Bill & Ted Should Have Been Higher
July 4, 2015 9:46 AM Subscribe
On the occasion of a new Terminator movie, io9 brings us a list of Every Time Travel Movie Ever, Ranked. Spoiler: Back to the Future is at the top, The Lake House is at the bottom, and Star Trek IV is in the middle.
Eugh. I watched BTTF last night or the night before (late night tv, nothing else on) and wow does that movie really not hold up. McFly's mother is just a pawn, the rape scene..no.
Primer was an amazing movie though.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:56 AM on July 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Primer was an amazing movie though.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:56 AM on July 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
I dunno. Some really excellent time travel movies get released at the beginning of the next decade.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 10:11 AM on July 4, 2015 [43 favorites]
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 10:11 AM on July 4, 2015 [43 favorites]
No Slaughterhouse Five?
posted by octothorpe at 10:17 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 10:17 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I love Primer and it is by far my favorite time travel movie. Here's a really detailed timeline. (spoilers! seriously, do not look at this before you watch the movie!) Here's a much simpler version. (again! spoilers!)
posted by desjardins at 10:17 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by desjardins at 10:17 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
We’re convinced that the only reason that Will Smith’s Agent J goes back in time to stop an alien from killing a young Agent K in the third Men in Black movie is because someone realized that Josh Brolin does a brilliant Tommy Lee Jones impression and just had to commit it to film.
Well, yeah, but in that person's defense Brolin's impression is fucking wonderful.
(Also missing: Lost In Space. Also not a bad thing. Remember Matt LeBlanc, Movie Star?)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Well, yeah, but in that person's defense Brolin's impression is fucking wonderful.
(Also missing: Lost In Space. Also not a bad thing. Remember Matt LeBlanc, Movie Star?)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
The awful Brigadoon over Midnight in Paris and Bill & Ted? Get out of here.
I also feel Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, and other relive-the-same-day movies belong in a slightly different genre. Though both genres are straddled by About Time.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I also feel Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, and other relive-the-same-day movies belong in a slightly different genre. Though both genres are straddled by About Time.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
They left out Millennium.
Which was reekingly bad, but anyway.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:28 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Which was reekingly bad, but anyway.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:28 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Time travel movies are okay.
What's the best time travel experience in any medium? My vote is always with Chrono Trigger.
posted by curious nu at 10:30 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
What's the best time travel experience in any medium? My vote is always with Chrono Trigger.
posted by curious nu at 10:30 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
And they left out Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
posted by fredludd at 10:35 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by fredludd at 10:35 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
What's the best time travel experience in any medium? My vote is always with Chrono Trigger.
Second place? Time Lord.
posted by drezdn at 10:36 AM on July 4, 2015
Second place? Time Lord.
posted by drezdn at 10:36 AM on July 4, 2015
I always liked the Prince of Persia (remakes) time manipulation, if that counts.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:36 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:36 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
What's the best time travel experience in any medium?
I find reading through all the materials surrounding the John Titor thing is actually pretty entertaining and fun.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:37 AM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
I find reading through all the materials surrounding the John Titor thing is actually pretty entertaining and fun.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:37 AM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Star Trek IV seems criminally underrated. It's Shatner at his most Shatner.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:40 AM on July 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:40 AM on July 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
I always liked the Prince of Persia (remakes) time manipulation, if that counts.
I could never get into the sequels but Sands of Time was goddamn amazing.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:42 AM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
I could never get into the sequels but Sands of Time was goddamn amazing.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:42 AM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Colour me surprised to find The Philadelphia Experiment ranks higher on their list than Star Trek IV.
Colour me less surprised to find they left out The Philadelphia Experiment II entirely, despite the awesome time travel trope of a stealth fighter in Nazi regalia.
posted by chrominance at 10:44 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Colour me less surprised to find they left out The Philadelphia Experiment II entirely, despite the awesome time travel trope of a stealth fighter in Nazi regalia.
posted by chrominance at 10:44 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I could never get into the sequels but Sands of Time was goddamn amazing.
Seriously. My roommate and I didn't sleep for like 24 hours when we got that game. Couldn't stop playing. The only thing I didn't like about it was how on rails it was. It would have been neat to have had multiple paths from a room's entrance to its exit.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:47 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seriously. My roommate and I didn't sleep for like 24 hours when we got that game. Couldn't stop playing. The only thing I didn't like about it was how on rails it was. It would have been neat to have had multiple paths from a room's entrance to its exit.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:47 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
At least four of the Star Trek films are time travel films. Five maybe if you count Spock turning up to tell Spock the plot of the Wrath of Khan in the last one.
posted by dng at 10:48 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by dng at 10:48 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Oh! There was that bizarre game for Gamecube. Can't remember what it was called. Vaguely Lovecraftian--your uncle was an occult researcher, you can find runes to cast spells, lots of time travel. Casting runes and finding monsters slowly drove you insane. The time travel was nicely integrated there.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:53 AM on July 4, 2015
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:53 AM on July 4, 2015
I kinda liked Il Mare...
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:53 AM on July 4, 2015
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:53 AM on July 4, 2015
Oh! There was that biazarre game for Gamecube. Can't remember what it was called. Vaguely Lovecraftian--your uncle was an occult researcher, you can find runes to cast spells, lots of time travel. Casting runes and finding monsters slowly drove you insane. The time travel was nicely integrated there.
Eternal Darkness.
posted by dng at 10:54 AM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
Eternal Darkness.
posted by dng at 10:54 AM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
Star Trek IV is the best possible movie ever made, that is all, I quit.
posted by you're a kitty! at 10:56 AM on July 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by you're a kitty! at 10:56 AM on July 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
I would put Triangle in the top half of that list. The Sound of My Voice maybe not, if it even qualifies. Les Visiteurs deserved better than having the American remake listed and snarked at.
posted by nom de poop at 10:56 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by nom de poop at 10:56 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I don't understand why Looper has such a high rank. That film makes me sad. And angry. Angry and sad.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 10:57 AM on July 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 10:57 AM on July 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Now seems like a good time to stop making them for, I don't know, at least a decade.
Looking at you, NuTrek sequels.
posted by Artw at 10:59 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Looking at you, NuTrek sequels.
posted by Artw at 10:59 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Putting 12 Monkeys on there instead of La Jetée is criminal.
posted by fifthrider at 10:59 AM on July 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by fifthrider at 10:59 AM on July 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
How can they include Star Trek IV and forget First Contact?
I also was baffled by Looper's rank, it was 63 minutes of reasonably interesting set up then a really obvious pay off. Very disappointing use of JGL.
posted by biffa at 11:02 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I also was baffled by Looper's rank, it was 63 minutes of reasonably interesting set up then a really obvious pay off. Very disappointing use of JGL.
posted by biffa at 11:02 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Time After Time is criminally low.
Star Trek IV is the best possible movie ever made, that is all, I quit.
Star Trek IV is pretty much Nicholas Meyer recycling Time After Time with the Trek characters instead of H.G.Wells.
posted by octothorpe at 11:02 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Star Trek IV is the best possible movie ever made, that is all, I quit.
Star Trek IV is pretty much Nicholas Meyer recycling Time After Time with the Trek characters instead of H.G.Wells.
posted by octothorpe at 11:02 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Somewhere In Time (1980): Christopher Reeve is approached by an alderwoman in his present time...
I didn't remember Elise's second career as a municipal council member at all, but it's cool she kept active.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:03 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I didn't remember Elise's second career as a municipal council member at all, but it's cool she kept active.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:03 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also fuck Interstellar forever.
posted by Artw at 11:03 AM on July 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:03 AM on July 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
What's the best time travel experience in any medium?
Ubik?
posted by DaDaDaDave at 11:04 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Ubik?
posted by DaDaDaDave at 11:04 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
About Time is the worst time travel film of all time. I made a time machine just so I could travel back and forth watching films about time travel, and About Time is worse than The Lake House, it's even worse than The Mountain Cabin, the sequel that will be released in 2021 (they leave each other post-it notes, time travel post-it notes).
posted by betweenthebars at 11:05 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by betweenthebars at 11:05 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Demolition Man?
"The rules: No animation. No short films. And no movies that where someone is frozen (or something) and then they wake up in the future (so Mel Gibson’s Forever Young, Encino Man are OUT)."
It's interesting because it's hard to talk about what constitutes a time travel movie versus what constitutes a multi-dimensional movie without letting personal beliefs re: time travel and interdimensionality and FATE completely take over.
posted by dogwalker at 11:05 AM on July 4, 2015
"The rules: No animation. No short films. And no movies that where someone is frozen (or something) and then they wake up in the future (so Mel Gibson’s Forever Young, Encino Man are OUT)."
It's interesting because it's hard to talk about what constitutes a time travel movie versus what constitutes a multi-dimensional movie without letting personal beliefs re: time travel and interdimensionality and FATE completely take over.
posted by dogwalker at 11:05 AM on July 4, 2015
Although a mini-series and not a movie, Lost in Austen was one of the better time travel thingies I've seen recently, even if it was to a fictional past...
posted by jim in austin at 11:06 AM on July 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 11:06 AM on July 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Encino Man is out because it wasn't a movie, it was a 90 minute long visual depiction of a fart
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:06 AM on July 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:06 AM on July 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
Is the last line in the article about the post originally appearing in January 2015 a joke? If so, well played.
posted by lownote at 11:09 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lownote at 11:09 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
SPOILER ALERT
In Richard Donner's 1978 Superman, the entire Earth travels backwards in time.
posted by mistersquid at 11:13 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
In Richard Donner's 1978 Superman, the entire Earth travels backwards in time.
posted by mistersquid at 11:13 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm here to say I thought Timecrimes was awesome.
posted by PHINC at 11:15 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by PHINC at 11:15 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I'm kind of surprised 2068's 'Global Warming: Decimator of Mankind' didn't make the list.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:20 AM on July 4, 2015
posted by sexyrobot at 11:20 AM on July 4, 2015
How about nobody uses a causal loop as a twist ever again? Because hey, we know about that one and expect it, it's next to everyone actually being ghosts and the protagonist actually being the crazy one.
posted by Artw at 11:22 AM on July 4, 2015
posted by Artw at 11:22 AM on July 4, 2015
A causal loop, but instead of a major character committing suicide to break it everybody decides the loop is pretty awesome and goes out for donuts.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:25 AM on July 4, 2015 [13 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:25 AM on July 4, 2015 [13 favorites]
The Man From Earth is a nice time travel movie that doesn't actually involve any time travel.
posted by Drexen at 11:26 AM on July 4, 2015
posted by Drexen at 11:26 AM on July 4, 2015
No Time Chasers? The time machine is a plane! They go to a future that looks a lot like a mall food court! It's got everything!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:35 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:35 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Well this got a laugh from me, at any rate:
It’s the future and ALL THE ANIMALS ARE DEAD. Meanwhile, rich people get their kicks traveling back in time to kill a real-life dinosaur. The tour group that runs the show picks a specific T-Rex that is going to die anyway (so as not to disturb the future), but on one trip back a guest steps on a butterfly, thus changing the future into what could only be described as a Jumanji world.
posted by Artw at 11:47 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
It’s the future and ALL THE ANIMALS ARE DEAD. Meanwhile, rich people get their kicks traveling back in time to kill a real-life dinosaur. The tour group that runs the show picks a specific T-Rex that is going to die anyway (so as not to disturb the future), but on one trip back a guest steps on a butterfly, thus changing the future into what could only be described as a Jumanji world.
posted by Artw at 11:47 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also a shout out to all the folks in the future of the year ONE NINE NINE NINE, who managed to get off a message about the horrible fate that awaits us there but not quite make this list. Still, they were in a DJ Shadow track, so good work guys!
posted by Artw at 11:50 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:50 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Time After Time was okay. I remember it most for forever branding McDonalds as "that Scottish restaurant" in my head. Also, being set in San Francisco in the 70's, Embarcadero Center is proudly shown off.
posted by clorox at 12:00 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by clorox at 12:00 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
All movies are time travel movies; it's just that in most of them all the characters move through time in the same direction and at the same rate.
posted by aaronetc at 12:02 PM on July 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by aaronetc at 12:02 PM on July 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
Oh also! Re: other media: tabletop RPG Continuum. It is something else.
posted by curious nu at 12:02 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by curious nu at 12:02 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Well this got a laugh from me, at any rate:
It’s the future and ALL THE ANIMALS ARE DEAD.
Also, that picture is the worst acting I've ever seen Ben Kingsley do. Not the movie, mind you -- the picture.
posted by Etrigan at 12:03 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
It’s the future and ALL THE ANIMALS ARE DEAD.
Also, that picture is the worst acting I've ever seen Ben Kingsley do. Not the movie, mind you -- the picture.
posted by Etrigan at 12:03 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I forgot (as did io9) about Dean Parisot's Galaxy Quest which features the Omega 13 which "sends its user 13 seconds into the past".
WHAT KIND OF BOGUS LIST IS THIS?!
posted by mistersquid at 12:08 PM on July 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
WHAT KIND OF BOGUS LIST IS THIS?!
posted by mistersquid at 12:08 PM on July 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
I always kind of think of Momento as a time travel movie, though it's not.
posted by maxwelton at 12:08 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 12:08 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
HARRY POTTER AND OVERLY CONVENIENT PLOT DEVICE.
posted by Artw at 12:11 PM on July 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:11 PM on July 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
Some really excellent time travel movies get willan on-get released at the beginning of the next decade.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:20 PM on July 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:20 PM on July 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
Now I want to know what the list would look like with animation included. And why exclude it anyway? Still, I'll join the list of people thinking that Primer should be no. 1. As great as BTTF is it's not as awesome to watch now as my memory tells me it should be.
posted by diziet at 12:23 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by diziet at 12:23 PM on July 4, 2015
Nice list, but it gives the impression that science fiction started in the 1980s, which isn't true. Berkeley Square (starring Leslie Howard) and Turn Back the Clock (starring Lee Tracy) are two amazing bona fide time travel movies from 1933. Berkeley Square is about a guy who travels back to the 1780s England in place of a Revolutionary War era ancestor, falls in love with a woman in the past, and manages to completely screw things up; Turn Back the Clock is very much like Peggy Sue Got Married (but much better), where a broke shopkeeper/WW1 vet from the Depression travels back to his youth in Edwardian times to make life better for himself-- but also he manages to screw things up in the process.
Here's a clip from Turn Back the Clock, where Lee Tracy has a spell of PTSD resulting from WW1, which hasn't even happened yet (there's also the Three Stooges singing barbershop). And here's a clip from Berkeley Square, where Leslie Howard admits he's a time traveller. (Another time travel movie from the early '30s is Roman Scandals, where Eddie Cantor travels back to ancient Rome and there's a lot of pretty funny vaudeville bits and big Busby Berkeley numbers. It's not at all serious though. The other two movies pretty much are the first time travel movies I can think of that start seriously codifying the tropes.)
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 12:24 PM on July 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
Here's a clip from Turn Back the Clock, where Lee Tracy has a spell of PTSD resulting from WW1, which hasn't even happened yet (there's also the Three Stooges singing barbershop). And here's a clip from Berkeley Square, where Leslie Howard admits he's a time traveller. (Another time travel movie from the early '30s is Roman Scandals, where Eddie Cantor travels back to ancient Rome and there's a lot of pretty funny vaudeville bits and big Busby Berkeley numbers. It's not at all serious though. The other two movies pretty much are the first time travel movies I can think of that start seriously codifying the tropes.)
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 12:24 PM on July 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
Groundhog Day isn't a time travel movie, but it's on this list, and given that it's on this list, it should be at the top. I'd push 12 Monkeys higher as well.
Primer is a terrible mess and doesn't deserve as many accolades as it gets. It arrogantly delights in losing its audience, but beneath its insolence is a secret: it's no more consistent or coherent or clever than any other time travel movie. Time travel movies usually require the audience to squint past the contradictions and just have fun, which is fine; Primer would rather confuse you so much that you don't notice them.
posted by painquale at 12:28 PM on July 4, 2015 [13 favorites]
Primer is a terrible mess and doesn't deserve as many accolades as it gets. It arrogantly delights in losing its audience, but beneath its insolence is a secret: it's no more consistent or coherent or clever than any other time travel movie. Time travel movies usually require the audience to squint past the contradictions and just have fun, which is fine; Primer would rather confuse you so much that you don't notice them.
posted by painquale at 12:28 PM on July 4, 2015 [13 favorites]
No Time Chasers? The time machine is a plane! They go to a future that looks a lot like a mall food court! It's got everything!
That food court is in the mall in downtown Burlington and it doesn't even HAVE an Orange Julius. But I guess maybe it will?
For Castleton!
posted by maryr at 12:37 PM on July 4, 2015
That food court is in the mall in downtown Burlington and it doesn't even HAVE an Orange Julius. But I guess maybe it will?
For Castleton!
posted by maryr at 12:37 PM on July 4, 2015
It's not a list of all the time travels movies, ever as it excludes the ones that haven't been made yet
posted by rolo at 12:37 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by rolo at 12:37 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
Hey, I thought Looper was great! Except for the nose.
posted by cacofonie at 12:37 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by cacofonie at 12:37 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I haven't seen every time travel movie ever made but I can still assert with some confidence that The Lake House is the worst time travel movie -- actually very close to the worst movie ever made -- period. Seriously. A time travel mailbox? And Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, both in their full-on unfunny modes. Yes. All of the above.
Peggy Sue Got Married is close behind though.
posted by blucevalo at 12:39 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Peggy Sue Got Married is close behind though.
posted by blucevalo at 12:39 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hm, the author justifies some omissions in the comments, but there's no mention of the exclusion of FAQ About Time Travel. Seems like that one was just overlooked. It's got 'Time Travel' in its title!
I also maintain that if Groundhog Day counts, so too does Run Lola Run.
posted by painquale at 12:40 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I also maintain that if Groundhog Day counts, so too does Run Lola Run.
posted by painquale at 12:40 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I assume it's just technicalities that is keeping Kung Fury off the top of this list.
posted by ckape at 12:41 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by ckape at 12:41 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
Also, I think this list omitted Frequency, which is such a guilty pleasure of mine.
posted by MoonOrb at 3:02 PM
(warning, COP OUT ahead)
That's addressed in the comments -- Frequency was left off because the travel was voice only.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:51 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by MoonOrb at 3:02 PM
(warning, COP OUT ahead)
That's addressed in the comments -- Frequency was left off because the travel was voice only.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:51 PM on July 4, 2015
I know it's BTTF Appreciation Week, but one of the genius things that makes it stand out is that the time machine is a full-fledged character with personality, rather than just a MacGuffin meant to get the other characters into period costume. In each successive movie it gains the Mr. Fusion, whitewalls, and other bits as it is abused in different time periods. Like Poochie, when it's not on screen you're wondering "where's the DeLorean?"
No it is still the best why do you hate America
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:45 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
No it is still the best why do you hate America
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:45 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
TIME BANDITS WAS ROBBED!
Shoulda been number one.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 1:45 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
Shoulda been number one.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 1:45 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
I'm completely convinced that anyone who says they like Primer is just saying so to avoid causal events. Discovering the storyline has less to do with understanding time travel and more to do with mumbled dialogue. It's like Christopher Nolan's Batman and Memento had a blurry baby.
posted by brecc at 1:55 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by brecc at 1:55 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by el io at 2:07 PM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
I love Primer and it is by far my favorite time travel movie. Here's a really detailed timeline. (spoilers! seriously, do not look at this before you watch the movie!) Here's a much simpler version. (again! spoilers!)
Yeah, if you need that chart to understand the movie (and you do), then it's waaay to complicated to casually understand (or even carefully understand). Also, I like the XKCD chart better.
Of these movies, if you haven't seen Predestination yet, go see it, it's better than the list would let on (and in my top 5 time travel movies, for sure).
posted by el io at 2:10 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah, if you need that chart to understand the movie (and you do), then it's waaay to complicated to casually understand (or even carefully understand). Also, I like the XKCD chart better.
Of these movies, if you haven't seen Predestination yet, go see it, it's better than the list would let on (and in my top 5 time travel movies, for sure).
posted by el io at 2:10 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I can't believe no one's pointed out that this is Every Time Travel Movie Ever Made in English. It has 12 Monkeys but not La Jetée. It doesn't have The Girl Who Leapt Through Time or 31 June or Guest from the Future or Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession or Black Hunters or others that don't have English Wikipedia pages. I realize the creators of this list couldn't have seen every time travel movie ever made in the world, but they could at least not pretend the others don't exist.
posted by languagehat at 2:22 PM on July 4, 2015 [13 favorites]
posted by languagehat at 2:22 PM on July 4, 2015 [13 favorites]
Timecrimes wuz robbed. It should have been third after BTTF and Primer.
posted by kandinski at 2:29 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by kandinski at 2:29 PM on July 4, 2015
But yeah I mean how can it be the World Series.
posted by nom de poop at 2:33 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by nom de poop at 2:33 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm not surprised 11 Minutes Ago wasn't on here. I couldn't even watch the first 11 minutes.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:40 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:40 PM on July 4, 2015
La Jetee is probably out because it's a short film - probably worth a mention in any discussion that features Twelve Monkeys though.
posted by Artw at 2:42 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 2:42 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like Timecrimes, but I'd like it more if it didn't hinge on the protagonist carrying the idiot ball.
I kinda can give him the sleep-deprived excuse, but it's a stretch.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:48 PM on July 4, 2015
I kinda can give him the sleep-deprived excuse, but it's a stretch.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:48 PM on July 4, 2015
What's the best time travel experience in any medium? My vote is always with Chrono Trigger.
Life is Strange is very entertaining so far, I don't even have a system I can play it on but watching a let's play of someone playing through it for the first time is entertaining enough to keep me coming back each episode.
posted by Space Coyote at 3:15 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Life is Strange is very entertaining so far, I don't even have a system I can play it on but watching a let's play of someone playing through it for the first time is entertaining enough to keep me coming back each episode.
posted by Space Coyote at 3:15 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I can't believe no one's pointed out that this is Every Time Travel Movie Ever Made in English.
Timecrimes was made in Spain and is non-English. While a comprehensive list of time travel movies would be awesome (although rating will result in fights), this isn't such a list (for even english language films).
posted by el io at 3:17 PM on July 4, 2015
Timecrimes was made in Spain and is non-English. While a comprehensive list of time travel movies would be awesome (although rating will result in fights), this isn't such a list (for even english language films).
posted by el io at 3:17 PM on July 4, 2015
"The rules: No animation. No short films. And no movies that where someone is frozen (or something) and then they wake up in the future (so Mel Gibson’s Forever Young, Encino Man are OUT)."
I love Flight of the Navigator as much as any other 34 yr old but it seems to contradict this premise-- the kid gets kidnapped and doesn't age, then returns and the earth is in the future. Unless I am giving a less than broad reading of "or something"?
posted by holyrood at 3:29 PM on July 4, 2015
I love Flight of the Navigator as much as any other 34 yr old but it seems to contradict this premise-- the kid gets kidnapped and doesn't age, then returns and the earth is in the future. Unless I am giving a less than broad reading of "or something"?
posted by holyrood at 3:29 PM on July 4, 2015
But he gets to go back to the past at the end somehow so time travel occurs at least a bit.
posted by dng at 3:47 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by dng at 3:47 PM on July 4, 2015
I broke my leg watching The Lake House. It deserves to be at the bottom.
posted by veedubya at 4:32 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by veedubya at 4:32 PM on July 4, 2015
RUSSIAN ARK, motherfuckers.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:55 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:55 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Pedantic alert: it's supposed to be called an "acausal loop"—because there's no actual cause, right? Also my vote for best time travel in game format is Braid. At least so far, because I haven't finished yet so no spoilers please.
posted by traveler_ at 5:31 PM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by traveler_ at 5:31 PM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey was released in 1988, noy 1998.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 5:36 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 5:36 PM on July 4, 2015
I guess I am the only person who didn't hate The Lake House then...
Yeah, I will show myself out.
posted by weathergal at 5:47 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I will show myself out.
posted by weathergal at 5:47 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
They've got the premise of 12 Monkeys wrong (Cole is sent back to do research, not to change history). Given that understanding the film's rules of time travel is vital to understanding the plot and point of the film, maybe these aren't the people to be ranking time travel movies, not having actually paid attention while watching them.
posted by howfar at 5:47 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by howfar at 5:47 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Time After Time should be higher, much higher, but I've always thought it was a hidden gem, so whatever.
posted by Beholder at 5:55 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Beholder at 5:55 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
HARRY POTTER AND OVERLY CONVENIENT PLOT DEVICE.
I was thinking about how it's weird that wizards apparently have time travel and yet all they do with it is get an extra hour out of the day when necessary, but then I realized that a) given all the horrific shit you could do to reality with time travel, that's probably about the closest to a responsible use time travel is going to get and b) every day you use a time twister to get an extra hour, that's a 24 hour day you lived through 25 hours of. Every month of use, you knock a day and a quarter off your lifespan. That's... kind of awful.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:57 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was thinking about how it's weird that wizards apparently have time travel and yet all they do with it is get an extra hour out of the day when necessary, but then I realized that a) given all the horrific shit you could do to reality with time travel, that's probably about the closest to a responsible use time travel is going to get and b) every day you use a time twister to get an extra hour, that's a 24 hour day you lived through 25 hours of. Every month of use, you knock a day and a quarter off your lifespan. That's... kind of awful.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:57 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
But you don't knock any time off your lifespan--you still lived, subjectively, through that time.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:07 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:07 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Weathergal, you are not alone. I think I just like seeing Keanu and Sandra together though.
posted by jilloftrades at 7:30 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jilloftrades at 7:30 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
But you don't knock any time off your lifespan--you still lived, subjectively, through that time.
Right, I'm talking about from an outside observer's perspective. You'll age faster than everybody else (since you're living an extra hour per day) and die "younger".
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:38 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Right, I'm talking about from an outside observer's perspective. You'll age faster than everybody else (since you're living an extra hour per day) and die "younger".
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:38 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
That was explored a little in the late Amy and Rory episodes of Doctor Who, poignantly, but not enough, in my opinion.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:13 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:13 PM on July 4, 2015
There's a movie on Netflix called Plus One, or maybe, +1, that has a fairly unusual take on time travel. I liked it. It didn't just do the same thing the same way. Interesting.
posted by putzface_dickman at 9:45 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by putzface_dickman at 9:45 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Predestination has the dumbest goddamn "twist" I've seen in a film in a very long time. Ugh. How it could be ranked above Primer by any conceivable measure is beyond me, but to each his and/or her own, I suppose.
posted by Dokterrock at 12:11 AM on July 5, 2015
posted by Dokterrock at 12:11 AM on July 5, 2015
"Predestination" is the one based on "All You Zombies," though, isn't it?
posted by Scattercat at 1:23 AM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Scattercat at 1:23 AM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
You don't really need to understand Primer to understand Primer.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:09 AM on July 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:09 AM on July 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea: A group of Nazis hi-jack a tourist time machine to deliver a nuclear bomb to Hitler in 1944. Complications ensue.
In an odd way, The Amazing Mr Blunden counts more as a time-travel movie than a ghost story, as does Tom's Midnight Garden (from the classic novel). Are time-shift movies distinct from time travel movies?
posted by Grangousier at 2:11 AM on July 5, 2015
In an odd way, The Amazing Mr Blunden counts more as a time-travel movie than a ghost story, as does Tom's Midnight Garden (from the classic novel). Are time-shift movies distinct from time travel movies?
posted by Grangousier at 2:11 AM on July 5, 2015
"Predestination" is the one based on "All You Zombies," though, isn't it?
Yes, but it takes the fever dream energy that really makes Heinlein's story and stretches it out to a full length movie in a way that didn't really work for me. So the BIG TWIST is presented as a standard cinematic beat, rather than being part of the torrent of crazy in the story. Sarah Snook was quite good though.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:53 AM on July 5, 2015
Yes, but it takes the fever dream energy that really makes Heinlein's story and stretches it out to a full length movie in a way that didn't really work for me. So the BIG TWIST is presented as a standard cinematic beat, rather than being part of the torrent of crazy in the story. Sarah Snook was quite good though.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:53 AM on July 5, 2015
I love Primer and it is by far my favorite time travel movie. Here's a really detailed timeline. (spoilers! seriously, do not look at this before you watch the movie!) Here's a much simpler version. (again! spoilers!)
In timeline 7 I don't understand how Abe(3) gets in a box and then 2 hours later starts another box
posted by zodballs at 4:58 AM on July 5, 2015
In timeline 7 I don't understand how Abe(3) gets in a box and then 2 hours later starts another box
posted by zodballs at 4:58 AM on July 5, 2015
Am I the only nerd who thinks Primer was boring as shit? I get the appeal, as geeks love "solving" fiction, but holy cow, what a snooze.
posted by Legomancer at 5:43 AM on July 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Legomancer at 5:43 AM on July 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
One of the films I accidentally kept from Netflix many years back is Grand Tour: Disaster in Time. It's not on the list, but I'm sure it would be near the bottom.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:07 AM on July 5, 2015
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:07 AM on July 5, 2015
Am I the only nerd who thinks Primer was boring as shit? I get the appeal, as geeks love "solving" fiction, but holy cow, what a snooze.
I found it slow early on, but then it speeds up plenty, and then some more, exceeding my ability to follow along at about the time that one of them comes down from the attic. I've watched it three or four times, and I think I understand the big bones of the plot, but I have no interest in "solving" the movie any further than that. My delight in the movie is just that it was so refreshing to watch a movie that was willing to confuse me, and not gratuitously, but when and as the working-out of its premise demanded it.
I also find something very appealing about the way this filmmaker presents information, but I don't really know what. (I suspect it's important because of something he said in an interview once.)
posted by stebulus at 10:31 AM on July 5, 2015
I found it slow early on, but then it speeds up plenty, and then some more, exceeding my ability to follow along at about the time that one of them comes down from the attic. I've watched it three or four times, and I think I understand the big bones of the plot, but I have no interest in "solving" the movie any further than that. My delight in the movie is just that it was so refreshing to watch a movie that was willing to confuse me, and not gratuitously, but when and as the working-out of its premise demanded it.
I also find something very appealing about the way this filmmaker presents information, but I don't really know what. (I suspect it's important because of something he said in an interview once.)
posted by stebulus at 10:31 AM on July 5, 2015
the story of my goddamn life! My favorite time travel movie is
posted by elr at 10:51 AM on July 5, 2015
posted by elr at 10:51 AM on July 5, 2015
I came for the time travel. I stayed for young Tommy Lee Jones in Jackson County Jail [misc trigger warnings for sex, violence, sexual violence, disrespecting authority, and other tropes apropros to 70's grindhouse]
posted by doctor tough love at 1:12 PM on July 5, 2015
posted by doctor tough love at 1:12 PM on July 5, 2015
Primer is a really simple movie: no matter how careful you are, and how many failsafes you have in place, screwing with time travel has huge consequences. You can try keep track of everything but eventually you get to the point where it's as complicated as that chart and you have to start taking drastic measures to keep everything from crashing down.
Yeah, maybe it is because I was thoroughly spoiled for the movie, but I kind of disregarded the PUZZLEY aspects of Primer and think of it more as a movie about two decent guys who get in over their heads with something they don't really understand or are capable of using responsibly. That scene where it first becomes clear that something is really wrong (when it's revealed that the one guy is reciting back a conversation recorded on a previous loop) hits like a gut punch. It's time travel as Lovecraftian horror.
maybe I'm doing it wrong though because I'll be like "but didn't your heart break in that airport scene where it becomes clear that they've wrecked both their friendship and their ability to ever feel contented and safe in their own lives" and people are all "but there are like 3 OF EACH OF THEM RUNNING AROUND"
posted by kagredon at 10:06 PM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, maybe it is because I was thoroughly spoiled for the movie, but I kind of disregarded the PUZZLEY aspects of Primer and think of it more as a movie about two decent guys who get in over their heads with something they don't really understand or are capable of using responsibly. That scene where it first becomes clear that something is really wrong (when it's revealed that the one guy is reciting back a conversation recorded on a previous loop) hits like a gut punch. It's time travel as Lovecraftian horror.
maybe I'm doing it wrong though because I'll be like "but didn't your heart break in that airport scene where it becomes clear that they've wrecked both their friendship and their ability to ever feel contented and safe in their own lives" and people are all "but there are like 3 OF EACH OF THEM RUNNING AROUND"
posted by kagredon at 10:06 PM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Time Rider is also missing. I wouldn't rank it all that high but it was written by Michael Nesmith, which in certain essential respects ranks it higher than things not written by Michael Nesmith.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:07 AM on July 6, 2015
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:07 AM on July 6, 2015
(Also another vote for Primer; apart from the reasons already given, it's the only time travel movie I've ever seen that didn't require any suspension of disbelief. It's just in a completely different category, something that feels like it took place in the real world in a way none of the others manage.)
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:12 AM on July 6, 2015
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:12 AM on July 6, 2015
(Rats, I somehow missed that Time Rider is not in fact missing. Possibly because I searched for it as two words instead of one.)
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:14 AM on July 6, 2015
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:14 AM on July 6, 2015
Shocked, SHOCKED not to see the awesomely terrible Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) on this list. Biggles, Algy, Ginger and ... a random Wall Street trader from 1986! All this and World War I! If that's not a recipe for cinematic success, I don't know what is.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:24 AM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:24 AM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ah, I see now Biggles at least made it into the article comments section. So someone else saw it too. I was worried for a second there the 12 year old version of me hallucinated the entire thing.
posted by Sonny Jim at 3:08 AM on July 6, 2015
posted by Sonny Jim at 3:08 AM on July 6, 2015
I watched BTTF last night or the night before (late night tv, nothing else on) and wow does that movie really not hold up. McFly's mother is just a pawn, the rape scene..no.
You must've watched a different movie than the one I've watched dozens of times. Lorraine isn't a "pawn" — her interest in Marty and George is pivotal to the plot. The way she becomes attracted to George differently in the new timeline than the original one seems to cause the new 1985 to be much better than before. You could make a feminist critique of that, but it would be a different critique...
posted by John Cohen at 3:44 PM on July 6, 2015
You must've watched a different movie than the one I've watched dozens of times. Lorraine isn't a "pawn" — her interest in Marty and George is pivotal to the plot. The way she becomes attracted to George differently in the new timeline than the original one seems to cause the new 1985 to be much better than before. You could make a feminist critique of that, but it would be a different critique...
posted by John Cohen at 3:44 PM on July 6, 2015
Sonny Jim, thank you for introducing me to the sheer, unadulterated mind-f**k that is Biggles: Adventures in Time. After your description, I was so curious I had to watch it. And... OMG...it really is like a bizarre fever dream after watching too many Oingo Boingo videos and All's Quiet on the Western Front. It was entertaining enough, in its ballsy WTF-ness, but it's hard to believe it ever got made. It's got trench warfare... punk rockers... biplanes fighting helicopters... I can't even. What... WHAT... were they smoking!?
Anyway, thank you. I feel my life has been enriched now.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 2:24 AM on July 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Anyway, thank you. I feel my life has been enriched now.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 2:24 AM on July 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
It is dizzying to think of the heights of the mounds of cocaine that must have been present in the exec meeting where they decided "fuck it, let's make Biggles a time travel movie!".
Had Back to the Future just been really big? It's the only explanation I can think of.
Really dig the secret weapon and the bit with the helicopter though.
posted by Artw at 6:33 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Had Back to the Future just been really big? It's the only explanation I can think of.
Really dig the secret weapon and the bit with the helicopter though.
posted by Artw at 6:33 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Had Back to the Future just been really big? It's the only explanation I can think of.
Heh. Pretty much exactly that.
posted by Artw at 6:39 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Heh. Pretty much exactly that.
posted by Artw at 6:39 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
My work here is done! I'm so glad to be able to enrich people's lives in this way :)
I had no idea (thanks, Artw) that the script had actually been rewritten that hastily to cash in on BTTF, but it makes total sense that it was. And I seem to have mis-remembered Ferguson being a currency trader when he was, of course, a caterer. Of course he was.
posted by Sonny Jim at 9:17 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
I had no idea (thanks, Artw) that the script had actually been rewritten that hastily to cash in on BTTF, but it makes total sense that it was. And I seem to have mis-remembered Ferguson being a currency trader when he was, of course, a caterer. Of course he was.
posted by Sonny Jim at 9:17 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Huh, The Final Countdown. For me, that's the ultimate movie about which I just can't be objective about its quality, because I saw it and loved it so much as a little kid. Watched it again sort of recently and was struck by how much it comes across as a US Navy recruitment docudrama ("now, let us show you all of the different types of planes on the Nimitz! Now, here's what all of the crew members do! Uh oh, trouble on the flight deck, can the boys on the deck crew get the plane down safely?"), but I still can't help but love it. Especially for the extras who are obviously real sailors who can't act their way out of paper bags.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2015
posted by the phlegmatic king at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2015
What's the best time travel experience in any medium?
Guns of the South is pretty fun—time travelers give AK-47s to the Confederacy.
posted by FJT at 9:39 AM on July 7, 2015
Guns of the South is pretty fun—time travelers give AK-47s to the Confederacy.
posted by FJT at 9:39 AM on July 7, 2015
Guns of the South is pretty fun—time travelers give AK-47s to the Confederacy.
I enjoyed Guns of the South, and read a lot of Turtledove over the ensuing years, but GotS turns into some pretty eye-rolling Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest apologia at the end.
posted by Etrigan at 10:24 AM on July 7, 2015
I enjoyed Guns of the South, and read a lot of Turtledove over the ensuing years, but GotS turns into some pretty eye-rolling Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest apologia at the end.
posted by Etrigan at 10:24 AM on July 7, 2015
Artw, I imagine the exec who greenlit the script of Biggles to be this guy.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 4:30 PM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 4:30 PM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit: "No Time Chasers? The time machine is a plane! They go to a future that looks a lot like a mall food court! It's got everything!"
You Castleton snob.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:02 PM on July 8, 2015
You Castleton snob.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:02 PM on July 8, 2015
The funny part is that Castleton is not a very good school.
posted by maryr at 1:33 PM on July 8, 2015
posted by maryr at 1:33 PM on July 8, 2015
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posted by Dick Laurent is Dead at 9:51 AM on July 4, 2015 [34 favorites]