10 Favorite Time Travel Movies

Submitted by MarlaSinger on Thu, 06/28/2007 - 10:04
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  1. Back to the Future
  2. This 80s cult movie is an essential part of any time travel or general movie list. Funny dialogs, cool characters, and a great story - everything an entertaining movie needs. The time travel plot is rather simple in the first part of the trilogy (boy accidentally travels to the 50s and has to get back before he endangers his parents' relationhip and thereby his own existence), but becomes really tricky in the second part - a lot of thought went into the partly confusing storyline here...
  3. 12 Monkeys
  4. Terry Gilliam's bizarre imagery is what makes this PRE-apocalyptic movie one of my favorites, plus I like the message and the performances of the three lead actors. The audience can never be sure wether Cole is insane or an actual time traveler, until the great finale when the recurring dream sequence
    Spoiler: Highlight to view
    turns out to be a childhood memory of seeing his own death
    . After watching the movie I had tears in my eyes and a smile on my face, and I like it when movies end that way. It's one of Gilliam's gifts to create a strange new world and then leave a dazzled audience behind...
  5. The Terminator
  6. I really struggled placing this movie so high on my list, mainly because shootings, wild car chases and flat (but classic) one-liners seem to be the real theme, rather than time travelling. However, I always loved the movie (and the sequel), precisely because of the action sequences and cool one-liners. You have the handsome and vulnerable hero protecting the threatened but punchy woman, and on the other side there's the bad guy who's too cool to be disliked by the audience. Also, the time travel plot turns out to be quite interesting in the end (
    Spoiler: Highlight to view
    the future resistance leader being the result of a love night between Sarah and Kyle
    ) - even though it doesn't make sense if you think about it longer than 30 seconds :-)
  7. Donnie Darko
  8. The Time Machine
  9. Time Stalkers
  10. Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home
  11. Time Bandits
  12. Biggles
  13. The Philadelphia Experiment
Author Comments: 

I left out time loop movies like Groundhog Day or Retroactive.
Descriptions / why I like them will follow.

Lily_2607/02/2007

Ooh, time travel movies. Good list. I thought Happy Accidents (2001 Romantic Comedy with Marisa Tomei) was really charming.

MarlaSinger07/03/2007

I haven't seen this one. But since it's even on your general 'favorite movies' list, I might give it a try.

Lily_2608/27/2007

I had to come back and recommend one I just recently watched: Primer (2004 hit at Sundance). Loved it. I think that anyone who likes time travel movies will appreciate this one.