Time travel movies

[djross]

x

[SirStuckey]

I rank time travel movies very highly. It's one of my favorite sub-genres.

Top 10:

T10
Back to the Future (score: 100)
Midnight in Paris (score: 95)
12 Monkeys (score: 90)
Looper (score: 90)
Planet of the Apes (1968) (score: 90)
Star Trek (2009) (score: 90)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (score: 90)

T9
La Jetee (score: 85)
Primer (score: 85)
The Terminator

edit: Forgot Groundhog Day which was scored at a 95

[ayall]

I too tend to rate these fairly high; rather refreshing that T1 & BTTF are at the top.

Tier 10 Films
The Terminator (1984) 89
Back to the Future (1985) 88

Tier 9 Films
Groundhog Day (1993) 86
Star Trek (2009) 86
12 Monkeys (1995) 85
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 85
The Butterfly Effect (2004) 84

Tier 8 Films
Army of Darkness (1993) 83
12:01 PM (1990) 81
Back to the Future Part II (1989) 81

Tier 7 Films
Back to the Future Part III (1990) 80
Bill and Ted's Excellent Ad… (1989) 80
Deja Vu (2006) 80
Donnie Darko (2001) 80
Frequency (2000) 80
Harry Potter and the Prison… (2004) 80
Idiocracy (2006) 80
Paycheck (2003) 80

Tier 6 Films
Source Code (2011) 79
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) 78
The Time Machine (2002) 78

Tier 5 Films
Midnight in Paris (2011) 77

Tier 4 Films
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) 75
Land of the Lost (2009) 75
Terminator 3: Rise of the M… (2003) 75

Tier 3 Films
Primer (2004) 73

[mwgerb]

T10
12 Monkeys
Back to the Future
The Terminator
Terminator 2

T9
Groundhog Day
12:01 PM
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

T7
Star Trek
Donnie Darko
La Jetee
Primer
Futurama: Bender's Big Score

T6
The Butterfly Effect
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hot Tub Time Machine
Back to the Future II

T5
Timecrimes
Deja Vu

T4
Source Code
Back to the Future III
Idiocracy

T3
Terminator Salvation
Time Bandits
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

T2
The Time Machine
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

T1
A Sound of Thunder

[Stewball]

I note the appearance of a new Hollywood science fiction blockbuster with a time travel theme, entitled Looper, and that Criticker is currently predicting that it would score an 80 from me. This seems rather unlikely, and is probably due to the phenomenon whereby those who see a film shortly after release are more likely to be those disposed towards a favourable view.

I haven't had a chance to see Looper yet, but it's one of this years films I'm been anticipating a lot. Criticker predicts a 94 from me. I agree to a degree about the just released phenomenon, but critics are less susceptible to that particular bias (with others more so), and they are 93% positive with an average rating of 8.1 at R/T . It is an interesting take on the time travel premise (which I view as artistic license to compare time periods), where if the main character doesn't kill his future self, he may have no future, yet his future self may aid in the extraction from his current day dilemma--with the sub plot of the morality of killing people sent back from the future on the spot in cold blood.

Midnight in Paris is an interesting take on the idea that we'll never be as comfortable or equipped to handle another time period as well as the one we're born in, no matter how romantic our view of it may be. Nobody ever seems to use the time travel premise to examine actual historical questions such as the accuracy of recorded history surrounding a given event--perhaps because it's too stark of a reminder that the premise it totally dependent on being an impossible fiction. Still, it'd be exceedingly interesting to "go back" and validate history, to replay the recording, if you will--something that is theoretically possible. On the other hand, people are going to tend to believe what they want to believe anyway.

A couple of films to add:
The Butterfly Effect--70
Time After Time--70

One I came across that I haven't seen but looks interesting:
Primer (2004)

[nauru]

Tier 10 Films
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 100
Bill and Ted's Excellent Ad… (1989) 83
Tier 9 Films
12 Monkeys (1995) 80
Idiocracy (2006) 79
Back to the Future Part III (1990) 75
Tier 8 Films
Back to the Future (1985) 73
Source Code (2011) 71
Paycheck (2003) 70
Tier 7 Films
Groundhog Day (1993) 69

[snallygaster]

T10
Primer

T7
La Jetée
Back to the Future III

T6
12 Monkeys
Back the the Future
Terminator

T5
Back to the Future II
Time Bandits
Donnie Darko

T4
Terminator 2
Groundhog Day

T2
Star Trek

Appreciated your thoughts on this subgenre, djross. I think you'd like Primer.

[Stewball]

About Looper: I've seen it now and think it's above average but not as good as the early scores being put up for it IMHO. Great fan of all three of the lead actors, and it's an interesting story, but overall just not as memorable an experience as I had hoped for. Perhaps dystopia is beginning to be overdone. JG-L's makeup was distracting yet eye-catching at the same time so I guess it worked. I know you can think time travel plots to death, but wouldn't the ending have eliminated "looping", and thus changed Joe's vocation. And did I miss the explanation for why they couldn't just send the dead bodies back in time--besides the fact that it would blow the whole premise?

[paulofilmo]

I think of 12 Monkeys as being more about mental illness than time travel, although there's something very satisfying about the leading lady discovering BW's character in the war photograph.

Anthropology/Technology of sci-fi generally has a draw of its own. Blade Runner's complex architecture. Equilibrium's political structure. Minority Report's close-future hyper-reality. I feel like I'm time-traveling more watching these movies than with a film about or featuring time-travel.

Yet, Bill & Ted is good times.

[ayall]

Recently caught Loopers and i was quite disappointed.

I think it completely falls apart in the end with one of the most predictable, improbable and stupidest endings imaginable.

It started off pretty good, and the concept isn't terrible.
[spoiler]The X-men twist got out of hand and the movie really seemed to lose purpose.[/spoiler]

Recently read a funny article on Cracked.com about Back-to-the-future;
http://www.cracked.com/article_16625_8- ... holes.html

"His Mom has a kid who looks exactly like him. Old George was either the most oblivious, forgiving man on earth, or there were some secret resentment beatings in the McFly household."