The 5 best 3-hour movies ever made, ranked

Maybe we’re crazy, but there’s nothing better than getting cozy for a long movie.

A movie that lasts three hours or more may seem like a scary thing to sit through – and it is, if the movie is bad.

But if the movie is a masterpiece, that runtime just flies by. You might even wish it had been longer.

Watch With Us pulled together a list of what we think are the best upcoming movies with a runtime of at least three hours.

From Killers of the Flower Moon to Magnolia, Here are the best movies, by far.

5. ‘Slayers of the Flower Moon’ (2023)

Based on the bestselling non-fiction book by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon about the massacre of members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma because of their oil money. When oil is discovered on the Osage lands, the Native Americans become extremely wealthy, but with ruling prejudice and xenophobia they find it “unacceptable” to be in charge of their own money, forcing them to need white legal guardians. Osage members begin turning up dead, including members of Mollie Burkheart (Lily Gladstone) family. Little does she know, her white husband Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) is directly involved in the killings – and Mollie’s life is also in danger.

Coming in at 206 minutes, Martin Scorsesethe cold, damning history of this terrible chapter in American history still doesn’t feel long enough to reflect the magnitude of the story at hand. still, Killers of the Flower Moon is an interesting and sensitive take on a terrible tragedy, with Gladstone surrounded by aplomb in her usual performance. Full of horror and full of detail, the film shows that Scorsese’s craft has only strengthened with age.

4. ‘Magnolia’ (1999)

In this sprawling mosaic of stories, we follow the intertwined lives of different people searching for truth, love, acceptance and happiness in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Among our characters in Magnolia is Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore), the trophy wife of television producer Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), who is battling terminal cancer; Claudia Wilson (The waters of Melora), the daughter of game show host Jimmy Gator (Phillip Baker Hall); Frank TJ Mackey (Tom Cruise), misogynistic motivational speaker and Earl’s only son; and old quiz kid Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), whose glory days are long behind him.

Paul Thomas AndersonThe ambitious, 189-minute tapestry of character drama is imperfect, but those very imperfections are what make it a singular viewing experience. Maximalist, melodramatic, strange and tear-jerking, Magnolia it is possible to be overwhelmed and overworked in all the best ways. At one time, we used to let directors take a check and do whatever they wanted, and the results were sometimes Magnolia – and shouldn’t we want more of them? Swinging for the fences is an art form.

3. ‘The Deer Hunter’ (1978)

In 1968, lifelong Pittsburgh native and friend Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walker) and Steven (John Savage) prepare to leave the safety of their working-class town and ship out to Vietnam. After one last group hunting trip and Steven’s marriage to Angela (Runya Alda), the friends left to fulfill their ambitions for military honor. But when the men arrive, they realize that the truth of the war is not gold medals and flames of glory; it is blood, flesh, savagery, and inhumanity. Their experience changes their lives and minds forever, with one of them so haunted that he refuses to return home forever.

Dark, dark and sad, The Deer Hunter is an award with love, receiving nine Academy Award nominations and taking home four – including Best Picture. Confident and sympathetic guidance from Michael Cimino giving a steady hand to this terrible ship, with De Niro, Meryl Streep and Walken (who received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) gives the best work of the role. The Deer Hunter manages a fascinating balancing act of tonal shifts, heavy subject matter and perfect pacing for a 184-minute film.

2. ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)

Using a non-linear narrative structure, Christopher Nolan documenting the life and career of the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), over the span of three hours. From the time of Oppenheimer completing his PhD in physics at the University of Göttingen, to “I have become death, the destroyer of the world” and accusations of Communist sympathies after the creation of the atomic bomb, Nolan paints a picture of a deeply flawed, interesting man, whose quest to save the world turned into regret for destroying it. An ensemble film with a large cast, Oppenheimer including Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett and Emily Blunt.

Nolan managed to take a biodrama in which men talk to each other in different rooms and turn it into a masterpiece worthy of IMAX screens. Indeed, the film’s success as the highest-grossing biodrama and fourth-highest R-rated film of all time proves that audiences crave an engaging story made for adults. With a rapid-fire pace that feels like an endless montage sequence, Academy Award-worthy performances from Murphy, exciting sound design, an infectious score and stunning cinematography, Oppenheimer one of the best films of 2024 and Nolan’s crowning achievement.

1. Th

The Godfather Part II’ (1974)

The story of the Corleone family continues in The godfather Part IIone of those rare sequel films that is generally considered better than the first film. Serving as the first major film role for a young De Niro, The godfather Part II comparing the stories of father and son, Michael (Al Pacino) and Vito (De Niro). The film goes back and forth between Michael’s presence as the new mafia Don of Corleone, trying to protect his family from enemies, and Vito’s history as an Italian immigrant in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, establishing his powerful crime syndicate.

The godfather Part II has maintained its status as “the greatest gangster movie ever made” even more than 50 years after its release, and the film is no doubt just as fresh (if not more so) than many of today’s films. Despite the fact that the film won the award for Best Picture at the 1975 Academy Awards, its critical estimation has grown more and more as the years have gone on. With an interesting narrative structure charting Michael’s moral decline against his father’s rise to power, an expansion of the film’s original themes, strong direction, legendary performances and expressive cinematography, The godfather Part II still an excellent mix of popcorn entertainment and art that doesn’t feel like it’s 200 minutes long.