It was a case of art imitating “live”.
Tired of sitting through Tinseltown’s latest endless monstrosity? Don’t worry: Netflix has come up with a novel way to reassure viewers with ephemeral attention spans – by introducing a “Short-Ass Movies” category, featuring films 90 minutes or less in length.
They were inspired by last week’s Saturday Night Live skit, aptly titled Short-Ass Movies. In it, Pete Davidson, Chris Redd, musical guest Gunna and actor Simon Rex rap about not wanting to watch movies longer than an hour and a half.
“I heard ‘The Batman’ was great, so I went to the movies and saw it,” rapped Davidson, 28, referring to Matt Reeves’ nearly three-hour superhero epic. “I peed my pants twice; that was longer than The Hobbit.”
“Give me that short ass movie, a 90-minute movie,” the comedian continued, before rattling off the names of movies with 90-minute running times, from “Evil Dead” to “Eraserhead.”
Davidson and his friends scoffed at the recent trend that movies – particularly comic strips – seem paradoxically to be getting longer as the average human attention span shortens around the world.
“I heard ‘The Batman’ was great, so I went to the movies and saw it,” Davidson rapped, referring to Matt Reeves’ nearly three-hour superhero epic. Saturday night live
Among the “Short-Ass” titles offered by Netflix: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Movie”, “Stand By Me”, the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Zoolander.” Saturday Night Live
The official Netflix Is A Joke Twitter account even retweeted a clip of it satirical hip-hop number with the headline: “good idea”. They also included a link to their “Short Ass” movie section.
And no, it’s not a belated April Fool’s joke: viewers who click the URL are taken to a selection of films, each lasting around 90 minutes. Short-ass titles include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Movie, Stand By Me, the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Zoolander.
Blockbuster-beleaguered Netflix fans seemed happy with the decision, with one tweet, “That’s what I’m about.”
“Saturday Night Live” satirized the lengthy runtimes of many modern films. Saturday Night Live
“Bambi” is one of the titles whose runtimes oscillate around the acceptable 90-minute mark. Saturday Night Live
“Not all heroes wear cloaks,” seconded the official Jägermeister USA Twitter account.
“Netflix, that’s why we love you, even as you keep increasing your prices,” quipped another of the streaming giant, which recently increased its subscription costs in the US and Canada.
Davidson boasts today’s series of hour-long blockbusters. Saturday night live
Pete Davidson is looking for shorter films. Saturday Night Live