Reviewer
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Post by Reviewer on Feb 2, 2023 13:17:30 GMT
If it can't be told in 1.5-2hrs, then the scriptwriters are not doing their job well enough. Almost 3hr films can GTF. Strongly disagree with this - too many classics over two hours I wouldn't cut a minute from. Yeah, classics. That’s what? Less than 10 films in 80 years that make that standard and are that length?
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Post by rhaegyr on Feb 2, 2023 13:18:30 GMT
Less than 10 films? You must be joking.
Please don't make me type a long, boring list out - there's plenty online.
Edit - I should've said 'great films' instead of classics but feel the point still stands. Even the last twenty years has at least 20 fantastic films over two hours.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Feb 2, 2023 13:19:01 GMT
I'd be happy with 60 minute films. I get bored after that. Just cut out the middle section. Give me a beginning and an ending and that's fine. I don't need to see the fucking characters journey.
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Reviewer
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Post by Reviewer on Feb 2, 2023 13:26:13 GMT
Less than 10 films? You must be joking. Please don't make me type a long, boring list out - there's plenty online. Edit - I should've said 'great films' instead of classics but feel the point still stands. Even the last twenty years has at least 20 fantastic films over two hours. I read it more as the 3 hours. Sure there are loads that are great and just over 2 hours but it drops off very quickly as they get any longer. If you’re thinking of films that are 2hrs 5 mins then I wasn’t including them.
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Whizzo
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Post by Whizzo on Feb 2, 2023 13:27:53 GMT
Some films justify a longer runtime but most don't. Cinemas would certainly love a return to mostly 90-120 minute movies so they could have more screenings.
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Post by rhaegyr on Feb 2, 2023 13:30:00 GMT
Less than 10 films? You must be joking. Please don't make me type a long, boring list out - there's plenty online. Edit - I should've said 'great films' instead of classics but feel the point still stands. Even the last twenty years has at least 20 fantastic films over two hours. I read it more as the 3 hours. Sure there are loads that are great and just over 2 hours but it drops off very quickly as they get any longer. If you’re thinking of films that are 2hrs 5 mins then I wasn’t including them. I prefer films in general to be on the shorter side too but when I look back on my absolute favourite films most tend to be between 2-3 hours, not 1.5-2 hours, hence my indignation
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Binky
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Post by Binky on Feb 2, 2023 13:40:31 GMT
I'd be happy with 60 minute films. I get bored after that. Just cut out the middle section. Give me a beginning and an ending and that's fine. I don't need to see the fucking characters journey. Have you tried television?
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 2, 2023 13:47:54 GMT
There’s a lot to be said for proper epic cinema. I think somewhere down the line filmmakers got a bit confused and started thinking that for any film to be taken seriously it needed to be over two hours. But there’s nothing quite like the experience of deeply immersing in an expansive lavish cinematic world for several hours. It’s one of my absolute favourite ways to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.
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Vortex
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Post by Vortex on Feb 2, 2023 14:22:59 GMT
I read it more as the 3 hours. Sure there are loads that are great and just over 2 hours but it drops off very quickly as they get any longer. If you’re thinking of films that are 2hrs 5 mins then I wasn’t including them. I prefer films in general to be on the shorter side too but when I look back on my absolute favourite films most tend to be between 2-3 hours, not 1.5-2 hours, hence my indignation Just to clarify here, following user rhaegyr's apparent indignation, I don't mind a bit over 2 hours either, which is why I specifically said "almost 3hr films can GTF".
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Feb 2, 2023 14:25:22 GMT
I'd be happy with 60 minute films. I get bored after that. Just cut out the middle section. Give me a beginning and an ending and that's fine. I don't need to see the fucking characters journey. Have you tried television? Yeah, once or twice. They aren’t one off 60 minutes though. Multiply that by a million fucking episodes.
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Post by rhaegyr on Feb 2, 2023 14:27:28 GMT
I prefer films in general to be on the shorter side too but when I look back on my absolute favourite films most tend to be between 2-3 hours, not 1.5-2 hours, hence my indignation Just to clarify here, following user rhaegyr's apparent indignation, I don't mind a bit over 2 hours either, which is why I specifically said "almost 3hr films can GTF". I bolded "If it can't be told in 1.5-2hrs, then the scriptwriters are not doing their job well enough." - thought that'd make it pretty clear what I was responding to?
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Post by RumMonkey on Feb 2, 2023 14:28:47 GMT
Some genres of film warrant 2 hrs some don't. Comedies and most horrors definitely don't need to be more than 90-100mins.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 2, 2023 14:56:51 GMT
I dont care how long a movie is as long its not boring. Thats literally my only requirement. Most two hour films ive watched recently feel like they should have been 90 minutes but anything I can think of that clocks in at around the three hour mark easily justifies its existence.
Like who the fuck asked for transformers movies to be 2-2.5hrs long?
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geefe
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Post by geefe on Feb 2, 2023 15:06:43 GMT
You can have epic without being long, I'd say When I think of my favourite films they're all under 2 hours. Most close to the 100 minute mark.
If you want character development, do serial TV If you want plot and stuff happening, films If you want quick dip in and out fun, episodic TV
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Post by Trowel 🏴 on Feb 2, 2023 15:11:15 GMT
If a book can't be written in less than 200 pages, then the authors are not doing their job well enough.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2023 15:14:44 GMT
I like long films.
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geefe
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Post by geefe on Feb 2, 2023 15:22:20 GMT
If a book can't be written in less than 200 pages, then the authors are not doing their job well enough. Exactly. Well said.
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Vandelay
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Post by Vandelay on Feb 2, 2023 15:30:32 GMT
Maybe not every film needs to be 2 hours or less, but any superhero film over that length needs to go some to really justify it. I enjoy most Marvel films and can excuse the excessiveness of the Avengers films, but pretty much all of the other ones (particularly the most recent ones) could do with a big trim. To be fair, I didn't feel the length of The Batman, but I'm sure it would have been better with 20-30 minutes cut from it. You can have epic without being long, I'd say The original definition of epic was basically "a long poem".
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Post by rhaegyr on Feb 2, 2023 15:34:37 GMT
I dont care how long a movie is as long its not boring. Thats literally my only requirement. Most two hour films ive watched recently feel like they should have been 90 minutes but anything I can think of that clocks in at around the three hour mark easily justifies its existence. Like who the fuck asked for transformers movies to be 2-2.5hrs long? Says it best imo.
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 2, 2023 15:51:09 GMT
Problem with that is boring is subjective. I personally find the lengthy landscape shots in David Lean films to be engaging but I can see how others will find it boring. There is a stillness and slowness to the likes of Lean and Leone which isn’t for everyone. But why should everything be for everyone?
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Post by dfunked on Feb 2, 2023 15:54:16 GMT
Robots smashing the shit out of each other shouldn't even be possible to make boring, but damnit they actually went and did it!
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Reviewer
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Post by Reviewer on Feb 2, 2023 16:01:05 GMT
Long films can obviously be good but it’s adding an extra challenge for the viewer and means the film has to be very good to justify it, and there aren’t many that achieve that. A sub 2 hour film can get away with more it to some extent.
Cut all that stuff out of a Lean film and it’s a completely different film. Cut most recent blockbusters by 30-60 minutes and it only helps.
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Post by drhickman1983 on Feb 2, 2023 16:12:28 GMT
I'm actively put off by long viewing times. Or I'll expect to watch it in a few chunks.
It's not that long films can never justify their length, but when the vast majority of films don't, I just assume they'll be too long and largely avoid them. Just easier that way.
2.5 hours is pretty much my limit - even that is usually too long. If it's longer than that it needs to be something I have great interest in to even bother watching.
And tbh I reckon you could cut 20 minutes out of Lawrence of Arabia or Dr Zhivago no problem.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 2, 2023 16:21:29 GMT
Problem with that is boring is subjective. I personally find the lengthy landscape shots in David Lean films to be engaging but I can see how others will find it boring. There is a stillness and slowness to the likes of Lean and Leone which isn’t for everyone. But why should everything be for everyone? I dont think its as subjective as you think it is. Boring usually goes hand in hand with 'shit' and enough people recognise quality for at least some more meditative things to still be made. Like the film makers you mention are almost universally regarded as GOATs. Like I say, I cant think of many 3hr films that outstay their welcome and Lawrence of Arabia certainly isnt one. But, yes, sometimes it is. My personal kryptonite is characters I dont care about and I am *very* easily put off someone. And if I dont engage with the characters, thats pretty much it for me. Ive bounced off well liked movies because I just dont care about the lead or actively want them to fail so I start to find it very boring.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2023 16:24:40 GMT
I’m the same in regards to characters. Films, TV shows, games, it’s all the same. If I can’t root for any of the characters, I’m out.
HE’S A COMPLICATED MAN
no, he’s just an asshole.
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Post by 😎 on Feb 2, 2023 16:26:10 GMT
BUT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HIM BUT HIS WOMAN
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kal
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Post by kal on Feb 2, 2023 16:29:52 GMT
There are films like Seven Samurai and Solaris that have both been remade as considerably shorter films, and I’m sure many would consider them all the better for it. If that much can be cut and they still make sense, does that mean Kurosawa and Tarkovsky couldn’t “justify their length”? Again I’d assume many people, including some here, would say so.
I get the general principle of films not being longer than they need to be and boring is bad, but there is also a more fundamental shift in what filmmaking is supposed to be about, and part of that is an insistence on keeping things moving, trimming the fat etc, and criticising any film that doesn’t do that as pretentious and self-indulgent. It’s a shame because a great genre of cinema is dying because of it.
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Post by drhickman1983 on Feb 2, 2023 16:29:54 GMT
Characters are critical, I agree with that.
It's why I though the much lauded Dark show was tiresome as I though all the characters were unlikeable mopey cunts.
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Post by drhickman1983 on Feb 2, 2023 16:33:56 GMT
I really like Seven Samurai but I haven't watched it in one go for a very long time.
It's as much about having the time to commit as anything else, and the thought of sitting there for three hours is a bit off-putting to me these days.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 2, 2023 16:41:40 GMT
I actually really like both Solaris's's and dig their relative merits. The Cliff Martinez soundtrack to the clooney one is amazing and it is a more human interpretation of the original story.
And its not just film, if you go into the star trek thread, there are a dozen nerds complaining about how its rubbish now because its all hyper-kinetic space battles rather than picard making a 10 minute long speech.
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