Thoughts on 4,000 movies

Similar to what I did when I hit 3,000 movies, I wanted to write a few words about this accomplishment and how I think about movies. It took me 21 years, 1 month, and 4 days to reach this milestone. It took me almost 6 years to go from 3,000-4,000. I'm definitely slowing down as I get older.

One thing I've been struggling with recently is rating movies. It's something I've always done and I will continue to do so, but it's mostly for my own mental organization. I admit, I've soured a bit on the rating scale, especially the detailed one I use. I think it's more fair to say there are great movies (what I'd rate 8, 8.5, 9. 9.5, or 10), good movies (7 or 7.5), decent movies (6.5), okay movies (6), and then various degrees of bad films (5.5 or below). I also believe that even the worst movies have redeeming qualities. All this to say, it's harder for me to justify the rating scale.

As I chart my progress, I've made great progress over the last 6 years. Here's some statistics about where I stand currently: In terms of Academy Award winners, I've seen:
- 100% of the Best Picture Winners
- 98% of the Best Director Winners (there's 2 movies I simply cannot find)
- 96% of the Best Actor Winners (4 hard to find films)
- 74% of the Best Actress Winners (this is the category I've made the most progress in over the last 5 years)
- 67% of the Best Supporting Actor Winners
- 67% of the Best Supporting Actress Winners
- 66% of the Best Original Screenplay Winners
- 83% of the Best Adapted Screenplay Winners
- 61% of the Best Cinematography Winners
- 53% of the Best Costume Design Winners
- 13% of the Best Documentary Feature Winners (oof)
- 0% of the Best Documentary Short Winners (double oof)
- 83% of the Best Film Editing Winners
- 16% of the Best International Film Winners (I know I have work to do here)
- 3% of the Best Live Action Short Winners
- 90% of the Best Makeup and Hairstyling Winners
- 55% of the Best Original Score Winners
- 52% of the Best Original Song Winners
- 77% of the Best Sound Winners
- 56% of the Best Production Design Winners
- 65% of the Best Visual Effects Winners
- 100% of the Best Animated Film Winners

I wasn't even tracking all those categories when I hit 3,000 movies. I've also made solid progress in every category over the past 6 years. It's something I am continuing to work on.

I've also seen 100% of the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Films (2007 edition) and 99% of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Films (1998 edition)- I just need to sit down and watch Wuthering Heights.

I've been thinking about time a little different. My ultimate goal would be to see 1,000 movies from every decade. Here's where I currently stand-
2020s- 144
2010s- 1,187
2000s- 1,133
1990s- 686
1980s- 314
1970s- 133
1960s- 108
1950s- 102
1940s- 99
1930s- 69
1920s- 22
1910s- 3

It's a usual complaint of mine that I need to watch more older movies. It'll always be a challenge- but I certainly expect to make substantial progress in this area before I check in again when I hit 5,000 movies.

Here's some interesting facts about the 4,000 movies I've seen:
- The average movie rating is 6.766 (slightly up from 3,000)
- Only .2% of movies have scored a perfect 10 (slightly down from 3,000)
- 16.25% of the movies I've seen are "great" (8 or higher) (down fairly significantly from 3,000)
- 5.9% of the movies I've seen have scored below a 5 (this dropped, too. As I get older it's harder for me to sit down and watch terrible movies).
- I've seen at least 1 movie every year from 2022 going back to 1927 (I still haven't seen a 1926 film, even 6 years later).
- The oldest movie I've seen is the short film, Blacksmith Scene, from 1893 (unchanged from 3,000)
- The oldest feature length movie I've seen is the racist The Birth of a Nation, from 1915.
- My goal is to see a minimum of 100 movies a year. I've done that every year from 1997-2019, a span of 23 years (I've increased 6 years since 3,000)
- The most movies I've seen in a single year was 2007 with a total of 139 movies.
- I've also seen 171 short films and 60 television series (183 total seasons and 2,722 individual episodes)