Why are movies so long now?

[zinfamous]

Havent seen a movie in years. Seems like a waste of time to me now.

Yeah. Whenever I watch a movie I always think I should be doing something more productive.

what, like masturbation?

 

[Mixolydian]

what, like masturbation?

Well it's certainly more enjoyable than a movie. :awe:

 

[Anubis]

seriously people cant pee before the movie and hold it for longer than 2 hours?

 

[JackBurton]

dude, open it now!

I know man. I just need to make some time for it.

 

[JackBurton]

wow--I don't even know what to say about this type of comment.

woweewowwowowow.

(well, that is the best I could come up with)

I know, I know. The Deer Hunter is a classic and I realize I'm in the minority. It just dragged on for me. I watched it a long time ago and recently re-watched it on HD-DVD. And after re-watching it, I canceled my plans to re-buy it on BD. There is NO WAY I'd watch that movie a third time.

 

[Howard]

First of all your suspicions are confirmed. Movie length is trending up in the US.

However for all of your life movies have been relatively the same length.

What's different? You. You have seen more, heard more, done more, and are familiar with the movie format than in your movie-loving prime. All this adds up to an increased chance of boredom. It takes more to keep your attention.

I don't agree. The length seems to have leveled off since the 60s. Perhaps there were technological limitations of the day.

 

[pcslookout]

I like long movies.

 

[randomrogue]

Children's movies tended to be closer to 90 minutes and adult movies 120. Then Dances with wolves came out and changed all that.

A well paced and long movie is fine as long as it is a good movie. The only two movies I've seen recently that were way too long were the Hobbit and the Batman movies. When it starts to feel like you're watching a double feature that's a problem.

 

[randomrogue]

As long as I'm watching it at home I don't care how long it is. If I'm in a theater, anything over 90min starts to feel like it's dragging on.

That's a short attention span. Really short. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is too long for you. The sequel though will work so you should check that out. Stick to old children's movies like Snow White and Dark Crystal. No wait, Dark Crystal is too long. :biggrin:

 

[purbeast0]

Children's movies tended to be closer to 90 minutes and adult movies 120. Then Dances with wolves came out and changed all that.

A well paced and long movie is fine as long as it is a good movie. The only two movies I've seen recently that were way too long were the Hobbit and the Batman movies. When it starts to feel like you're watching a double feature that's a problem.

ive seen dark knight rises 3x since its bluray release and it hasn't once felt too long to me. time flies by. i didn't think the hobbit was too long either. that flew by as well, other than the part with golumn and that little game. that whole scene did drag on a bit but that was it to me.

 

[randomrogue]

We're all going to have different tastes but Batman 2 was two movies in one. The last one was better. The Hobbit was stupidly long and I kept looking at my watch wondering when it was going to end. By chance have you not read the hobbit? When they kept going through scene after scene I was a bit confused since I knew there was going to be 2 more movies.

If I compare those movies to other long movies like ROTK or Spartacus then it's kinda a no brainer on which movies were good and which ones were too long.

 

[zinfamous]

I know, I know. The Deer Hunter is a classic and I realize I'm in the minority. It just dragged on for me. I watched it a long time ago and recently re-watched it on HD-DVD. And after re-watching it, I canceled my plans to re-buy it on BD. There is NO WAY I'd watch that movie a third time.

OMG

I watched in the theater twice before buying it on VHS and at least a dozen more time before buying the SE DVD many years ago.

--I never picked up the HD DVD because it was the one film for which I would not risk obsolescence. (don't have BD either...but some day. some day )

 

[Craig234]

Try watching every Lord of the Rings commentary, in sequence.

 

[Mixolydian]

Try watching every Lord of the Rings commentary, in sequence.

Why the hell would anyone do that?

 

[mikeymikec]

Of all the films I've watched recently, the one with the shortest running time (95 minutes) was a fairly mindless almost chick-flick. The longest was 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' (2hr 38 minutes). In this particular collection of films, the longer the film the better it was, with a pretty high level of accuracy.

I'd be surprised if there are many good films around with a decent bit of character depth and development and have a running time of less than 90 minutes. I was going to suggest 'The Secret of NIMH' if you wanted a short film but even that's 82 minutes.

 

[sdifox]

ive seen dark knight rises 3x since its bluray release and it hasn't once felt too long to me. time flies by. i didn't think the hobbit was too long either. that flew by as well, other than the part with golumn and that little game. that whole scene did drag on a bit but that was it to me.

Que? Dark Knight Rises was horrible.

 

[mikeymikec]

Que? Dark Knight Rises was horrible.

Agreed. Its single redeeming feature was the business with Catwoman, the politician and his mobile phone. Otherwise, IMO, it should be consigned to the same bin of almost awful and otherwise forgettable sequels that Alien Resurrection went into.

Wait, what am I saying, Alien 4 was completely awful. Ok, DKR goes somewhere between Alien 3 and 4

 

[lupi]

The last samurai was too short.

 

[purbeast0]

We're all going to have different tastes but Batman 2 was two movies in one. The last one was better. The Hobbit was stupidly long and I kept looking at my watch wondering when it was going to end. By chance have you not read the hobbit? When they kept going through scene after scene I was a bit confused since I knew there was going to be 2 more movies.

If I compare those movies to other long movies like ROTK or Spartacus then it's kinda a no brainer on which movies were good and which ones were too long.

no i have never read the books nor do i plan to, nor do i care how they compare to the books.

Que? Dark Knight Rises was horrible.

because it's an awesome movie? people who think it sucked are in the minority.

 

[Jeffg010]

Zero Dark Thirty - 157 min felt long spent to much time to the build up of the killing.

The Deer Hunter - 182 min way to fucking long. If you want to die of boredom just watch this movie.

Oz the Great and Powerful - 130 min did not feel long.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 178 min that move did not feel long at all. When it ended I was like WTF I needed more.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - 179 min felt right and not long.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 201 min felt long because of the shitty 3 year old that would not shut the fuck up the whole movie that was 2 seats over from me. Dumb ass parents.