I enjoyed keeping track of my movies watched last year, so even though I don't have any goals for 2013, I'm just going to keep on tracking.

I watched 12 movies in January, which puts me on pace for 144. I think that's probably about average for me, as that's what I initially expected when I planned to watch 150 last year. I guess we'll see if I keep up that pace.

1. (308.) Love Crazy (1941)
Another William Powell and Myrna Loy film, this time firmly in the "screwball comedy" genre. Like all screwballs, the plot is more forced than the average primetime situation comedy, but the interaction between Powell and Loy is, as always, fantastic.

2. (309.) Rounders (1998)
This film featuring Matt Damon as a poker savant denying his destiny and his chance at love has a strong Good Will Hunting vibe. I didn't like Good Will Hunting.

3. (310.) The Swan (1956)
Grace Kelly plays a wannabe princess, but it's really Alec Guinness who steals the show as the aloof prince. This movie shows its age at the end: 21st-century Hollywood would NEVER tolerate this film's fitting finale.

4. (311.) Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Just because a movie is intended for kids doesn't excuse a script from being this bad. Fortunately, all the actors -- who I suspect are all Robert Rodriguez's drinking buddies -- know how bad it is and are all trying to out-ham one another.

5. (312.) Rififi (1955)
To get the taste of Spy Kids out of my mouth, I turned to this French caper film. Truly a must watch for anyone who loves noir cinema.

6. (313.) Island of Terror (1966)
My friend Otto paid $90 for a copy of this late 1950s British sci-fi/horror film. That was money well spent.

7. (314.) Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
An Italian lampoon of the caper sub-genre that is genuinely funny, if a little long-winded.

8. (315.) Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
Oh, Nic Cage. Just because someone tells you you only have two options ("commit suicide" or "steal 50 cars in 12 hours") doesn't mean you have to immediately take his word for it. But you're not really know for making good decisions, now are you?

9. (316.) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
There may be too much James Bond in this Sherlock Holmes for my taste (it brought to mind my least favorite Agatha Christie mystery, The Big Four), but it is entirely worth it for the Holmes/Watson interaction.

10. (317.) Gosford Park (2001)
I can't say enough great things about this murder mystery story. If you haven't seen it, correct that mistake.

11. (318.) Suspicion (1941)
An early Hitchcock where Cary Grant plays the scheming villain. Not Hitchcock's best work, but not bad by any stretch.

12. (319.) A Thousand Words (2012)
Did I just say "bad by any stretch"? This film is too risque for kids and too juvenile for adults. It's nothing but an excuse for several un-funny "comedy" bits glued together by a clumsy smattering of forced sentimentality. IMDB.com says this performed so poorly in the U.S. that it's overseas release was aborted. Don't let it be said that there isn't at least one advantage to living in Greece.

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These statistics from my year-long movie watching experiment in 2012 may interest no one but me, but it's my blog. So there.

First up is actors. You can see the totals for January through June here.

• July: Arthur O'Connell, Ryan Gosling (2)
• August: Lillian Gish (2)
• September: Karl Urban, Maureen O'Hara, the Thunderbirds cast (2)
• October: Jonah Hill, Lionel Barrymore, Owen Wilson, Rance Howard, Regis Toomey, Stephen Colbert (2)
• November: Tilda Swinson (2)
• December: Dee Bradley Baker, Myrna Loy, William Powell (3)
• Total: William Powell(8); Kristen Stewart, Myrna Loy (7)

Comedies continued to be the big draw for me, 82 in all. What can I say, I like to laugh. Dramas was a distant runner up overall, although there were as many months in which I watched more action movies than any other type as there were months where dramas were the leading category (2 each).

By the end of June, I hadn't seen any director's work more than two times. By the end of the year, I smashed that ceiling, seeing more than 2 films from four separate directors (W.S. Van Dyke [5], Frank Capra [4], Morgan Spurlock [3], David Gordon Green [3]). Van Dyke directed the best of the Thin Man movies, and was very skilled with giving the actors room to work and showing the clues to the mysteries, without making it entirely obvious that was what he was doing. I enjoyed his work.

Given that I've seen all 5 Twilight movie this year and that they were all written by Melissa Rosenbrerg, it seems a no-brainer than she should be the most-watched screenwriter of the year. And she was. The only other writer I saw more than twice was Frank Capra's frequent partner in crime, Robert Riskin (4). For the record, I saw multiple films from 20 different writers, and Paddy Chayefsky and William Rose both stand out from the crowd.

In case you were wondering, the studio that released most of the pictures I saw was Warner Brothers (35), although MGM (34) ran a close second. I've always had a soft spot for WB films, probably because I must share some of their sensibilities. They do own DC Comics, after all.

It must be something of the Obsessive Compulsive in me, but I really enjoyed keeping track of the movies I watched, maybe more than I enjoyed watching them. Even if I don't set any goals for 2013, I might keep tracking, just for giggles. We'll see what we shall see, won't we?

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The big movie experiment of 2012 is finally complete.

299. Gun Crazy (1950)
This movie is your typical "boy loves girl, girl loves murder" story. It's obvious pretty quickly that this isn't going to end well for the boy, but isn't that always the case?

300. Another Thin Man (1939)
The Thin Man movies are easily the highlight of my 2012 movie experiment. Not a bad one in the bunch.

301. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)
I read that Rob Zombie set out to make a Scooby-Doo episode with cursing and nudity. As much fun as that may sound in concept, no one wants to watch a 90-minute long Scooby-Doo episode. As my movie-watching buddy Otto would say, "it's not very good, but at least it's long."

302. The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
I had to get the final, unseen Thin Man in under the wire. I'm getting good at figuring out who the guilty party is in these mysteries. Too bad I've seen them all. I look forward to watching them all over again in a few years once I've forgotten who the murderers are!

303. Speak (2004)
I think having seen this movie, made when Kristen Stewart was 14, it becomes hard to defend what she does in Twilight as "acting." There is exactly one scene in this movie where Kristen briefly acts extroverted and excited, but for the rest of the film she plays the same wallflower you see when you watch her promote her films on talk shows or "act" in other movies. Is "typecasting" the right word when you're always asked to play yourself?

304. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
Silly and all too short, this film seems to have been made for the DVD generation. There's far too much detail on the screen to take in with a single viewing.

305. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012)
I expected to hate this direct-to-DVD adaptation of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. And I did.

306. Justice League: Doom (2012)
Why do these television adaptations of comic book super heroes have to display super heroes as borderline weak and incompetent? This film plays with that cliche in its conclusion, but doesn't manage to salvage my irritation at several scenes of heroes acting like teenagers gone wild.

307. I Love You Again (1940)
I closed the year with a William Powell/Myrna Loy film that isn't a Thin Man movie. The pair lived up to expectations, which should be no surprise considering that they appeared in 14 movies together overall. The studio wouldn't have done that if it wasn't working.

So that's it: 307 new-to-me movies watched in 2012. That means I started a new movie, on average, nearly once every 28 hours. I don't think I'll try to break that record in 2013, so I guess I'll have to try to find something else to occupy my time. Any suggestions?

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Twelve more for July 2012:

175. The Thin Man (1934)
Seeing the c-list actors they assigned to round out its cast, it's obvious immediately that MGM didn't expect this film to be great. Myrna Loy and William Powell are so adorable together, it's hard to believe that the company didn't recognize the film would be a sure-fire hit as soon as the cameras started rolling. Highly recommended.

176. Frankenstein 80 (1972)
Every few years, someone tries to update the old monster stories by adjusting the science or politics. In this case, the modern "science" is a bottle of neon-blue juice instead of lightning. Wow. Too bad Mary Shelly didn't think of that.

177. The Ides of March (2011)
Dad watched this movie and told me it sucked. Trey watched this movie and told me it was great. It's a pretty damn cynical movie, and of course I liked it.

178. Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Sweet, sweet Emma Stone. I never, ever want to meet you in person. You cannot possibly be as awesome in real life as you are on the silver screen.

179. The Naked City (1948)
IMDB.com recommended this to me because I watched In Cold Blood. This movie is like a 2-hour Dragnet episode. In other words, it's awesome.

180. 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
Tony Randall must have been quite a power broker to get MGM to make this vanity project. Sure, the makeup and effects are great, but there's not enough pancake makeup in the world to disguise 2-hours of tired sight gags as plot. Very boring.

181. East of Eden (1955)
Really, I hate Steinbeck's stories. If he were writing today, his work would be called teen fiction. "Oh, what is my place in life? Why is this happening to me?" Repeat for 200 pages, close book. Ugh. At least now I've seen the complete filmography of James Dean as a lead actor. All three of them. What a shame.

182. My Favorite Year (1982)
I don't think I've ever seen a movie set behind-the-scenes of television/movies/radio/theater that I didn't enjoy. (Heck, The Player, Radioland Murders, Noises Off! are some of my favorite films.) Add this to the stack.

183. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Another behind-the-scenes of Hollywood that manages to be a comedy and a message movie at the same time. The third act seemed a little long, but writer/director Preston Sturges is trying to make a point. Since the first two acts built up such good will, I'm not willing to pick a fault with it. I think, in fact, I'll seek out more Preston Sturges movies.

184. 41 (2012)
This documentary on the life of George H.W. Bush relies entirely on interviews with the man himself, and is therefore less robust than I would have hoped. More autobiography than journalism.

185. Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
I'd been trying to decide if I wanted to watch this movie for years. After seeing Ryan Gosling in two other movies this week, I decided to take the plunge. Gosling is impressive in the role, and the film is gently sincere. I'd gladly recommend it, but I'm not sure I could sit through it again.

186. Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
Yes, Natalie Wood was sexy. No, I still don't like her. This movie is what passed for a raunchy sex comedy in the 60s, being some combination of risque vaudeville routines and leftover It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World slapstick from the year before. I'm no fan of Mad, Mad World, which like this movie fails to respect the old truism about the relationship between brevity and wittiness. Listen, Hollywood: nothing is funny for 3 hours.

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For all the fuss my friends have made about it, you'd think I only watched Twilight movies in March. Not true. The Twilight made up only a small minority of my March viewing.

44. MASH (1970)
I never really cared for the series, and this movie is in many ways just like it. Fortunately, Donald Southerland's Hawkeye does far less moralizing than Alan Alda's Hawkeye, making the film slightly more tolerable than the television show.

45. Spartacus (1960)
This film is far too long, and it seems far longer than it is. However, the week before I watched it, I had played The Republic of Rome, a board game equally epic in scope as the movie. I enjoyed the game, and found comparisons between Spartacus' Rome and the game's rules to be compelling enough to keep watching when Tony Curtis' "singing" wasn't.

46. Proof (2005)
Mom chose this movie about a very smart adult child who fears succumbing to the same mental illness that her father had. I found the film difficult to watch.

47. After the Thin Man (1936)
An evenly-matched married couple with a dog gleefully fast-talk their way through solving a murder mystery? Say no more, I'm in! Delightful in every way. I'm now actively seeking out the 5 other movies in the Thin Man series to watch.

48. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
I found the highlight of this comedy of errors to be Buster Keaton in his final film role. This film reminded me of the more madcap Marx Brothers films in that I liked it, but felt dizzy long before it was over.

49. For Your Consideration (2006)
How did I miss this Christopher Guest film when it came out? I love movies about movies, and a Christopher Guest movie about movies? Sublime.

50. The D.I. (1957)
If I didn't love Jack Webb so, I probably would have found this film with him in the role of a Marine drill instructor unintentionally humorous. But I cannot laugh at Jack Webb. Joe Friday would fuck your shit up.

51. Furry Vengeance (2010)
Every bit as bad as you would expect a film in which evil Brendon Fraiser is tormented by woodland creatures to be. What is it with "family" movies these days? They are all terribly stupid. I don't know why, but Hollywood apparently hates children more than I do.

52. Moneyball (2011)
I don't care for baseball, but I enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at the unconventional building of a team to be very enjoyable. Recommended.

53. Seven Days in May (1964)
Another great film. A truly suspenseful thriller with fantastic performances by the entire cast. Most surprisingly, the political themes at the core of the film are as relevant in the fear-mongering climate of 2012 as they were in 1964.

54. The Queen (2006)
Another recommendation by Mom. Normally, I hate historic biopics. I just can't abide by fictional words being placed in characters' mouths. That said, I really enjoyed Michael Sheen as the Prime Minister, and Helen Mirren is Queen Elizabeth. A worthwhile couple of hours.

55. Your Highness (2011)
This movie presents a different kind of royal family. Given the title, I expected more drug humor, so I was excited to find that this film rather adeptly captured the spirit of one of my role-playing game sessions exactly.

56. The Social Network (2011)
I was distracted from the last 30 minutes of the movie by a real programming emergency, and I simply haven't cared to find out how it ends. I don't really understand why everyone thought this movie is so great, but then I've never really understood the appeal of Facebook, either.

58. Movie Crazy (1932)
Yet another movie about movies. Silent-film star Harold Lloyd produced and starred in this talkie about a klutz who becomes a movie star. Despite the audio track, this is very much a silent movie in spirit. Most of the dialogue is wooden and used only to set up sight gags. Where the movie does sparkle is in the occasional verbal jousting between Lloyd and love-interest Constance Cummings. Her quick wordplay is far better than her capricious character deserves, and in my opinion she steals the film.

More to come.

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