“Too Many Damn Long Movies”: Runtime Trend Criticized By Director As Scorsese’s 3:26hr Epic Releases – Armessa Movie News

Alexander Payne criticizes Hollywood’s trend towards longer movies in recent years. Payne is an Oscar-nominated director best known for his 2004 breakout hit Sideways. This year, Payne directs The Holdovers, which stars Sideways’ Paul Giamatti and is set for release on November 10.

At a recent festival appearance for his new film, Payne ribs lengthy Hollywood films, saying that there are “too many damn long movies.” According to IndieWire, the director said that while it is possible for a film to warrant an exorbitant run time, “you want your movie to be as short as possible.” Check out the full quote from Payne below:

“You want your movie to be as short as possible. There are too many damn long movies these days. […]

If your movie is three and a half hours, at least let it be the shortest possible version of a three-and-a-half-hour movie. Like The Godfather Part II [and] Seven Samurai are super tight, three-and-a-half-hour movies and they go by like that. So there’s no ipso facto judgment about length.”

Are Hollywood Films Skewing Too Long?

While Payne does not call out any specific overlong film, the reference to the “three-and-a-half-hour movie” brings to mind Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Released this past weekend, the Killers of the Flower Moon runtime sits at a whopping 3 hours and 26 minutes. Lauded as a masterpiece that may be in line with examples like The Godfather Part II, many believe the movie earns its length, but it has been a topic of debate.

Though one of the longest of this year, Killers of the Flower Moon is far from the only interminable film to come out of late. As evidenced by last year’s Oscar nominations, major films seem to be trending upward in terms of duration. Avatar: The Way of Water‘s runtime was the longest among the Best Picture contenders, reaching 3 hours and 12 minutes, but others on the list were lengthy as well, including Tar (2 hours, 38 minutes), The Fabelmans (2 hours, 31 minutes), and Elvis (2 hours, 39 minutes).

Even the major blockbusters are skewing long, such as 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2 hours, 43 minutes) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2 hours, 34 minutes). Thus, even if select films like Killers of the Flower Moon may earn their duration, Payne is certainly correct in observing this recent length obsession. There may not be an “ipso facto judgement” that is fair to make, but suffice to say, not all of these films eek all the value out of their every frame.

Source: IndieWire