I Am Legend (2007)

Warner Bros. packaged this DVD with The Book of Eli as a "double feature." I had never seen such a set before; the two movies are unrelated, not involving any of the same actors, the same director, or even the same production companies. They just came out a few years apart and center on a lone Black man in a post-apocalyptic America, each with someone claiming to have been guided by a mysterious, potentially divine voice toward a cause for hope. That's about where the similarity ends. IAL actually merits a horror classification.

A scientist (Emma Thompson) reengineers a virus to cure cancer. It appears to work beautifully at first but quickly mutates, killing 90% of the world's populations and turning 9% into "Darkseekers," who are like fast zombies with the appearance and light allergy of vampires. Colonel Robert Neville (Will Smith) volunteers to remain in a cut-off Manhattan as the only known uninfected human survivor, accompanied by his dog, Sam, as he hopes to find a way to give the Darkseekers his immunity before he succumbs to either them or insanity from isolation.

Bad Boys (1995)

As I perused my alphabetized menu on a flight, this was the first title to jump out at me among those I hadn't seen. I'd had no strong desire to see it, but the fact that it spawned a series, including an entry this year despite Will Smith's decline in marketability, made me think I ought to learn more about it.

Undercover narcs Mike Lowrey (Smith, late in the Fresh Prince era) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are assigned to look into the theft of all the heroin seized by Miami PD. Kingpin Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) adds bloodshed in an effort to cover his tracks, but witness Julie (Téa Leoni) slips away. Thanks to a departed mutual acquaintance, she trusts Mike and nobody else in the department. He's absent when she calls, so supervisor Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) insists that Marcus stand in for Mike. For appearance's sake, the two longtime partners end up swapping residences....

King Richard (2021)

Yep, the movie that enabled the slap heard 'round the world. Now I would see whether Will Smith even deserved his Oscar in the first place. OK, that didn't cross my mind when I selected the film; I remembered only that it was one of the more esteemed Academy Best Picture nominees I hadn't seen yet.

In the early '90s, Compton father Richard Williams (Smith) starts looking for a renowned tennis coach for preteen-to-teen daughters Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton) despite lack of funds. He finally persuades Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) and later Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) to take on Venus, while Serena has to settle for practice with mother Brandy (Aunjanue Ellis). You probably already know that both go on to huge success. But as the title implies, Richard is awfully domineering, which gets him locking horns with just about everyone.

The Pursuit of Happyness

It occurred to me that the only Will Smith movies I'd seen were a few '90s sci-fis. I thought it only fair to check out his more serious, perhaps more mature side in possibly his most esteemed later effort, which got him a second Oscar nod.

In early-'80s San Francisco, Chris Gardner (Smith) has made an unwise career move: selling expensive, seemingly optional bone density scanners to doctors. By the start of the movie, his family is behind on bills. Wife Linda (Thandie Newton) walks out on him and briefly tries to take five-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Smith!) with her. Chris decides that his best move is to take a six-month unpaid internship at a brokerage and hope to be the one chosen for the job among 20 candidates. In the meantime, his living situation will worsen.