Truth and Beauty Bombs

Editor's Note: For the purposes of this thread, a "long movie" is anything that runs near or beyond three hours.

What are some of the better long movies? I tend to enjoy films that take their time, provided it's not just an excuse for padding, and recent comments in the Last Movie You Watched thread set me wondering. For my money, a long movie done well is usually worth watching, if only because the writers have a chance to play at being novellists, and the films wind-up having the length and depth of a mini-series, without being hurt by the need for commercial breaks and an exciting cliffhanger at the end of each episode.

For my own part, my favourite long movies are probably Children of Paradise, A Touch of Zen, Dr. Zhiavago and Celine & Julie Go Boating. I have yet to work-up the courage to tackle such truly ginormous films as Berlin Alexanderplatz and Out 1: Noli Me Tangere, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to consider watching paint dry for thirteen hours provided someone can come-up with a good argument for doing so. I've got nothing but time.

Shion Sono's Love Exposure is a film I hesitate to call a good film, but it's a 237 minute long film that I was thoroughly glad to have sat through when it was over. I think I need to see it again before I can say whether I see it as a good film or not, but it's definitely worth watching. If you have nothing but time and don't have an aversion to Japanese cinema you should consider watching it. It's about Catholicism and love and sex and upskirt photography. It won a bunch of awards and junk.

here's a trailer that doesn't make it look very good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fxa5NuVrqU

uh

Lawrence of Arabia
Bridge on the River Kwai
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Apocalypse Now (this is not an objectively good movie, but it's full of weird little things and cameos, and Redux is better)
(wait now the only cameo i can remember is Harrison Ford)
i liked Dances with Wolves
never seen Schindler's List but some people on the place i am using as an aide mémoire are touting it (they are also saying Scarface and Seven Samurai a lot, and some of them are saying The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)

i think of these i will be watching Schindler's List and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly sometime soon, since they seem like movies i should be able to do more than nod my head non-committally about in conversation and change the subject

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

It's slow but not boring and every shot is gorgeous.

i second this so hard



and would also like to add

Magnolia
and Synecdoche, New York

(I think I might hate long movies in principle, but)

The Thin Red Line is extremely beautiful and I think fits very comfortably with what you seem to be interested in

Belá Tarr is a great director who makes extremely long, slow movies out of extremely long, slow shots, and they are very beautiful too (Werckmeister Harmonies is the only movie I have seen of his all the way through, and it is great)

and I guess I have to third Jesse James

thought Synecdoche New York was way too long though

seriously though, if you only take three words from the post above, they should be "thin", "red", and "line".

The Sound of Music is only 6 minutes shy of 3 hours... and it rules.

wtf
wikipedia says that synecdoche new york is only 2 hours and 4 minutes long

The extended editions of Lord of the Rings are 11.38 hours in total, and they rule.

However, I recommend the normal editions instead at a mere 9.3 hours (although I'd guess that puts one or two of them under 3 hours).

tried watching shoah on youtube a few days ago
but the subtitles were too bad

If taken as one movie (which I believe was the original intent), Kill Bill is 4.12 hours... and guess what?

It rules.

Ha ha, it just felt like an eternity.

Meanwhile, Speed Racer was a longer movie.

The Thin Red Line is a pretty good movie! That's all I really have to say about it, to be honest, since I watched it about a year after it came out, and didn't really pay it much mind. I did like watching a deep and serious movie about the conflict in New Guinea and surrounds. The book's in the shop in town - I should probably read it some day.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World isn't all that great, from what I can tell. I only caught the last half hour or so, though. I could be wrong! And it has the advantage of being comparitively easy to locate. However, I have spent the last few weeks wondering whether or not I should watch The Bridge on the River Kwai, and this thread may put me over the edge. I've yet to see a David Lean film I didn't like.

Has anyone here seen Ivan the Terrible? It sounds fascinating.

wow re: synecdoche

how does that movie universally feel so much longer than it actually is

when I said it felt like it was an hour too long I wasn't kidding

yeah, there's a secondhand bookstore round here that has a movie tie-in paperback of Thin Red Line but

it seems like the kind of great movie that could have come from a v mediocre book

(plus I hate long novels on principle even more than I do long films, and iirc it was long)

The author also wrote From Here to Eternity, the movie of which is supposed to be quite good. I choose to give this author the benefit of the doubt!

(What is the priciple behind your dislike of the long novel? I'm not looking to start a fight - I'm just curious, since you seem to take a fairly firm stance on this issue).

totally agree re: synecdoche, would have guessed it was at least 2.5 hours

I think it's just because it gets draggy from like the middle until near the end

Did you guys not like Synecdoche NY for the last half, or just thought it felt slow (not negative)?
Because I think it might be my most favourite movie ever.

synecodche, ny was a great wonderful incredible movie that is so fucking boring to watch

should have been a 1000 page novel instead imo

Yeah, given the premise, it was surprisingly boring.

Maybe I am conflating boring with depressing.
More likely it's just both.

Seven Samurai is another good, long movie. It feels really long, and I got impatient about the hour-and-a-half mark, but I forgive it its length. I like it better than The Magnificent Seven, since watching Steve McQueen and Yul Brenner try to upstage one another for three hours is both appropriate and tedious. It makes it harder to like the characters for me.

I really love Bridge on the River Kwai. It is not without flaws, but I find them charming. There is a really great moment in the movie that challenges one's suspension of disbelief in a jarring but cool way, and then restores you to where you were, but I don't want to talk about it if you think you'll watch it. I almost feel guilty for saying that much. I am almost unbearable to watch this movie with, but I try to not be an idiot.

Synecdoche, NY feels long, I think, because it spends so much time on its premise- it is repetitious because it has to be, like someone who paraphrases themselves over and over even though you get it on the first iteration. I don't think it could feel short ever and make sense.

which is i think the exact reason it'd make a better novel

yeah, maybe so

I donno if I could trudge through it after seeing the movie though.

well, i wouldn't read it after seeing the movie

but if this were a world where it were a novel and not a movie i'm sure i'd love it a lot more

if it were novelized (and possibly expanded) now, i'd skip it

i2i w/ u wrt this idea

The worst would be if it were a play.

no, the worst would be if it were a musical

(i mean, i get the joke

and it's a good joke, i like it

but let's be serious here

a musical is the worst)

About Synecdoche, New York (spoilers kind of) is the burning house a metaphor for smoking?