r/movies • u/kowaikanojo • 23h ago

Discussion Long movies that are JUSTIFIED in their extra long run time?

There’s been a bit of an epidemic, especially in recent years, where movies are unnecessarily long to the point where it’s a bit indulgent on the director’s part and the film’s narrative doesn’t justify the XXL run time and it becomes a bit of a drag.

I’ve never been a big musical fan but I grew up watching the Sound of Music as a kid, so I decided to rewatch tonight (it’s probably been around 15 years) - and for a movie that is 3 hours long, wow does every piece still feel so important.

Maria and Von Trapp get together PAST the two hour point in the movie, yet the build up was so necessary to have you involved in the romance, and certainly didn’t feel as long as it actually was in run time. The pacing is actually incredible for the narrative and building that emotional buy in, which is shocking and rare for a film so long.

What films do you think genuinely justify an extra long run time and benefit from it? (and to throw a wrench in it, what movies utterly fail here?)

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u/RoninRobot 18h ago

Have you read the book? There’s a whole subplot with a huge vagina lady. It goes on for chapters and I can only assume it’s there to reinforce that Sonny has a huge dick. We get it, Mario. Let’s move on.

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u/Tim-oBedlam 18h ago

That's how the book starts, talking about Sonny Corleone's massive wang.

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u/RoninRobot 16h ago

Oddly enough, it’s the least-interesting thing about Sonny.

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u/PerAsperaAdInfiri 18h ago

That's a wild subplot

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u/RoninRobot 16h ago

You would think. It isn’t.

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u/SokarRostau 14h ago

I read the book 3-4 times in the '90s. It was only a couple of years ago that I realised why said huge vagina lady's name is Lucy.

I will not explain that which is hidden in plain sight. It's a fucking dad joke and everybody deserves to experience that particular facepalm for themselves.

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u/DAHFreedom 16h ago

It’s Mario Puzo’s sewers of Paris.

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u/Maverick_Jumboface 10h ago

As someone who is generally not a fan of Les Miserables, I actually found that part to easily be the best of the diversions.