It’s an experience we’re all familiar with. You’ve planned to sit down and watch a film, but between eating, drinking, parenting and the many other duties that you’ve got going on, things get delayed and delayed.
Then, by the time you’re on the sofa and ready to watch, it’s much later than you’d hoped and any film with a hefty running time will have you watching into the small hours.
With time already stretched, you don’t need to waste any more time picking out a film, only to find its running time is more than you’ve got in you.
As the world’s biggest streaming platform, Netflix has a huge back catalogue of movies and lots of them are under two hours long. We’ve picked out 20 of the best of them.
Some are recent classics, like Oscar winner 1917, some are new releases like action spectacular Kate, and some are old favourites. We cater for all tastes, just as long they don’t break the two-hour mark…
Arrival
Despite its hefty subject matter and cerebral feel, director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Arrival delivers a lot in a relatively short running time.
Before Villeneuve was entrusted with two of the most iconic sci-fi properties in Blade Runner 2049 and Dune, he proved his credentials with Arrival.
An elegant, gentle, and truly innovative take on the genre, the film begins with the discovery of 12 extra-terrestrial spacecraft, which have begun to hover over various locations around the Earth.
The arrivals provoke different reactions in nations around the world, bringing to the surface old tensions.
As nations teeter on the verge of global war, the US tries to establish communication with the new arrivals.
To do this, they send in linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner).
Time ticks away, giving Banks and her crew a race against time to find a way to communicate with the extra-terrestrial visitors and avoid catastrophe.
Running Time: One hour and 56 minutes
1917
Fitting for a movie that’s all about racing against the clock, 1917 comes in just under the wire at one hour and 59 minutes.
The film, which earned director Sam Mendes and his team 10 Oscar nominations and three wins, is a pacy thriller set in the muck and mire of World War I.
We follow two British soldiers, Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Game Of Thrones’ star Dean-Charles Chapman), on their mission to deliver an important message to call off a doomed attack and save hundreds of soldiers from certain death.
Along the way, they overcome ever more difficult obstacles and more than one near-death experience of their own.
Starring alongside MacKay and Chapman is an all-star British cast, including Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Daniel Mays, and Richard Madden.
Running Time: One hour and 59 minutes
The Lighthouse
Given its intense, madcap and almost hallucinogenic feel, it’s probably a good thing that Robert Eggers’ 2019 drama doesn’t have an epic run time…
A two-hander with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, the film, which is entirely black and white, is set in the 1890s.
Defoe and Pattinson play two lighthouse keepers who descend into madness when a storm has them stranded on the remote island where they are stationed.
Part horror, part psychological thriller and part survivalist adventure, Eggers’ script, which he wrote with brother Max, manages to cram an awful lot into the runtime.
Running Time: One hour and 49 minutes
Ghostbusters
Still the benchmark for the modern-day family blockbuster, the 1984 adventure is a beautifully scripted thrill ride and is done and dusted way under our benchmark.
For the uninitiated, Ghostbusters stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis as Columbia University professors of paranormal and psychic phenomena Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler.
After an encounter with a ghost at the New York Public Library, the university dean dismisses the credibility of their paranormal-focused research and fires them.
Now jobless, the trio decide to establish Ghostbusters, a paranormal investigation and elimination service operating out of a disused firehouse.
It turns out they’ve bitten off way more than they can chew…
Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes
Greed
Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom have collaborated a lot over their careers, with some spectacular results.
The pair’s team-ups have included glorious comedy The Trip, madcap Madchester retelling 24 Hour Party People and tender drama The Look Of Love, all of which work incredibly well.
They continue the dynamic on Greed, a braying takedown of the ludicrous lifestyles of retail tycoons who build their fortunes on cheap foreign labour.
Coogan plays Sir Richard McCreadie, a brash tycoon who is planning his lavish 60th birthday celebrations on the Greek island of Mykonos.
Reeling after a damaging public inquiry, McCreadie wants to use the party to relaunch his brand and his image. Sadly, things quickly begin to unravel…
Quirky, funny and very poignant, the film never strays into lecturing you. It’s also done in under two hours.
Running Time: One hour and 44 minutes
Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson is a tidy filmmaker. Not once in his career has he released a film that tips over the two-hour mark.
Moonrise Kingdom is particularly tidy and classic Anderson in its tenderness and eccentricity.
We follow Sam Shakusky, an orphan boy who escapes from a scouting camp on the fictional island of New Penzance, to try and find his pen pal, who he hopes to woo.
After leaving, Master Ward, the overzealous scout leader tells Sam’s fellow scouts to use their skills to set up a search party and track him down.
Led by newcomers Kara Howard and Jared Gilman, who play Bishop and Shakusky, the film also has a killer supporting cast of Anderson’s favourites, including Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Jason Schwartzman.
Running Time: One hour and 34 minutes
The Truman Show
Jim Carrey’s chilling prophecy about the blurring of the line between ordinary life and entertainment still remains a must-watch.
With a tidy running time of well under two hours, we watch on as Carrey’s Truman Burbank goes about his daily life, unaware that he is the star of The Truman Show, a reality television program filmed 24/7 through thousands of hidden cameras.
But, after a spotlight falls out of the sky and Truman reunites with an old friend with a story to tell, Truman slowly begins to question everything he’s ever known.
Running Time: One hour and 43 minutes