Great Movies That are 90 Minutes or Less! + Movie Review: Scream 5 (In Theaters) + Trailer Park: “X”
January 17, 2022 • 26 mins
Long movies are great, but sometimes you’re just looking for something you can watch in a shorter amount of time. Mike is sharing some of his favorite movies that are 90 minutes or less so you can check them out the next time you’re in a time crunch for entertainment. Mike reviews the new Scream movie that just came out in theaters and where it ranks inside the franchise. In the trailer park, Mike talks about a new horror movie called X from A24 about a film crew arrives to a farm in Texas to shoot an adult film.
New Episodes Every Monday!
Email: MovieMikeD@gmail.com
Follow Mike on TikTok: @mikedeestro
Follow Mike on Instagram: @mikedeestro
Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikedeestro
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, your
go to source for all things movies, and I am
your host Movie Mike a k A. Mike de Stro
a k A Mike D. And today I want to
bring to you a list of great movies that are
ninety minutes or less for those times that you don't
have a whole lot of time, but you want to
get a movie in. Maybe you're having a movie night.
I'll give you a spoiler free review of the new
(00:20):
screen movie that's Adam theaters now and in the trailer park.
I want to talk about a horror movie that's coming
soon that's giving me original Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe. So
all that for you on this week's episode. Thanks for
being subscribed and listening every single week. You already know
what it is. Let's get into it. In a world
where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man
(00:42):
stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before
in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge,
he's basically like a walking on MTV classes from the
Nashville Podcast Network Movie Mi Movie Watch. The growing up,
(01:02):
I always felt like the normal length for a movie
was ninety minutes. Maybe that's because back in the day
of VHS could only hold about ninety minutes. Anything longer
than that would require two VHS tapes. But over time,
or specifically the last decade or so, movies keep getting
longer and longer in our attention span, keep getting smaller
and smaller, which I think can be a good and
(01:23):
bad thing. I don't think we need to be afraid
of long for movies. I think sometimes exploring a story
in two and a half hours through even three hours
can be beneficial. But I do think certain genres require
a shorter run time. An hour and a half is
really all you need in like a horror movie, in
some comedy movies, and anything more than that sometimes feels
(01:43):
to me like it's a little bit of the filmmaker
having this kind of self serving complex where they feel
their art couldn't be reduced to anything less than that.
It's also just crazy to me how some people won't
watch a movie that's two hours long. We we'll sit
down and watch eight episodes of a TV show. But
with all that out there, I just wanted to share
some movies that I feel are great movies and are
(02:05):
ninety minutes or less, because sometimes I do just want
to watch a movie that's pretty quick. I think, now
there's an art form and being able to tell your
story in ninety minutes or less. So in no particular
order and no particular ranking system, these are all movies
that I would say are well worth ninety minutes. The
only thing I did was split them up into different genres,
and the genre I want to start with is comedy.
(02:26):
I think a ninety minute comedy is so powerful. Great
comedy movies are all about the pacing, the amount of
jokes you can get in, and the shortest amount of time.
I feel is the best recipe for keeping audiences totally engaged.
So I think if there's any genre that benefits more
from a ninety minute run time, it's comedy. So here
are some of the best comedies I found at this
run time, starting with one that I feel is severely underrated,
(02:49):
Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle, coming in at one
hour and twenty eight minutes. I think when people talk
about some of the best comedies of the two thousands,
this movie often gets left off the list, and I
don't know why. One of the best stoner comedies I
think ever made. It has all the makings of a
great comedy movie, from the love interest, from all the
stupid humor, and one of the most satisfying endings I've
(03:11):
ever seen in a comedic tale. And even though I
wasn't a fan of the sequels that came after this movie,
I think the first one remains the classics. So Harold
and Kumar Go to Whitecastle a great movie. Under ninety minutes.
Staying in the comedy genre is another movie I feel
gets overlooked, and it's a movie called Thirty Minutes or
Less starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride as He's I'm Sorry,
and Nick Schwartzen. And it's about Jesse Eisenberg's character, who
(03:35):
plays a pizza delivery driver. He ends up getting kidnapped
and is forced to rob a bank while wearing a
bomb strapped to him. Now, the movie is loosely based
on true events. They actually did a documentary on Netflix,
a series called Evil Genius, but it's a little bit
more of a comedic take on that, which I think
it did get some criticism when it came out of
(03:55):
making light of a very serious tragic event. But I
was just the really big fan of the casting. In
this movie, you have two very unlikely comedic duos with
Jesse Eisenberg and as He's um Sorry, and then also
Nick Schwartzen and Danny McBride both kind of pairing up
together in a pretty funny way. And the movie comes
in right at eighty three minutes. And the other thing
I think makes a really great comedy is its rewatchability.
(04:18):
A movie you can watch over and over again still
makes you laugh, it's still enjoyable. And I think that
is one of those movies for me, a great rated
ar comedy if you want to check it out thirty
minutes or less and you can watch it and under
ninety minutes or less. Next up in the comedic genre,
and I'll get to my Scream review later, but I
think what Scary Movie did for parody movies back in
(04:39):
the early two thousand's also doesn't really get enough credit
that it deserves. It really kind of shaped this whole
genre of parody movies that hadn't really been done before,
at least not in this way. And Scary Movie obviously
greatly based on Scream, but also just teen slasher films
in general. But I remember when Scary movies came out.
(05:00):
It was a comedy movie that I felt everybody had
to watch because you had to be in on these jokes.
And unlike all the other parody movies that came after
this in the same kind of style, I felt like
the writing was just really there. It really more thought
out on the gags, how they made fun of movies,
but not only that, how they created their own identity
in a world where they're not just making fun of
other movies, but also building up some pretty good characters
(05:22):
and also coming in at one hour and twenty eight minutes,
it's a rare comedy movie where you get laugh after
laugh because no real backstories needed. Now, I couldn't talk
about ninety minute movies without referencing one of the best
comedies ever made from Adam Sandler, and it is Billy
Madison coming in at one hour in twenty nine minutes,
and I actually think Billy Madison is the funniest Adam
(05:45):
Sandler movie. I think early on in his career he
was really able to define himself in two movies, Billy
Madison and Happy Gilmore. And I think when it comes
down to the true comedic value of Adam Sandler, it's
really showcased more in Billy Madison. I feel like the
performer he was on SNL it really came out more
and his Billy Madison rolled than it did, and Happy gilmore.
(06:06):
It's also just a lot more random. The jokes are
so dumb and you don't know why they make you laugh,
and it's almost like anything goes in the Billy Madison movie.
The stupid things like him in the bath with the
shampoo and the conditioner bottle, the mysterious penguin he sees
coming out of nowhere, the big musical numbers that happened
for no reason whatsoever, and just all the memorable quotes.
(06:27):
I just think he was at his comedic height in
the nineties and no movie really represents him more than
Billy Madison. Some of my other favorite ninety minute comedies
would be hot Rod from two and seven with Andy Sandberg.
Also this is Spinal Tap. One of my favorite comedies
of all time is Only an Hour in twenty two
minutes from four By the Way. A movie that I
(06:47):
feel greatly defines the tens would be Project X coming
in at one hour and twenty eight minutes. If you
want the ultimate teen party movie, that's absolutely ridiculous, probably
the best teen party movies since American Pie, and also
just a great time capsule of how I think we
will remember. I think Project X is perfect for that.
(07:10):
Now I want to get into ninety minute horror movies.
I almost think that horror movies shouldn't be more than
ninety minutes. If it's your traditional slasher movie or just
straight on horror movie. I think you've got ninety minutes
or less before we really stop caring. I want to
start first with the o G my favorite first horror movie,
Child's Play, coming in at one hour and twenty seven minutes.
(07:32):
I think Child's Play greatly follows the perfect horror formula,
starting out first with a big opening scene, but the
tension and suspense it's able to build within the first
half hour of the movie to where you don't really
see Chucky full on killing people. It's very much in
like this first person type horror of your wondering when
he's really gonna go full on and start killing people
(07:54):
and revealing himself. It doesn't really get much better than
Child's Play, and I love that I'm able to put
that on the ninety minutes or less list. I also
love that One of my favorite horror classics is only
an hour in twenty three minutes, and it's The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre from nineteen seventy four. There is yet another
Texas Chainsaw being rebooted and coming out on Netflix this year,
(08:16):
but none of them have been able to capture that
same charm as the original. Something about that seventies low fi,
low budget filmmaking just really makes that movie. Another type
of movie I really love in the horror genre is
the found footage movies. I've talked in linked before about
how much I love and will defend the paranormal activity movies,
and the first one is only an hour in twenty
(08:37):
six minutes, and I think that is greatly due to
the format of watching a found footage movie. You know,
it doesn't have that same cinematic quality. I think it
would get a little tedious to watch anything longer than
an hour and a half by watching security film or
just like VHS tape. But I think when done right,
like the paranormal activity movie, at least the original, it's
highly entertaining. Another in the still kind of horror sci
(09:00):
fi genre is a movie called clover Field, which came
out in two thousand and eight, which is basically an
end of the world type movie, but through the eyes
of one camera in the same found footage style. The
movie takes place in New York where these huge creatures
are basically coming down from the sky and destroying the city,
and it's all captured on this handheld video camera. It
(09:21):
follows this group of friends. And what I loved about
clover Field and any great horror movie will do this
is they really left you kind of wondering what that
monster looked like, and going into the promotion of this
movie and then the trailers, you really wanted to see
what this thing was. And with any great horror movie,
it's about that big reveal once you finally see the
(09:43):
monster in all its glory, and the way it makes
you feel. If a movie is able to kind of
create that tension and create that moment, I think it
makes it very memorable and I love the way it
was done in Cloverfield. Some of my other favorite horror
movies under ninety minutes would be Unfriended, which is a
horror movi be that takes place entirely over Skype that
came out that's an hour in twenty three minutes and
(10:05):
in most recent history one of the best horror movies
coming in right at ninety minutes is a Quiet Place.
From a few more genres I want to explore in
the family category, one of my favorite movies that I
watched as a kid comes in at one hour in
twenty eight minutes, and it is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Part two, The Secret of the youths. Out of every
(10:26):
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, this is the one I've
seen the most, probably because it had a pretty big
shift from the first one, which Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles
were so popular with kids back in the nineties late eighties.
When they made that first movie, it had such a
darker tone. It was pretty violent. They had real weapons,
they were hurting people that when they made Part two,
(10:47):
they were deliberate about taking away their weapons them not
using them as much, instead giving them things like sausages
or dumb toys to play around with to make it
appeal to kids more, to make it more family friendly.
But with that also I felt came more of the comedy.
What they were fighting for was a little less dramatic,
and the whole tone just really shifted to the second one.
(11:09):
Everything from the introduction of Kino, the recasting of April O'Neal,
Shredder's overall demeanor was a lot different. And then you
throw in the Vanilla Ice cameo and it becomes an
entirely different movie. But for a family film, it doesn't
get much better, at least to me. Teenage Mutant ininta
Turtles Part two. That's an hour and twenty eight minutes.
(11:29):
We'll talk some animated movies now, and animated movies are
usually on the shorter side. They have been getting longer
here in recent years because it's a lot harder to
make an animated movie anything longer than an hour and
a half. It takes a lot of time to animate,
so I think you can find a lot in this
genre specifically. So I decided just to pull my favorite
(11:49):
Pixar and Disney movies under ninety minutes. Favorite Pixar movie,
hands down, just happens to be an hour in twenty
one minutes, and it is toy story, probably greatly due
to they were using technology that had never been used before,
the first computer animated movie to ever be made, and
it being an hour and twenty one minutes is a
pretty big feat for that, and then my favorite animated
(12:12):
Disney movie and probably the best Disney movie of all time,
The Lion King, at an hour and twenty nine minutes.
On paper, it's really just the best Disney movie from
the songs, the memorable scenes, and the first movie to
make me cry as a kid and doesn't take a
whole lot of time to watch. Will shift over now
to drama. One of the best classic drama movies from
(12:32):
n six, stand By Me is only eighty nine minutes,
which it's hard to do a drama in under ninety
minutes because to really build a story out in drama,
you have to take some time to get to know
the characters. You have to create a story that you
know we're actually gonna care about and want to see
all the way through. But what I love about stand
By Me is it gets right into it. It wastes
no time on unnecessary backstory. The entire thing is one
(12:56):
big adventure from start to finish. Not only one of
the best movie movies of the eighties, but it was
able to do that all in under ninety minutes. Is
also equally impressive. The only other drama I wanted to
mention that's under ninety minutes is a movie that came
out not too long ago. It's a movie Fromen called
Mid Nineties, and it's directed by Jonah Hill. It's actually
(13:17):
the first movie he directed, and it's about these teenagers
who are living in Los Angeles. The main character has
a pretty crappy life at home, but he's able to
make these friends at a skate shop and really kind
of find his identity through skateboarding. And I just really
loved how Jonah Hill was able to capture the nineties
without making it seem cheesy. He was very deliberate about
the style of this movie making it look nineties. Even
(13:40):
gave the kids in the movie like nineties music to
listen to, just to get him in that mind frame
of their characters. And it's only an hour and twenty
five minutes. I hope Jonah Hill makes another movie like
Mid Nineties. It was a fantastic debut in his directing career.
A couple more movies I want to talk about in
the superhero genre. It's really hard to make a superhero
(14:02):
movie under two hours, to be honest, and the only
instance where I saw this working would have to be
an animated superhero movie, and it's actually my favorite d
C movie, and it's called The Death of Superman, which
is about well says it in the title, the Death
of Superman. Since it's animated, it it's only an hour
and twenty one minutes, but for me, it's easily the
best story I've ever seen come out of d C.
(14:24):
And I kind of forgot that I was watching an
animated movie within about fifteen twenty minutes of watching it.
And I know sometimes when we think animated, we think cartoon,
we think it's made for kids, But don't be fool
this movie still has violence. It has a pretty mature
tone for it being animated. And then finally, I did
want to talk about the thriller slash action genre, and
(14:44):
a movie I watched last year that I ended up
really enjoying was The Guilty with Jake jillen Hall, which
is right at ninety minutes. Now, there's kind of a
category like this movie is that the plot itself doesn't
really warrant it for being any longer than ninety minutes.
And The Guilty is about Jake jillen Hall's character, who
works at an operating center for nine one one and
(15:05):
basically the entire movie is Jake Jillen Hall's face. All
the other characters in the movie are voice actors who
come in via nine one one calls. But I think
Jake Jillen Hall is such a great character. He's able
to carry this entire movie. And I think if this
movie would have been any longer, it would not have worked.
There are just certain situations which are cool to put
people in. But you gotta remember if there's not a
(15:27):
whole lot of set changes, if it's a very limited cast,
you kind of got to limit yourself on time. To
another movie that comes to mind, kind of in the
same genre, the same category. It's Phone Booth that came
out back in two thousand two with Colin Farrell. Again
it's a guy in a phone booth. There's really so
much you can explore in that whole hour and a half.
(15:47):
And there's one other movie that I really wanted to
include that has the same kind of style, but it's
an hour and thirty five minutes, and that was a
hundred and twenty seven hours with James Franco. But I
had to remember, I promised you ninety minutes or less,
so that one did not make the list. So there
you go, a bunch of movies you can watch in
an hour and a half. I get it. You have
a lot going on in your life. Maybe you don't
have two hours to dedicate to a movie. Well, now
(16:09):
you have no excuse. If you have a favorite movie
that comes in and under ninety minutes or less and
it didn't make the list, make sure you tweet me
at Mike Destro or send me an email movie Mike
d at gmail dot com. Now it's time to get
into a spoiler free review. Let's talk about Scream, which
(16:29):
just came out in theaters, and even though it is
Scream five, it's only being called Scream. I'll get into
why I think that is and whether or not it
lived up to the hype of capturing the charm and
feel of the original. But before we get into that,
here's just a little bit of the trailer for certain
rules to surviving. Believe me, I know they always come back.
(16:53):
You said we're gonna finish this, go finish it, said they.
So I love a horror movie release in January. We
very often see them here January and February, or what
we call movie dump months. And what does that mean?
It's kind of when the movie industry chills out a
(17:14):
little bit right after the holidays. You know, everything from
Awards season, too bad weather in the United States to
the Super Bowl win February. It's just really a chill
time for movies. So this is kind of when you're
going to see lower budget movies get put out, which
just happened to be horror movies, and a lot of
the time you also see a lot of just random
(17:34):
action movies and then comedy movies that are just trying
to kind of dominate Anotherwise, pretty chill time for movies.
So I think this is actually a perfect time for
Screen Movie Reboot to come out. And I kind of
started to build some hype within myself going into watching Scream,
everything from seeing David Arquette post on Twitter to seeing
(17:54):
the studio warning people to not spoil the ending of
this movie, which I've it was a pretty good marketing
angles to take because it's kind of like a Marvel
thing to warrn people not to spoil the movie. It
kind of creates this hype of like, oh, you don't
want this movie to get spoiled for me, maybe you
have to go see it myself. But after watching Scream.
If you love slasher films, if you love the nineties
(18:17):
and want to recapture that same kind of nostalgia, I
think this is actually a pretty good movie for you.
The movie actually had some pretty great gore, some great
slasher scenes, and it was almost to the point where
I had to look away because it looks so brutal.
But I think that's when you kind of have to
want and expect out of a screen movie. So stylistically,
I did like the kill scenes. I did like the
(18:38):
chasing scenes. This movie kind of gets back to those
basics of that. As far for the story itself, I
felt it was a little bit weak, Like it had
the good kills, and it also had the self awareness.
It was kind of poking fun of itself throughout the movie,
and even kind of poking fun on the screen franchise itself.
And what I've realized after they made fun of it
(18:59):
is the hard thing about screen movies and the thing
they kind of have going against them when being compared
to like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street Friday, is that
ghost Face, the serial killer in the movie isn't really
his own character. It's just other people taking on that
costume and that same concept and being essentially a copycat
(19:23):
of the original movie is what all the movies have been,
and it's kind of hard to get people to go
see a scream movie when it's not the same serial killer.
You keep having to bring in new characters and create
new ways for this serial killer to be re emerging again.
And I think the most important factor of this movie
(19:44):
is it was playing on that nostalgia factor and bringing
back the legacy characters that it does have. Niv Campbell,
David Arquette, and Corney Cox were really the shining spot
out of this movie, And in particular, I would say
David Arquette, which I kind of forgot, like how much
I identify him with the screen movies and just how
good he is in these movies. I thought he gave
(20:06):
the best performance compared to everybody's. Compared to everybody else's
level of acting in this movie, I almost felt like
it was a little soap opera ish, which I feel
like horror movies like this tend to kind of fall on.
And it's a hard balance to make of, you know,
being dramatic and reacting to crazy situations. It just lends
itself to that level of acting, but David Arquett just
(20:27):
really had this gritty tone. I felt like he really
understood the assignment of the Screen movie. So I did
love that the movie did make fun of itself. It
kind of made fun of the Screen franchise, and it
also provided a pretty good commentary on the horror genre.
And I love that it kind of updated references to
include movies that have come out in the last ten
(20:47):
years and addressing how horror movies have changed since the
original Scream came out back in the nineties. I also
loved how they modernized some of the elements of the
original Scream, because what this essentially did they kind of
skipped over Scream two through four and rebooted the original
without making it an exact remake. And I also liked
how it was almost made to honor Wes Craven, who
(21:09):
passed away back in who directed the first and every
Scream movie since nine, and I felt like they honored
him one by creating a character named after him, but
also just taking it back to the basics and making
it for the fans of the original Scream. So if
I had to rate this movie, I would give it
three out of five. Ghost faces, for it being a
(21:29):
love letter to the nineties, honoring the original movie, bringing
back the legacy characters, and also being a tribute to
the original director Wes Craven, and for overall just being
a movie I was able to sit down, watch all
the crazy kills and enjoy. So that's what I think
about the News Scream Movie. Now it's time for the
(21:52):
part of the podcast where I break down new movie
trailers of movies coming to you very soon in theaters
and screaming and on demand, and segment we call It's
time to head down to movie. I want to talk
about a new movie from a four called X. That's
it simply titled X, and it's about a secluded farmhouse
(22:15):
in Texas that these people go to shoot an adult
film at great concept right away. But what I really
think I'm gonna love about this movie, and if you,
like me, are a fan of horror movies from the
nineties seventies, this movie is basically a time capsule for
that genre of movie. Earlier, I was talking about the
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and why I love that movie so
(22:37):
much is because of the low fi field. It has
a feeling that you're just watching a movie meant to
be seen on the projector, and after seeing this trailer,
this movie greatly kind of been captures the feeling of
that movie, but coming out in two So here's just
a little bit of the X trailer. My wife peers
next door. I don't appreciate discretion. You don't know we're
(23:04):
doing does He's better to beg for forgiveness and ask
for permission. My wife is not what happens to Doe. So,
like I said, it's about this film crew. They're going
(23:25):
to shoot an adult film and they find this old
farmhouse in Texas. They asked the guy basically if they
can just use it, but don't say what it's for.
It's this elderly couple who just lives there and really
just lives in the middle of nowhere in Texas. But
then this couple kind of seems like they figure out
what's going on. They just take an interest in this
(23:45):
film crew and all the young people involved in this
and as nightfalls, things turn violent, and just in this
trailer alone, you can see how violent this movie is
going to be. Feels a little bit campy but also
look pretty vicious when it comes to how sinister it is.
And I love that they really incorporated a lot of
(24:06):
that in the trailer, which when it comes to horror movies,
you kind of tend to leave out a lot of
the really scary stuff because you want to save that
for the movie. So it does excite me that they
were comfortable enough and confident enough to show some of
that stuff in the trailer. I also love that Kid
Cutty is a part of the cast. I liked his
role and don't look up, and I think seeing him
in a horror movie actually looks like that's really good
(24:28):
a work for me. So the movie comes out on
March eighteenth in theaters, so if you're a horror movie fan,
I think it's one you need to put on your
list to watch this year. So that's the best movie
trailer I saw this week, the movie I'm most excited about.
That'll do it for this week's episode. But before I
get out of here, every single week I give a
listener shout out. If you wonder how you get a
listener shout out, all you have to do is send
(24:50):
me a tweet, a d M on Instagram, or the
most old school way, send me an email. Movie Mike
d at gmail dot com. And this one is actually
coming to me via email. It's from Nancy she rights. Hey, Mike,
I recently started listening to your podcast and really enjoyed it.
We watched The Tender Bar this weekend and had underestimated
how good it would be. When I cued up this
(25:10):
week's episode, my first thought was, I wonder if Mike
will talk about it. Can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for all of the great info on movies. That
is a movie still on my list. I've been seeing
that one get pretty great reviews. So appreciate Nancy for
so appreciate you Nancy for putting that movie on my
radar again. I see that you are also working from
home and attached the screenshot of you listening on your iPhone.
(25:33):
So love to see those pictures if you have those.
Setting those in as well. If you tag me in
your Instagram story, I'll be sure to repost those, So
just tag me at Mike Destro. However you're listening, wherever
you're listening, why you're listening, who, what, where, when and when? Yeah,
I think that covers the main idea. And also I
will say I did talk about last week how I
was rejected by Rotten Tomatoes, and I'm happy to report
(25:56):
a big update. They still haven't reached out to me,
but I didn't share everybody tagging them on Twitter. I
honestly think they don't care. But I appreciate everybody in
the movie crew having my back on that. I will
always have your back on everything. We are all one
here together on the movie community. And maybe it's really
because I don't really see myself as a critic. I'm
(26:16):
honestly just the guy who loves movies and I want
to share with you the movies that I love that
I think you'll like. I never want to gear my
reviews based on anything that might attribute to a score,
So as long as you hang out with me here
on this podcast, that's all that really matters. So I
hope you have a great rest of your week. Go
out and watch good movies, and I'll talk to you
later
Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, your
go to source for all things movies, and I am
your host Movie Mike a k A. Mike de Stro
a k A Mike D. And today I want to
bring to you a list of great movies that are
ninety minutes or less for those times that you don't
have a whole lot of time, but you want to
get a movie in. Maybe you're having a movie night.
I'll give you a spoiler free review of the new
(00:20):
screen movie that's Adam theaters now and in the trailer park.
I want to talk about a horror movie that's coming
soon that's giving me original Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe. So
all that for you on this week's episode. Thanks for
being subscribed and listening every single week. You already know
what it is. Let's get into it. In a world
where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man
(00:42):
stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before
in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge,
he's basically like a walking on MTV classes from the
Nashville Podcast Network Movie Mi Movie Watch. The growing up,
(01:02):
I always felt like the normal length for a movie
was ninety minutes. Maybe that's because back in the day
of VHS could only hold about ninety minutes. Anything longer
than that would require two VHS tapes. But over time,
or specifically the last decade or so, movies keep getting
longer and longer in our attention span, keep getting smaller
and smaller, which I think can be a good and
(01:23):
bad thing. I don't think we need to be afraid
of long for movies. I think sometimes exploring a story
in two and a half hours through even three hours
can be beneficial. But I do think certain genres require
a shorter run time. An hour and a half is
really all you need in like a horror movie, in
some comedy movies, and anything more than that sometimes feels
(01:43):
to me like it's a little bit of the filmmaker
having this kind of self serving complex where they feel
their art couldn't be reduced to anything less than that.
It's also just crazy to me how some people won't
watch a movie that's two hours long. We we'll sit
down and watch eight episodes of a TV show. But
with all that out there, I just wanted to share
some movies that I feel are great movies and are
(02:05):
ninety minutes or less, because sometimes I do just want
to watch a movie that's pretty quick. I think, now
there's an art form and being able to tell your
story in ninety minutes or less. So in no particular
order and no particular ranking system, these are all movies
that I would say are well worth ninety minutes. The
only thing I did was split them up into different genres,
and the genre I want to start with is comedy.
(02:26):
I think a ninety minute comedy is so powerful. Great
comedy movies are all about the pacing, the amount of
jokes you can get in, and the shortest amount of time.
I feel is the best recipe for keeping audiences totally engaged.
So I think if there's any genre that benefits more
from a ninety minute run time, it's comedy. So here
are some of the best comedies I found at this
run time, starting with one that I feel is severely underrated,
(02:49):
Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle, coming in at one
hour and twenty eight minutes. I think when people talk
about some of the best comedies of the two thousands,
this movie often gets left off the list, and I
don't know why. One of the best stoner comedies I
think ever made. It has all the makings of a
great comedy movie, from the love interest, from all the
stupid humor, and one of the most satisfying endings I've
(03:11):
ever seen in a comedic tale. And even though I
wasn't a fan of the sequels that came after this movie,
I think the first one remains the classics. So Harold
and Kumar Go to Whitecastle a great movie. Under ninety minutes.
Staying in the comedy genre is another movie I feel
gets overlooked, and it's a movie called Thirty Minutes or
Less starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride as He's I'm Sorry,
and Nick Schwartzen. And it's about Jesse Eisenberg's character, who
(03:35):
plays a pizza delivery driver. He ends up getting kidnapped
and is forced to rob a bank while wearing a
bomb strapped to him. Now, the movie is loosely based
on true events. They actually did a documentary on Netflix,
a series called Evil Genius, but it's a little bit
more of a comedic take on that, which I think
it did get some criticism when it came out of
(03:55):
making light of a very serious tragic event. But I
was just the really big fan of the casting. In
this movie, you have two very unlikely comedic duos with
Jesse Eisenberg and as He's um Sorry, and then also
Nick Schwartzen and Danny McBride both kind of pairing up
together in a pretty funny way. And the movie comes
in right at eighty three minutes. And the other thing
I think makes a really great comedy is its rewatchability.
(04:18):
A movie you can watch over and over again still
makes you laugh, it's still enjoyable. And I think that
is one of those movies for me, a great rated
ar comedy if you want to check it out thirty
minutes or less and you can watch it and under
ninety minutes or less. Next up in the comedic genre,
and I'll get to my Scream review later, but I
think what Scary Movie did for parody movies back in
(04:39):
the early two thousand's also doesn't really get enough credit
that it deserves. It really kind of shaped this whole
genre of parody movies that hadn't really been done before,
at least not in this way. And Scary Movie obviously
greatly based on Scream, but also just teen slasher films
in general. But I remember when Scary movies came out.
(05:00):
It was a comedy movie that I felt everybody had
to watch because you had to be in on these jokes.
And unlike all the other parody movies that came after
this in the same kind of style, I felt like
the writing was just really there. It really more thought
out on the gags, how they made fun of movies,
but not only that, how they created their own identity
in a world where they're not just making fun of
other movies, but also building up some pretty good characters
(05:22):
and also coming in at one hour and twenty eight minutes,
it's a rare comedy movie where you get laugh after
laugh because no real backstories needed. Now, I couldn't talk
about ninety minute movies without referencing one of the best
comedies ever made from Adam Sandler, and it is Billy
Madison coming in at one hour in twenty nine minutes,
and I actually think Billy Madison is the funniest Adam
(05:45):
Sandler movie. I think early on in his career he
was really able to define himself in two movies, Billy
Madison and Happy Gilmore. And I think when it comes
down to the true comedic value of Adam Sandler, it's
really showcased more in Billy Madison. I feel like the
performer he was on SNL it really came out more
and his Billy Madison rolled than it did, and Happy gilmore.
(06:06):
It's also just a lot more random. The jokes are
so dumb and you don't know why they make you laugh,
and it's almost like anything goes in the Billy Madison movie.
The stupid things like him in the bath with the
shampoo and the conditioner bottle, the mysterious penguin he sees
coming out of nowhere, the big musical numbers that happened
for no reason whatsoever, and just all the memorable quotes.
(06:27):
I just think he was at his comedic height in
the nineties and no movie really represents him more than
Billy Madison. Some of my other favorite ninety minute comedies
would be hot Rod from two and seven with Andy Sandberg.
Also this is Spinal Tap. One of my favorite comedies
of all time is Only an Hour in twenty two
minutes from four By the Way. A movie that I
(06:47):
feel greatly defines the tens would be Project X coming
in at one hour and twenty eight minutes. If you
want the ultimate teen party movie, that's absolutely ridiculous, probably
the best teen party movies since American Pie, and also
just a great time capsule of how I think we
will remember. I think Project X is perfect for that.
(07:10):
Now I want to get into ninety minute horror movies.
I almost think that horror movies shouldn't be more than
ninety minutes. If it's your traditional slasher movie or just
straight on horror movie. I think you've got ninety minutes
or less before we really stop caring. I want to
start first with the o G my favorite first horror movie,
Child's Play, coming in at one hour and twenty seven minutes.
(07:32):
I think Child's Play greatly follows the perfect horror formula,
starting out first with a big opening scene, but the
tension and suspense it's able to build within the first
half hour of the movie to where you don't really
see Chucky full on killing people. It's very much in
like this first person type horror of your wondering when
he's really gonna go full on and start killing people
(07:54):
and revealing himself. It doesn't really get much better than
Child's Play, and I love that I'm able to put
that on the ninety minutes or less list. I also
love that One of my favorite horror classics is only
an hour in twenty three minutes, and it's The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre from nineteen seventy four. There is yet another
Texas Chainsaw being rebooted and coming out on Netflix this year,
(08:16):
but none of them have been able to capture that
same charm as the original. Something about that seventies low fi,
low budget filmmaking just really makes that movie. Another type
of movie I really love in the horror genre is
the found footage movies. I've talked in linked before about
how much I love and will defend the paranormal activity movies,
and the first one is only an hour in twenty
(08:37):
six minutes, and I think that is greatly due to
the format of watching a found footage movie. You know,
it doesn't have that same cinematic quality. I think it
would get a little tedious to watch anything longer than
an hour and a half by watching security film or
just like VHS tape. But I think when done right,
like the paranormal activity movie, at least the original, it's
highly entertaining. Another in the still kind of horror sci
(09:00):
fi genre is a movie called clover Field, which came
out in two thousand and eight, which is basically an
end of the world type movie, but through the eyes
of one camera in the same found footage style. The
movie takes place in New York where these huge creatures
are basically coming down from the sky and destroying the city,
and it's all captured on this handheld video camera. It
(09:21):
follows this group of friends. And what I loved about
clover Field and any great horror movie will do this
is they really left you kind of wondering what that
monster looked like, and going into the promotion of this
movie and then the trailers, you really wanted to see
what this thing was. And with any great horror movie,
it's about that big reveal once you finally see the
(09:43):
monster in all its glory, and the way it makes
you feel. If a movie is able to kind of
create that tension and create that moment, I think it
makes it very memorable and I love the way it
was done in Cloverfield. Some of my other favorite horror
movies under ninety minutes would be Unfriended, which is a
horror movi be that takes place entirely over Skype that
came out that's an hour in twenty three minutes and
(10:05):
in most recent history one of the best horror movies
coming in right at ninety minutes is a Quiet Place.
From a few more genres I want to explore in
the family category, one of my favorite movies that I
watched as a kid comes in at one hour in
twenty eight minutes, and it is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Part two, The Secret of the youths. Out of every
(10:26):
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, this is the one I've
seen the most, probably because it had a pretty big
shift from the first one, which Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles
were so popular with kids back in the nineties late eighties.
When they made that first movie, it had such a
darker tone. It was pretty violent. They had real weapons,
they were hurting people that when they made Part two,
(10:47):
they were deliberate about taking away their weapons them not
using them as much, instead giving them things like sausages
or dumb toys to play around with to make it
appeal to kids more, to make it more family friendly.
But with that also I felt came more of the comedy.
What they were fighting for was a little less dramatic,
and the whole tone just really shifted to the second one.
(11:09):
Everything from the introduction of Kino, the recasting of April O'Neal,
Shredder's overall demeanor was a lot different. And then you
throw in the Vanilla Ice cameo and it becomes an
entirely different movie. But for a family film, it doesn't
get much better, at least to me. Teenage Mutant ininta
Turtles Part two. That's an hour and twenty eight minutes.
(11:29):
We'll talk some animated movies now, and animated movies are
usually on the shorter side. They have been getting longer
here in recent years because it's a lot harder to
make an animated movie anything longer than an hour and
a half. It takes a lot of time to animate,
so I think you can find a lot in this
genre specifically. So I decided just to pull my favorite
(11:49):
Pixar and Disney movies under ninety minutes. Favorite Pixar movie,
hands down, just happens to be an hour in twenty
one minutes, and it is toy story, probably greatly due
to they were using technology that had never been used before,
the first computer animated movie to ever be made, and
it being an hour and twenty one minutes is a
pretty big feat for that, and then my favorite animated
(12:12):
Disney movie and probably the best Disney movie of all time,
The Lion King, at an hour and twenty nine minutes.
On paper, it's really just the best Disney movie from
the songs, the memorable scenes, and the first movie to
make me cry as a kid and doesn't take a
whole lot of time to watch. Will shift over now
to drama. One of the best classic drama movies from
(12:32):
n six, stand By Me is only eighty nine minutes,
which it's hard to do a drama in under ninety
minutes because to really build a story out in drama,
you have to take some time to get to know
the characters. You have to create a story that you
know we're actually gonna care about and want to see
all the way through. But what I love about stand
By Me is it gets right into it. It wastes
no time on unnecessary backstory. The entire thing is one
(12:56):
big adventure from start to finish. Not only one of
the best movie movies of the eighties, but it was
able to do that all in under ninety minutes. Is
also equally impressive. The only other drama I wanted to
mention that's under ninety minutes is a movie that came
out not too long ago. It's a movie Fromen called
Mid Nineties, and it's directed by Jonah Hill. It's actually
(13:17):
the first movie he directed, and it's about these teenagers
who are living in Los Angeles. The main character has
a pretty crappy life at home, but he's able to
make these friends at a skate shop and really kind
of find his identity through skateboarding. And I just really
loved how Jonah Hill was able to capture the nineties
without making it seem cheesy. He was very deliberate about
the style of this movie making it look nineties. Even
(13:40):
gave the kids in the movie like nineties music to
listen to, just to get him in that mind frame
of their characters. And it's only an hour and twenty
five minutes. I hope Jonah Hill makes another movie like
Mid Nineties. It was a fantastic debut in his directing career.
A couple more movies I want to talk about in
the superhero genre. It's really hard to make a superhero
(14:02):
movie under two hours, to be honest, and the only
instance where I saw this working would have to be
an animated superhero movie, and it's actually my favorite d
C movie, and it's called The Death of Superman, which
is about well says it in the title, the Death
of Superman. Since it's animated, it it's only an hour
and twenty one minutes, but for me, it's easily the
best story I've ever seen come out of d C.
(14:24):
And I kind of forgot that I was watching an
animated movie within about fifteen twenty minutes of watching it.
And I know sometimes when we think animated, we think cartoon,
we think it's made for kids, But don't be fool
this movie still has violence. It has a pretty mature
tone for it being animated. And then finally, I did
want to talk about the thriller slash action genre, and
(14:44):
a movie I watched last year that I ended up
really enjoying was The Guilty with Jake jillen Hall, which
is right at ninety minutes. Now, there's kind of a
category like this movie is that the plot itself doesn't
really warrant it for being any longer than ninety minutes.
And The Guilty is about Jake jillen Hall's character, who
works at an operating center for nine one one and
(15:05):
basically the entire movie is Jake Jillen Hall's face. All
the other characters in the movie are voice actors who
come in via nine one one calls. But I think
Jake Jillen Hall is such a great character. He's able
to carry this entire movie. And I think if this
movie would have been any longer, it would not have worked.
There are just certain situations which are cool to put
people in. But you gotta remember if there's not a
(15:27):
whole lot of set changes, if it's a very limited cast,
you kind of got to limit yourself on time. To
another movie that comes to mind, kind of in the
same genre, the same category. It's Phone Booth that came
out back in two thousand two with Colin Farrell. Again
it's a guy in a phone booth. There's really so
much you can explore in that whole hour and a half.
(15:47):
And there's one other movie that I really wanted to
include that has the same kind of style, but it's
an hour and thirty five minutes, and that was a
hundred and twenty seven hours with James Franco. But I
had to remember, I promised you ninety minutes or less,
so that one did not make the list. So there
you go, a bunch of movies you can watch in
an hour and a half. I get it. You have
a lot going on in your life. Maybe you don't
have two hours to dedicate to a movie. Well, now
(16:09):
you have no excuse. If you have a favorite movie
that comes in and under ninety minutes or less and
it didn't make the list, make sure you tweet me
at Mike Destro or send me an email movie Mike
d at gmail dot com. Now it's time to get
into a spoiler free review. Let's talk about Scream, which
(16:29):
just came out in theaters, and even though it is
Scream five, it's only being called Scream. I'll get into
why I think that is and whether or not it
lived up to the hype of capturing the charm and
feel of the original. But before we get into that,
here's just a little bit of the trailer for certain
rules to surviving. Believe me, I know they always come back.
(16:53):
You said we're gonna finish this, go finish it, said they.
So I love a horror movie release in January. We
very often see them here January and February, or what
we call movie dump months. And what does that mean?
It's kind of when the movie industry chills out a
(17:14):
little bit right after the holidays. You know, everything from
Awards season, too bad weather in the United States to
the Super Bowl win February. It's just really a chill
time for movies. So this is kind of when you're
going to see lower budget movies get put out, which
just happened to be horror movies, and a lot of
the time you also see a lot of just random
(17:34):
action movies and then comedy movies that are just trying
to kind of dominate Anotherwise, pretty chill time for movies.
So I think this is actually a perfect time for
Screen Movie Reboot to come out. And I kind of
started to build some hype within myself going into watching Scream,
everything from seeing David Arquette post on Twitter to seeing
(17:54):
the studio warning people to not spoil the ending of
this movie, which I've it was a pretty good marketing
angles to take because it's kind of like a Marvel
thing to warrn people not to spoil the movie. It
kind of creates this hype of like, oh, you don't
want this movie to get spoiled for me, maybe you
have to go see it myself. But after watching Scream.
If you love slasher films, if you love the nineties
(18:17):
and want to recapture that same kind of nostalgia, I
think this is actually a pretty good movie for you.
The movie actually had some pretty great gore, some great
slasher scenes, and it was almost to the point where
I had to look away because it looks so brutal.
But I think that's when you kind of have to
want and expect out of a screen movie. So stylistically,
I did like the kill scenes. I did like the
(18:38):
chasing scenes. This movie kind of gets back to those
basics of that. As far for the story itself, I
felt it was a little bit weak, Like it had
the good kills, and it also had the self awareness.
It was kind of poking fun of itself throughout the movie,
and even kind of poking fun on the screen franchise itself.
And what I've realized after they made fun of it
(18:59):
is the hard thing about screen movies and the thing
they kind of have going against them when being compared
to like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street Friday, is that
ghost Face, the serial killer in the movie isn't really
his own character. It's just other people taking on that
costume and that same concept and being essentially a copycat
(19:23):
of the original movie is what all the movies have been,
and it's kind of hard to get people to go
see a scream movie when it's not the same serial killer.
You keep having to bring in new characters and create
new ways for this serial killer to be re emerging again.
And I think the most important factor of this movie
(19:44):
is it was playing on that nostalgia factor and bringing
back the legacy characters that it does have. Niv Campbell,
David Arquette, and Corney Cox were really the shining spot
out of this movie, And in particular, I would say
David Arquette, which I kind of forgot, like how much
I identify him with the screen movies and just how
good he is in these movies. I thought he gave
(20:06):
the best performance compared to everybody's. Compared to everybody else's
level of acting in this movie, I almost felt like
it was a little soap opera ish, which I feel
like horror movies like this tend to kind of fall on.
And it's a hard balance to make of, you know,
being dramatic and reacting to crazy situations. It just lends
itself to that level of acting, but David Arquett just
(20:27):
really had this gritty tone. I felt like he really
understood the assignment of the Screen movie. So I did
love that the movie did make fun of itself. It
kind of made fun of the Screen franchise, and it
also provided a pretty good commentary on the horror genre.
And I love that it kind of updated references to
include movies that have come out in the last ten
(20:47):
years and addressing how horror movies have changed since the
original Scream came out back in the nineties. I also
loved how they modernized some of the elements of the
original Scream, because what this essentially did they kind of
skipped over Scream two through four and rebooted the original
without making it an exact remake. And I also liked
how it was almost made to honor Wes Craven, who
(21:09):
passed away back in who directed the first and every
Scream movie since nine, and I felt like they honored
him one by creating a character named after him, but
also just taking it back to the basics and making
it for the fans of the original Scream. So if
I had to rate this movie, I would give it
three out of five. Ghost faces, for it being a
(21:29):
love letter to the nineties, honoring the original movie, bringing
back the legacy characters, and also being a tribute to
the original director Wes Craven, and for overall just being
a movie I was able to sit down, watch all
the crazy kills and enjoy. So that's what I think
about the News Scream Movie. Now it's time for the
(21:52):
part of the podcast where I break down new movie
trailers of movies coming to you very soon in theaters
and screaming and on demand, and segment we call It's
time to head down to movie. I want to talk
about a new movie from a four called X. That's
it simply titled X, and it's about a secluded farmhouse
(22:15):
in Texas that these people go to shoot an adult
film at great concept right away. But what I really
think I'm gonna love about this movie, and if you,
like me, are a fan of horror movies from the
nineties seventies, this movie is basically a time capsule for
that genre of movie. Earlier, I was talking about the
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and why I love that movie so
(22:37):
much is because of the low fi field. It has
a feeling that you're just watching a movie meant to
be seen on the projector, and after seeing this trailer,
this movie greatly kind of been captures the feeling of
that movie, but coming out in two So here's just
a little bit of the X trailer. My wife peers
next door. I don't appreciate discretion. You don't know we're
(23:04):
doing does He's better to beg for forgiveness and ask
for permission. My wife is not what happens to Doe. So,
like I said, it's about this film crew. They're going
(23:25):
to shoot an adult film and they find this old
farmhouse in Texas. They asked the guy basically if they
can just use it, but don't say what it's for.
It's this elderly couple who just lives there and really
just lives in the middle of nowhere in Texas. But
then this couple kind of seems like they figure out
what's going on. They just take an interest in this
(23:45):
film crew and all the young people involved in this
and as nightfalls, things turn violent, and just in this
trailer alone, you can see how violent this movie is
going to be. Feels a little bit campy but also
look pretty vicious when it comes to how sinister it is.
And I love that they really incorporated a lot of
(24:06):
that in the trailer, which when it comes to horror movies,
you kind of tend to leave out a lot of
the really scary stuff because you want to save that
for the movie. So it does excite me that they
were comfortable enough and confident enough to show some of
that stuff in the trailer. I also love that Kid
Cutty is a part of the cast. I liked his
role and don't look up, and I think seeing him
in a horror movie actually looks like that's really good
(24:28):
a work for me. So the movie comes out on
March eighteenth in theaters, so if you're a horror movie fan,
I think it's one you need to put on your
list to watch this year. So that's the best movie
trailer I saw this week, the movie I'm most excited about.
That'll do it for this week's episode. But before I
get out of here, every single week I give a
listener shout out. If you wonder how you get a
listener shout out, all you have to do is send
(24:50):
me a tweet, a d M on Instagram, or the
most old school way, send me an email. Movie Mike
d at gmail dot com. And this one is actually
coming to me via email. It's from Nancy she rights. Hey, Mike,
I recently started listening to your podcast and really enjoyed it.
We watched The Tender Bar this weekend and had underestimated
how good it would be. When I cued up this
(25:10):
week's episode, my first thought was, I wonder if Mike
will talk about it. Can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for all of the great info on movies. That
is a movie still on my list. I've been seeing
that one get pretty great reviews. So appreciate Nancy for
so appreciate you Nancy for putting that movie on my
radar again. I see that you are also working from
home and attached the screenshot of you listening on your iPhone.
(25:33):
So love to see those pictures if you have those.
Setting those in as well. If you tag me in
your Instagram story, I'll be sure to repost those, So
just tag me at Mike Destro. However you're listening, wherever
you're listening, why you're listening, who, what, where, when and when? Yeah,
I think that covers the main idea. And also I
will say I did talk about last week how I
was rejected by Rotten Tomatoes, and I'm happy to report
(25:56):
a big update. They still haven't reached out to me,
but I didn't share everybody tagging them on Twitter. I
honestly think they don't care. But I appreciate everybody in
the movie crew having my back on that. I will
always have your back on everything. We are all one
here together on the movie community. And maybe it's really
because I don't really see myself as a critic. I'm
(26:16):
honestly just the guy who loves movies and I want
to share with you the movies that I love that
I think you'll like. I never want to gear my
reviews based on anything that might attribute to a score,
So as long as you hang out with me here
on this podcast, that's all that really matters. So I
hope you have a great rest of your week. Go
out and watch good movies, and I'll talk to you
later
Host
Mike D
Popular Podcasts
Boysober
Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com