Time Travel movies to shatter your clocks
The Time Travel movies that appeal most to the twisted sensibilities of theNeoplatonist. In alphabetical not chronological order, after the inevitable annoying number... In fact, TWO numbers...
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- DirectorJack SholderStarsHelen SlaterJonathan SilvermanNicolas SurovyA man likes a woman at work. He sees her get murdered. He gets drunk and zapped at 12:01AM. Next morning she's back and everything is exactly like the day before. The time loops gives him chances to save her.Variation on "Groundhog Day" within a clear sci-fi framework. Nicely done.
- DirectorGlenn TriggsStarsChris GibsonDafna KronentalDavid MacraeA young man discovers a hole in the floor of a local motel that leads to yesterday.Intriguing minor gem. Best ever time-travel device: a hole in the corner of a bathroom.
- DirectorTony ElliottStarsRobbie AmellRachael TaylorShaun BensonTrapped in a lab and stuck in a time loop, a disoriented couple fends off masked raiders while harboring a new energy source that could save humanity.Can be watched in its own right, but feels like the pilot for a series (especially the ending).
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonMarty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.And its sequels, but the first is best.
- DirectorTed PostStarsJames FranciscusKim HunterMaurice EvansThe sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission searches for the only survivor of the previous expedition. He discovers a planet ruled by apes and an underground city run by telepathic humans.
- DirectorEric BressJ. Mackye GruberStarsAshton KutcherAmy SmartMelora WaltersEvan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.Personally I prefer the movie-as-released ending over the director's cut.
- DirectorJae-young KwakStarsHaruka AyaseKeisuke KoideRisa AiA lonely university student develops a romance with a beautiful interesting woman, who turns out to be a cyborg from the future.Nicely done love story combining themes of time travel and human-cyborg relations. Blends comedy and drama quite effectively.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsDenzel WashingtonPaula PattonJim CaviezelAfter a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.
- DirectorRichard KellyStarsJake GyllenhaalJena MaloneMary McDonnellAfter narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
- DirectorDoug LimanStarsTom CruiseEmily BluntBill PaxtonA soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.Almost a hard sci-fi version of Groundhog Day. The ending may be a shade confusing, but at least it has generated some interesting discussion...
- DirectorSteven SchachterStarsMark HarmonMary McDonnellCatherine HicksA man facing middle-age and a failing marriage finds a time slip that can take him back to the end of the 19th Century.Sentimental but enjoyable.
- DirectorMamoru HosodaStarsRiisa NakaTakuya IshidaMitsutaka ItakuraA high-school girl named Makoto acquires the power to travel back in time, and decides to use it for her own personal benefits. Little does she know that she is affecting the lives of others just as much as she is her own.
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsBill MurrayAndie MacDowellChris ElliottA narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.Pretty much beyond comment as it's a classic. Interestingly it shuns explanation, which adds an odd metaphysical tinge.
- DirectorRian JohnsonStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittBruce WillisEmily BluntIn 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.A pleasing exercise in time paradox.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsCharlton HestonRoddy McDowallKim HunterAn astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
- DirectorMichael SpierigPeter SpierigStarsEthan HawkeSarah SnookNoah TaylorAs his last assignment, a temporal agent is tasked to travel back in time and prevent a bomb attack in New York in 1975. The hunt, however, turns out to be beyond the bounds of possibility.Excellent adaption of Robert Heinlein's "All You Zombies". Now all we need is an adaptation of his other time-paradox classic "By His Bootstraps".
- DirectorShane CarruthStarsShane CarruthDavid SullivanCasey GoodenFour friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.The only time travel movie to make me afraid of time travel. If you mess with traveling in time, you could screw up your whole existence. Nauseating, the stuff of nightmare.
- DirectorLouis MorneauStarsJim BelushiKylie TravisShannon WhirryA psychiatrist makes multiple trips through time to save a woman that was murdered by her brutal husband.
- DirectorJack BenderStarsShane McRaeJennifer FerrinRobbie JonesA team of military field operatives and civilian scientists must use untested technology to travel back in time to alter past events in order to change the future and avoid a devastating terrorist attack.Pilot movie for an unmade tv series. Not classic but a fun way of killing time (sorry).
- DirectorBruce Seth GreenStarsRobert HaysCatherine HicksSam WanamakerHistory professor David Rhodes has never gotten over the death of his older brother, 1966 in Vietnam. When he hears the rumor that a famous professor is working on a time machine, he immediately contacts him and persuades him to allow him to travel back in time and correct history. If he could save President Kennedy's life, the Vietnam war might never have happened.Assuming that you can forgive the nonsense about Lee Harvey Oswald being the "lone gunman" who killed JFK, this is an amiable way of passing the time, if not traveling in it.
- DirectorDuncan JonesStarsJake GyllenhaalMichelle MonaghanVera FarmigaA soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.Another variation on the "repeating day" theme. Engrossing.
- DirectorLeonard NimoyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyTo save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.Wonderful light-hearted time fantasy. Not quite comedy but life-affirming.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonMichael BiehnA human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonEdward FurlongA cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
- DirectorNacho VigalondoStarsKarra ElejaldeCandela FernándezBárbara GoenagaA man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.Marvelous Spanish exercise in time-paradox.
- DirectorRobert DykeStarsVictor SlezakCaprice BenedettiVince GrantA story about a man who travels back in time to Fort Worth, Texas on November 22, 1963 and prevents the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.Neglected gem. What if a time traveler came back from the future and prevented the assassination of JFK?
- DirectorDavid TwohyStarsJeff DanielsAriana RichardsEmilia CrowBefore they can complete renovations on their new inn, Widower (Ben Wilson) and daughter (Hillary) are visited by a woman seeking immediate lodging for her strange group of travellers. Why they won't stay at the hotel in town is just the first of many mysteries surrounding the group that lead Wilson to a startling discovery affecting his family and neighbours.Should be better known. A minor classic, in theNeoplatonist's diffident opinion.
- DirectorBradley KingStarsDanielle PanabakerMatt O'LearyGeorge FinnThree friends discover a mysterious machine that takes pictures twenty-four hours into the future, and conspire to use it for personal gain, until disturbing and dangerous images begin to develop.The time traveller is a camera, but it's a well-worked-out timey-wimey plot.
- DirectorGeorge PalStarsRod TaylorAlan YoungYvette MimieuxA man's vision for a utopian society is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society.The original and the best. Remakes? Forget 'em.
- DirectorMario AzzopardiStarsCasper Van DienCatherine BellTheresa SaldanaA reporter, learning of time travelers visiting 20th century disasters, tries to change the history they know by averting upcoming disasters.A very agreeable way of passing the time (ahem).
- DirectorChristopher SmithStarsMelissa GeorgeJoshua McIvorJack TaylorFive friends set sail and their yacht is overturned by a strange and sudden storm. A mysterious ship arrives to rescue them, and what happens next cannot be explained.Almost as dizzyingly disorienting as "Primer."
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsBruce WillisMadeleine StoweBrad PittIn a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.Another classic, of course, and deservedly so, in theNeoplatonist's worthless opinion. Watch it for the dominating double-act of Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe.
- DirectorBryan SingerStarsPatrick StewartIan McKellenHugh JackmanThe X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.