I’ve always been a big fan of Jeff Nichols and the entire microgenre of “fringe Americana” he’s been a massive contributor towards together with David Gordon Green, Debra Granik, Kelly Reichardt and others. Therefore, I had been looking forward to The Bikeriders for a while and, as luck would have it, it never played close enough to where I live for me to make it happen. I am fully aware of how it divided the critical opinion and how some dismissed it as a wannabe Goodfellas, but I’m nonetheless looking forward to catching up with this movie from a filmmaker I hold near and dear to my heart.

5. Kneecap

Kneecap is a movie that probably didn’t make too many waves outside of the UK and even within this realm it came and went without finding much of an audience. And I missed it, too. Now, this may be highly personal to me because I used to live in Belfast at one point in my life and I feel I’d find kinship with a movie about an Northern Irish hip-hop group all done in the Irish language and where the actual band members play themselves alongside professional actors as well. This is a movie I honestly need to seek out and catch up with because I think it would have had a good chance of entering my best-of list of the year had I seen it in time.

6. Juror #2

Juror #2 is one of those films I willingly abstained from viewing because I wasn’t sure I wanted to sit through another Clint Eastwood film having suffered through Cry Macho. However, seeing how it has picked up considerable acclaim from people online and it may become a piece in the Awards Season, it is nonetheless a movie I feel I should have found time to venture out and see. Granted, I don’t think Eastwood has directed a great movie since Gran Torino and only some of his recent outings like The Mule and Richard Jewell were solid enough to warrant any praise, I feel I might have miscalculated in my abstention. Though, I may yet come to eat those words.

7. Kinds of Kindness

Kinds of Kindness is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, one of Hollywood’s foremost weirdos and it came straight off the heels of Poor Things. This perhaps is enough of a reason to watch this movie since I absolutely adored Poor Things (and I do love a lot of Lanthimos’s work too) but I somehow never found the time to watch Kinds of Kindness, both in cinema and at home; and it is available on Disney Plus, as far as I am aware. The fact it is narratively busy, cacophonous and overtly upsetting to so many viewers is enough of a reason for me to pull my finger out and actually sit down to see it. And I honestly imagine it would have had a good chance of ranking among my favourites.

8. I Saw the TV Glow

Look, I have seen the praise and read the raving reviews and everyone I know and/or interact with keeps telling me this is one of the best movies of the year and it pains me to know that I never had a good enough opportunity to see it. It played in my area only in a small handful of engagements and only while I was away from home and this is honestly one of those movies I am desperate to catch up with, both to find out for myself what the fuss was all about and because I feel I might resonate with its Lynch-meets-Kelly vibes I see protruding from the marketing material. And it also seems that Martin Scorsese himself has strongly endorsed it. This is one of those movie you might read something about from me in not-too-distant future.

9. The Substance

Again, like I Saw the TV Glow, The Substance is one of those movies I see recommended and ranked highly all over the shop. Though, in contrast to that other movie I can’t blame not having watched it on anyone but myself. Between the promise of an allegorical fairy tale dressed in genre iconography and what I am told is relentlessly unflinching directorial hand delivering the experience, I think it’s enough to lure me in. And it also doesn’t hurt to see Demi Moore making a comeback in what I understand is quite a daring and somewhat self-reflective role. This is definitely a miss I must rectify at the earliest opportunity.

10. Megalopolis

I honestly can’t believe I missed this movie in the cinema and probably nothing will make up for passing on the opportunity to do so (especially since nothing beats watching a cinema employee being wheeled out to deliver a few lines in tandem with Adam Driver). However, life sometimes just gets in the way of things and I ended up not watching Francis Ford Coppola’s biggest pet project and perhaps the most expensive home movie ever produced. I’m not sure if I’d end up loving or hating this film (and there seems to be no middle ground in this regard. This is marmite stuff as far as I can tell), but of all the movies I ended up skipping for one reason or another, Megalopolis is the one I wish I could turn back time for.

Now, there are many more films released in 2024 that I have failed to see. As I frequently say, I am not a real critic. I’m just a guy with a keyboard typing essays in the evenings after work because I have a biological need to do so. Therefore, I’m pretty sure I failed to single out some other great films that flew right under my radar. At the same time – and this is me being cognizant of the fact that I often fail to judge just how little free time I tend to have – some of the movies I did list here I still might not get to see in the weeks and months to come. But I can tell you that at least some of them might inspire me to write a few words about them, so watch this space.