ROTTEN TOMATOES: How Many Movies Have You Seen In Your Entire Life?

How Many Movies Have You Seen In Your Entire Life?

by Jen Yamato | October 25, 2007

Summary

Newsweek critic David Ansen has courageously revealed the more quietly kept secret of every cinephile: his lifelong, bordering-on-eccentric, meticulous obsession with movies. You see, he's been keeping a film diary since he was 12 years old in which he's detailed every film he's seen since. Every. Single. Film. Back to Article

(1-50 of 50 posts) | Reply

mjsieber writes:
on Oct 25 2007 07:39 PM

When did he find time to masterbate?

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robzass writes:
on Oct 25 2007 07:49 PM

Maybe he did it while he was watching Mighty Ducks.

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infiniteloop writes:
on Oct 25 2007 07:51 PM

In reply to this comment (#1222482)
mjsieber wins the thread before it starts, bravo!

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witherwings writes:
on Oct 25 2007 07:51 PM

MastUrbate...

... oh, the jokes I could make.

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Albert644 writes:
on Oct 25 2007 07:59 PM

HAHAHAHA what a loser.

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arendr writes:
on Oct 25 2007 08:05 PM

In reply to this comment (#1222582)
You mean something like, "mjsieber, let go of your penis for a second and study for the spelling bee"?

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XBSHX writes:
on Oct 25 2007 08:07 PM

In reply to this comment (#1222636)
Right... you're on a movie website talking about movies and you're calling him a loser?

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Young Turk writes:
on Oct 25 2007 08:13 PM

No, he's on a movie website talking about masterbating.

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AgentSmith writes:
on Oct 25 2007 08:14 PM

Simply amazing and a slap for those who believe that movies are a waste of time.

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bookworm1994 writes:
on Oct 25 2007 08:17 PM

he did it when he was in the bathroom, you dolts, or with his other hand when he was writing.

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dracula68 writes:
on Oct 25 2007 08:18 PM

Why do you all want to trash a guy doing and talking about and being proud of what he does? Don't need to answer because the truth is all of you are just a bunch of loser dickweeds.

Myself -- figuring 2 a week since I was 13. 52x26x2. About 2000. Anyone else want to talk about how many movies they've seen, their love for films, c'mon in. Rest of you -- fo.

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TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on Oct 25 2007 09:05 PM

7,714 films on 146 pages? So what! What did he do just write the names of the films down? I thought he actually wrote a review or summary for each film but obviously not, I don't really see the big deal here. So if he's in his 60's (it says 6 decades) and he started doing this at 12 figure he's been "logging" movies for 48 years with his total films that comes out to about 161 films a year and if all those were seen in the theater all that means is he's probably broke and not married...so congrats on that.

The better question is how many quality films have you seen in your life? And how much of your life have you wasted watching crap? Now that would be more interesting.

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witherwings writes:
on Oct 25 2007 09:08 PM

Exactly, arendr. Wait a sec, dracula68, 2000 movies or 2000 times you've masturbated?

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Master Gimili writes:
on Oct 25 2007 09:52 PM

In reply to this comment (#1222763)
Ba-zing!

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buttamack writes:
on Oct 25 2007 10:32 PM

I don't really see what he accomplished. 5 decades and he has only see close to 8 thousand movies. That's like 150 movies a year. That isn't that much considering they average 90 minutes a peice.

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ZiGyStRdUsT writes:
on Oct 25 2007 11:11 PM

Ahahaha. Witherwings, couldn't resist not making a masturbation joke I see?

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TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on Oct 26 2007 12:07 AM

In reply to this comment (#1222974)
161 a year.

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hewpot writes:
on Oct 26 2007 12:07 AM

In reply to this comment (#1222482)
hahahaha lmao

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Jen Yamato writes:
on Oct 26 2007 12:16 AM

Alright haters, how many films have YOU seen, ever? And even if you can guesstimate, could any of you name ALL of them? What Ansen did is pretty impressive and required way more time, energy, and care then someone generalizing numbers and multiplying estimates to leave a snarky comment. I, for one, am in awe.

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moviemonkey2 writes:
on Oct 26 2007 12:28 AM

I actually kept track for a few years when I was a young teen. It was neat to see how many I watched in a year, and how many more I saw the next year. And then it just became a stupid and arduous task that had no real reward. Not to mention it's embarrassing as hell. Try explaining why you would actually do something like that, and not sound entirely crazy.

"I'm obsessed with movies and like making lists!" = Crazy!

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TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on Oct 26 2007 01:38 AM

In reply to this comment (#1223097)
Sorry I have better things to do, and I'm still not getting what's so impressive. He wrote down the titles of all the movies he saw after he saw them...WOW that took 10 seconds each time! I'd be more impressed if he wrote a review for each one of them, that would at least have taken some time and effort. There's a few people on here who do similar things, they post 3-5 movies a day with ratings yet no review. I'm not knocking that, if it gives them kicks good for them, but I'm not about to pat them on the back for taking one minute to post the movie and the rating, doesn't help anybody else out and it didn't take a whole lot of effort to do.

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0LDB0Y writes:
on Oct 26 2007 02:02 AM

mjsieber-

congrats, you single-handedly turned this thread into a masterbati0n thread.

I would be extremely impressed for anyone who keeps a diary/record of their lifetime masterbati0n. Perhaps a short review of the position, location, what kind of lube used, to whom you masturbated to, the amount and the condition of the load, etc.

What say you?

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frothy writes:
on Oct 26 2007 03:49 AM

Precisely 2,903..

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The Paki Don writes:
on Oct 26 2007 05:10 AM

Well, I want to become an actor, and I have, not a similar system, but something that could resemble it... a little bit. I've kept every cinema ticket that I've paid for over the past almost 7 years. When I have a noteworthy role in a movie that hits a commercial, main-stream cinema (not art house, been there, done that :) ...), I will count my tickets and the money I've paid to watch movies, until my project of actually being in one comes true.

I know it sounds weird, but it makes sense to me. That's why I never take part in any of those "eat the cinema ticket, if the commercial you think would come first, does come first" bonanza. It messes with the system, man!

Now, flame me.

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D-ROCK21 writes:
on Oct 26 2007 05:15 AM

I am willing to bet most of you haters talking trash watch 161 movies a year and just don't even realize it. Whether it be on Cable, a theater, or whatever. This guy just took the time to document it.

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HisNameIsFrank writes:
on Oct 26 2007 05:21 AM

I've seen well over 3,000 movies myself and I'm only 28. My brother and I used to rent 7 movies at a time(a special that a video store had going on) We would watch and record all 7 and return them two days later. Then we would rent 7 more. We'd watch at least 240 movies a year for the longest time.

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Evimeleth writes:
on Oct 26 2007 06:24 AM

Well I have a record of all the video games I've played since I was 10. I started it so I knew which games I couldn't finish in the renting span, so I could rent 'em again.

BTW... I HATE YOU, BATTLETOADS (for NES)!!!

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Ne0x1ty writes:
on Oct 26 2007 06:26 AM

Omg! Give the man some credit... On average, he's seen at least 3 movies a week for 50 years. I think that is incredible. I LOVE movies, but I do run into dry spells or get really busy with life...

Also that he's been keeping a journal logging the progress for 50 years. How many things that you still have that are that old that you use on a regular basis? And I don't wanna talk heirloom ****.

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dahluzz writes:
on Oct 26 2007 06:45 AM

so if i hunker down and write the names of 8,000 movies in a journal and have the handwriting look all crappy at the beginning and then get increasingly more refined and then kind of get crappy again due to the indifference of old age, can I get an article too?

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alsanali writes:
on Oct 26 2007 07:11 AM

In reply to this comment (#1223671)
No... but people will wonder about your masturbation habits.

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Vitamin M writes:
on Oct 26 2007 08:11 AM

I was doing this at one point when I was in junior high (the movie counting) I guess I've updated on Blockbuster.com...I've rated around 3,500 films that I know I've seen and I'm 28 so I guess I'm on a similar pace as this guy...of course I watch a lot of films more then once...so yeah I'm not knocking the guy but really it's not a big deal to make a list of 7,000 films in 60 years. but to keep in theme with the jerk off talk he should go back and give each film a rating between 1-5 jerks...as in how many times he...never mind...

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deneco4 writes:
on Oct 26 2007 08:19 AM

i wrote down how many times i missed the toilet. 7,714.

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bigteddyt writes:
on Oct 26 2007 09:31 AM

not including films on tv, he sees 161 movies a year.... that's 3 a week... and 146 pages? that's plenty to summarize a film. not critique mind you, summarize. i'm an animation student, and every single one of my professors asks us to pitch a story in 2 sentences. you shouldn't need more than that. plus, if you're seeing 3 movies a week, how many of those are just crap. you could summarize those with less than two sentences. you people make fun of him, but he works for newsweek. how many of you review movies on blogs no one ever reads?

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unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Oct 26 2007 10:23 AM

I've seen around 2000. I keep track and could look it up, but I don't feel like it at the moment. I just turned 22 and always see more than three a week, so I should easily beat him adventually. And I'm masturbating right now.

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Jen Yamato writes:
on Oct 26 2007 11:14 AM

Here's the other thing, people. David Ansen is not some dude who has just seen a bunch of movies in his life and wrote the titles down. He is a film critic. He writes film reviews and has been writing reviews for Newsweek (not too shabby an outfit, I might add) since 1977. And I'm pretty sure he started as a critic even before that.

So, yes, kudos to everyone who can keep apace with his viewing rate, but don't hate. Congratulate!

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highdough writes:
on Oct 26 2007 11:20 AM

Ya, I'm not sure why people are insulting him for seeing that many movies. HE GETS PAID TO WATCH MOVIES. Just by doing his job he probably has to see more than 120 movies a year. Add in film festivals, weeks with a lot of releases, and it would be pretty simle for a working film critic to see that many movies.

I started keeping track of the movies I watched 15 years ago. I give every movie a rating (1-10), when I saw it and on some of them I give a short review. I still haven't figured out how to count ho many movies that is, but I'd like to find out.

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TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Oct 26 2007 11:44 AM

In reply to this comment (#1223291)
I'd be extremely impressed if people would actually learn how to spell 'mastUrbation' when they're spending this much time making witty comments about it. I think on the first page Witherwings got it right and then people *STILL* went back to spelling it wrong. Impressive.

As to the whole counting thing, 3486. ..And 'yes,' that's the number of time's I've masturbated since this morning.

..Make that 3487.

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crystalwhiteeyes writes:
on Oct 26 2007 12:36 PM

Do porno films count? Cause then we would have our answer if he indeed masterbated.

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vitajex writes:
on Oct 26 2007 12:58 PM

I would estimate that I've seen about 3,500. I've watched 5-15 movies a week since I was a teenager. I've got 4,500 ratings on Netflix but a lot of those are TV on DVD, so they don't really count. And yes, I could probably tell you a little something about every one I've seen. Who directed, starred, wrote, produced; the decade made, the storyline and maybe some interesting trivia tidbits. It's an obsession, admittedly, but it's certainly better than perusing message boards looking for a way to turn the conversation to self-stimulation. :)

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jpotter writes:
on Oct 26 2007 12:58 PM

1.) "masturbated" is spelled with a "u."
2.) there's nothing wrong with a little newsies and/or mighty ducks.

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Oct 26 2007 01:16 PM

In reply to this comment (#1224298)
Nice, another Newsies supporter!

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mjsieber writes:
on Oct 26 2007 02:24 PM

To clarify:

Yes, I spelled masturbate wrong (which makes me wonder if I've been doing it wrong too, everyone cries after and then calls their mom, right?)

Secondly;

Never did I mean to insult the man in question, it was simply an innocent question. I for one have masturbated to every movie I've ever seen, which is a far greater achievement than just writing about them. Do you have any idea how much time and effort it takes to find a reason to masturbate to each and every movie? You tell me how you justify jerkin' the gherkin' to The Electric Boogaloo! %u2018Special K%u2019 wasn't that hot.

Any other completely ungratifying selfgratifying films?

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mjsieber writes:
on Oct 26 2007 02:35 PM

In reply to this comment (#1224423)
for some reason when I typed ''Special K' wasn't that hot' it came out all garbled... makes me wonder if the webmaster took offense. Or maybe that's what Lucinda Dickey has been doing lately.

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damvbat writes:
on Oct 26 2007 06:23 PM

2 for me, crappy ones and good ones

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remyrem12 writes:
on Oct 26 2007 10:13 PM

I have seen seventeen movies in my entire life.If that.

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blk_ballard writes:
on Oct 26 2007 11:11 PM

In reply to this comment (#1222482)
Eww ya perv!

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lamer writes:
on Oct 27 2007 10:08 AM

Whoa. Now that is following through on something if I have ever seen it.

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DarthWonka writes:
on Oct 27 2007 11:50 AM

I've been keeping a record of the films I've seen on the big screen since I was eight years old. I only write down the ones of seen on the big screen. It usually comes out to about 15 films a year, but 2007 looks to break that trend with fourteen on it already, and with "American Gangster" poised to become 15 next weekend. The list has 197 films on it ("Superbad" being the most recent.) When I started the list at eight, I tried to remember films I'd seen before that and could only come up with 29. My dad tells me a rerelease of Disney's "Peter Pan" was my first big screen experience. It's very telling, as I am a 21 yr old guy with no intentions of growing any older. Movies rock.

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akatsuki writes:
on Oct 31 2007 07:49 PM

7714 movies in 48 years shows how much movies change our lives. This actually tells us that movies is really more than entertainment. True i find it a little crazy but really man, movies influence more people than other entertainment. you dont see people making list of the music they listen to or books they read.

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Spiderbash writes:
on Nov 05 2007 05:41 PM

Wow he must have like no free time what so ever (Unless watching those movies were his free time

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