Movie Review : About Time & My Top 5 Movies about Time Travel

I am a huge fan of time-travel movies. I am very fascinated with the subject – so much so that one of my favorite books of all time is ‘the time machine’ by h.g. wells. to me it is the ultimate time-travelling tale and theories. thought of writing this post after I watched the oh-so-sweet ‘about time’ – which is, about – time travel.

I don’t say that I believe in time-travelling. Allah knows best. it’s not in our power to be able to change things in the past for personal gain, or see the future before it happens.

time-travelling just fascinates me because of the many endless possibilities it presented in the many stories. and movies and books give us just that. endless possibilities.

 

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owh I am just in LOVE with this movie. sweet, funny, heartwarming. watching the trailer make me want to cry again because this movie reminds people that time-travelling or not; it’s the moment you live through day by day are the ones that is important – so live them well and to the fullest!

boy was told that the men in his family has the ability to travel through time. boy meets girl. boy screws up meeting with girl. boy uses time travel to rewind and rewind many times so that the first-meeting would be perfect. and so begins his effort to make each moment in his life ‘perfect’ the way he wants it.

but can life possibly be perfect? we forgot that there are so many variables involved – the lives of other people close to us, one meeting could mean another’s farewell, a life saved might mean a loss of another life – everything is inter-connected, even in time.

domhnall gleeson, practically unknown to me succeeded in oozing charm with his coy and adorkable clumsiness. I love rachel mcadams here, who has risen above her famous bitchy character regina george to become a convincing romantic lead that we can all root for. they have adorable chemistry together, which helps make this movie so enjoyable.

absorb each moment as it happens – because it happens only once. this, this very moment will never come again, so appreciate each and every moment of your life! a must-see for all you hopeless romantics, and even you skeptics too!

 

 

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here’s the list of my favorite movies about time-travel, starting from 5th place – I absolutely LOVE these movies so I highly recommend them!

5) frequency

 

 

well, in ‘frequency’, the characters don’t physically travel through time – only their voice does – via a radio link. father and son, across the span of 30 years, somehow got reconnected thru the radio waves, during an unusual aurora borealis night.

it’s the future, and grown-up james caviezel whose father had died in a fire when he was little; gets connected with a friendly stranger over the airwaves using those home-radio-thingy, and soon discovers that it’s the younger version of his father in the past! it’s time to save his father’s life so that he won’t die in the past – but with shocking consequences.

now together, cop-son and fireman dad must work together through time to solve a series of unsolved murder!

dennis quaid and james caviezel make a great father-son team. their chemistry will bring tears to your eyes the moment they realize they’re speaking to each other, to the moment they thought they had lost each other all over again. I cried each time!

this is one time-travel-murder-mystery combo you should not miss. a good watch for father’s day too!

 

 

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4) 12 monkeys

 

 

one of my favorite movies ever. a complex storyline that might leave you clueless, or will blow your mind – once you realized everything is somehow connected. take a close watch, and listen! I was so fascinated by the clever plot, engaging script and the mind-blowing ending that sort off gel everything together.

bruce willis is cole, a convict who is sent back in time to save the future from a virus created in the past. he’s supposed to gather information about the so-called army of the 12 monkeys and the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

bruce willis is undeniably awesome as always : dazed, confused and determined to find the truth. brad pitt gave one of the best performances of his career as mental patient jeffrey goines, earning him the well-deserved oscar nomination and golden globe win.

if you haven’t already seen it, don’t read any more reviews. get the movie, sit back, watch and listen. if we continue living the way we do; pollution, deforestation, illegal poaching of endangered animals – mankind might deserve to be wiped out of this earth anyway…

 

 

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3) somewhere in time

 

 

tall, handsome christopher reeves. beauty and elegance of jane seymour. a period piece. the glorious era of american film-making. beautiful soaring soundtrack. what a timeless love story.

christopher reeve (best known as superman) is playwright richard, who falls in love with a picture of an actress in the 1912 – and determines to find a way to go back in time to meet her! talk about love that transcends time! he is so handsome, and jane seymour as elise the actress is so gorgeous. such a classic beautiful pair. I love watching them!

how did he travel through time? he got himself the right suit and apparels for that era. he removed anything modern from his room that will remind him of the present time. he lie down on the bed and sort-off hypnotized himself to the past!

the love story might not be as corny as ‘notebook’, or too deep as ‘eternal sunshine of the spotless mind’ or terribly tragic as ‘titanic’ but it’s heart-breakingly sweet and memorable.

 

 

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2) midnight in paris

 

 

quirky, amusing and clever. I fell in love with this movie instantly, despite not knowing what it’s about when I first watched it! also, in spite of not liking the lead owen wilson. (always thought of him as a mediocre comedic actor whose memorable performance is only alongside jackie chan.) but here, he is the everyday guy searching for that little bit of passion that he’s lost.

and oh, the paris depicted in that movie – just magical.

he’s on holiday in paris with rich fiance rachel mcadams (played brilliantly cocky haha) and while on a walk along the street of paris, the clock struck midnight and suddenly an antique car pulled over, and he found himself partying with the fitzgeralds, having a discourse with hemingway and other great writers of the past!

probably being a student of literature in english has something to do with it, but I was so engrossed with the idea of meeting all the literary geniuses of the past – to ask them about their work, and just get to know the person behind all those magnificent written words.

and between meeting great writers and finding his footing in writing, he also found love. for all fans of PARIS, woody allen and all things funny and quirky.

 

 

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1) back to the future

 

 

if you haven’t already know what this movie is about – where have you been?!

back to the future is THE ultimate time-travel movie. genius plot-line, a witty script filled with irony and hilarious one-liners, and perfect casting of michael j. fox as marty mcfly and christopher lloyd as doc emmet brown – both became most recognizable time-travelling duo in cinematic history. even the time-machine delorean is just so slick even in 1985 when the movie was released!

‘back to the future’ is about a teenager named marty mcFly, who's sent 30 years into the past by accident and then must make sure that his future parents fall in love so that he can be born. the storyline sounds simple but the story is just so awesome!

too bad the trailer that I found is so extremely corny that it makes ‘back to the future’ looks like some b-grade sci-fi flick! truth is, it’s still one of the most entertaining movies of all time; a genius story-telling if ever there was one.

 

 

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sadly the movie ‘the time machine’ starring guy pearce, based on the book ‘the time machine’ by h.g. wells, is quite disappointing, so I could not add it in my top 5 favorite movie about time travel. the book, however – remains one of my most favorite books ever.

while ‘the time machine’ actually has the character travel through time using an actual MACHINE built for that purpose, other time travel movies utilize other means for its character to travel through time.

• in the wacky comedy ‘hot tub time machine’ travelled back to the past to relive their teenage years via a malfunctioning hot tub; while they’re bathing in it. haha.
• in the creepy-mystery movie ‘the langoliers’ based on a short story by master horror writer stephen king, the characters on a plane found themselves travelling to the future – and found out that only passengers who were sleeping survived the time-travelling, while others just mysteriously vanished!
• in ‘men in black 3’, will smith’s character agent J travelled through time – by jumping a high-rise building – because, duuh – ‘time. JUMP’? thanks, but no thanks.
• in the unforgettable ‘planet of the apes’, the astronaut has no control over the situation when his spacecraft crashed, and he was suddenly transported far into the future when apes ruled the earth while humans are the slaves.
• in ‘harry potter : prisoner of azkaban’, hermione uses a necklace with a magical pendant that can take her back in time.
• in the comedy with moral values ‘click’, adam sandler’s character travelled to the future by controlling a magical remote control given to him by a mysterious old guy, to teach him a lesson or two.
• in ‘back to the future’ it’s a car, in ‘somewhere in time’ it’s through self-hypnotism and mind-control, and in ‘midnight in paris’, the character just magically transformed to the past at the struck of midnight; and of course in ‘about time’ it’s using a dark, closed space while clenching your fist.

 

creative sangat! oh well. wait, IS time travel possible?