Give us a break from long films
– AROUND 20 MINUTES SHOULD DO IT
ARE you familiar with the but moved into common parlance a while ago.expression “Less is more”? It was once used in various theatrical circles and certain London squares, It originally suggested that actors might improve their performance by toning things down a little, either vocally or physically.
I don’t mean to offend those of you who like or possibly insist on having value for money when you go out to be entertained, but surely there’s a limit to how many bangs you can have for your bucks when it comes to returning to the cinema?
I understand people have been doing so for certain films like Spiderman – No Way Home, which is 150 minutes long and the remake of West Side Story, which clocks in at 156 minutes.
It seems that many of today’s film makers think ‘More is more!’
Directors may know when to say ‘Cut’ after a take, but they don’t seem to know when to say “You know something? I need to cut at least an hour out of this” in the editing suite.
The latest in the never-ending remakes, reboots and re-imaginings of the Batman saga, called . . . wait for it . . . The Batman . . . is nearly three hours long. Holy toilet break, Batman!
Even the recent James Bond film, No Time To Die was two hours and 45 minutes long.
At least in the days of massive Hollywood epics like Ben-hur, Spartacus and El Cid, audiences were given a 20-minute intermission midway through.
Never was the need for ice creams and soft drinks more intense than after audiences had travelled across parched deserts under a merciless sun during the first two and a quarter hours of probably the greatest ‘epic’ of them all – the four-hour-plus Lawrence Of Arabia.
Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy was, at nine hours, plus all the DVD extras, the last word on the subject. Right? Wrong!
There’s a new LOTR TV series which is 50 hours long!
Binge-watching box sets is not for me. You might say . . . I can’t get into The Hobbit!
See you in the cheap seats. Provided the film’s only 90 minutes long!