In 2022 I was very chill about film-watching and didn’t make myself watch things like the awards buzzy films just to keep in the loop (which was one of my goals last year!). I do think my whole procrastinating/mindless scrolling through social media did possibly have an affect on my film-watching like it did my reading at times though. I did also re/watch Doctor Who from Christopher Eccleston to the end of Jodie Whitaker’s era (I kind of stopped watching when the Ponds left and didn’t start again until the middle of Thirteen’s run) which took me six months so watching a couple of episodes of Doctor Who took the same time as watching a film might’ve.

In total I watched 177 different films, about 40 of which were rewatches. I said 2021 was the year I’d watched the least films but turns out 2022 now beats that which I’m OK with as I still watched a lot of good films, including these which made my Favourite Films of 2022 list. I still do enjoy watching films, whether they’re the latest blockbuster or something more obscure that I’m only watching because there’s an actor I like in it, but it’s nice not to put any pressure on myself to hit an arbitrary number or anything. I did see 45 different films at the cinema which was more than I expected because unlike previous years I didn’t really spend many Saturday’s at the cinema watching two or more films in a row like I used to. Again, I think this is a sign of me being choosier over what I want to watch rather than going to the cinema just for the sake of it. I did have an unlimited card which meant for about £16 a month I could see as many films as I like but I don’t think I was using it to its full potential as I used to so I cancelled it. I did get a similar card for a cinema that’s a lot closer to me (as in less than a 10-minute walk away) so I can go see a film at like 6pm after work and walk there rather than having a 30 minutes’ drive to the cinema.

I completed my 52 Films by Women challenge for both directors and writers again this year which I’m always happy about. Though it wasn’t intentionally I did like how only one of the films directed by women was a rewatch – which was of course, Mamma Mia!

Thanks to the A-Z in April Challenge I watched 16 of the films I owned but had yet to watch leaving me with just 48. This also helped me watch more of my Clint Eastwood and Alfred Hitchcock boxsets so I’m getting through them very slowly.

Now it’s time for the fun actor and director stats. My most watched actors of 2022 were:

In 2022 I didn’t have many big series rewatches but I did rewatch the Hunger Games series, the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, the Olympus Has Fallen films, Black Panther, and (as usual) The Lord of the Rings trilogy so that explains most of these actors. Benedict Wong makes an appearance as I was making my way through his filmography at the start of the year, Clint Eastwood makes sense as I did watch a fair few of his films this year, but the most surprising to me was John Leguizamo. I didn’t think I’d watched that many films with him in but apparently I did.

Now for my most watched directors:

These make a lot of sense in terms of the series/franchises I watched in 2022; Francis Lawrence (Hunger Games), Francis Ford Coppola (the Godfather trilogy), Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Rian Johnson (Knives Out films), Gordon Felmyng (Doctor Who movies) and Ryan Coogler (Black Panther films). I’m happy that Natalie Morales made the list as I loved both of her films – Plan B and Language Lessons – and she was the only female director I watched multiple films from in 2022.

Now for my goals for 2023. I kind of want to be in a similar mindset a I was in 2022. Sure, I want to go out of my comfort zone every now or then but I don’t want to have to watch things just because they’re up for awards. I will be doing the 52 Films by Women challenge for both directors and screenwriters again as I do love finding possible new favourites because of it and watching stuff I never would’ve done normally – or rather, I wouldn’t have made it a priority. Perhaps in March, which is Women’s History Month in the UK, I’ll just watch films made by women? Though if I did do that, I won’t include cinema releases as there’s a few big ones that month that I do want to see.

As for what franchises I might rewatch or indeed watch for the first time, I think a lot of the new instalments of franchises being released this year will get me rewatching the previous films. For instance, I’ve already rewatched the John Wick films in preparation for Chapter 4 in March. I’m thinking about watching all of the Rocky/Creed films on the run up to Creed III’s release as I’ve only seen the first Rocky and then both Creed films. I’ll also probably rewatch the Indiana Jones films as I’ve not seen any of them in full for years and to be honest it’s been over a decade since I’ve watched any of them. The other series I’ll probably do a rewatch of is Mission: Impossible as I do love those films. I may review these series on the run up to the new films release (but not Mission: Impossible as I’ve reviewed them all in the last couple of years – I say that, turns out it was five years ago but either way I see no point in reviewing them all again). So if all these rewatches happen, the actors and directors of these series have a good chance of being high in my most watched lists at the end of 2023.

Do you have any film-related goals for 2023? Or are you more of a go with the flow kind of person?