Everything goes on too long

[Soduku1234]

Is it just me that thinks that given how busy everybody's life is that things should be shortened.

Recent examples. I saw a film recently and there were 25 minutes of ads/trailers and then the film was 2 hours 20. It could have been 10 minutes of ads and 1 hour 45 easily.

I went to a theatre show a few weeks ago and it was 2 hours 20 mins and a 20 minute interval. It could have been less than two hours.

I attended a webinar this week that was ok but could have been much shorter.

There's probably loads of other examples but I don't know if I'm just being a grump. Aibu?

The amount of adverts that were on before Wicked 2 at our Odeon were insane.

Adverts - Trailers (which dont mind) - More adverts - Then adverts for Odeon - another advert - Switch off your phone advert - Wicked

Ads and trailers have been at least 20 minutes for as long as I can remember. As for film lengths, the average is roughly 2 hours and has been since late 90s.

It’s an impossible question to answer really, as your question actually has three parts:

1. Are things too long nowadays? – some are, yes. (Expanded below)
2. Are there too many adverts before films in cinemas?– yes. But cinemas are struggling to survive, so if we want to keep the experience of cinema we have to suck it up, or as others have suggested, turn up to the film 20 minutes later and skip the adverts.
3. Everyone’s life is too busy to allow for 2 hour + films and theatre productions… - sorry, but that’s ridiculous. Do less and plan better. First off, all plays and films advertise their running time (plays include intervals in those too), so you have no excuse to be sat in a theatre worrying about when it might finish so you can do something else! If you go in to something hoping that it will be quick because you’ve got so much else to do, then you’re very unlikely to enjoy it. Pack in less and enjoy the moment. Somethings deserve more time than other things. Doing more doesn’t mean having a better time. Take your time and enjoy what you are doing without always looking to the next thing.

On your main point, ‘everything goes on too long’, it really depends on what it is doesn’t it? Could the last Lord of the Rings film have ended earlier and had fewer endings? Absolutely. Do the the 3+ hours of the Godfather Part 2 or the nearly 4 hours of Lawrence of Arabia (or numerous other masterpieces) spoil them?– absolutely not they give them the time needed to tell their masterful stories. Equally I’ve sat through films that last just over an hour and seem to last forever in their awfulness.

A 2 hour (plus 20 minute interval) play or musical isn’t long at all. It’s about average. I’ve seen incredible one act plays – but even when magnificent come out feeling slightly short changed – and I’ve seen things that take up most of the day. Was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child too long at well over two hours a part (and in two parts)? Yes. It should have been one (longish) play. But The Inheritance was another two part play (like Harry Potter you could see it over two days, or, on Saturdays, the first part in the day and the second in the evening). I did the back to back Saturday and spent nearly 8 hours in the theatre watching something completely remarkable, utterly mesmeric and, when it ended, I wished it could have gone on longer!

It's like books and sex and meals and walks and relationships and jokes and everything really. Sometimes short and fun can be wonderful; sometimes it deserves time and dedication and attention; and sometimes you just want to give it all the time in the world.