30 Best Long Movies That Are Really Worth Watching
The trend in movie viewing times seems to be towards longer durations, and even if the data doesn’t really support it , recent super-long installments in major box office franchises like Marvel and James Bond (the most watched films are ) at least means the bloat seems real. For some reason, these hugely popular series feel the need to justify their existence by tying us to places for more than two hours, when many of us would happily pay the same price for a movie that would give us hope of someday returning home . to see our dogs again.
However, the quality of a movie is not determined by its length, and most of us watch these movies at home anyway. Some stories are simply more effective when they take their time – either because they have so much to say and do that nothing feels wasted, or because it gives them the freedom to enjoy themselves, setting the mood and creating an exciting world filled with interesting characters. As critic Roger Ebert once said , no good film is too long, and no bad film is short enough.
So here are 30 good (or great) movies, each of which is almost three hours long (or much longer), each of which is also worth the viewing time because overall, every second is worth watching.
Amadeus (1984)
Duration: 2 hours 45 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: The late, great Milos Forman directs this unconventional biopic of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapting the play by Peter Schaffer, who also wrote the screenplay (they both won Oscars for it, as did protagonist F. Murray Abraham). ). Unlike the typical tedious biography, Amadeus tells its story not through the eyes and experiences of Mozart himself (Tom Hulce), but through the eyes of his nemesis Antonio Salieri (Abraham), a composer doomed to live forever in the shadow of a great talent. The result is an epic, bitchy meditation on relative mediocrity: Salieri is good, maybe even great, but struggles to achieve some of what Mozart seems to come effortlessly. It has all the great period trappings you’d expect, while also telling a deep and juicy story about the cost of (understandable) jealousy. Where to watch: Netflix, digital rental.
Childhood (2014)
Duration: 2 hours 45 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: It may seem like a gimmick, but Richard Linklater ( Dazed and Confused , School of Rock , Before Sunrise ) is too good and consistent a director to fall into this trap. Conceptually, this coming-of-age story was created over the course of 12 years, filming year after year to capture the growth and changes of the main characters, especially the main character, Mason Evans Jr., who grew into a man. the role of Ellar Coltrane. It received overwhelming praise for its extraordinary sense of realism and emotional power, as well as its superb performances.
Where to watch: The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Duration: 2 hours 47 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: First of all, keep in mind that the running time listed above is for the short version. Normally I would recommend a much longer option (this is the only one I’ve seen), but it may not be for everyone. Director Ingmar Bergman is joined by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson (two of modern cinema’s most impressive actors) to create this gripping portrait of a disintegrating marriage. This is not a soap opera or a film about screaming fights and thrown ashtrays, but a story about two people who definitely haven’t fallen out of love, but who definitely don’t know how to live with each other anymore. As beautiful and brutal as it is, such is its realism and believability that it often feels like we’re peeking around a corner and seeing something we shouldn’t see. The director and actors returned to these characters 30 years later in Saraband , a poignant epilogue and Bergman’s final film.
Where to watch: Max , The Criterion Channel
Wedding Dreams (1994)
Duration: 2 hours 50 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: This documentary about two black teenagers (William Gates and Arthur Agee) recruited into a predominantly white high school basketball program is as entertaining and relevant today as it was in 1994, while inspiring and depressing. Their life stories, told over the course of six years, are captivating and captivating, although they touch on much larger issues: these teenagers see success in professional basketball as their only way up in the America in which they live – this vanishingly small chance for success still represents their best hopes. Through Gates and Agee, documentarian Steve James explores everyday life beyond the media’s portrayal of the “ghetto” as simply a place white people should avoid, as well as the self-interest at the heart of anyone promising the American Dream.
Where to watch: Max , Paramount+ , The Criterion Channel, Crackle, digital rental.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Duration: 2 hours 50 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: Coming just a year after the end of World War II, this William Wyler drama tells the stories of three United States servicemen as they adjust to civilian life after harrowing tours overseas. Al left home as a successful bank employee, but risks his post-war promotion due to excessive drinking and softness when it comes to making loans to fellow veterans; Fred suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has difficulty finding work; Homer has lost both of his arms and is struggling to become an object of pity. Given the era and time, it is almost shockingly prescient in its depiction of the struggles that veterans would face after not only World War II, but every war that followed (and probably all the ones before, although no one ever said so). The film always moves away from melodrama in favor of sobering realism.
Where to watch: Peacock , Prime Video , Freevee
The Sound of Music (1965)
Duration: 2 hours 54 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer star in this hit musical with stunning sets and some of the most memorable songs in musical history. It’s all delightful until the shadow of Nazism threatens a promising and unlikely romance between a novice nun and a rugged, wealthy former naval officer. The combination of big screen style and at least a little substance has made it one of our favorite musicals for decades.
Where to watch: Disney+ , digital rental.
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Duration: 2 hours 56 minutes.
Why the game is worth your time: Incredibly fast-paced, Da 5 Bloods doesn’t feel nearly as long as its length. Returning to the Vietnam War film genre with a special focus on the (often ignored) black American experience, Spike Lee brings new relevance to the stories of the period, drawing clear and direct lines between then and now through the story of four returning veterans. to Vietnam in search of the remains of a fallen squad leader… and the gold he helped them hide. Every actor in it is incredible, including Chadwick Boseman in one of his final roles.
Where to watch: Netflix
A Touch of Zen (1971)
Duration: 3 hours
Why it’s worth your time: The source of almost all modern wuxia films (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ), A Touch of Zen is a gorgeous widescreen martial arts epic that’s worth watching for the cinematography alone, although the fight choreography isn’t less exciting. It’s the story of a noblewoman turned fugitive who seeks refuge in a remote village and ends up using the place’s ghost stories as a weapon against her pursuers. It also has big ideas: Yang, a fugitive, struggles with issues of social order and corruption, as well as ideas of traditional femininity that challenge her role as a warrior.
Where to watch: The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Duration: 3 hours
Why it’s worth your time: This film, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, follows the brilliant and controversial Cillian Murphy as the titular theoretical physicist who helped America develop the world’s first nuclear weapon during World War II. Amidst a talky script peppered with occasional moments of bravura effects, writer-director Christopher Nolan never loses sight of either his complex lead role or the murky, ugly morality behind Oppenheimer’s work.
Where to watch: Peacock , digital rental
Inland Empire (2006)
Duration: 3 hours
Why the game is worth your time: Take a look: Inland Empire isn’t for everyone. This may be the most purely Lynchian of any film in the director’s oeuvre, and that’s either a strong selling point or a reason to stay away. I like it, but I have no idea what it’s about. I’m not sure anyone does this, but Laura Dern gives a brilliant, devastating performance as a Hollywood actress whose life spirals into complete madness, and it’s worth taking on its own. You will feel like you are walking with her through a nightmare that is both exhausting and exciting.
Where to watch: Max , The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Duration: 3 hours 1 minute
Why it’s worth your time: This one will probably require at least a passing familiarity with the 20-plus films that preceded it. the power is here, at least in terms of cinematic spectacle. For all our sequel-obsessed film culture, no one has yet gotten to the point of offering an effective summary of a series that was so successful across so many films. The whole “time heist” part allows for a clever way to revisit scenes from the past, while the climactic action sequence remains one for the ages. Once the fight is over, the film even manages to end on some impressively emotional notes. It’s not really a starting point, but it is a satisfying climax… if only as a conclusion. it’s really more like a pause.
Where to watch: Disney+ , digital rental.
Seven Samurai (1954)
Duration: 3 hours 2 minutes
Why the film is worth your time: So much is taken from Akira Kurosawas’s Seven Samurai : it was remade in Hollywood as The Magnificent Seven and thus became the template for a certain type of team-assembled/goes-on-a-mission style movie. It was a huge inspiration for George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino and even Zack Snyder. The coming together of a group of misfits and outsiders, hitherto virtually unheard of in Japanese filmmaking, is also an element that is often referenced. The length of Samurai (it is the longest film of Kurosawa’s career) is justified by its performance, as well as by the writer and director Kurosawa himself: in the West he is best known for his samurai films, but his filmography includes quiet, meditative character dramas. well, and therefore he brings sharp characterization along with the action.
Where to watch: Max , The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
RRR (2022)
Duration: 3 hours 7 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Action films almost certainly 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. Likewise, a historical drama that deals with the national trauma of the British Raj and depicts two real-life revolutionaries who died as martyrs for the cause of independence shouldn’t be all that fun , but somehow the context only makes it more enjoyable. . Find a more thrilling moment in film than when a truck full of wild animals is forcibly unleashed into a tranquil gathering at a British politician’s estate.
Where to watch: Netflix
Leopard (1963)
Duration: 3 hours 5 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Leopard is , without a doubt, simply brilliant. It’s probably one of the most beautifully shot and directed films in history, which still wouldn’t be enough to justify its length if it weren’t also dramatically exciting. But it is, and it’s also complicated: it’s a portrait of the repressive lifestyle of the extremely wealthy 19th-century Sicilian aristocracy as they had their last great romance, whether they knew it or not. Built on the backs of the poor and working class, their way of life deserves to die out (if only), and witnessing it all is Burt Lancaster’s Don Fabrizio Corbera, a generally good man of his time, whose outlook turns displays of excess into something almost a funeral. Director Luchino Visconti was a Marxist with no love for the aristocracy, so the fact that he’s willing to present a sympathetic portrait of a social class on the verge of extinction (at that time and place, anyway) creates enough tension to keep you engaged in suspense. to the sofa. There are several different versions, but the director’s preferred cut is 185 minutes long and can mostly be found streaming.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Magnolia (1999)
Duration: 3 hours 8 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: It’s been joked that Paul Thomas Anderson’s films are long not because the story demands it, but because they require more editing. That’s unfair, especially here in a film that’s certainly meandering by design: full of stories of love and loss intersecting, often coincidentally, the film’s central thesis deals with the cycles of violence we’re locked into as children – but explores that idea in often hilarious ways and in surprising ways. Like the Aimee Mann song that all the characters sing in the impressive, infamous, amphibious climax, it’s all about the pain we’ll continue to inflict on ourselves if we refuse to wise up.
Where to watch: Paramount+ , digital rental.
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Duration: 3 hours 8 minutes
Originally conceived as a television miniseries, the three-hour theatrical version of Ingmar Bergman’s later-career triumph is actually something of a director’s cut; the full version is over five hours long. Fanny and Alexander stars Pernille Allwyn and Bertil Huve as the younger siblings of the title, living happily with their theater parents. Then their father dies and their mother remarries the joyless idiot bishop. Intended as the director’s swan song, the autobiographical story feels like a summation of Bergman’s career, exploring many of the very heavy themes he’s tackled before but with a greater sense of perspective and even a touch of whimsy.
Where to watch: Max , The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Nuremberg verdict (1961)
Duration: 3 hours 10 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Spencer Tracy leads an all-star cast (Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner and Montgomery Clift, among others) in this truly gripping legal drama depicting a fictionalized version of one of the twelve Nuremberg Military Tribunals that determined the horrific the extent of Nazi war crimes after World War II. While the familiar faces in the cast may be a little distracting, the film remains sober and serious, building to a climax that is both moving and disturbing. Some 60 years later, he remains depressingly timely in his belief that ordinary people are capable of monstrous behavior if given the right incentive.
Where to watch: Tubi, MGM+, digital rental.
Titanic (1997)
Duration: 3 hours 14 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: Say what you will about the (occasionally) clunky characterizations and dialogue, James Cameron makes excellent use of the long running time here: by the time the iceberg appears on screen, more than an hour later, Cameron and company have already given us a thorough a tour of the ship without even realizing it: we stuck our heads out on the bridge, into the engine rooms, wardrooms, cabins of all classes and decks on almost every level – even looked at the carriages while sweating. in cargo. When the ship meets its fate during the live-action sequence that takes up much of the rest of the film, we’re almost as familiar with it as if we were on board, making it easier to follow the action as the tragedy hits harder.
Where to watch: Paramount+ , Prime Video
Spartacus (1960)
Duration: 3 hours 17 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: Stanley Kubrick’s first foray into filmmaking on an epic scale feels like a standout in his oeuvre, as it combines the director’s stylistic touches with elements that feel a little more traditional to Hollywood. It all works, especially given the subtext: the slave rebellion described here, written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, draws strong parallels to the communist witch hunts in America. (Kirk Douglas’s insistence that Trumbo be credited under his own name rather than a pseudonym helped end the blacklist—well, a specific blacklist—once and for all.) So what happens on screen? it’s an extraordinarily smart, old-school thriller… an action thriller that has something to say about modern American life and politics.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Malcolm X (1992)
Duration: 3 hours 20 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: There’s a lot to be told when it comes to the life of Malcolm X, even given his untimely assassination—his story crosses continents and political eras, drawing various disparate elements of the Civil Rights Movement into its orbit. It’s hard to imagine any comprehensive biopic that doesn’t take up a lot of time. These kinds of films have their stock moments, but Spike Lee is one of the most accomplished and important directors in modern history, and as such manages to avoid the obvious choices and monotony that often plague the “important biopic.” Likewise, Denzel Washington’s performance is uncanny and important.
Where to watch: Tubi, digital rental.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Duration: 3 hours 20 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: It’s tempting to joke about those cascading false endings, but in truth, this film makes it worth your time to watch—and the entire trilogy. It’s a remarkable achievement in terms of entertainment value and ease of viewing, but it’s also impressively emotional in the sense that it brings various character arcs to often poignant conclusions. It was not for nothing that it won a (still unmatched) record number of Oscars, including Best Picture. Honestly, when watching, I always choose the extended version, which is another hour longer, although this length is much easier to cope with at home.
Where to watch: Max , digital rental
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai Commerce, Brussels 1080 (1975)
Duration: 3 hours 21 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: Over the course of three suffocating days (and over three hours of playtime), single mother Jean Dielman (Delphine Seyrig) cooks, cleans and does light but joyless sex work to pay the bills. Chantal Akerman’s strange and funny masterpiece transforms one woman’s difficult daily life into an unconventional, uncompromising and mesmerizing epic. Many critics at the time felt that there had never been such an exploration of the female experience before (unsurprisingly, given the dearth of female directors), and it inspired filmmakers in subsequent decades to reconsider what a film about women could achieve. (It should be noted that Sight and Sound’s 2002 critics’ poll of the best films ever made ranked this film first.)
Where to watch: Max , The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Duration: 3 hours 22 minutes (Roadshow version)
Why it’s worth your time: First of all: There are several versions of Stanley Kramer’s crazy road movie. You’ll have the easiest time finding the shorter version, running 2 hours and 43 minutes, but viewers with exceptionally strong bladders may want to opt for the 3 hour, 22 minute premiere version (it’s in the Criterion Collection). None of them feel that long, and that’s a credit to the film’s lightness. Directed by Spencer Tracy and a cast of ’60s stars, the story is about several different groups of motorists who learn of $350,000 in cash hidden in a park on the other side of the state and set out to chase the money. . What makes it work as more than just a driving slapstick production is the incredibly smart decision to let these beloved stars play universally terrible people who only get worse as the various misfortunes they encounter on the road serve to fuel their greed; this shadow adds a bit of delicious schadenfreude to the stupidity.
Where to watch: Tubi, MGM+, digital rental.
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Duration: 3 hours 22 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: Each film in the series is long, but the second part is much longer. Perhaps unusually, it’s also the best, justifying all those extra minutes with a plot as compelling as the film’s main thread: as Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone continues his long descent that culminates in a kiss of death, we visit the origins of the Corleone family in America . through Robert De Niro’s portrayal of a young Vito Corleone. There is hardly a moment here that is not completely convincing.
Where to watch: Paramount+ , digital rental.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Duration: 3 hours 28 minutes.
While there’s no doubt that it would be nice to have this story told by Osage filmmakers, we could do a lot worse than leaving Martin Scorsese behind the camera for an epic tale of unspeakable greed in a uniquely American spirit. Lily Gladstone is excellent as the real-life Molly Burkhart, who finds herself at the center of the Osage Indian murders. when oil discovered on tribal lands turns into a nightmare for white settlers.
Where to watch: Apple TV+, digital purchase.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Duration: 3 hours 47 minutes.
Why it’s worth your time: It’s probably the most obvious choice for a list like this, but David Lean’s epic has held its own over so many decades (and so many minutes of screen time) for one reason: in many ways, it’s the platonic ideal of the Hollywood epic—that , by which everyone else is judged. But it’s also impressively complex, set in a period that remains relevant, and starring a protagonist who skirts the line between philosophical hero and delusional megalomaniac. Even though it’s almost 60 years old, it’s still a transportation job.
Where to watch: MGM+, digital rental.
Hamlet (1996)
Duration: 4 hours 2 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Historically, even most stage versions of Hamlet (Shakespeare’s longest work) are cut down; there are entire scenes that even die-hard Bard fans have probably never seen performed. Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 adaptation uses no such labels—a rare example (and the only film version) of the play presented in its entirety. There’s a trade-off for your time, however: Branagh eschews Hamlet’s traditional bleakness in favor of gorgeous, vibrant visual spectacle; it also features an impressive cast (with himself at the helm) that includes Julie Christie, Kate Winslet and Derek Jacobi. There are even cameo appearances by some very unexpected performers (Billy Crystal, for example, is stunningly good as the First Grave Digger). And unlike a live show, you can stop for a snack whenever you want.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Batman (2022)
Duration: 2 hours 56 minutes.
Another three-hour comic book movie? At least Avengers: Endgame had the decency to be the culmination of a 22-film saga… of course, there’s no excuse for an eighth solo Batman movie (depending on how you count it). Or maybe not, but co-writer/director Matt Reeves’s first encounter with Robert Pattinson under the hood actually keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout, allowing Batman to become a detective again. Watching a young, (even more) emotionally damaged Bruce Wayne methodically piece together the clues in a vast conspiracy tied to his own origins and involving such familiar villains as the Riddler (Paul Dano), the Penguin (Colin Farrell under pounds of makeup) and Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz) wants to spend a season of one of the Swedish crime procedurals on Netflix. So much the better: It’s gorgeous to look at, with Oscar nominee Greig Fraser’s moody black-and-red cinematography.
Where to watch: Hulu , Max , digital rental
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Duration: 3 hours 5 minutes
Stanley Kubrick’s drama, cleverly, doesn’t judge Ryan O’Neal’s Barry Lyndon… it doesn’t need to. Why it’s worth your time: Ryan O’Neal’s Barry Lyndon is hardly the protagonist we’re used to in these kinds of epic historical dramas: he’s basically a character without any defining morality, and the one to whom the events happen , which he does not notice. I don’t attach much importance to formation. When he’s comfortable telling the truth, he’s brutally honest… but he’s quite happy with lying if it’s the easiest way. Kubrick is one of the very few directors who could draw us into the story of this 18th century gold miner, and Ryan O’Neal makes it compelling to watch, if not particularly sympathetic.
Where to watch: Tubi, digital rental.
Babylon (2022)
Of course, in cinemas this thing is a bomb , and its excesses are definitely not for everyone’s tastes. But in terms of screen spectacle, they don’t get much grander than La La Land director Damien Chazelle’s orgiastic Hollywood coming-of-age story, literally and figuratively. It’s a wild three-hour dive into the glitz, glamor and wild pleasures of the movie business as it transitioned from silent films to talkies. It’s loud, edgy and full of cocaine-fueled energy, but for every misstep (the opening sequence in which a mountain of elephant excrement is sprayed directly into the camera) there are two bravura sequences (my favorite is a harrowing portrayal of what it’s like to film a movie scene under intense pressure, which could be a short film in itself), and the cast is full of movie stars (Brad Pitt and pre- Barbie Margot Robbie are standouts) just as they’re used to filming them – larger than life and too much to cram into a standard medium execution.
Where to watch: Prime Video , digital rental.