The trend in movie shooting time turns out to be toward length, and while knowledge doesn’t back it up, the recent super-long episodes of big box office franchises like Marvel and James Bond (the most-watched movies, those) at least means that the bloat feels real. For some reason, those wildly popular series feel the desire to justify their lifestyle by dragging us to our seats for more than two hours, when many of us could have paid the same value for a movie that would give us hope of returning home. . to see our dogs again.
Still, the quality of a movie is rarely determined by its length, and most of us watch such things at home anyway. Some stories are most effective when they take their time, either because they have so much to do. Saying and doing so that nothing goes to waste, or because it gives them the freedom to live around setting the mood and building a desirable world full of engaging characters. As the critic Roger Ebert once said, no intelligent film is too long. , and no bad movie is short enough.
So here are 30 smart (or excellent) movies, all of which are almost 3 hours long (or much longer), and all of which also justify their length by making every moment worth it.
Duration: 2 hours and forty-five minutes.
Why it’s worth it: The late Miloš Forman directs this unconventional biopic of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapting the play through Peter Shaffer, who also wrote the screenplay (they won Oscars for it, as did F. Murray Abraham). In contrast to the typical hardcore biography, Amadeus tells his story not through the eyes and reports of Mozart himself (Tom Hulce), but through those of his nemesis, Antonio Salieri (Abraham), a composer destined to exist in the shadow of the world. greater talent. The result is an epic, mischievous meditation on relative mediocrity: Salieri is good, maybe even excellent, but he strives to achieve some of what happens to Mozart effortlessly. wait, while also telling a deep and juicy story about the value of jealousy (understandable). Where to stream: Netflix, virtual rental
Duration: 2 hours and forty-five minutes.
Why it’s worth it: It might have seemed like a gimmick, but Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, Before Sunrise) is too smart and coherent a filmmaker to fall into that trap. By design, this next. . . The Story of an Adult was produced over a period of 12 years and was filmed year after year to capture the expansion and adjustments of the main characters, specifically the titular boy, Mason Evans Jr. , played by Ellar Coltrane. A sense of realism and emotional power, with very intelligent performances all around.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, virtual rental
Duration: 2 hours and minutes
Why it’s worth it: First of all, keep in mind that the runtime indexed above is for the short version. There’s a much longer cut I’d propose overall (it’s the only one I’ve seen), it still may not be for everyone. Director Ingmar Bergman teams up through Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson (two of the most impressive film actors) to create this compelling portrait of a disintegrating marriage. It is not a soap opera, nor a screaming movie. fights and thrown ashtrays, but rather the story of two other people who did not fall in love, precisely, but who definitely no longer know how to live with each other. As beautiful as it is brutal, its realism and credibility are such that we feel as if we are peeking into a corner and seeing anything we shouldn’t see. The director and actors return to those characters 30 years later for Sarabande, Bergman’s poignant epilogue and his last film.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Duration: 2 hours and 50 minutes
Why it’s worth it: This documentary, about two black teenagers (William Gates and Arthur Agee) recruited into a basketball program at a predominantly white high school, is as compelling and applicable today as it was in 1994, in a way that is both inspiring and depressing. The stories of their lives, told over a six-year period, are desirable and appealing, even as they face much bigger problems: These teenagers see good luck in professional basketball as their only outlet and their rise in the America they inhabit, which infinitely little America. The chances of good fortune are your most productive hopes. Through Gates and Agee, documentary filmmaker Steve James explores everyday life beyond media portrayals of the “ghetto” as simply a position that white people must avoid, as well as the arbitrariness that is at the heart of anyone who promises the American dream.
Where to stream: Max, Paramount, The Criterion Channel, Crackle, virtual rental
Duration: 2 hours and 50 minutes
Why it’s worth it: Released just a year after the end of World War II, this drama directed by William Wyler tells the stories of three U. S. servicemen who readjust to civilian life after harrowing tours abroad. Al left home as a successful bank employee, but he is in danger. his postwar rise for heavy drinking and being soft when it comes to finishing off other veterans; Fred suffers from PTSD and has trouble finding work; Homer has lost his hands and is suffering to the point of becoming an object of pity. followed (and probably all the previous ones, although no one ever talked about it). The film moves away from melodrama in favor of a sober realism.
Where to stream: Peacock, Prime Video, Freevee
Duration: 2 hours and minutes
Why it’s worth it: Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer star in this popular musical with beautiful scenery and some of the most sing-along songs in music history. It’s all charming, until the pervasive shadow of Nazism threatens the burgeoning and unlikely romance between a novice nun and a wealthy and stern former naval officer. Its combination of taste for the big screen and at least a little bit of substance has made it one of our most beloved musicals in decades.
Where to stream: Disney, virtual rental
Duration: 2 hours and minutes
Why it’s worth it: Highly kinetic, Da Five Bloods doesn’t feel as long as the battery life. Revising the film genre of the Vietnam War with an (often ignored) experience of African Americans, Spike Lee brings new relevance to the stories. of this era drawing sharp, direct lines between then and now with the story of 4 veterans returning to Vietnam in search of the remains of their deceased squadron leader. . . and the gold he helped them hide. Each actor is incredible, and adds Chadwick Boseman in one of his biggest roles.
Where to stream: Netflix
Duration: hours
Why it’s worth it: Source of almost every single popular wuxia movie (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), A Touch of Zen is a stunning martial arts epic on the big screen, worth watching for the cinematography alone, though the combat choreography is just as exciting. It is the story of a noblewoman turned fugitive who seeks safe haven in a remote village and ends with stories of intentional appearances of the position as a weapon against her pursuers. She also has big concepts in mind: Yang, the fugitive, fights social issues opposed to corruption, as well as concepts about classical femininity that challenge her role as a warrior.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, virtual rental
Duration: hours
Why it’s worth it: This Best Picture Oscar winner follows the brilliant and conflicted Cillian Murphy as the titular theoretical physicist, who helped the United States develop the world’s first nuclear weapons in World War II. Amid a talkative script punctuated by occasional sequences of bravery effects, writer/director Christopher Nolan never loses sight of his confusing lead role, nor the murky, ugly morality behind Oppenheimer’s work.
Where to stream: Peacock, virtual rental
Duration: hours
Why it’s worth it: See: Inland Empire for everyone. It’s perhaps the most purely Lynchian film in the director’s oeuvre, and it’s a huge selling point or a reason to stay away. I love it, but I have no idea. I’m not sure anyone knows, but Laura Dern delivers a brilliant, heartbreaking performance as a Hollywood actress whose life descends into outright madness, and it’s worth contemplating on its own. You’ll feel like you’re living a nightmare with it, in a way that is exhausting and exciting.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, virtual location
Duration: hours and 1 minute
Why it’s worth it: It probably requires at least a passing wisdom from the 20-plus films that came before; I doubt that it has the strength it has for someone who has not noticed some; However, there is strength here. , at least in terms of cinematic spectacle. Despite all of our film culture obsessed with sequels, no one else has reached this point to be able to offer an effective summary of a series that has been a hit in so many movies. The entire “Time Heist” component allows you to cleverly revisit scenes from the past, while the climactic action scene is unforgettable. The film even manages to end, once the fights are over, on several emotionally impressive notes. It’s not a starting point, but it’s a satisfying highlight. . . even if it’s a conclusion. It is more of a pause.
Where to stream: Disney, virtual rental
Duration: hours and 2 minutes
Why it’s worth it: There’s a lot to come out of Akira Kurosawas’ The Seven Samurai: It was remade in Hollywood as The Magnificent Seven, and has therefore become the genre of a certain kind of “team meets/embarks on a mission” kind of taste. film (other versions come with The Life of a Bug). He was a huge inspiration to George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, and even Zack Snyder. The meeting of an organization of misfits and foreigners, until then almost unheard of in Japanese cinema, is also an element evoked. The length of Samurai (it is the longest film of Kurosawa’s career) is justified through his performances, as well as through the writer and director Kurosawa himself: he is best known in the West for his samurai films, but his filmography also encompasses dramas of calm and meditative characters and thus, It provides a clear characterization throughout the action. And yes, it’s a long time, but you deserve to see it on the big screen if you can: it was restored to 4K in 2024. and will be betting in theaters this summer.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, virtual location
Duration: hours and 7 minutes
Why it’s worth it: In fact, action videos shouldn’t be as long as RRR, but unlike many examples of American blockbusters, there’s not a single dull moment in this Tollywood epic. Similarly, an ancient drama that addresses the national trauma caused by the British Raj and depicts two real-life revolutionaries who died as martyrs for the cause of independence shouldn’t be all that funny, however, the context only makes it more satisfying. Find a more exciting moment in the videos than when a truckload of wildlife is forcibly released during a quiet collection on a British politician’s property.
Where to stream: Netflix
Duration: 3 hours and five minutes.
Why it’s worth it: The Leopard is certainly beautiful, without a doubt. Probably one of the best directed and photographed films ever, which still wouldn’t be enough to justify its length if it weren’t so dramatically compelling. But it is true, and it is also a challenge: it is a portrait of an oppressive way of life among the very wealthy Sicilian aristocracy of the 19th century as they live their last wonderful adventure, whether they know it or not. Built on the backs of poor and ordinary elegance, their way of life deserves to disappear (if only), and the witness of it all is Burt Lancaster’s Don Fabrizio Corbera, a sometimes intelligent guy of his time whose gaze transforms the spectacle of excess in something. funereal to the max. Director Luchino Visconti was a Marxist who disliked aristocracy, so the fact that he was willing to offer a sympathetic portrait of a social elegance on the verge of extinction (at that time and place, at least) creates enough tension to keep you glued. to the sofa. There are several other editions, but the director’s favorite edition is 185 minutes long and is primarily the one found streaming.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Duration: hours and 8 minutes
Why it’s worth it: It’s been joked that Paul Thomas Anderson’s films aren’t long because the stories require it, but because they require more editing. It’s unfair, especially here, in a film that certainly has a twisted conception: full of stories. of love and loss that intersect, coincidentally, the central thesis of the film has to do with the cycles of abuse in which we are locked up when we are children. However, it explores this concept in a way that is fun and surprising. Like Aimee Mann’s song sung throughout the characters during the stunning, infamous, amphibious climax, it’s all about the damage we’re going to continue inflicting on ourselves if we refuse to wake up.
Where to stream: Paramount, virtual rental
Duration: hours and 8 minutes
Originally conceived as a television miniseries, the theatrical edition of Ingmar Bergman’s subsequent triumph, more than three hours long, represents something akin to a director’s montage; The complete editing lasts more than five hours. Fanny and Alexander star Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve as the titular younger siblings, who fortunately live with their theater-loving parents. Then, her father dies and her mother remarries a sad fool. The director’s swan song, the autobiographical tale feels like a summary of Bergman’s career, exploring many of the very heavy themes he had tackled before, but with a greater sense of perspective and even a bit of fantasy.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, virtual location
Duration: hours and 10 minutes
Why it’s worth it: Spencer Tracy directs an all-star cast (Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Clift, among others) in this truly gripping legal drama depicting a fictionalized edition of one of the twelve Nuremberg judges. . Military tribunals that made us understand the horrific scale of Nazi war crimes after World War II. While the familiar faces of the cast may be a little awkward, it’s still a sober and serious film that culminates in a climax that’s poignant. and disturbing. Some 60 years later, he is still miserable trusting that other ordinary people are capable of monstrous behaviors, if they are well incentivized.
Where to stream: Tubi, MGM, virtual rental
Duration: hours and 14 minutes
Why it’s worth it: Say what you will about characterization and (sometimes) clumsy dialogue, James Cameron makes great use of the long run here: During the time the iceberg appears on screen, more than an hour later, Cameron and his company have allowed us to take an in-depth tour of the ship without even realizing it: we poked our heads over the bridge, the engine rooms, the saloons, the cabins of all classes and the decks at the maximum each and every one of the points; They even gave us a sweaty look at the freight cars. When the shipment finds its destination, the real-time series that takes up the maximum of the rest of the film, we know it to the fullest as well as if we had been on board, making the action less difficult to follow and tragedy hit harder.
Where to stream: Paramount, Prime Video
Duration: hours and 17 minutes
Why it’s worth it: Stanley Kubrick’s first foray into epic cinema turns out to be an outlier in his oeuvre, combining the director’s stylistic marks with elements that seem a little more classic Hollywood. It all works, especially considering the subtext at play: written through publisher Dalton Trumbo’s blacklist, the slave revolt depicted here draws strong parallels with the American communist witch hunt. (Maintainer Kirk Douglas’s insistence that Trumbo be credited under his own name, rather than a pseudonym, helped put the blacklist — well, that specific blacklist — to bed once and for all. ) What’s on the screen, then, is an obsolete intelligence action. . . Sword and sandal action with a lot to say about fashionable American life and politics.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Duration: hours and 20 minutes
Why it’s worth it: There’s a lot to tell about Malcolm X’s life, even considering his untimely assassination: His story spans continents and political eras, bringing diverse disparate elements of the civil rights movement into his orbit. It’s hard to believe anything así. de a full-length biopic that doesn’t require a lot of time. There are popular rhythms in this type of film, however, Spike Lee is one of the most complete and vital directors in the fashionable hittale, and thus manages to get around the apparent possible options. and similarities that plague the “vital biopic”. Similarly, Denzel Washington’s functionality is strange and essential.
Where to stream: Tubi, virtual rental
Duration: hours and 20 minutes
Why it’s worth it: It’s tempting to joke about those cascading fake endings, but, in truth, this movie justifies its length and that of the entire trilogy. It’s a supreme achievement in terms of spectacle and natural observability, but also an impressive thrill. in the way it brings diverse character arcs to occasionally poignant conclusions. Not surprisingly, it won a record number of Oscars, adding Best Picture. Honestly, when I see it, I’ll go through the extended version, which is still an hour longer, although that duration is much less difficult to take care of at home.
Where to stream: Max, virtual rental
Duration: hours and 21 minutes
Why it’s worth it: For three sweltering days (and more than three hours of execution), single mom Jeanne Dielman (Delphine Seyrig) cooks, cleans, and engages in gentle but sad sex work in order to pay the bills. Chantal Akerman’s bizarre film and hilarious masterpiece transforms a woman’s task into an unconventional, uncompromising, and desirable epic. Many critics of the time felt that there had never been such an exploration of female delight (which is not unexpected given the lack of female directors), and encouraged filmmakers in the decades that followed to reconsider what a film about women could achieve. (It’s worth noting that a 2002 Sight and Sound critics’ vote on the most productive videos ever made put this one at the top. )
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, virtual location
Duration: 3 hours and 22 min (in the “Roadshow” version)
Why it’s worth it: First things first: There are several editions of Stanley Kramer’s crazy road movie: the smoothest edition is the shortest, at 2 hours and 43 minutes, but viewers with exceptionally strong bladders can opt for the first 3. 22-hour and 22-minute edition (the Criterion collection has it). Neither of them is that long, and that’s because of the film’s gentle touch credits. Led by Spencer Tracy and a giant organization of ’60s stars, it’s several other motoring teams that received $350,000 in money buried in a park on the other side of the state and were thrown into a race for money. What makes it seem more than a set-up for burlesque driving shenanigans is the incredibly clever resolution of having those beloved stars play other universally horrible people that only get worse as the various setbacks they encounter along the way serve to fuel their greed; This shading adds a delicious schadenfreude to the stupidity.
Where to stream: Tubi, MGM, virtual rental
Duration: hours and 22 minutes
Why it’s worth it: All of the movies in this series are long, but Part II is by far the longest. Perhaps unusually, it’s also the best, justifying all those extra minutes with a subplot that’s just as compelling as the film’s main thread. : as Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone continues the long descent that ends with a fatal kiss, we stop at the origin of the Corleone family in America. Through the portrait of the young Vito Corleone made by Robert De Niro. There’s hardly a moment here that’s not convincing.
Where to stream: Paramount, virtual rental
Duration: hours and 28 minutes
While there is no doubt that it would be fantastic if this story was told through the filmmakers at Osage, we can do far worse than have Martin Scorsese as a camera for an epic tale of unspeakable greed in a particularly American style. Lily Gladstone is transcendent in the role of the genuine Mollie Burkhart, who is unearthed in the midst of the murders of the Osage Indians, when the blessing of oil discovered on tribal lands becomes a nightmare for the white settlers.
Where to stream: Apple TV, virtual purchase
Duration: 3 hours and minutes
Why it’s worth it: It’s probably the most obvious choice for a list like this, but David Lean’s epic has retained its strength for so many decades (and for so many minutes on screen) for a reason: It is, in many ways, the platonic ideal of a Hollywood epic, one through which everyone else is judged. But it’s also impressively complex, set in an era that’s still applicable today and features a major character who crosses the line between philosophical hero and delusional megalomaniac. At 60 years old, he is still a transport cadre.
Where to stream: MGMArray virtual rental
Duration: hours and 2 minutes
Why it’s worth it: Historically, even the top-tier versions of Hamlet (Shakespeare’s longest play) are truncated; there are entire scenes that even loyal Bard enthusiasts have probably never noticed replayed. Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 adaptation takes no such shortcuts: the rare example (and the only filmed version) of the play presented in its entirety. There are some trade-offs for his time, however: Branagh eschews the classic Hamlet blues for a beautiful, luminous visual spectacle; it also has an impressive cast (with himself in the lead) that includes Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, and Derek Jacobi. There are even appearances by several very unexpected actors in small roles (Billy Crystal, for example, is incredibly intelligent in the role). of the First Gravedigger). And unlike a live show, you can prevent it from having the snack you want.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Duration: 2 hours and minutes
Another three-hour comic book movie? At least Avengers: Endgame had the decency to be the culmination of a 22-movie saga. . . the eighth Batman solo movie (depending on how it is told) currently has no excuses. And maybe not, however, co-writer-director Matt Reeves’ first circular with Robert Pattinson under the hood manages to keep you engaged the entire time by allowing Batman to become a detective again. Methodically observing the youngest and (even more) emotionally broken Bruce Wayne The combination of the clues of a vast conspiracy linked to his own origins and involving familiar villains such as Riddler (Paul Dano), the Penguin (Colin Farrell under kilos of makeup) and Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) makes you need to embark on a season of one of those Swedish criminal procedures on Netflix. Much better: It’s lovely to watch, with moody red-and-black cinematography through Oscar nominee Greig Fraser.
Where to stream: Hulu, Max, virtual rental
Duration: 3 hours and five minutes.
Why it’s worth it: Ryan O’Neal’s Barry Lyndon, the kind of protagonist we’re used to in these kinds of epic dramas of the time: he’s largely a character with no established morals, and things happen to him. I don’t understand much hand in the format. When it suits him to tell the truth, he is manifestly honest. . . but he is perfectly content to lie if that is the simplest way. Kubrick is one of the few filmmakers who can immerse ourselves in the story of this eighteenth-century gold digger, and Ryan O’Neal makes him compulsively observable, even sympathetic.
Where to stream: Tubi, virtual rental
Duration: 3 hours and nine minutes.
Of course, this has completely bombed theaters, and its excesses are definitely not for everyone and everyone. But when it comes to on-screen shows, they don’t get much grander than the orgiastic arrival of La La Land director Damien Chazelle. history of the age, literally and figuratively. It’s a messy three-hour dive into the gliin, glamour, and wild indulgences of the film industry, at a time when silent films are transitioning from silent films to talkies. It’s loud, screaming, and humming with cocaine-fueled energy, but for every misstep (an opening series that features a mountain of elephant feces sprayed directly into the camera), there are two series of bravery (my favorite is a tortured depiction of what it’s like to shoot a movie scene under intense tension that may just be a short film on its own), and the cast is full of movie stars (Brad Pitt and a pre-Barbie Margot Robbie are the stars) as they used to. . . larger than life, and too complex to have compatibility with a popular runtime environment.
Where to stream: Prime Video, virtual rental
Former child star turned dog owner.