I'll start with "About Time". It's a neat movie, good premise, and I kinda dig that it's a "sci-fi/rom-com" - you don't see that a lot. But the real reason to love the movie is the central message of living each day like you're trying to perfect it. Echoes of Nietzsche, and a great life lesson.
"Arrival" impressed me greatly. It unpacks time in a very interesting way. This is the kind of cerebral sci-fi I really enjoy. It's not so much about "time-travel", per se, but it is very much about time - as well as many other things. Great flick.
"Midnight in Paris" isn't going to spring to a lot of people's minds when thinking about time travel films, but there it is. No wormholes or portal devices or other technobabble-powered temporal zappers, just good, old-fashioned magic-real car rides to the 1920s. It's fun, thoughtful, and beautifully-shot.
It succeeded in making me doubt that time travel was even happening in the film, and that manipulation of, "What really is going on here!?" is what puts "12 Monkeys" on my list. That, plus Terry Gilliam's wonderful Terry Gilliam-ness and Brad Pitt's performance.
Number five (or ten) always hurts, because it's the moment when you realize how many films you're leaving off your list... So many deserve a spot, but with just one left, I'll join those voting for "Groundhog Day". It's rare to see a film find a really unique premise AND exploit it for all it's worth, but Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin pull it off. A delight to watch.
My "honourable mentions" bin included Source Code, Donnie Darko, Back to the Future, Terminator, Run Lola Run, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Sorry I couldn't include everybody...
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