 Welcome to the Adam does movies podcast. I'm your host Adam, of course. It just makes sense today I want to talk about really putting a bow on something that I've been complaining about to no end for several years now It's not getting better. In fact, it's getting worse And that's the runtime of films You know Call me old-fashioned, but I used to love myself a good hour and a half hour 45-minute flick even an hour and fifty was was superior because you do usually have seven to ten minutes of credits depending on the flick and It just really went by much quicker and it can elevate a bad movie to at least a passable watch In this topsy-turvy world we live in today time is a major factor Especially for me who juggles not only a full-time job and family, but also this hobby which acts as a second full-time job It takes a lot out of you. So having to I shouldn't say having to Wanting to watch movies and experience all the great things people create out there Should still be something I look forward to and celebrate and oftentimes it very much can be But I got to tell you It gets really hard to want to go out to films when I see a two-and-a-half hour runtime on Something like Wonder Woman 1984. I See a three-hour runtime on Oppenheimer now granted that movie was freaking great and the runtime Certainly, you know was fine. I Think there was definitely stuff you could have cut from the film and made it run even better But as it stands, I really liked the film But Barbie being two hours long. Give me a break. It should have been an hour and a half full stop It already nerfed the entire Lego movie cop You know it ripped off Lego movie as far as the plot goes. So why not rip off the runtime as well? and I'm just seeing this from why why is across the spider-verse over two hours long. I Have kids damn it. They don't want to sit there that long They want to run outside and play and that's another big factor is Families often watch movies together. It's a celebration, right? But you don't want to have to block off four hours of your day to get in the car Drive to the theater wait through a half hour of movie trailers, which often they're legit is a Half hour of movie trailers, especially go to a regal cinema, which I always have to do and then you have to drive back home And so not only are you plopping down 60 bucks for movie tickets and some crappy food But you also have to sit through these long-ass movies Deal with the rude people that are in the theater on their phones constantly getting up to go to the bathroom Constantly because the movie's so long and everybody has freaking ADD now Because we are obsessed with being on our phones and with constantly needing different things to look at and to keep our attention So in a sense, it's also even more puzzling why they keep extending the runtimes. I Know why it is. I know that I'm not the normal I guess target audience that theaters are looking for anymore studios don't look at me and say yep This is representative of the norm a lot of people only see one or two movies a year and It's a kind of a chicken-and-the-egg situation would they go to more movies if they were shorter and more manageable or less Did Hollywood wrongfully think hey if we make our movies longer? It's going to appeal people because they're getting more bang for their buck They're getting a longer movie experience who wants to sit on a 30 second roller coaster when you can go sit on a three-minute roller coaster, right? Well, I would if the 32nd roller coaster has more action-packed stuff in it And it's more exciting and has some cool drop-offs and twists and turns and unexpected things as opposed to a three-minute roller coaster That's kind of just lame once in a while goes up and down a little bit, but it's on a rickety old Style wooden build. You're not sure if the thing's gonna break down. You're gonna fly off the side of it I prefer to be on the streamlined high octane 75 mile per hour launch out of the gates. Am I losing you with this metaphor? Are you still on board? Because that's really where I'm at with things I see a lot of Crappy movies a lot of shovelware on Netflix They had the churn and burn over there and oftentimes these movies are pushing two hours or more and a lot of them like the recent heart of stone with Gal Gadot or Gal Gadot or gal. I don't know how to say your last name and people are gonna get mad at me No matter how I pronounce it The movie is two hours and if they would have diced off 30 minutes It would have been a lot more serviceable film as the sands it's a chore to sit through and there's so many flicks like that across the board again I enjoyed Barbie. I inevitably gave it a fresh score on rotten tomatoes. It was begrudgingly so Because I do think the pacing was pretty bad in that flick. I do think some of the jokes were overused I do think some of the preachy nature of it was Uninteresting and unnecessary the messages were already there front and center and clear So there's no point in constantly saying the same thing over and over again Audiences get it. We got the message shorting your flick Don't be so proud of everything you're doing It's tough as an editor as someone who makes content To cut down your stuff to think to step back and say, you know what this didn't work If I if I trimmed this section off it actually flows way better Of course, we've seen this happen in reverse with movies like the Jostus League The Zack Snyder Abomination that was hand handed over to Joss Whedon to clean up to title Make it a nice runtime of two hours, but that's kind of a separate situation You're taking a movie that was already shot and planned out from beginning to end that was meant to be this large scale Epic and you're trying to condense it down I'm seeing mostly the opposite. I'm seeing a lot of scripts and TV shows are even worse with this that really only have enough material to sustain an hour and a half and They're just stretching it really thin. You have car chases that go on for 20 minutes You have these big set pieces that don't really add anything interesting They just take away from your own precious time. You're one time on this planet Because you're watching a two-hour movie. That's not very good and again Movies are entertainment, right? They're there to help us pass some of the time fill the void keep us from thinking about the inevitable death We're all gonna face and and go into the darkness alone So I'm watching Jet Lee is the one the movies an hour and 25 minutes long It's it's entertaining is all hell. It's fun. Is it a very good movie? I don't think so, but I like I like it. It's got plenty of action. It's got a cool premise It knows it's dumb it gets in and it gets out That's so rare nowadays Something like men in black is the same way that movie barely put actually I think it is longer than an hour and a half. It feels like an hour and a half though It's doing a lot with that time limit. It doesn't feel padded at all In fact, it feels rushed almost it could have used another five or ten minutes And that's the other thing want your audience to want more from you Leave us wanting more comedians know this they do it all the time. You leave on a high note I'm so often leaving movies completely drained Wishing they would have ended so much sooner and a lot of these movies I really think had they been edited down would be a lot more favorable for people like me There were a lot of movies on the fence even that I thought you know what I I liked portions of this some of this really worked But God, why is it so freaking long two hours and 15 minutes? I get scared now when I hear a movie's coming out to bring up the regal app and look at the runtime and see that And just go oh no, I can't do it I got too much going on in my life to dedicate a drive and and this like afternoon watch I don't want to be scared to go to a movie and I don't want it to feel like a job or a chore I understand this is more of a personal problem because again people aren't going to that many movies a year, but Look at why illumination does so well. They make these basic bitch movies for audiences They know exactly what parents want hour-and-a-half films in and out colorful Lively simple the Mario brother movie the Mario Brothers movie made billion dollars. It's doing just fine Contrast it with Sonic which also was very well received, but then Sonic 2 is over two hours Why? So we can have a wedding side story with a ten minute bridezilla rampage Sonic's not even involved It's insanity That's the kind of shit that needs to be cut you throw that on a bonus feature on the Blu-ray Blu-rays will probably be dead in two years, but you throw that on a bonus feature somewhere. That's depressing. I Recently saw that Disney is They're not doing Blu-rays DVDs anymore for like certain parts of the country or of the world not the country of the world I think Australia and another area aren't gonna be getting them soon Granted they're Disney movies, so there's not really a whole lot of exciting stuff from them anymore. Anyways, it's all reboots remakes Rehashes blah blah blah blah anything with re in front of it basically, but still that's kind of sad It's an end of another era And I hope we get the end of these two and a half hour films Even James Gunn's final Guardians movie, which I really freaking like Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 It's well over two hours There are things that could have been cut there are things that could have been trimmed down Now it is a little hypocritical of me because my favorite franchise my favorite trilogy of all time is the Lord of the Rings And those movies are three and a half four hours. They are very meaty films There's a lot in them, but there's also plenty of breathing room. There's plenty of just Taking in the environments But I think when you're talking about a movie like that when you are in this fantasy world I think it gets a pass. You want to spend as much time as you can there admiring the beautiful landscapes the the different, you know, worldly creatures and things that these costume designers and puppeteers and animatronics experts put together As long as they are putting in the care, I will care about your stuff But the point I'm getting at is often times these shovelware straight to streaming films Or these movies that are kind of shat out into theaters for a couple weeks Don't put in the time or the care But they can get away with it if they keep them simple and short, but they are not They're not putting in the care and they're not trimming them down. So what the hell am I supposed to get out of it? Plenty of older movies Aren't very good, but I will find myself sitting down and watching them because they will move quick They will have some great actors behind them and they will have some punchy moments that will make it worth my time With the fall of actors being really that prominent anymore The tom cruises are starting to age out, although he's still awesome I hope that he he continues for a long time, but he's getting older for sure The new generation doesn't seem to be that interesting to people. I don't think kids these days My kids, I know for sure don't give a shit about actors There's personalities online now. There's there's tiktokers. There's streamers. There's youtubers Hollywood stars do not carry the weight they used to the old dogs. Yeah, the tom cruises are very rare Stallone still has an audience he can bring in Schwartz snager could still bring in an audience when he comes out with the movie once in a while It's just it's just not there for new kids though And so if you don't have the appeal In the acting sense you need to appeal to them with at least an interesting story Interesting environments an interesting take on things But all we're getting from most of these studios is remakes Reboots sequels. Why the fuck is indiana jones 5? Two and a half hours long Harrison ford has to get to bed at a decent time He's not going to be sinned out here at 8 p.m. Shooting a scene in front of a green screen for this film He's got to take a nap And i'm not disrespecting harrison ford the guy's a legend. I'm tired as hell and i'm only 40 I couldn't imagine how i'm gonna feel when i'm 80 i'm certainly not gonna be putting on a hat and a whip and And jumping from carts in front of a a fake backdrop for the afternoon. That sounds absolutely miserable Props to him for doing it and i'm it's cool. He got to go out in one last ride, but that film That film again. Why are you so long the shazam 2 is so long Shazam one's too long all of these films I feel like an old man yelling at the neighbors to get to get their fucking ball off my yard But i just don't understand Why we have to play the long game with these Maybe i really am in the minority And that is appealing to the mass audience That again only sees a couple movies a year, but i will say this those illumination films They're never over an hour and a half and they make like a billion dollars every time Dreamworks movies are the same how to train your dragon kung fu panda They get in they get out you have a beginning a middle and an end end of story Of course, it's an easier thing to say because they are animated. They're colorful whatever But i think that we can do more of that in the live action space And i really do think across the spider versus is 20 minutes too long. I love that movie, but I'm gonna watch into the spider verse over at any day of the week because it's it's a lot quicker It's a faster moving affair and for me the time is precious And i know again, this is definitely an age thing because a lot of people That are under i'd say, you know 30 25 They don't watch movies more than once It's a different ballgame Back in my day, we only had so many options for movies to watch But also I just think it was a different mindset I when I rank movies It's and I know other critics are the same way and I maybe mentioned this before on a live stream or somewhere else But when I rank a movie Part of what gives me that final, you know, I don't grade it But whatever I say is a fresh on rod tomatoes or a rod and a big thing that comes into my mind is rewatchability How much is this movie staying with me? in the next day or two Or the next month or the next year and will I ever have a desire to rewatch it? Would I recommend it to someone? Would I sit with my kids one day or my wife and check it out again if they hadn't seen it And if the answer is no then the movie has failed But there are a lot of people that will watch a movie once and they are completely fine never seeing it again They got that experience and they're out That doesn't work for me And that doesn't work for me with really anything in life I don't go to a restaurant have a nice meal and then drop it and never want to go there again If the meal is good, I want to return and have it again someday down the road If I go on a ride if I go to a theme park Or a water park or any sort of mini golf course or a bowling alley or a theater That really stands out. I want to go back to those places Those are the those are the places that work for me And so movies are the same way. Yeah, there are so many movies I still need to see some of them are classics that I've avoided or just Haven't had the time or wanted to make the time to watch Because I would prefer to go back and watch Zoolander again because it's a short film and it's funny as hell Or happy Gilmore Or Austin Powers or even watch something longer like Dark Knight, which I think is also too long But it's a freaking great movie regardless Because there's enough there it's justified, right And I guess that's just all I'm getting at is You can really you can make a long movie Oppenheimer worked As long as you can see the care and passion on display as long as the movie is doing new things and constantly earning your attention Make it five hours long if you want And I'll appreciate it But it's rare when a movie is too short It's rare when people say this movie needed to be longer. It's almost always the opposite There's only one or two films that come to mind in my entire existence That I would say I needed like a half hour longer one of them's x-men three x-men united because there's 14 plots going on in that film So it really needed like an entire different section of a it really needed to be two movies Or one three and a half hour film instead of the the disaster that it was That's one for sure There's probably another one out there. That's the only one I could think of The bottom line is I can think of hundreds of movies now Most of them coming out in the last five or six years Where I would easily shave off moments and say, you know what this is so much more Jurassic park three is an example for instance of a very Stupid movie a pretty bad movie that I found myself watching several times because it's like an hour and a half long It's so fast it moves so quick lots of dinosaur action lots of fun situations There's a talking raptor at one point that that's absolutely cringy But you move past it because the movie's in a hurry It's just going to keep throwing garbage at you for you to digest And I and I'm cool with it I'm fine with it and so on that note on Jurassic park three, which I think I brought up Not that long ago in another podcast. That's sad to say Let me know are you in agreement? I've bitched about this for a long time It's probably going to keep coming up even though I'm hoping to kind of air it all out right here It's probably going to keep coming up Because I see this is a problem a lot an ongoing problem That hollywood for some reason thinks is a selling point for people to go to the movies Let me know in the comments if you agree disagree or you're kind of mixed I think I was a little mixed as well, but I think you get what I'm saying Justify it most of the time they don't that's the takeaway. Let me know Please like the video and subscribe if you're on youtube if you're on Spotify or apple podcasts subscribe there as well if you just happen to stop I don't know if anybody just like stumbles on these podcasts. Do people actually search these out? I genuinely don't know if you aren't on those and you want to you know support me there, please do You can catch the podcast early. I actually put them out at 8 a.m Every single monday on those platforms and then on youtube I do a premiere at 11 30 So I watch along with you guys. I'm in the chat. We're having a good time You could maybe throw me a super chat is a tip of the hat a thank you because youtube payout is garbage I just started doing ads on spotify It's it's it's very mediocre. This isn't a conan conan o' brian show. This is adam does movies It's a one-man operation Side hobby that I treat as a second job. So any support you can give would be great I have patreon at patreon.com slash adam does movies or you can become a member on youtube via the join button There's a one dollar tier a ten dollar a 30 100 So it's just a it's a basic monthly subscription. You get benefits. There are 300 exclusive videos that are actually all damn good These aren't just garbage things I made for patreon. They're older videos that i'm proud of and I decided to make Exclusive for the supporters. 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