2022 Movie Stats

In the year 2022 I watched 181 new-to-me movies and 52 movies that were rewatches for a total of 233. That's just over 100 LESS than last year :/

New to me: 181 (105 pre-1970, 76 post-1970)

Rewatches: 52 (38 pre-1970, 14 post-1970)

Total: 233 (143 pre-1970, 90 post-1970)

Where I watched them: 

TCM: 87 (20 rewatches)

Library (DVD & Apps): 19 (1 rewatch)

Personal DVD: 30 (19 rewatches)

YouTube & OK: 32 (6 rewatches)

Paid Streaming Services: 40 (3 rewatches) 

TV & Free Streaming Services: 21 (2 rewatches)

Theater: 2

          Other: 2 (1 rewatch)

Here are my top five movie discoveries:

Brief Encounter (1945) - Celia Johnson & Trevor Howard

Mr. Soft Touch (1949) - Glenn Ford & Evelyn Keyes

Shane (1953) - Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin

Tough Guys (1986) - Burt Lancaster & Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach, Alexis Smith

The Lost Husband (2020) - Leslie Bibb & Josh Duhamel

Classics I finally watched: 

          Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone

          The Good Earth (1937) - Paul Muni & Luise Rainer

          The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Margaret Lockwood & Michael Redgrave, Dame May Whitty

          Brief Encounter (1945) - Celia Johnson & Trevor Howard

Shane (1953) - Alan Ladd, Van Heflin & Jean Arthur

Judgement at Nuremberg (1961) - Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift

Bullitt (1968) - Steve McQueen

          Westworld (1973) - Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin

The Fugitive (1993) - Harrison Ford

Little Woman (1994) - Wynona Ryder, Susan Sarandan, Christian Bale, Mary Wickes

         

Number of movies per decade:

1910s: 0 (0 rewatches)
1920s: 1 (0 rewatches)
1930s: 26 (4 rewatches)
1940s: 44 (8 rewatches)
1950s: 45 (18 rewatches)
1960s: 27 (8 rewatches)
1970s: 16 (0 rewatches)
1980s: 25 (4 rewatches)
1990s: 19 (4 rewatches)
2000s: 6 (1 rewatch)
2010s: 17 (4 rewatches)

2020s: 7 (1 rewatch)

Number of movies per month:

January: 36 (6 rewatches)
February: 25 (8 rewatches)
March: 24 (1 rewatch)
April: 20 (6 rewatches)
May: 20 (6 rewatches)
June: 10 (2 rewatches)
July: 26 (6 rewatches)
August: 20 (5 rewatches) 
September: 11 (3 rewatch)
October: 9 (1 rewatch)
November: 13 (3 rewatches)
December: 19 (5 rewatches)



Number of Foreign Language Films: 1 (French)

Number of Documentaries: 18 

Most Watched (Leading) Movie Stars: (I do this very scientifically, I think of names and search my word document lol)

Kurt Russell - 37 films (plus multiple TV episodes)

Josh Duhamel - 11 films

Elvis Presley - 7 films (5 were rewatches)

Kirk Douglas - 6 films

Glenn Ford, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum, Robert Young, Goldie Hawn - 5 films

Clark Gable, William Holden, Dana Andrews, Brian Keith, Gilbert Roland, John Mills - 4 films

Stars I discovered/grew to love/admire: Kurt Russell, Josh Duhamel

 

*To see last year's stats, click here.

Did you keep track of the movies you watched in 2022? Was there a star or movie you discovered that you can't live without now? Let me know in the comments!

Movies I Watched in December

Glenn Ford dresses up as St. Nick in Mr. Soft Touch (1949)

This month had the usual Christmas movies as well as some unusual ones. 

1. A Night of Adventure (1944) - Tom Conway & Audrey Long 
2. Christmas Holiday (1944) - Deanna Durbin & Gene Kelly, Gale Sondergaard
3. Mr. Soft Touch (1949) - Glenn Ford & Evelyn Keyes, Percy Kilbride
4. Young Man with Ideas (1952) - Glenn Ford, Ruth Roman, Nina Foch, Denise Darcel 
5. *White Christmas (1954) - Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye & Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes
6. Bridge to the Sun (1961) - James Shigeta & Carroll Baker
7. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) - George Lazenby & Diana Rigg
8. Witness for the Prosecution (1982) - Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Diana Rigg, Wendy Hiller
9. *Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) - Alan Young
10. The Jewel of the Nile (1985) - Kathleen Turner & Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito
11. *Home Alone (1990) - Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy
12. *Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Tim Curry, Eddie Bracken, Catherine O’Hara
13. Forget Paris (1995) - Billy Crystal & Debra Winger
14. Escape From L.A. (1996) - Kurt Russell, Cliff Robertson 
15. Fathers’ Day (1997) - Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
16. *Elf (2003) - Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, Mary Steenburgen
17. Charlie St. Cloud (2010) - Zac Efron 
18. New Year’s Eve (2011) - star-studded cast (including Josh Duhamel)
19. A Castle for Christmas (2021) - Brooke Shields & Cary Elwes

Least Favorite Film: It wasn’t bad but Escape from L.A. was just ok. It wasn’t as visually freaky as Escape from New York but it was too similar. It was my last Kurt Russell movie for the year. 

Favorite Movie: I really liked Mr. Soft Touch. Eddie Muller gave a great intro (Noir Alley on TCM). Last year I watched Spectre on Christmas Day (to refresh my memory before watching No Time to Die) and this year I watched On Her Majesty’s Secret Service so I guess that’s a new tradition? Lol. Anyway, I can’t stop listening to this song <3

Who Will Be My Most Watched Star For 2022??

Who will be my most watched movie star of 2022 and how many movies will I have watched? Leave your guess in the comments. Hint: it DOESN’T start with Robert ;)

Here’s who had the top spot for the past few years (I didn’t track who had the most in 2016 & 2015 when I started my stats, but for 2016 it was probably Olivia de Havilland). 

2021 - Robert Young with 16 (Elvis Presley in second with 15)

2020 - Robert Taylor with 20 (Elvis Presley in second with 13)

2019 - Eleanor Parker with 11

2018 - Robert Ryan with 16

2017 - Clark Gable & Chris Pine tying with 14 each

What movie star did YOU watch the most movies of this past year? 

Movies I Watched in November

I’ll Be Seeing You (1944)

This month was a pretty good month. Aside from these movies, I also watched season 5 of The Crown (only episode I really objected to was ep. 6). My brother bought the new Planes, Trains and Automobiles release with a disc of never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes that were recently discovered among John Hughes things - some adult/crude humor but very funny. I also started watching season 3 of Leave it to Beaver. I’ve probably seen most of them but so far I’ve only watched the first two seasons in order (you may remember this post of June’s season 1 dresses. I’ve spotted a few of them in season 3 too).

1. Lady of the Tropics (1939) - Robert Taylor & Hedy Lamarr
2. I’ll Be Seeing You (1944) - Ginger Rogers & Joseph Cotten
3. *Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara & John Payne, Natalie Wood
4. On Our Merry Way (1948) - Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurrey, William Demerest
5. *Battle Cry (1955) - Tab Hunter, Aldo Ray & Nancy Olson
6. Fate is the Hunter (1964) - Glenn Ford, Suzanne Pleshette, Rod Taylor, Nancy Kwan, Dorothy Malone, Jane Russell
7. Freebie and the Bean (1974) - James Caan, Alan Arkin, Valerie Harper, Loretta Swit 
8. Silkwood (1983) - Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher
9. Suspect (1987) - Cher, Dennis Quaid, Liam Neeson, John Mahoney
10. *Funny Farm (1988) - Chevy Chase
11. Rush Hour (1998) - Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker
12. The Christmas Chronicles (2018) - Kurt Russell, Darby
13. The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two (2020) - Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn

Least Favorite Film: Definitely The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two. It had none of the charm, humor, and originality of the first one. I wish the elves had been like the ones in Elf, instead of gremlin-like. There were some parts of Freebie and the Bean that I didn’t care for, though I liked the buddy chemistry between Caan and Arkin. They could have had a good buddy cop tv show. 

Kurt Russell sings an Elvis Christmas song in the first film. 

He still has the moves from when he played Elvis in the 1979 TV movie!

Favorite Movie: Aside from Silkwood (which I shouldn’t have watched before bed) and my least favorite movie listed above, I really enjoyed all of them! I’ve been wanting to see I’ll be Seeing You for a long time based on the image below. It wasn’t what I expected but I really enjoyed it. I’m not always a fan of how Ginger Roger acts but she was very good in this one and Joseph Cotten was excellent (sadly he doesn’t mention the film in his autobiography). On Our Merry Way can only be described as quirky. If you ever get a chance to watch it, do. Suspect was really good (except for the first 7 minutes with a suicide, murder, and upsetting robbery/assault). I’ve seen parts of the Rush Hour movies so I knew I’d enjoy it. They don’t make funny movies like that anymore..

Movies I Watched in October

I finished watching all of M*A*S*H. I had stopped after Winchester replaced Frank but my brother told me to give him a chance and I'm glad I did. They are definitely more drama than comedy as opposed to the first five seasons, but I was sad when I got to the end. As you can see, the result is I didn't watch a ton of movies. 

A sad thing that happened this month is that the WatchTCM app is no longer supported on my 2016 iPad. Now if I want to take a screenshot of a costume I'll have to do so on my laptop, which is a lot more time consuming than just pressing two buttons at the same time :( However, there are only 4 movies showing on TCM in November that I want to watch so I will probably watch more old movies on YouTube and Tubi.

1. Good Girls Go to Paris (1939) - Joan Blondell & Melvyn Douglas 
2. So Ends Our Night (1941) - Fredric March, Glenn Ford, Margaret Sullivan, Frances Dee
3. Twice Blessed (1945) - Lyn & Lee Wilde, Preston Foster, Gail Patrick, Marshall Thompson
4. Sylvia and the Phantom/Sylvie et le Fantôme (1946 - French) - Jacques Tati, Odette Joyeux
5. The Company She Keeps (1951) - Lizabeth Scott, Jane Greer, Dennis O’Keefe 
6. The Tall Men (1955) - Clark Gable & Jane Russell, Robert Ryan
7. Cowboy (1958) - Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, Brian Donlevy, Dick York
8. *Clambake (1967) - Elvis Presley & Shelley Fabares, Bill Bixby, Gary Merrill 
9. Deepwater Horizon (2016) - Mark Wahlburg, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, John Malkovich

Irving Thalburg: The Prince of Hollywood (2005) 

Least Favorite Film: Cowboy had some cruel scenes and was a little more down than I thought it would be. Still a good movie though. Twice Blessed was a movie I’ve been wanting to see for a long time with its “Parent Trap” storyline. I’m not a fan of Preston Foster though so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. 

Favorite Movie: Sylvia and the Phantom was a nice non-scary ghost movie for October. The score was lovely. It was fun seeing famous femme fatale's Scott and Greer in a The Company She Keeps together. There aren't enough old movies with two women leads that aren't "women's pictures." I really liked Glenn Ford's performance in So Ends Our Night. 

Fun fact: I was watching The Tall Men (which has a score by Victor Young) and at the 25:45 mark (on YT) I suddenly recognized about 15 seconds of part of the Shane soundtrack (also Young)!

Movies I Watched in September

The Trouble with Harry (1955), The perfect autumn film.

Didn’t get a lot of movies watched this month with the death of Queen Elizabeth (if you follow me on Twitter you know I mostly post Royal family stuff) and going on a mini vacation to the North Carolina Outer Banks (the weather was perfect) - naturally on the same weekend. I also went on a day trip to a large outdoor flea market, where I bought several Elvis movies for $2 each, including his first two movies (VHS). 

1. Mad About Music (1938) - Deanna Durbin, Herbert Marshall, Gail Patrick, Arthur Treacher, William Frawley, Marcia Mae Jones, Helen Parrish
2. *Road to Singapore (1940) - Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Charles Coburn, Anthony Quinn 
3. For the Love of Mary (1948) - Deanna Durbin, Edmond O’Brien, Don Taylor, Jeffrey Lynn
4. Tokyo Joe (1949) - Humphrey Bogart 
5. *Hondo (1953) - John Wayne & Geraldine Page, Ward Bond, James Arness 
6. *The Trouble with Harry (1955) - Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe, Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick, Jerry Mathers
7. Wild in the Country (1961) - Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins, John Ireland
8. Operation Crossbow (1965) - Sophia Loren, George Peppard, John Mills
9. What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) - James Coburn, Aldo Ray
10. The Hot Rock (1972) - Robert Redford, George Segal
11. Nights at Rodanthe (2008) - Diane Lane & Richard Gere, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis, James Franco

Least Favorite Film: Well, I didn’t like the end of Nights at Rodanthe (which I watched because I was going to be driving through there on the way to Avon for a few days - I saw the Rodanthe Inn from the road as we drove through!).

Favorite Movie: Of course I liked Wild in the Country (listen to my favorite song from the film below). I didn’t remember much of Hondo but I liked it much better this time around. 

Movies I Watched in August

River's End (1940)

This month I started watching M*A*S*H again (I had stopped after Frank left). So far I've watched season 6-8. They are definitely more serious in tone. I also started The Persuaders (1971-1972), starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore. I liked the first couple of episodes enough to buy the complete series on dvd ($10 on Amazon for 24 episodes). 

* indicates a rewatch

1. A Lady of Chance (1928) - Norma Shearer 
2. Cynara (1932) - Ronald Colman & Kay Francis
3. My Dear Miss Aldrich (1937) - Edna May Oliver, Maureen O’Sullivan & Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson
4. The Drum (1938) - Sabu, Roger Livesy, Raymond Massey
5. River’s End (1940) - Dennis Morgan, George Tobias
6. Meet the Stewarts (1942) - William Holden & Frances Dee
7. In Which We Serve (1942) - Noel Coward, John Mills, Celia Johnson, Richard Attenborough 
8. Dear Ruth (1947) - William Holden & Joan Caufield, Edward Arnold
9. *Every Girl Should Be Married (1948) - Cary Grant & Betsy Drake, Franchot Tone
10. Little Women (1949) - June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O’Brien, Peter Lawford, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Rossano Brazzi 
11. Barricade (1950) - Dane Clark, Raymond Massey, Ruth Roman
12. *Shane (1953) - Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon de Wilde
13. Dunkirk (1958) - John Mills, Richard Attenborough 
14. *Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) - Steve Martin + archive footage of old Hollywood stars 
15. Captain Ron (1992) - Kurt Russell, Martin Short
16. Little Women (1994) - Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Christian Bale, Kirsten Dunst, Mary Wickes
17. We Are Marshall (2006) - Matthew McConahay
18. *The King’s Speech (2010) - Colin Firth
19. *The Tourist (2010) - Angelina Jolie & Johnny Depp
20. Elvis (2022) - Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia Delange (in theaters)

Least Favorite Film: Cynara. No one likes a girl who steals another woman’s husband than gets hysterical when he goes back to her.

Favorite Movie: Meet the Stewarts was really cute and funny. I also really enjoyed the 1994 Little Women. I've never really been a huge fan of the book (when I first read it I saw that one of the girls died and didn't finish it). I really liked Christian Bale as Laurie. In most adaptations the character of Laurie is forgettable, or too... for lack of a better word, feminine - maybe it's because his name is similar to mine (Laura). Anyway, Bale did a great job and I think this adaptation is my favorite, followed by the 1978 TV mini-series, which had a great cast. Captain Ron was pretty funny. 

I thought Elvis (2022) would be added to HBO Max in early August and, since I hadn't gotten around to going to see it in theaters yet (I like early weekday showings when there's not a lot of people - even pre-covid I preferred it that way), I had decided to wait. Then they pushed the date and, since it stayed in theaters so long, I finally had a chance to go. I'm glad I saw it on the big screen. Not going to lie, the first hour dragged a little but once we got to the '68 Special it was really good. That was my favorite part of the movie, partly because it was more like a regular biopic, had more actual Elvis songs than the first hour, and had less of Colonel Tom Parker. Austin Butler, who I thought he was a horrible choice when he was cast (despite having never seen him act), was absolutely incredible. He had the moves and voice down to a T. He even managed to catch that twinkle in his eyes that Elvis had. I really do hope he is nominated for an Oscar and wins. He seems like a pretty humble guy in his interviews too and seems to genuinely love Elvis. I hope that one day an extended cut is released. I sobbed at the end of the movie and had trouble holding it together the entire drive home (20 min - while listening to an Elvis cd). The end was perfect (I usually stay until the credits finish but it moved on to a rap song so I hot footed it out of there). The film was added to HBO Max today.