A few weeks ago
my wife decided it was time for spring cleaning, so needless to say my Saturday
was spent cleaning and bagging up trash that had accumulated around the house
over the past few weeks. As many of you
know spring cleaning doesn’t just take a couple hours so unexpectedly my entire
Saturday was shot. The following day it
rained all day so there was no chance that we could do anything outside. Resigned to a day trapped inside I decided to
spend the day working on my book and watching movies. It got me thinking about movie marathons and
the best series/trilogies for binge watching.
So without further ado here are my top five movie marathon franchises.
1. Star Wars – The scifi epics that
redefined a genre and created a worldwide cultural phenomenon. It is such a worldwide phenomenon that
hundreds of thousands of people around the world have claimed Jedi or Jedi
Knight as their religion on census questionnaires. Now I know there are a lot of people out
there who are divided when it comes to the Star Wars series, Purists say that
the only real Star Wars is the original trilogy and that the prequel trilogy
was nothing but an ill-conceived parody.
Other fans, typically younger ones, are either fine with including the prequel
trilogy to their marathon or prefer it to the original trilogy. I personally side with the Purists but as any
good writer I must try to be as unbiased as possible. That being said I have decided to post
running times for both Purists and for the other camp, Separatists we shall
call them in homage to their precious prequels.
The originally trilogy has a total running time of 376 minutes (6.26
hours) which still leaves you a sizable chunk of the day to do something
outside or if you are trapped indoors you can even watch another great series
of movies (some suggestions listed below).
Adding the prequel trilogy to the mix brings the running time up to a
stout 791 minutes (13.18 hours). With
the release of the seventh Star Wars film titled The Force Awakens it is the
perfect time to prepare for the epicness that is sure to ensue from a Disney
financed Star Wars film.
Suggested Snack: Fish Tacos
Suggested Beverage: Classic Margarita on
the rocks
2. Lord of the Rings – Peter Jackson’s
adaptation of the fantasy epic from which an entire genre was born is a truly
epic undertaking and easily deserving of the number two slot. Anyone undertaking a marathon of this
magnitude better carve out a sizable block of time in their schedule. The Theatrical cut of the series runs in at
an impressive 558 minutes or 9.3 hours, while the Extended Edition (which I
recommend) hits a massive 681 minutes, which translates to 11.35 hours. Factoring in snack breaks and bathroom breaks
this series is easily an all-day affair.
It is best to prepare in advance as there is no magical lembas bread to
sustain you once you’ve started. There
are some slow parts in the series but there is plenty of action to keep you
going for the duration. (With the release of the third Hobbit film you could
also watch those as part of this series but it would add an additional 542
minutes (9.03 hours) for the extended editions.)
Suggested Snack: Blackened Prime Rib
Strips
Suggested Beverage: Eye Patch IPA
3. The Evil Dead – This one’s for all of
you horror fans out there. Sam Raimi’s
classic horror comedy series centering Ash and his encounters with the
eponymous Evil Dead makes for a great movie marathon for even the most casual
marathoner. With a combined run time of
only 257 minutes (4.28 hours) you could easily watch all three and still have
plenty of day left to do something outside or watch more movies. Anyone wishing to prolong their Evil Dead
exposure can include the remake/reboot for an additional 92 minutes. I like to do this marathon as part of my “31
Days of Horror” in October. While some
of the effects are a bit dated and the movies can seem a bit campy it is these
traits that make this movie a permanent horror classic.
Suggested Snack: Pulled Pork Sliders
Suggested Beverage: Strawberry Milkshake
(with or without alcohol)
4. Alien/s – A classic for horror and
scifi fans alike. Let’s establish right
now that there are some low points in this franchise. With that said I want to point out that I am
not including either one of the abysmal Alien Versus Predator Movies. When I was a small child there wasn’t
anything that scared me more than the Xenomorph, yet I still couldn’t stop
watching these movies. Alien is a great
horror movie while Aliens is the quintessential Space Marine action film, Alien
3 returns to the series horror roots while Alien Resurrection is more akin to
Aliens. The Quadrilogy weighs in at an
impressive 508 minutes (8.46 hours) which is pretty stout but also leaves you
enough time to do other things with your day.
As with Lord of the Rings there are some slow spots but there is enough
action and suspense to keep you interested for the entire series.
Suggested Snack: Buffalo Wings
Suggested Beverage: Lemonade (add lemon pucker
vodka for an extra kick)
5. Harry Potter – Fantasy fun that is
entertaining and safe for the whole family.
There are admittedly some sad parts in the latter portion of the series
and there may be some scenes that some children might find scary but for the
most part this is a very family friendly series of films. A marathon of this magnitude is a true
endurance trial, this is like the soccer of movie marathons. Weighing in at an impressive 1179 minutes
(19.65 hours!) watching all of these movies would take your entire day, better
get comfortable and have plenty of snacks and beverages to get you through the
day. It is important to remember to get
up and stretch every once in a while and to take plenty of bathroom breaks.
Suggested Snacks: Popcorn and Theatre
Candy snack mix.
Suggested Beverage: Flying Cauldron
Butterscotch Beer (excellent with a little Sailor Jerry)
Honorable Mentions: Indiana Jones, Star
Trek, Predator, Terminator, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
