'The Brutalist' weighs in as the longest film of the year

Does a movie have to be long to be good? That’s certainly a case you could make with this year’s Best Picture Oscar nominees. While “The Brutalist” checks in at three hours and 35 minutes, it’s not the longest film ever nominated – that honor goes to “Cleopatra,” which went over the four-hour mark – but it does have an intermission, which could ease the pain. Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) greets his wife when she arrives in America in "The Brutalist.

" A24 Other hefty titles that won: “Gone With the Wind,” at nearly four hours; “Ben-Hur,” which hit three-and-a-half hours; “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” which hit three hours and 35 minutes. Recent nominees punched over the average weight, too. “Killers of the Flower Moon” ran 206 minutes; “The Irishman” required 209 minutes of sitting time.

This year, most best picture nominees are in the two-hours-plus category. People are also reading..

. “Conclave” is the shortest of the 10 nominees, coming in at two hours. “Wicked” (161 minutes) and “Dune Part Two” (166 minutes) are next after “The Brutalist.

” Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack In the history of Best Picture winners, “Marty” wins the shortest prize – 90 minutes. But “Annie Hall” wasn’t far behind, at 93, and “Sunrise,” one of the first films to win Best Picture, was 94. Last year’s best picture, “Oppenheimer,” checked in at thre.