Signal Watch: Movies By the Numbers - 2019 edition

Well, 2019 was certainly a year that we mostly lived through.  As years go, I'm not giving it very high marks, but I did watch a lot of movies.  Which, boys and girls, is not so much an achievement as a thing which occurred.

In 2019, I watched 204 movies (click that link to see the spreadsheet).  This is likely a lifetime high, and I don't really know how or why that happened, because 204 is a good 20 more movies than last year.

I also wrote a post or recorded a podcast for, I think, every movie I watched in 2019.

This 204 number includes movies I saw more than once.  Example:  I saw Avengers: Endgame three times this year, so it is counted thrice.

The figure does not include partially watched films, half-watched Hallmark Christmas movies, or matter that I watched on TV that some people might consider a film, but I happen to not consider a film.

As always, I may have missed a movie or two.  It happens.  The data is accumulated from the blog - so if I forgot to post on a movie, it is not reflected here.  Also, dates watched on a movie reflect the date upon which I completed a movie, as I watch many movies broken up over 2-3 viewings.

Now, into the nitty-gritty.

First Viewing

A while back I realized I was re-watching too many movies and set a goal to watch at least 1/2 the movies I viewed as "new to me", no matter when they were released.

This year I watched 114 movies for the first time.  That's 55.9% - so, goal achieved.

Never be afraid to pursue your dreams, kids.

For the PodCast

I decided to track how many movies I watched for The Signal Watch PodCast, especially as we frequently watch 2 movies and compare and contrast them.

This year we watched 50 movies across 45 episodes of the PodCast.  But that's a lot of movies I wouldn't have likely otherwise watched.

New Movies in 2019

So what did I watch that was recently released in 2019, in theaters, to streaming formats, etc...?

This is the squishiest category as I included movies I watched in non-theatrical formats as soon as I could - ie: didn't see them in the theater but watched quickly in another way, be it on the back of an airplane seat or on Netflix.

I watched 36 movies that were new in 2019, and if you want to include the multiple times I saw Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame, I saw 40 movies released this year.

Genre

This category is somewhat useless as movies tend to include multiple genres, but I figured I'd try some organization.  You can review my selections under the Genre tab.

Action: 4
Adventure:  9
Animated:  10
Christmas:  2
Comedy:  26
Documentary:  8
Drama:  22
Horror:  25
Musical:  9
Mystery:  1
Noir:  45
Rifftrax (Includes MST3K):  4
Sci-Fi:  18
Superhero:  21
Western:  1

That's a lot of horror, which I attribute to our robust coverage of Halloween movies on the podcast.  And fewer Westerns than I'd figure on.  You can feel free to review my list and quibble, but I think it at least paints a general picture of what I watched.

Decade

I do watch new movies, and we'll get to that, but I also try to be open to cinema's entire history, recognizing that I struggle with many silent films and early talkies.

Because it was hotly debated online this year, I am defining a decade as beginning with the 0 number and working to the 9 number.  The 1980's in this context runs from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989.

1920:  1
1930:  9
1940:  26
1950:  27
1960:  5  (five?.  Holy cow.)
1970:  13
1980:  37
1990:  15
2000:  8
2010:  63

I think the fact I watched so many films from the 1980's is a surefire sign I've been spending too much time with SimonUK.  Also - I don't think I've ever watched so few films from the 1960's and will be looking to amend that in 2020.

Month Watched

My movie viewership  ebbs and flows over the course of a year as holidays, work trips and other obligations can change when I have time to watch movies.

January:      21
February:    18
March:        16
April:          14
May:           20
June:           19
July:            10
August:       20
September:  13
October:      20
November:  12
December:   21

Format in in Which I Watched a Movie

I didn't splinter some of the categories as much as I could have.  Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ all appear here as "Streaming".  I didn't differentiate between DVD and BluRay.  But I think it paints a picture of how I was consuming movies.

Airplane:      02
Disc:            48
Streaming:   72
TCM:           47
TV/ cable:    03

That's it for the numbers...

That's it for the numbers for 2019.  We'll talk favorites and least-favorites in another post.