Top 10 time-travel movies clock in

Everyone loves time-travel movies. Funny thing, though -- in a half-century of trying, no filmmaker has topped George Pal's version of "The Time Machine," the H.G. Wells adventure.

 One of these days a time-travel masterpiece on the level of "2001" will emerge, but it hasn't happened yet. Not for lack of trying.

The latest and splashiest in the genre, "Terminator Salvation," transports us to an apocalyptic 2018, building on three films in which the heroes and villains did the time warp while trying to make each other history. I'm partial to the first one, in which time travel isn't taken for granted; It blows the mind of young waitress Sarah Connor, a legend in someone else's time.

One of the smartest films I've seen in the genre is "Timecrimes," a film fest favorite from Spain that's just out on DVD. Like the hit "Groundhog Day," it deals with time travel on a small scale -- not even a day passes. The 2007 film's budget wasn't much. There are no special effects or splashy concepts. Director Nacho Vigalondo doesn't seem to need them.

A well-off suburbanite, Hector, witnesses some odd events in the woods. He rushes off to investigate and finds a naked woman, dead. Hector's soon been stabbed by a frantic man with ghastly pink bandages covering his head, like a mummy.

Hector seeks help in a rural lab, where a slacker scientist is doing temporal experiments on the cheap, Hector is convinced to hide in a clunky time machine, which transports him back an hour. Thus begins a comically sinister loop that plays like a "Memento"-style puzzle. 

United Artists has American rights for a remake. (The Magnolia single-disc DVD includes a making-of docu and a couple of featurettes.)

"Timecrimes" makes this top 10 of time-travel movies, starting with the best but then in no particular order.

1. The Time Machine (1960) -- George Pal's adaptation of the H.G. Wells novella won an Oscar for its special effects, which remain special today. Rod Taylor plays the Victorian scientist whose comfy machine transports him to a future where humans are cattle and Morlocks are hungry. A definitive take on Wells.

2. Back to the Future (1985) -- The boxoffice smash and 1980s pop touchstone made big fun out of what-if science. Michael J. Fox wings it back to 1955 in a DeLorean souped by up mad scientist Christopher Lloyd. The movie still plays great, even if Universal had to junk the ride.

3. La Jetee -- Chris Marker's 1966 time-travel pic proved wildly influential, most notably spawning Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys." Marker's film was a series of black and white photographs that scrolled by to odd ominous narration. The hero is sent back in time to prevent the apocalyptic present, but he really just wants the mysterious girl. Time travel as a real trip. Essential.

4. The Terminator (1984) -- "T2" was a better movie, but the time-travel concept was fresh and at its most compelling in the first of the machine vs. humans movies. Linda Hamilton stars with robo-governor.

5. Army of Darkness (1992) -- The terrific final gag of "Evil Dead 2" leads to comic misadventures in the 13th century. Walmart guy Ash (Bruce Campbell) has a chainsaw and a shotgun with which to fend off the legions of the undead. No problem, man.

6. Time Bandits (1981) -- Terry Gilliam again. Smart sad kid ends up crawling in and out time portals with a bunch of dwarfs. They encounter Robin Hood and Napolean, and take a wee cruise on the Titanic.

7. Timecrimes (see intro)

8. Sleeper (1973) -- Health food nerd Woody Allen wakes up in 2174, freshly defrosted in order to help radicals in their fight against Big Brother. Step this way into the orgasmatron. One of those "early, funnier" Allen movies with Diane Keaton.

9. Time After Time -- H.G. Wells again, but this time the fantasy writer ends up in 1970s San Francisco chasing his pal Jack the Ripper. Fun, romantic movie featuring Malcolm McDowell and his soon-to-be-wife Mary Steenburgen, in only her second screen role.

10. Groundhog Day (1993) -- Bill Murray the weatherman gets to live the same day over and over, until he gets it right. Hasn't lost any of its loopy charm.

And, The Man from Earth (2007) -- Not technically a time-travel movie, but a fine offshoot. A professor who may or may not be 14,000 years old tells his story to a stunned roomful of colleagues. Is the guy an immortal -- or just bogarting the resveratrol? By turns annoying and brilliant, this was the final project from sci-fi screenwriter Jerome Bixby. 

Comments

[Nick McKenzie]

Some of those films like Back to the Future and Terminator reminds me of my childhood days. They were awesome films anyway

[Time Travel Theory]

Thanks for the post, out of the ones you listed I haven't seen these ones

The Time Machine
La Jetee
The Terminator
Army of Darkness

Will have to go check them out :)

[lou]

I think "Somewhere in Time" should be included. It was Christopher Reeve's best movie. A story about an man who traveled back in time to meet a silent film star he fell in love with. He was able to travel back by using the power of hypnosis. Great movie.

[Mayclaire]

Excellent list of time-travel movies. Of the movies you listed, the ones I have not yet seen are:

-Army of Darkness (and The Evil Dead trilogy for that matter)
-Time Bandits
-Timecrimes
-Sleeper
-The Man from Earth

I'm uncertain how a remake of Timecrimes will work but if all goes well, I'll give it a chance. In the meantime, I'll see the movies I have not yet seen and revisit the ones I have seen before.

[Richard Stoltenberg]

I liked Timecop: The Berlin Decision that starred Jason Scott Lee