Movies Under 90 Minutes Part 6: Leftover Genres

 

Part Six

Atypically Short Genre Entries: Action, Sci-Fi, Drama, and Thriller

 

For the last round before we find out which movies will be going to the quarter-finals, I’m combining a few different genres, because there are not that many short films left to go through. With comedy, animation, and family films, shorter runtimes make sense because they are generally targeting a range of viewers and deal with subject matter that doesn’t need to overstay its welcome. With dramas, there’s more breathing room for dialogue scenes and slow, deliberate buildups, or for complex worldbuilding in science fiction and fantasy tales, or adrenaline-pumping sequences in action movies that also need to build up to bigger and better car chases and fist fights and shootouts—therefore, movies that just take longer. I’ll start with the action movies that don’t require more than ninety minutes to accomplish that adrenaline rush for the viewer, and then go from there. 

CONTENDERS

The very first movie up is a personal contender for one of the best foreign action films I have ever seen. I first saw Run Lola Run (1998) in a university film class and was absolutely floored by its relentless pace and unique direction. Even upon multiple rewatches, I can still catch something new in the visual storytelling, and am always thrilled by it. Another far less artistic (though still highly entertaining) flick that’s more of a continuous straight-up action set piece than Run Lola Run’s thriller/action combo is Crank (2006), starring Jason Statham as a guy who needs to literally keep the adrenaline pumping so he can get revenge on the guys who poisoned him with a drug that’s trying to stop his heart. Next, there’s Shoot ‘Em Up (2007), an action movie I had no expectations for, but it has stuck with me after all these years, thanks to some memorably over-the-top moments that almost makes it feel like a precursor to The Expendables in retrospect, but actually, in comparison, it was a more consistently fun little 86 minute…well, the title self-describes it best—as opposed to Expendables’ excessive collective runtime with all sequels factored in.

Rope (1948) is a very unique film in this category, from one of the greatest directors of all-time: Alfred Hitchcock. It’s not a whodunit but more of a wait-until-they-find-out-whodunit, as the audience is shown the murder in the first scene and the killers hide the body in a chest-like table before they invite their guests over for a party, including the victim’s partner and father, as well as a suspicious former teacher, played by Hitchcock favourite Jimmy Stewart. It was quite experimental for its time, as it was shot to appear like it was filmed all in one take, with techniques that may seem obvious now, but it sustains the tension in the single location, and feels like watching a play, which is no accident, given it was based on one. The whole thing plays out in real time: 80 minutes, including credits at the beginning and end. Next up is an even heavier hitter. Rashomon (1950) blends elements of historical drama, psychological thriller, and murder mystery to create something so unique the title is now used to define this type of multi-perspective, non-linear narrative. Even in comparison to Rope, Rashomon is wholly unique and substantially more influential. Finally for crime dramas, there’s the black-and-white French film Breathless (1960), AKA À bout de souffle, made by Jean-Luc Godard during the New Wave movement.

Sidestepping over to sci-fi, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and The War of the Worlds (1953) were two classics I originally put with horror in part one, but they’re more defined by their extraterrestrial plots than they are by their frightening invasions. In a somewhat similar vein, Attack the Block (2011) mixes in comedy and horror for an alien invasion action-adventure that’s unlike any other less-than-90 movie I’ve come across so far. Star Wars creator George Lucas’ directorial debut has been forgotten by many modern audiences to the point where they don’t realize that the name of the THX sound effect every 2000s kid cranked the volume up on their TV to experience before the start of a movie comes from the title THX 1138 (1971).

Chronicle (2012) is a very unique contender because it’s the only superhero film I know of that’s less than an hour-and-a-half (it’s 83 minutes, to be exact) and it also happens to be a found footage film, making it only one of three in this competition, with the others being REC and The Blair Witch Project (sorry, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, I know you’re both less than 90, too, but I really don’t like either of you that much). Chronicle isn’t all about superhero action, but blends thriller and coming of age elements to make for one of the best superhero films not directly based on a comic book in the 21^st century so far. Finally for sci-fi/action/adventure, I have to give a nod to Dinosaurus! (1960), which is just a silly fun time with some old school special effects, and it runs only 85 minutes. 

Now I’m moving on to dramas, and for this being the final batch of contenders, I’m shocked by how many heavy hitters remain. First up: Stand by Me (1986), which is one of the best in several categories—among the best coming of age films, Stephen King adaptations, 80’s dramas, and child actor performances. Once (2007) is an incredibly charming musical romantic drama about an unnamed Irish guy who meets a younger unnamed Czech girl on the street while he’s playing music one evening, and the two of them develop a connection through their musical talents. If you have any kind of heart, it’s hard not to be endeared by its rough low-budget look and feel, the natural chemistry of the two non-actor leads, and the emotionally moving original songs (one of which won the Oscar that year). It feels like a prototype of sorts for director John Carney’s later favourite of mine, Sing Street. One more romantic drama is the second entry in director Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy. Before Sunset (2004) is only 80 minutes, and the entire trilogy is often considered underrated. 

Looking at the last four films of significance, two are directorial debuts and two are early features from another all-time great director. Darren Aronofsky’s Pi (1998) is an unsettling mathematics-centric psychological thriller, and Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station (2013) is a biographical drama about the last day Oscar Grant lived before he was killed by a police officer. Stanely Kubrick’s filmography spans many genres with varying runtimes, the longest of which is Spartacus at a whopping 197 minutes. Two of his earliest movies, though, are less than half that long, including the one he made right before Spartacus. The Killing (1956) is a noir film about a heist at a horserace track that’s 84 minutes and Paths of Glory (1957) is an anti-war WWI film with elements of combat and court drama that’s 88 minutes. I’ll give a final honourable acknowledgement to Lord of the Flies (1990), which wouldn’t really be a true contender for “best” anyway, but it’s a precise 90-minute adaptation of the famous novel that I enjoyed well enough when I watched it as a kid.

 

ELIMINATIONS

This fifth round is the most ridiculous yet, because of what I am faced with. Even in the case of the horror genre, with the plethora of black-and-white classics stacked on top of so many other great films, it was not nearly as hard to eliminate the contenders. This is one of the greatest groupings of films in terms of quality and impact so far. Fifteen animated and family films made it through out of dozens of contenders last time; from these miscellaneous genres, nine out of nineteen contenders will continue on to the next round.

Run Lola Run is a no brainer to see continue on, but Crank and Shoot ‘Em Up are eliminated. Rope is more than just its gimmick and deserves to go on. It remains an entertaining thriller independent from its significance to filmmaking, just like Rashomon, which, although I didn’t love it when I first saw it, remains such a defining piece of cinema and is undeniably thought-provoking. Breathless is out. That could hurt some of the French New Wave film snobs out there, but I never found it interesting or all that special. This might come as a surprise, but I’m eliminating all of the sci-fi contenders except for one. Most just aren’t exceptional classics or even close to any of the other unique examples from the other miscellaneous genres, but the one I’ll let continue on is The War of the Worlds, just for how well the ancient special effects still hold up today. Of the dramas, Stand by Me, Once, and Fruitvale Station shall all continue, for each is unique and emotionally resonant. The fact that they are even in this category of films running on the shorter side is astounding. Both Stanley Kubrick films must continue on, as well, however Pi will not, despite its uniquely dark black-and-white photography and unusual topic for its genre, nor will Before Sunset, despite its underrated status.

Well…that’s it for genres! There won’t be any new movies from here on out, but now the real work begins, of figuring out which of the nearly thirty best from every genre are worthy of continuing into the quarter-finals! Tune in next time for the genre finalists’ elimination round! 

Movies Under 90 Minutes Part 5: Animation & Family

 

Part Five

Fun For All Ages: Animated, Stop Motion, and Other Family Films

 

I had no clue when I was a kid how much time, effort, and talent went into creating my favourite animated films, I just sat back and watched them over and over again, entranced by the colours and characters and designs. Sometimes I was also traumatized by the animated adventures of anthropomorphic animals, objects, and creatures, but as I got older, I noticed animation had changed, straying away from hand-drawn traditional methods to modern computer-generated extravaganzas. As I sort through the greatest animated films ever made that are less than 90 minutes long, I’m also going to showcase the best short stop motion films, and some other family films that may have a mix of animation and live-action, because this is the best place to compare them and determine which, if any, are coming to the quarter-finals! 

CONTENDERS

Just like with horror in part two, I have a particularly long list to start things off, separate from all the other contenders, because there’s one group of animated films that are going to make this process very difficult. To probably no one’s surprise, Walt Disney is behind some of the greatest animated films of all time that also happen to be shorter than 90 minutes, given that ol’ Walt pretty much invented the theatrically released animated feature film. The very first one, the first ever, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), is only 83 minutes! What other Disney classics worthy of mentioning are that short, or possibly even shorter? Well…

-Pinocchio (1940)

-Dumbo (1941)

-Bambi (1942)

-Cinderella (1950)

-Alice in Wonderland (1951)

-Peter Pan (1953)

-Lady and the Tramp (1955)

-Sleeping Beauty (1959)

-One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

-The Sword in the Stone (1963)

-The Jungle Book (1967)

-The Artistocats (1970)

-Robin Hood (1973)

-The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

-The Rescuers (1977)

-The Fox and the Hound (1981)

-The Little Mermaid (1989)

-Beauty and the Beast (1991)

-The Lion King (1994)

-Mulan (1998)

-Tarzan (1999)

-Lilo & Stitch (2002)

-Brother Bear (2003)

Dear me.

I don’t even know what to do with this!  There are still a few more I could have included but I left them off because they weren’t real contenders for best even just against these ones and there are already too many to deal with. As much as I want to jump right to eliminations, I still have a whole bunch of non-Disney animated films to go through first, so I think I’ll do the eliminations in two halves: Disney and non-Disney.

As for the other animated films competing for a spot, we have the original Pixar feature, Toy Story (1995), which does seem unusually short compared to all other Pixar films (81 minutes), but keep in mind, it was the first-ever feature-length computer animated movie—everything like it that had come before was far, far shorter. Then, there are two very different Studio Ghibli classics: My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Grave of the Fireflies (1988). There’s the Blue Sky Studios franchise starter Ice Age (2002), and another, older prehistoric franchise starter from a pre-computer-animated age: The Land Before Time (1988). The original Land Before Time director Don Bluth previously gave us An American Tail (1986), which is also worth considering, as is his directorial debut, The Secret of NIMH (1982). Next, with its blend of traditional animation and computer animation, there’s The Iron Giant (1999). Though Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) is not a family film, I would throw it in as a real contender for best animated because it totally took this Predator fan (and many others) by surprise with its lean anthological revitalization of the franchise, but it clocks in at a precise 90, so doesn’t quite qualify. The much-inspired-by-Shrek Hoodwinked! (2005) gets a shout out as one of my favourite underrated animated flicks. Speaking of Shrek, we are sadly without the original Shrek (2001) in competition, because it is also exactly 90 minutes.

I’m still not done, because there’s yet another sub-category: stop motion and live-action/animation hybrids! I was going to mention this next film earlier, but it technically uses real locales in combination with photorealistic computer-generated imagery, so that makes it a blend. Nonetheless, Dinosaur (2000) is an all-time favourite family film, as well as an underrated “animated” Disney flick, and it’s only 82 minutes. Another family favourite, though it’s strictly live-action, is here to make this competition even tougher: Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)! While I recognize that Space Jam (1996) is objectively less good compared to nearly every other family movie I’ve included so far, animated or otherwise, it’s still worth mentioning for being an essential 90’s family flick blending live-action and computer animation by bringing together Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes to play basketball against alien invaders, and doing all of it in just 87 minutes. James and the Giant Peach (1996) gets a nod for some stunning stop motion and unique character designs, with the story bookended by live-action scenes.

Our last five contenders are all heavy hitters in the realm of pure stop motion: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Chicken Run (2000), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015). Two last honourable mentions go to sequels from Aardman productions, neither of which I like quite as much as their predecessors and are still too new to be considered classics yet, but A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019) and Wallace & Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) are notable for being nearly as short as the originals—in fact, A Vengeance Most Fowl is even shorter than the first Wallace & Gromit film, at a mere 79 minutes, yet still not lacking an ounce of entertainment value.

 

ELIMINATIONS

A whole 26 Disney flicks are in line for the chopping block. I’ll start with the must-keeps, and let me tell you, the quarter-finals are going to be far more difficult now. At a glance, the top five Disney classics that have to continue on, from newest to oldest, are Lilo & Stitch, The Lion King, The Fox and the Hound, The Jungle Book, and Pinocchio. As for the rest, yeah there are way more classics left, but I’ll have to be ruthless in this case. The first ones to go are The Rescuers, Robin Hood, The Aristocats, The Sword in the Stone, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Dumbo. This is probably going to be the most upsetting elimination round so far, partly because I can’t even explain every single reason for my decision-making. Basically, what it comes down to is which of these classics were the most important to me as a kid, and remain important, and would be easiest for me to put on if I was looking for a Disney classic under 90 minutes long to watch today.

Brother Bear, while great, just doesn’t resonate enough with me to keep. I actually really like The Little Mermaid, but compared to others from earlier eras, it doesn’t carry the same kind of emotional weight, for me. Winnie the Pooh is iconic, but he isn’t a character I have carried into my adulthood as a significant remainder, so sadly, he’s out, too. I used to think of One Hundred and One Dalmatians as an all-time favourite from Disney, but as an adult, I actually find it’s really only the second half that is so memorable, therefore I’m eliminating it next. Speaking of Disney dogs, Lady and the Tramp is obviously iconic, too, but beyond those moments we all remember so well, I don’t really connect too strongly with the overall film, so it's gone, too. Alice in Wonderland is a great adaptation of the children’s book, but it’s really the story and the characters that resonate beyond the animation, so even though it’s great, it isn’t a cut above the other finalists.

I’d say Peter Pan is better than Alice in Wonderland, but sort of like Dalmatians, it’s great in scenes, not as great all the way through, so it goes, too. The last ones to go are Mulan and Beauty and the Beast, which again, I just don’t have enough emotional attachment to, so to recap, that leaves these Disney animated classics moving on to the quarter-finals: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), Bambi (1942), and Tarzan (1999), along with the previous five others I already saved, Lilo & Stitch, The Lion King, The Fox and the Hound, The Jungle Book, and Pinocchio. Even though I know some of these may be surprising, and a few I already can predict are going to be eliminated quickly in the next round, they’re all worth bringing along, and that’s all I can say for now!

Next up, I’ll sort through the computer animated films. Toy Story has to stay, because it goes beyond just being the first of its kind and remains one of the greatest movies of its kind despite being the very first. It’s like the King Kong of computer animated features. I can’t say Ice Age is quite on the same level of originality. Yes, it’s just about as rewatchable, but it lacks that narrative innovation, and plays into some more obvious jokes, so at this point, Ice Age is extinct from the competition.

In terms of traditional animation, none of Don Bluth’s work is beating out the true emotional consistency and satisfying storytelling of The Iron Giant. Land Before Time is remembered as having one of the saddest deaths in any kids’ movie, but beyond that, it isn’t as impactful, and I don’t think it’s even the best overall Land Before Time movie, despite being the most well-produced one. While I remember The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island most fondly and it still qualifies at only 74 minutes, I won’t be taking it to the next round. Secret of NIMH is a good adaptation of the children’s story by Robert C. O’Brien, and American Tail is classic in its own way, but for how great the animation was in all of them at the time, they just weren’t as innovative in terms of story. As for anime, both Studio Ghibli movies are way, way too significant to be eliminated, so I’m taking three non-Disney animated films along with Toy Story into the next round.

Dinosaur, as much as I love it, is in many ways just an updated version of Land Before Time, and it can’t compare to the greatness of Homeward Bound—neither can Space Jam or James and the Giant Peach, for that matter. I’m sad to see all three go, but not surprised. The only remaining films, for me, that rival Homeward Bound with their overall quality, storytelling, and entertainment value, are Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Fantastic Mr. Fox. I recognize the upset of eliminating Nightmare Before Christmas this early, but I have never been a big fan of it, and there’s no way the characters or plot carry the same enduring qualities as Wallace & Gromit or the many woodland animals from the Roald Dahl adaptation. Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep, while both are also delightful and entertaining, simply are not as rewatchable as Wallace & Gromit.

So, to conclude, a further seven films are joining the eight Disney survivors: the greatest number of films to survive the first genre elimination round so far! It’s only going to make it that much tougher in the quarter-finals…and in part six, a whole bunch of different genres are going to collide, as I sort through the final lot of films vying for a chance to win the title of best film under 90 minutes!