the best travel movies ever

Things you buy through our links may earn  Vox Media  a commission.

The 25 Greatest Time-Travel Movies Ever Made

It must say something, surely, about humans, how often time-travel movies are about returning to the past rather than jumping to the future. As Mark Duplass’s forlorn character says in Safety Not Guaranteed , “The mission has to do with regret.” With all the potential to explore the unknown world of the future, so often when our minds conspire to bend the rules of time it’s instead to rehash the old. It’s compelling to watch a character in a movie do what we cannot — right past wrongs or uncover the reason for or meaning behind the events in their lives, whether they be emotionally catastrophic or merely geopolitically motivated.

So absent is the future from the canon, in fact, that when it is involved, typically future dwellers are leaving their own time to come back to the present. Back to the Future Part II aside, it seems as if there’s something about going forward in time that just doesn’t track for humans. (Of course, you could argue that this is because the present-day concept of bidirectional time travel would infinitely multiply or change beyond recognition any future that may occur, but that’s a knot for another article.)

In any case, the time-travel stories deemed worthy of Hollywood budgets aren’t always straightforward in their mechanics. Some films on this list barely qualify as time-travel movies at all; others could hardly qualify as anything else. There are movies about trips through time but also ones about the bending and fracturing and muddying thereof; then there are those about, as Andy Samberg aptly puts it in Palm Springs , “one of those infinite time-loop situations you might have heard about.” There’s even a movie in which we get only 13 seconds’ worth of time travel, when it functions more like a joke whose punch line hits at the film’s climax.

What these films all do have in common is a fascination with changing the way time works. That being said, the list leaves out movies in larger, more extended franchises in which time meddling is a one-off dalliance thrown into a sequel with little by way of foreshadowing: think Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Avengers: Endgame , and Men in Black III . (It also leaves off perhaps the Ur-time-travel movie, Primer , and the quite good Midnight in Paris because their directors don’t deserve the column inches.) We’re looking at self-contained stories using time mechanics from the start, with preference given to those that involve themselves more intently with the ins and outs of time travel; that ask questions about time, aging, memory and so forth; and that try to succeed at it in new and interesting ways. So let’s get to it.

25. Galaxy Quest (1999)

Does Galaxy Quest really count as a time-travel movie? Some compelling reasons argue that it doesn’t: Time travel isn’t a major factor in the plot, and the time traveling that does occur is, yes, only a 13-second jump. But its use of time travel is meaningful insofar as the movie itself is a loving spoof of Star Trek , which makes use of time travel in three films ( one of which made this list ), not to mention dozens of episodes across its various TV iterations. Tacking on time travel as a deus ex machina for the actors in a Star Trek– like show pressed into service as an actual space crew by an endangered alien race is the exact right amount of ribbing in a movie that’s as on point as it is hilarious.

Galaxy Quest is available to rent on Amazon .

24. Happy Death Day (2017)

Pick away at the surface of a time-loop movie and you find a horror movie. Most of the entries on this list are covered in enough feel-good spin to land as comedies, but Happy Death Day stares the horror of the time-loop phenomenon right in the face. (It’s also quite funny.) Reliving the same day over and over is an unimaginably potent form of psychological torture, and adding murder to the equation does little to dull that edge. The film follows a college-age protagonist struggling to escape from a masked slasher hell-bent on killing her again and again while she tries to solve the mystery of how she got stuck in a time loop.

Happy Death Day is available to rent on Amazon .

23. Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Seriously, this may be the only good movie in which the film’s whole focus is using a time machine to travel into the future. The fact that it’s a sequel is telling — the characters already traveled into the past in the first movie , and the filmmakers decided to save “traveling even further into the past“ for the third film in the trilogy. Still, Back to the Future Part II is a fun time that makes great use of sight gags and references, recasting scenes from the first film in the distant future year of 2015 with all its hoverboards and self-lacing Nikes.

Back to the Future Part II is available to rent on Amazon .

22. See You Yesterday (2019)

It’s a dirty little secret of time-travel movies that they tend to be, well, pretty white. Tenet ’s Protagonist aside, if Hollywood’s sending someone through time, they’re almost certainly not a Black person, and for obvious reasons: Most of post-contact North American history is deeply unfriendly to people of color, and the problems a person running around out of time and place is going to encounter are deeply compounded if they’ll likely be the target of racist abuse or violence — which makes See You Yesterday all the more compelling. Produced by Spike Lee and featuring one of filmdom’s most famous time travelers in a cameo role, it follows a Black teenage science prodigy who uses a time machine to try to save her brother from being killed by a police officer.

See You Yesterday is streaming on Netflix .

21. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

No offense to the Back to the Future franchise, but time travel never looks more fun on film than it does in the first Bill & Ted movie. It’s a concept that feels distinctly of a different era, so pure is its zaniness, that it’s hard to imagine anyone concocting it today. The titular duo, Californian high-school students in the ’80s, travel through the past looking for historical figures in order to ace a history project, then bring them all back to the present. High jinks ensue! We get Genghis Khan in a sporting-goods store and Mozart on an electric keyboard. What more could you want?

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is streaming on HBO Max .

20. Source Code (2011)

Time-travel-film aficionados know this won’t be Jake Gyllenhaal’s only stop on this list, but no matter. Source Code finds him repeating the same eight minutes over and over as he struggles to find the culprit in a train bombing — with each replay ending in his own death by explosion. For some reason, a romantic subplot is shoehorned into this, along with a bunch of frankly unnecessary technical mumbo-jumbo, but the core idea is a compelling mix of the time-loop movie and the train whodunit that Gyllenhaal is a perfect fit for.

Source Code is available to rent on Amazon .

19. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Some sort of law of nature dictates that every genuinely good idea and/or piece of true art has to at some point be turned into a Hollywood movie. Thank God La Jetée was adapted into something that can stand on its own feet artistically. 12 Monkeys may not retain its source material’s black-and-white look or stripped-down, static-image presentation, but it is a rollicking good time nonetheless. That’s in no small part due to director Terry Gilliam getting the best out of Bruce Willis and a young Brad Pitt, and recasting World War III as a planet-decimating virus. Which, like at least one other movie on this list , “speaks to the present moment,” or whatever.

12 Monkeys is available to rent on Amazon .

18. Run Lola Run (1998)

Unlike almost all of the other films on this list, the terms time travel and time machine don’t show up anywhere in Run Lola Run . Rather, it’s a sort of de facto time-loop scenario in which the protagonist tries repeatedly to pay a ransom to save her boyfriend’s life. In fact, if not for a few key details, it could easily be characterized (and often has been) as an alternate-endings movie rather than a time-travel film. But the fact that Lola seems to be learning from her past attempts with each successive one suggests that she is, indeed, using knowledge gained from previous loops to bring a satisfactory end to this situation.

Run Lola Run is available to rent on Amazon .

17. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

One of the most striking things about Groundhog Day is the mutability and replicability of its core conceit. Perhaps the best case in point is Edge of Tomorrow , sometimes known as Live. Die. Repeat. after its original tagline. It’s the kind of physically grueling movie only an actor as genuinely unhinged as Tom Cruise could pull off. A noncombatant thrust into a war against invading aliens, Cruise’s character finds himself reliving day one of combat over and over, slowly but surely refining his techniques in order to survive the extraterrestrial onslaught. Like the central twosome in the much less violent Palm Springs , he winds up with a partner in (war) crime, teaming up with the similarly time-trapped Emily Blunt, and the explanation for the replay glitch here is actually pretty satisfying.

Edge of Tomorrow is streaming on Fubo TV .

16. Star Trek (2009)

If you could create some sort of an advanced stat to measure controversy generated per unit of interesting filmmaking decisions, J.J. Abrams would have to be near the top in terms of his ability to rig up movie drama from almost nothing. This is a guy whose filmography is like Godzilla rip-off, Spielberg homage, safe reboot of cherished IP, repeat. Star Trek may be his best film, though, a sure-footed reinvention of a dorky sci-fi franchise that made it, well, cool. Somehow, the beauty of Spock and Kirk’s bromance being woven through chance encounters with future selves kind of … works?

Star Trek is available to rent on Amazon .

15. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

There’s a relative dearth of time travel in animated film, which perhaps is a function simply of the fact that it’s less impressive to stage in a world that’s already unreal. If you can Looney Tunes your way through physics, what’s so special about grabbing the flow of time and tying it into a bow? Still, the original Girl Who Leapt Through Time deserves mention here. It’s a beautiful story that interlaces the complexity of time leaping with the intensity of teenage emotion and the thorny process of growing up where the opportunity to redo things leads, over time, to growth — a less shitty Groundhog Day , in a way.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is available to rent on Amazon .

14. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

She may not be the most famous, decorated, or emulated actress of her generation, but Aubrey Plaza is someone whose personality spoke to the irony-soaked 2010s in a way that simply could not be denied. Her character on Parks and Recreation , April Ludgate, was, by all accounts, created specifically to channel Plaza’s real-life personality to the screen, and she plays essentially the same character in Safety Not Guaranteed . Here, she’s a sarcastic intern at a magazine working on a story about a would-be time traveler and using her feminine wiles to slowly gain his trust. The chemistry between Plaza and Mark Duplass is probably the film’s high point; the subplot about the FBI feels like it was clipped out of a bad X-Files episode.

Safety Not Guaranteed is streaming on Tubi .

13. La Jetée (1962)

At only a 28-minute run time, La Jetée is arguably too short to merit inclusion on this list. However, what it lacks in content (and in, well, moving images; it’s almost exclusively a collection of static black-and-white shots set to voice-over), it more than makes up for in inventiveness and influence, and it would be a travesty to leave it out in favor of more recent by-the-book fare. Tracing the tale of a man held prisoner in post-WWIII Paris being used in time-travel experiments as his captors seek to remedy the postapocalyptic state of the world, he’s sent into both the future and the past and ends up unraveling a lifelong personal mystery while he’s at it.

La Jetée is streaming on the Criterion Channel .

12. Planet of the Apes (1968)

Unlike the worse but more straightforwardly time-traveling Tim Burton remake, the relationship between the original Planet of the Apes and time travel is inexact — technically, the astronaut crew that lands on the titular planet does travel forward 2,000 years, but it’s not done via a time machine. The travel isn’t instantaneous: It literally does take them 2,000 years to get there; they’re just unconscious and on life support. Still, the way the film’s ending handles the iconic reveal is exactly in line with the best of the time-travel canon, the telescoping, mise en abyme feeling of the world shifting in front of your very eyes without your moving an inch.

Planet of the Apes is available to rent on Amazon .

11. Groundhog Day (1993)

The famous Bill Murray vehicle essentially invented the infinite-time-loop genre (and it’s hardly a movie that succeeds on the strength of its concept alone), but the idea at its core is so steeped in the casual misogyny of late-’80s and early-’90s cinema that it’s hard to watch today without cringing. Murray’s character employing what amounts to PUA-style techniques over and over and over in a desperate bid to fuck his hapless co-worker just doesn’t hit the way it did back then. If the story arc didn’t present a guy detoxifying himself of the worst aspects of masculinity in order to be worthy of a woman’s love as the primary way for a 20th-century white man to achieve full personhood, this would be much higher on the list.

Groundhog Day is streaming on Starz .

10. Predestination (2014)

This is probably the most complicated film on the list. Following a “temporal agent” (played by Ethan Hawke) who’s trying to prevent a bombing in 1970s New York, it’s based on a Robert A. Heinlein short story and features Shiv Roy herself, Sarah Snook, in a star-making turn as someone with a complicated backstory and a secret. Like the best sci-fi, the film’s premise raises all kinds of fascinating questions about the titular concept and throws in some interesting musings on sex, gender, and the self in the process.

Predestination is streaming on Tubi .

9. Looper (2012)

Wes Anderson gets a lot of flak for his overwrought twee visuals, but Rian Johnson has a knack for making movies that feel and function like dioramas even if they don’t look it. Narratively speaking, everything here is constructed just so — and there’s a certain beauty in that — but who ever had a profound experience of art by looking at a diorama? Looper was probably Johnson’s least precious pre– Star Wars film, which is nice because the temptation to drastically overmaneuver the mechanics of a time-travel story can lead to disaster. The tech used to Bruce Willis–ify Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s face is distracting, and the third act’s retreat from the postapocalyptic city of the future to the postapocalyptic corn farm of the future is a brave choice that the film struggles to land. Still, Johnson’s vision of a future in which organized crime runs time travel is compelling and well worth a watch.

Looper is streaming on Netflix .

8. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is a bit of a genre mash-up. Part high-school movie, part sci-fi flick, part bleak meditation on the soullessness of late-’80s America, it’s nevertheless a weirdly successful piece of filmmaking that makes fantastic use of a young Jake Gyllenhaal, a great supporting cast (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, and Patrick Swayze among others), and an absolutely iconic haunting cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.” Watching high schoolers navigate parallel universes, wormholes, and time travel is a dicey proposition, but director Richard Kelly makes it work, somehow.

Donnie Darko is streaming on HBO Max .

7. Back to the Future (1984)

While it’s clearly superior to the sequel (and leagues ahead of the final film in the trilogy), the original Back to the Future is a bit of a mess (John Mulaney was right , to be honest). Its racial and gender politics are cringey, and the incest subplot is weird (“It’s your cousin Marvin. Marvin Pornhub . You know that new plot element you’ve been looking for?”), but there’s a clear interest in time travel beyond its shimmering surface: the very real addressing of the “grandfather problem” in time travel via the slow disappearance of Marty from his family photo, the accidental invention of rock music, and a genuine curiosity about the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of time machines. Ahh, what the hell. It’s a romp.

Back to the Future is available to rent on Amazon .

6. Palm Springs (2020)

No offense to Gen-Xers and boomers, but the best time-loop movie of all time is Palm Springs . The film isn’t without its missteps, but it’s much more curious about life than Groundhog Day was through the eyes of Murray’s misanthrope. Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg‘s characters, stuck in the loop together, are a perfect comedic match, and their shared humanity makes for a beautiful arc. The film raises questions about what’s worth doing in life when nothing lasts and how to stay sane when every day is the same. Of course, as a sort of polar opposite of Tenet , it benefited from coming out during the pandemic by speaking, as it does, to the experience of lockdown.

Palm Springs is streaming on Hulu .

5. Tenet (2020)

Interstellar wasn’t enough for Chris Nolan, apparently. Tenet ’s legacy may end up being little more than that of the COVID action movie no one saw — a bloated thriller that Nolan fought to get into theaters and bar from home viewing reportedly to swell the size of his own pockets. It really did suffer from bad timing, though, because this is genuinely a quintessential big-screen popcorn movie whose absurdity is all the more palatable when it’s given the audiovisual bombast it deserves. Ambitious in scope as it traces a war on the past by the future (yes, you read that right), Tenet is as enamored of action tropes as it is in bucking them, and its investment in rendering visible the brain-bendingly knotty mechanics of moving through time is laudable, even when the movie itself remains opaque — as impenetrable as the future, as hazy as the past.

Tenet is streaming on HBO Max .

4. The Terminator (1984)

A partner to Blade Runner in the mid-’80s invention of sci-fi noir, The Terminator is a stunning film in many ways, despite the third act’s now-iffy visual effects. While it’s not James Cameron’s debut, and it would go on to be bested by its sequel , it functions as an incredible showcase for an emerging young director who would exclusively make big stories for the rest of his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as the relentless, unemotional killer cyborg sent back from the future to terminate the mother of the eventual resistance leader, and the film’s romantic subplot has just the perfect amount of time-travel-induced cheesiness for it to work.

The Terminator is streaming on Amazon Prime Video .

3. Interstellar (2014)

It’s not inaccurate to say Christopher Nolan is a director who’s more interested in scale and scope than in expressing the minutiae of the human experience in its purest form. But in Interstellar, a Nolan movie in its titular ambitions, there’s a core element of time travel wrought not as sci-fi fireworks but as a paean to the sheer force and will of the power of love. It both does and doesn’t work, depending on your capacity for cheese in space, but even besides that, Nolan’s use of time as story arc — the way Miller’s planet functions, in particular — is conceptually masterful in the best kind of time-travel-movie way.

Interstellar is streaming on Paramount+ .

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Whereas the franchise’s first movie spends more time on the question of time travel, in the second it takes a bit of a back seat to the action itself. It’s hard to fault director James Cameron for this decision; T2 remains one of the best action movies of the ’90s and — along with Jurassic Park and The Matrix — one of the decade’s best when for special effects. The groundbreaking T-1000 would honestly be enough to get this movie on the list; a tween John Connor grappling with questions of predestination and the fact that he is vicariously responsible for his own conception feel almost like icing on the time-travel cake. Much as in 12 Monkeys , time travel here is mistaken for delusion, as valiant Sarah Connor, in a Cassandra-esque nightmare, has to battle against the future only she knows is coming. Of course, Cassandra never had access to any firepower stored in underground desert arsenals.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is streaming on Netflix .

1. Arrival (2016)

It’s fair to wonder whether Arrival really is, in fact, a time-travel movie. The Ted Chiang short story it’s based on isn’t about time travel per se; rather, it’s an exploration of alternate forms of temporal understanding. The linguist protagonist, played by Amy Adams, doesn’t travel through time so much as come to experience it differently. Still, the plot ends up hinging on foreknowledge that she is granted not via visions but by actually experiencing her future simultaneously with her present and past. For our purposes, though, that’s time fuckery enough to merit inclusion, and boy howdy does the film deliver in overall quality. Partly, that’s simply a question of the source material. Chiang is arguably the most talented (and possibly the most decorated) American sci-fi writer of his generation. But the source story is not especially Hollywood friendly, and director Denis Villeneuve has adopted it lovingly, borrowing a plot device from another of Chiang’s stories, the more straightforwardly time-travel-based “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” in order to add some third-act blockbuster flavor. The result is a beautiful meditation on love, choice, and courage that packs art-film ethos into a genuine sci-fi blockbuster.

Arrival is streaming on Hulu and Paramount+ .

• vulture homepage lede
• timey-wimey
• vulture lists
• time travel
• vulture picks

Most Viewed Stories

• Cinematrix No. 57: May 14, 2024
• John Mulaney’s Strange TV Miracle
• Planet of the Apes Movies, Ranked
• Bob Barker’s Back on Daytime TV
• Duke Students Walk Out of Jerry Seinfeld’s Commencement Speech
• The Real Housewives of New Jersey Recap: Shore Things
• A Complete Track-by-Track Timeline of Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s Feud
• Everything The Iron Claw Leaves Out About the Von Erich ‘Curse’

Editor’s Picks

Most Popular

• What Was Unmasked in Spacey Unmasked ?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create your free account.

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

• Lower case letters (a-z)
• Upper case letters (A-Z)
• Numbers (0-9)
• Special Characters (!@#$%^&*)

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York , which you can opt out of anytime.

The 50 Best Travel Films of All Time

By CNT Editors

It's arguable that, more than any other piece of pop-culture ephemera, movies have the power to transport—to sweep you away on a European adventure ( Before Sunrise ), cross an African desert ( Out of Africa ), even send you to the never-before-seen Paradise Falls ( Up ). These 50 films are especially captivating, with well-told stories that evoke the magic (or harsh reality) of travel, and beautiful scenery that overwhelms the senses. Read on for the favorite travel movies of editors past and present—and get your Netflix queue ready.

This gallery was originally published in 2015 and has been updated.

Roman Holiday (1953)

What’s not to love about this black-and-white classic? It’s got Audrey Hepburn, it’s got Gregory Peck, it’s set in Rome ; there’s a quirky, comical love story. Hepburn plays a princess in town for a goodwill tour, Peck a journalist for an American news bureau who misses his big interview with HRH. When he helps a young, seemingly drunk woman one night and lets her sleep it off in his apartment, he realizes he may have the scoop of his career as the next day’s news reports say the princess has canceled her engagements due to illness. And then he pieces the two together. What follows is a grand romp, with Peck playing the regular joe and local guide to the princess, who just wants to shed the royal obligations and enjoy a little freedom for a change. Their tour of Rome proves the perfect catalyst for their budding romance, and it’s impossible not to have the same effect on the audience. –Corina Quinn

To Catch a Thief (1955)

Cary Grant as a cat burglar, Grace Kelly as a rich debutante, falling in love under the guidance of Alfred Hitchcock? Sold. This stunning thriller was filmed in Cannes and Nice and perfectly captures the Golden Age of travel we always wax poetic about, that time when bringing a gold lamé gown to the beach was a no-brainer. – Meredith Carey

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Russia during the Soviet Revolution doesn't exactly sound like a prime tourist destination, but director David Lean makes a big argument for the country's haunting beauty in this romantic epic (even thought it was actually shot in Spain). From the opulence of Imperial Moscow to the flowering countryside of the Urals to the windswept Siberian tundra, Lean's camera is as much as in love with the landscape as it is with Julie Christie's doe-eyed Lara. – Jenna Scherer

The Endless Summer (1966)

“Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world,” sang the Beach Boys; and if ever a film embodied that mindset, it’s Bruce Brown’s 1966 surfer documentary. Brown shadowed buddies Robert August and Mike Hynson on a round-the-world surfing trip, filming their travels to places like Hawaii , New Zealand, and South Africa as they crested waves and met like-minded surf obsessives. The film’s impact on surf culture and tourism was huge, thanks in no small part to Brown’s cinematography, as well as the subjects’ ability to make riding those impossibly large waves seem effortless. – Amy Plitt

Caitlin Morton

Jessica Puckett

Jamie Spain

Meaghan Kenny

Two For the Road (1967)

Travel is a constant theme in this romantic dramedy about a married couple, played by Albert Finney and Aubrey Hepburn. The movie starts off with a road trip to Saint-Tropez, and as they drive through France, the audience is treated to flashbacks of previous trips that have affected their relationship. - Jenni Miller

Easy Rider (1969)

Released the year of the Woodstock festival—perhaps the biggest event of the ’60s counterculture movement— Easy Rider couldn’t have come out at a better time in history. The film plays out like a motorcycle travelogue, following Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) on their sojourn from Mexico to Los Angeles to New Orleans . Shot on a shoestring budget, the film is flush with desert landscapes and towns that the pair of nogoodniks (and co-stars, like a young Jack Nicholson) pass through on their drug-and-booze-fueled hippie adventure. – Will Levith

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

While the 2017 remake of Murder on the Orient Express was pretty to look at , you simply can't beat the 1974 original. The mystery boasts an excellent ensemble cast led by Albert Finney as Agatha Christie's iconic Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. He’s minding his own business on the long-distance train when a fellow passenger is murdered in the middle of the night. Poirot agrees to investigate the murder, along with the train's first-class compartment full of characters, ranging from a Russian princess to a gorgeous young countess. Throw in the snowy Yugoslavian countryside, and train travel has never looked so glamorous. (Minus the murder, of course.) – J.M.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Raiders of the Lost Ark was a giant-sized collaboration between two of the world's biggest blockbuster directors at the time: Steven Spielberg ( Jaws ), who directed, and George Lucas ( Star Wars ), who executive produced. The film follows hunky explorer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) as he circles the globe on a quest to track down the legendary Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. With filming locations in France and Tunisia (which stood in for Egypt ), Raiders is travel porn at its mega-blockbuster best. – W.L.

National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

Vacation was the world’s introduction to the Griswold family, led by accident-prone dad-in-chief Clark (Chevy Chase). The film spoofs the tried-and-true American tradition of the family road trip , taking the Griswold car through at least two real-life national parks—Death Valley and Grand Canyon—on their way to the fictional amusement park, Walley World. Add in an unforgettable cameo from Christie Brinkley and a hit theme song in “Holiday Road,” and you have a movie every vacationer should watch once in their lifetime. – W.L.

Romancing the Stone (1984)

The ’80s were the era of the action movie, but Romancing the Stone took that concept and blew it out, mixing in pinches of Indiana Jones and pulpy romance novel. Co-starring Reagan Era sex-symbols Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, the adventure begins when novelist Joan Wilder (Turner) travels to Colombia in search of her kidnapped sister. – W.L.

Out of Africa (1985)

Meryl Streep and Robert Redford star in this tragic love story about a married baroness who falls for a big-game hunter, based on the autobiographical novel by Isak Dinesen. Filmed on location in the U.K. and Kenya, including the Shaba National Game Reserve , Out of Africa feels about as epic as the doomed love affair between two very different people. – J.M.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Set around Thanksgiving, Planes uses the travel rush in the days leading up to the holiday as a more-than-worthy comedic vehicle. Steve Martin goofs as Neal Page, who faces a series of travel nightmares on his trip from New York City to Chicago in advance of Turkey Day. After his flight is canceled due to inclement weather, Page ends up sharing his trip home with salesman Del Griffith, played by the late, great John Candy. The actors' chemistry is hard to deny… especially when they’re sleeping in the same bed together on the road. –W.L.

Withnail & I (1987)

“We’ve gone on holiday by mistake!” Withnail’s (Richard E. Grant) desperate moan is the centerpiece of this British cult comedy, which sees two hard-drinking, unemployed actors escaping the horrors of their impoverished London flat with a trip to the countryside. Naturally, the countryside turns out to be even worse. But the desolate, windswept beauty of Cumbria, in Northern England, is the perfect setting for their self-created drama and melancholy. – J.S.

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Thelma & Louise reinvented the concept of the buddy movie by putting two women on the road, escaping good-for-nothing men and setting off on an adventure of their own making. For the first time, women were at the center of the picaresque. Ultimately, Thelma and Louise don't get their happy ending, but the best coda is knowing their movie paved the way for countless other women to hit the road on their own. – Lilit Marcus

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving, and Terence Stamp star as two drag performers and a transwoman who travel to Alice Springs, Australia , in a lavender-hued school bus they've named Priscilla. A road trip across the Outback serves as a dusty backdrop for personal revelations and general awesomeness, like a fireside lip-sync performance of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." – J.M.

Before Sunrise (1995)

Richard Linklater turned the stroll-and-talk into an art form in his slow-cinema trilogy. It all began with this quiet, lovely indie, which features a baby-faced Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy flirting and philosophizing as they wander the cobblestone streets of Vienna after hours. The city becomes the third character in the romance, just as Paris would nine years later in Before Sunset, and Messenia, Greece, nine years after that in Before Midnight. All three movies are a testament to travel's power to realign your perception of your own life. – J.S.

The English Patient (1996)

From its star-crossed love story to its sweeping cinematic shots, few movies of the modern era are as lavishly romantic as this adaption of Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize–winning novel. With a storyline split between pre-war Egypt and post-war Italy, director Anthony Minghella gives us artfully crafted glimpses of both locations: a bombed-out villa in Tuscany and Lawrence of Arabia -esque sweeps of the Egyptian desert (actually filmed in Tunisia). – J.S.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

It may be creepy as hell, but The Talented Mr. Ripley also happens to be one of the most beautiful depictions of Italy ever captured on film. Set in the 1950s, the movie follows a group of pretty young things (including Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Matt Damon as the titular sociopath) on their luxurious-slash-murderous holiday, from the pristine beaches in Lazio to the opulent hotels in Venice . – Caitlin Morton

The Beach (2000)

Richard (played by a boyish Leonardo DiCaprio) finds himself tramping from one Thai hostel to the next, desperately searching for something meaningful. A tip from a fellow traveler in Bangkok sends him on a journey to a hard-to-reach island, described as the ultimate paradise—white sands, clear water, and only a handful of other travelers who’ve sworn to keep its location a secret. But, of course, paradise isn't exactly what it seems—and the same goes for real life too, as fans have since trashed the filming location , Maya Beach, forcing its closure. – Megan Spurrell

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

Y Tu Mamá También follows two best friends and a sexy older woman as they road trip through Mexico, searching for a magical (and fictional) beach called Heaven’s Mouth. Director Alfonso Cuarón shows the beautiful nature of Oaxaca , but also gives a no-holds-bar glimpse into the poverty that exists in Mexico—an aspect that most films set there simply gloss over. – C.M.

Amélie (2001)

Paris is one big shiny confection in this sun-drenched modern fairy tale. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's camera looks at the city through candy-colored lenses, primarily following his quirky-loner heroine (Audrey Tautou) through the winding streets of Montmartre. Everything seems to be lit from within, from the green water of the Canal Saint-Martin to the lurid red lights of a Pigalle sex shop. The city has never looked so dreamy. – J.S.

L’Auberge Espagnole (2002)

For anyone who’s ever studied or lived abroad, discovering L’Auberge Espagnole (i.e. “the Spanish Inn”) is like finding the Rosetta Stone. The film follows a French student, Xavier, who travels to Barcelona in search of himself. Cooped up in a giant apartment with six other contemporaries—all from different countries—Xavier wades through the muddy waters of cohabitation with men and women who don’t share his customs or language. Look out for a fantastic post- Amélie cameo by Audrey Tautou. – W.L.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Steven Spielberg's stylish caper tells the real-life story of Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio), a teenage con artist who manages to avoid the feds while pulling off elaborate schemes. Abagnale famously impersonated a Pan Am pilot, and the film plays this up with plenty of vintage air travel eye candy. – A.P.

Catch a glimpse of Eero Saarinen's space-age TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in a conversation between Abagnale and Carl Hanratty, played by Tom Hanks. The terminal has been turned into a hotel , which just officially opened in May 2019. – M.C.

Lost in Translation (2003)

Lost in Translation chronicles the budding friendship of two Americans in Tokyo (played with the perfect amount of resignation by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson), shot in typically beautiful Sofia Coppola fashion. From the upmarket Park Hyatt hotel to the neon-filled karaoke bars and streets, the movie is like a tourism ad for Tokyo. But more importantly, it’s a melancholy portrayal of loneliness—even in a city filled with millions of people. – C.M.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Before there was Eat, Pray, Love , there was Under the Tuscan Sun —the story of a woman who buys a villa in Italy after her marriage falls apart. As we watch Frances (Diane Lane) renovate her gorgeous new house and take day trips to the Amalfi Coast, the thought of dropping everything to move to Tuscany suddenly doesn’t seem so ridiculous. – C.M.

Sideways (2004)

The allure of California’s fantastic vineyards is well known (and documented), but wine culture still has a sniff of exclusivity. That’s what makes Sideways, whose wine-touring protagonist is actually a middle-aged slob, so relatable—and hilarious. Aside from telling a great story with great characters, the movie also happens to showcase some of the most beautiful vineyards and tasting rooms in Santa Barbara. Have a glass while you watch—just not merlot. – C.M.

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

This is where it all began for Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Gael García Bernal), whose road trip across Latin America with his pal Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) opened Che's eyes to political injustice. Director Walter Salles filmed their travels through major landmarks in South America, as per Che's memoir, from the Andes mountain range to Machu Picchu and even a leper colony in San Pablo. – J.M.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

And you thought your family road trips were dysfunctional. How about cramming your elderly father-in-law, voluntarily mute son, suicidal brother, overworked husband, and quirky daughter with beauty queen aspirations into a lemon of a VW bus? Toni Collette manages just fine (sort of). I'm stressed just thinking about it, but somehow Little Miss Sunshine manages to find that perfect intersection of humor and nostalgia that makes you feel warm and fuzzy by the time the movie ends. – M.C.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Wes Anderson reimagines the all-American family road trip as a rail journey across India. Set on a cramped train rattling across the subcontinent, Darjeeling juxtaposes the claustrophobia of travel against the backdrop of Rajasthan's vast open spaces . Anderson's love of strange and beautiful objects is very much at home in the colorful, busy aesthetic of India; but the movie's most arresting visuals come in the form of barren desert and mountain landscapes. – J.S.

Into the Wild (2007)

The true story of Christopher "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless's disappearance and demise in the Alaskan wilderness can be viewed as poetic or moronic, depending who you talk to. But there's no denying the essential sense of beauty and desolation in Sean Penn's filmic take on the story. As McCandless, Emile Hirsch rides the rails, kayaks the Colorado River, summits snowy peaks, races into the Pacific, and embodies a classically American vision of unchecked wanderlust—exuberant, unstoppable, and foolish. – J.S.

In Bruges (2008)

"Maybe that's what hell is: The entire rest of eternity spent in effin' Bruges ." Cinema has given us few vacationers as reluctant as Ray (Colin Farrell), an Irish hit man lying low in Belgium's most picturesque city. With its gentle, touristy beauty, the medieval town makes an unlikely setting for Martin McDonagh's darkly comic tale of mob justice—which, of course, only makes it funnier. – J.S.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Woody Allen movies usually pay homage to New York City, but he switched geographical gears for 2008’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona . The film shows the adventures and subsequent love affairs of two young women visiting Barcelona , and the city ends up becoming a character itself. As you see all of the gorgeous architecture and landscapes through these tourists’ eyes, you’ll want to hop on a plane and listen to acoustic Spanish guitar immediately. – C.M.

Up might have been rendered as a digital “cartoon” in the vein of Toy Story , but it’s anything but a kid's film. A heart-wrenching tale of love and loss, the film follows septuagenarian Carl (voiced to crotchety perfection by Ed Asner) and his young friend, Russell, as they travel to South America together in Carl’s house-turned-dirigible (we’ll leave it up to your imagination). Up is one of those rare travel films that makes you realize that you’re just floating on like everybody else is on this giant, blue orb called Earth, with nothing holding you down except maybe a little gravity. Have a box of tissues handy. – W.L.

Up in the Air (2009)

George Clooney stars as Ryan, a “downsizing expert” (i.e., companies hire him to fly all across the country to inform strangers they’ve lost their job) who loves life on the road. An obsessive frequent flyer, he’s also about to reach his goal of getting a million miles. The arrival of a young upstart Natalie (Anna Kendrick) who wants to downsize via video conferencing—possibly eliminating their need to travel—sets the two on the road, for him to mentor her. He also meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), a woman equally in love with her transient life, and the two begin meeting up when their schedules overlap. Natalie’s growing disillusionment with the business they’re in, along with Ryan’s deepening relationship with Alex, begin to challenge his cherished way of life, and make him question what that collection of miles is really worth. – C.Q.

Away We Go (2009)

A few months before their baby is due, Verona (Maya Rudolph) and Burt (John Krasinski) decide to take a road trip to find the perfect location to raise their family. Their journey takes them from Phoenix and Tucson to Madison and Montreal , a city that has never seemed more friendly or inviting. The movie is a wonderful tour of North America’s cities, as well as a touching tribute to love and family. – C.M.

The Trip (2010)

Not quite a buddy comedy—you get the sense that the characters played by British comedians Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan may not even like each other very much—this meandering 2010 film is hilarious nevertheless. Brydon and Coogan road-trip through England to dine in fancy restaurants, all the while one-upping each other’s jokes and pondering the meaning of life, death, and relationships. Come for the beautiful shots of the English countryside , but stay for the goofy jokes—particularly the brilliant bit riffing on Michael Caine and Sean Connery impressions. – A.P.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Gil Pender, played by Owen Wilson, is a wide-eyed screenwriter and aspiring novelist on a trip to Paris with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams). Like many tourists in the City of Light, he retraces the steps of Parisian creatives past, drinking coffee (and absinthe) in the same places they once did—until, late one night, a car of these very icons appears, sweeping him back in time to an evening of revelry among the literati of the 1920s. Sure it's time travel, but past or present, Paris always enchants. – M.S.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

Facing widowhood, and the realities of aging, a handful of Brits decide to flip retirement on its head. Rather than succumb to creaking stairlifts and hospital-grade linens that come with retirement at home, they follow advertisements for the Marigold Hotel in Jaipur, India , which promises grandiose accommodations at a bargain—and an exhilarating second act. Cue tangled love stories, easy laughs, and endearing fish-out-of-water moments delivered by a crowd-pleasing ensemble cast (including Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, and Bill Nighy), who prove how deeply travel can stir us, at any age. – M.S.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Walter Mitty is the visual embodiment of "wanderlust," following a daydreaming, work-laden Life magazine employee (played by Ben Stiller) as he embarks on a journey his own imagination couldn't have conjured. Looking for one lost, cover-worthy photo slide from renowned photojournalist Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), Mitty heads from the streets of Manhattan to Greenland to Iceland and even to the Himalayas. It's a stunning, fantastical movie that'll get even an armchair traveler up to the passport office. – M.C.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Of all the fictional hotels in the cinematic world, none come close to rivaling the top-notch service of the Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson's hyper-stylized confection. Complete with a world-class dining room and pink façade, the hotel owes much of its success to Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), the most dedicated concierge of all time. Whether he’s fighting off murderous armies or providing, er, "company" to the older female guests, it becomes immediately clear that Gustave would truly do anything for his beloved GBH. – C.M.

Tracks (2014)

Standing in for real-life writer Robyn Davidson, Mia Wasikowska travels across the breathtaking landscape of Western Australia with only four camels and a beloved dog for company. Her occasional human visitors include a photographer for National Geographic (Adam Driver), an indigenous Australian elder named Mr. Eddy who guides her through sacred lands, and various tourists who come to gawk at the so-called Camel Lady. Davidson’s solo trip was beyond the pale for a woman in the '70s, but it's still incredibly inspiring today. We'll just leave the camel-training to someone else. – J.M.

Wild (2014)

Reese Witherspoon donned a pair of ill-fitting hiking boots and a giant backpack for her role as Cheryl Strayed , a writer who trekked 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail after the devastating loss of her mother. (The film is based on Strayed’s best-selling 2012 book of the same name.) Strayed crosses the dusty Mojave, crazy forests, snowy fields, and muddy trails, losing toenails but gaining mental clarity—or at least self-acceptance—along the way. – J.M.

Spectre (2015)

Art imitates life, but this time it was the other way around. The 26th James Bond movie's intro scene follows Daniel Craig through a Mexico City Dia de los Muertos parade that didn't actually exist until enough tourists showed up that the city decided to create one in the movie's image . As in most Bond movies, the plot crosses a multitude of borders, from Austria to Italy to Morocco, as the MI6 agent fights the global criminal organization Spectre and a perfectly villainous Christoph Waltz. – M.C.

Carol (2015)

A forbidden 1950s love affair between shop girl and photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) and soon-to-be divorcee Carol (Cate Blanchett) grows stronger on a winding road trip, that takes the couple from New York City through Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa, before reality catches up. The Oscar and Golden Globe nominee is a great period piece as well as a love letter to road trips. – M.C.

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Consider Luca Guadagnino's Call Be By Your Name a starter guide to the Italian countryside life (specifically in Bergamo, and greater Lombardy) you've always wanted: Riding bikes through hundred-year-old piazzas, fossil-diving in Lake Garda, and waking up to a breakfast of soft-boiled eggs and freshly picked peaches. – Rachel Coleman

Roma (2018)

Another Mexico-based film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Netflix’s Roma follows the story of Cleo, an indigenous woman working as a maid in 1970s Mexico City (Cuarón hometown). The sweeping black-and-white masterpiece provides glimpses of CMDX's Colonia Roma neighborhood, complete with shuttered house-fronts and laundry fluttering on clothes lines across the rooftops. While Colonia Roma is a tad more gentrified today (think lots of coffee shops and Airbnb properties ), Cuarón's film perfectly captures the neighborhood he grew up in some 50 years ago. – C.M.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of Rachel Chu, a Chinese-American professor who travels to Singapore to meet her fiancé's wealthy family. The world of Singapore's old-money elite is filled with yacht parties and royal weddings, but between all that extravagance, Rachel—and viewers—get glimpses of the city's greatest hits: Gardens by the Bay , the infinity pool of Marina Bay Sands , Chinatown's pastel-colored shophouses, and allll the hawker center street food . If you saw the movie and immediately started researching your next trip to Singapore, you're not alone: Orbitz reportedly saw a 20% spike in inquiries to the city in the week following the movie's premiere. Now if only we could figure out how to spend the night in the Young family mansion... – C.M.

Midsommar (2019)

Midsommar was easily one of the most discomforting movies of 2019. But two things shone beautifully through all the creepy cult rituals: Florence Pugh’s performance, and the sunny countryside of Sweden. (Most scenes of the Hårga village were actually filmed just outside of Budapest, but the filmmakers definitely tricked us into wanting to visit Sweden in June.) Scandinavia’s famous midnight sun was used as a tool to warp time and unsettle viewers, but it sure did shed some serious light on northern Sweden’s decorated farmhouses, verdant meadows, and coniferous forests. Just stay away from the mushroom tea, and you’ll be fine. – C.M.

The Farewell (2019)

Golden Globe award–winning Awkwafina stars in this movie about the Chinese-American experience, the power of family, and the importance of levity in the face of grief. The movie follows Billi (played by Awkwafina) as she heads from her home in New York City to visit her grandmother and extended family in Changchun, in northeast China. Visiting under the guise of a wedding—and the reality of a secret cancer diagnosis for her grandmother, Nai Nai—Billi struggles to adjust to mainland Chinese life, and the reality that her grandmother may not always be around. It's absolutely a tear jerker. But it's also funny, sweet, and ultimately heart-warming, with the lives of first-generation Americans and daily life in China taking center stage. –M.C.  

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019)

Quentin Tarantino’s films tend to focus more on plot and character development than setting, but the director still knows how to incorporate location into his complex storylines. (I’d lie if I said the Kill Bill movies didn’t make me want to visit Japan even more than I already did.) The best example of this technique can be seen in his latest movie, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood . Rather than relying on mood and language alone, Tarantino uses slow pans across Hollywood Boulevard and backdrops of recognizable sites like Westwood Village to give us a (slightly fantastical) sense of Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Many scenes were filmed in still-standing bars in restaurants , in case you want to recreate some of the less murder-y storylines for yourself. – C.M.

By signing up you agree to our User Agreement (including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions ), our Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement and to receive marketing and account-related emails from Traveller. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The 35 Best Time Travel Movies

Ready for 1.21 gigawatts of sci-fi greatness?

These are the 35 best sci-fi films that explore the fluidity of time.

🤯 You love mind-bending science. So do we. Let’s nerd out over it together.

35. Timecop

Jean-Claude Van Damme is a cop who polices time. Don’t need to say more, but I guess I will. In 1994, time travel becomes a favorite pastime of criminals, and timecops like Van Damme must catch any chronal abusers and bring them to justice. As is often the case, Van Damme’s own time-muckery with the past creates different and divergent timelines that not even Doc Brown’s chalkboard could work out. But Timecop isn’t exactly a film that’s going for narrative clarity here.

34. The Final Countdown / The Philadelphia Experiment

Although most people would file this film under “flop,” The Final Countdown contains such an amazing premise it has to be recognized. The crew of the U.S.S. Nimitz enters a storm vortex and is transported to Pearl Harbor in 1941, turning a favorite imaginary war-game scenario into real life. Although the actual film elements aren’t necessarily memorable, it does give us an incredibly good look at the Nimitz (the film was shot on the actual carrier).

We tossed in The Philadelphia Experiment at the same spot, since it’s essentially the reverse of The Final Countdown .

33. Men in Black 3

By the time director Barry Sonnenfeld directed Men in Black 3 in 2012, the franchise was 15 years removed from its fun and campy original, and Men in Black 2 had sucked out much of the charm. That’s why MiB 3 , despite its faults, is still a surprising underdog of a film.

Agent J (Will Smith) goes back in time to stop an alien from mucking up the past and killing Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones/Josh Brolin). The film recaptures much of the original’s fun, and Josh Brolin’s portrayal of a young Tommy Lee Jones playing Agent K is simply awe-inspiring. Honestly, that acting work alone earns this spot for MiB 3.

32. Flight of the Navigator

Sort of like E.T. , but with time travel. What Flight of the Navigator lacks in a substantial plot, it more than makes up for in charm.

David Scott Freeman falls into a ravine and is knocked unconscious—for eight years. Although he doesn’t age, everyone he knows does, and he soon finds he’s part of something much larger. It’s a fun film that will never outshine any Spielberg classics, but its campiness is too genuine to ignore.

31. Time After Time

H.G. Wells, Jack the Ripper, and time travel ... that’s it . Just click the arrow.

30. Timecrimes

A film with perhaps the lowest budget on this list, Timecrimes is a Spanish-language movie that follows a typical time travel trope (many copies of one person causing major problems) but creates 92 minutes of truly enjoyable cinema. The fun moments of Timecrimes are the reveal after reveal after reveal, which snowballs into a fascinating plot.

29. Source Code

Source Code is like Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow with a twist. Instead of going back in time as himself, Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) enters the body of someone else as he tries to stop a mass murder attempt. What the film lacks in depth, it more than makes up for in pulse-pumping action, and the premise itself is a refreshing take on the usual time travel idea.

It will likely never be considered an example of high science fiction, but as far as time travel goes, it gets good grades.

28. Donnie Darko

Perfect amounts creepy and perplexing, Donnie Darko is another strange example of time travel, which is why it belongs on this list all the more. Darko (Gyllenhaal again) is a high school kid with a less-than-sunny disposition. But when he begins seeing frightening hallucinations of a deranged and grotesque rabbit, things slowly begin to unravel, going from bad to weird pretty quickly.

For such a small-budget film (that was almost released straight to home video!) it’s made an outsized impact on science fiction and indie filmmaking. It’s a great movie, but also a polarizing one.

27. Safety Not Guaranteed

Director Colin Trevorrow’s debut film Safety Not Guaranteed follows three journalists—well, one journalist and two interns—on a road trip to meet the eccentric Kenneth (Mark Duplass), who placed an ad in a local newspaper looking for a time-travel companion. Although at its heart a romantic comedy, the film explores human perception of time and the indelible regrets, traumas, and even fantasies that fill our memories. Although the idea of actual time travel plays a significant role in the film, it’s used mostly as a symbol to analyze the importance of being present and always looking with hope toward the future.

26. X-Men: Days of Future Past

Smashing together the old X-Men guard with the new is what makes X-Men: Days of Future Past one of the more successful cinematic outings for the mutant team.

In the film, Kitty Pryde sends Wolverine back through time to stop apocalyptic events from unfolding. Maybe that’s not the most original plot, but it’s one that’s too fun to resist (if only for the Quicksilver scene alone ).

25. Predestination

Based on Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi short story “All You Zombies,” Predestination is a head trip, like any proper time travel film should be. With a strong performance from Ethan Hawke and a script that will keep you guessing, the film is one of the more solid time travel entries in recent years and is a film that garners a rewatch so you can catch every detail.

24. Star Trek: First Contact

The Next Generation ’s big screen outings are a mixed bag, to put it nicely, but the best film by far is the time-bending Star Trek: First Contact . Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise-E travel to the past to prevent the cybernetic Borg from mucking with Earth’s history. It’s a good film all by itself, but even more excellent if you’re an invested Star Trek fan. We get to see huge, never-before-seen moments in the Star Trek universe, like humanity’s first encounter with the Vulcans, and the Borg are just an excellent adversary.

23. Army of Darkness

“Shop Smart. Shop, S-Mart.”

Depending on who you ask, Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness is either the best sequel to any film ever, or the worst—there isn’t much room in between. The chainsaw-toting Ashley “Ash” Williams is tossed back to medieval times where he must fight off a horde of undead monstrosities with only his ingenuity and his “boom stick.”

Even though it’s slapstick comedy with wonderfully B-movie action sequences, it remains an absolute joy to watch.

22. Doctor Strange

In this Marvel sleeper hit , Stephen Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) becomes the Sorcerer Supreme, and in typical Marvel fashion, is tasked with saving the world. Although the visuals alone are worthing giving this movie a shot, its manipulation of time as a superpower rather than a world-altering plot device is what sets it apart from the rest.

21. Sleeper

Although not technically time travel (long stretches of cryo-sleep instead), Sleeper is Woody Allen’s sci-fi comedy that’s absurd, hilarious, and strangely poignant. Miles Monroe is a jazz musician and health-food-store owner who wakes up in the 22nd century after a botched gall bladder operation. The world is, as you’d expect, quite different, and Monroe is a hilarious character to explore it with.

Tenet is an “A for effort” addition to this list. The film has all the trappings of a Christopher Nolan flick—stunning cinematography, a star-studded cast, head-scratching plot points, etc., etc. And Tenet does take time travel movies one step further with the introduction of time inversion, the idea that objects and people can travel into the past at the same temporal pace that they can travel into the future. Although a fascinating concept, it’s also a confusing one, which is why Nolan spends much of the film’s 150-minute runtime explaining what’s going on. Tenet is a fascinating time travel story though ultimately one a bit lost in its own exposition.

19. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

This 2006 award-winning anime is a coming-of-age time travel story that even rivals Back to the Future . After schoolgirl Mokoto Konno discovers a time travel device that gives her the power to leap through time, she uses her new gifts for mundane high school stuff, passing tests, avoiding awkward conversations, and to address her chronic lateness.

When she learns what her time traveling does to others around her, and as the seriousness of her time jumping becomes more apparent, the film blossoms into an important story about loss and friendship.

Crime noir meets science fiction in Rian Johnson’s Looper , and the match is magical. In a future where time travel is invented and immediately made illegal, crime syndicates use the technology for time-hopping assassinations. But to tie off some temporal inconsistencies, the assassin must eventually become the target—and that’s where things get interesting. This isn’t flawless sci-fi, but it’s certainly inventive.

17. Run Lola Run

On its surface, the German film Run Lola Run is about a blazingly red-headed woman running through the streets of Berlin in an attempt to save her boyfriend’s life. However, the twist is that once Lola reaches a dead-end (sometimes literally) in one of her runs, the film starts over from the beginning and Lola runs through Berlin once again, only this time small changes in her path create largely divergent outcomes by the film’s end. Although time is more of a thematic device than a strictly plot-driven one in Run Lola Run, its ruminations on time and the exploration of the Butterfly Effect , the idea that small incidents can have lasting repercussions, makes Run Lola Run one of the most unique films on this list.

16. Avengers: Endgame

What happens when the big purple monster man annihilates half the population? Time travel, baby. Tony Stark and gang concoct a convoluted plan that’ll save the universe from being cleaved in two, including some very inventive scenes that play with time travel. Like most time travel plots, Endgame creates more questions than it answers, but it’s best to just sit back and enjoy.

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough. 

.css-cuqpxl:before{padding-right:0.3125rem;content:'//';display:inline;} Movie Reviews .css-xtujxj:before{padding-left:0.3125rem;content:'//';display:inline;}

The Best Documentaries to Stream on Netflix

The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now

All the Sci-Fi Movies You Need to See in 2019

The 40 Best Sci-Fi Scenes

'Annihilation' Is a Sci-Fi Slog That's Worth It

'Mute,' Netflix, and the Future of SciFi Streaming

'Black Panther' Is a Marvel Film Unlike Any Other

'Valerian' Stumbles Into an Amazing Sci-Fi World

'Mad Max: Fury Road' Is Pure, Ridiculous Mutant Car Fun

A 9-Year-Old Reviews 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'

The Fast and the Furious, Cuban Style

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes
• Culture + Design
• TV + Movies

34 Movies That Will Make You Want to Get Off the Couch and See the World

From "The Holiday" to "Romancing the Stone" to "Eat Pray Love," these travel movies will inspire some serious wanderlust.

There's nothing like an epic on-screen adventure to get you acquainted with some place new and dreaming up an enviable vacation itinerary. For me (and basically all my childhood friends), this first happened following a viewing of Disney's "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" back in 2003, when Hilary Duff's character traveled to Rome to live out every teen's parent-free European fantasy. Though I've graduated to more mature travel movies over the last 18 years, one thing hasn't changed: films with gorgeous backdrops give me an unruly case of wanderlust.

From classics like "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Roman Holiday" to modern masterpieces such as "Wild" and "Crazy Rich Asians," travel films tend to ignite a longing for freedom and excitement. Maybe it's the sight of beaches on your screen triggering a phenomenon known as Blue Mind , or maybe watching a couple of pals take to the open road for a life changing road trip just makes you want to feel unconfined. Whatever it is, sometimes a travel film is all you need to provoke that feeling. That's why we've rounded up, in no particular order, 34 of the best travel movies that inspire wanderlust. Maybe they'll be cause for a change of scenery — or maybe they'll incite the adventure of a lifetime.

'Thelma & Louise' (1991)

Widely regarded as one of the best road trip movies of all time, this buddy film follows best friends Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) as they drive through the American Southwest after Louise kills a man in Arkansas.

'The Holiday' (2006)

A Hollywood movie trailer producer (Cameron Diaz) and a London reporter (Kate Winslet) decide to switch homes for a few weeks after finding out their respective boyfriends have been cheating on them. The results offer enough glamor shots of Los Angeles and cozy footage of England's countryside to make you want to pack up and head to either city immediately.

'Crazy Rich Asians' (2018)

Though this movie revolves around the conflict between New Yorker Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) and her boyfriend's wealthy family, "Crazy Rich Asians" could pass as a tourism film for Singapore . If the Southeast Asian country wasn't on your bucket list before, this film's dazzling shots of Singapore, specifically the acclaimed Marina Bay Sands Hotel , may convince you.

'Wild' (2014)

Based on a true story, "Wild" sees Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) hike more than a thousand miles from California to Washington on the Pacific Crest Trail following her divorce and the death of her mother. On her journey, Cheryl treks through the Mojave Desert , the Sierra Nevada, and Mount Hood National Forest while reflecting on her life.

'Eat Pray Love' (2010)

After her divorce, Elizabeth (Julia Roberts) sets off to explore the world with hopes of finding herself in the process. Elizabeth's inspiring and uplifting journey takes her — and viewers — to Italy , India , and Indonesia where she discovers the pleasure of nourishment, prayer, and romance.

'La La Land' (2016)

Admittedly, this musical doesn't feature much traveling (save for a brief road trip to Mia's hometown in Nevada), but the dreamy, oversaturated shots of Los Angeles in nearly every scene are enough to make anyone want to book a flight to the City of Angels.

'Before Sunrise' (1995)

Two strangers meet aboard a train from Budapest. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is hoping to catch a flight home to the United States while Céline (Julie Delpy) is en route to Paris . Instead of sticking to their plans, the two disembark in Vienna and spend the entire night exploring the city and falling in love. A viewing of this movie will leave you longing for an epic adventure in the picturesque Austrian capital .

'National Lampoon’s Vacation' (1983)

National Lampoon 's classic comedy series is now six films strong, but it was 1983's "Vacation" that started it all. Unlike the franchise's most famous film, "Christmas Vacation," the original movie sees the Griswolds actually hit the road for a trip to Walley World, an amusement park several states away. After you watch Chevy Chase's hilarious hijinks unfold in this film, let sequels "European Vacation" and "Vegas Vacation" inspire further travels.

'The Darjeeling Limited' (2007)

After the death of their father, three estranged brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman) decide to hop aboard a train in India called The Darjeeling Limited to reconnect and experience spiritual self-discovery. Viewers catch glimpses of the Indian countryside, Hindu temples, and eventually the Himalayas — but not without a few jokes along the way.

'Up' (2009)

Arguably the most heart-wrenching animated film of all time, "Up" earns a spot on our list thanks to adorably grumpy widower Carl Fredricksen's determination to fulfill his own wanderlust. With the help of thousands of balloons and a young sidekick named Russell, Carl and his house soar across the world on an incredible journey that culminates at Paradise Falls (based on Angel Falls in Venezuela).

'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981)

"Raiders" kicks off the iconic Indiana Jones series with a quest to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant. On his journey, Indy (Harrison Ford) makes stops in Nepal , Egypt , and the Aegean Sea , and, of course, famously runs from a giant rolling boulder in a temple in Peru . Follow up this film with its sequels, "Temple of Doom" (1984), "Last Crusade" (1989), and "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008), to see Indy travel to Jordan , the Amazon jungle, and beyond.

'Mamma Mia!' (2008)

Few movies offer the kind of gorgeously colorful beach imagery "Mamma Mia!" and its 2018 sequel, "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" provide. If you haven't seen the films, you likely know them as "the movies with all the ABBA songs." But if you have seen them, you know they're actually about three men who travel to the impossibly beautiful, albeit fictional, Greek island of Kalokairi, each believing they're the father of a young bride-to-be.

'Nomadland' (2020)

After losing her job in the town of Empire, Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) decides to sell her belongings, buy a van, and drive across the country working odd jobs. Fern travels through deserts, small towns, and nomad communes where she works, makes new friends, and learns about life. If you've ever fantasized about dropping everything and taking to the open road, "Nomadland" will probably either convince or deter you.

'Romancing the Stone' (1984)

When New York City-based romance novelist Joan Wilder's sister is kidnapped in Cartagena , Joan (Kathleen Turner) ends up on a rescue-mission-turned-treasure-hunt with adventure-seeking Jack T. Colton (Michael Douglas). Don't be surprised if a viewing of this movie makes you want to trade in your annual beach vacation for a wild ride through the Colombian jungle .

'Paris, Je T’aime' (2006)

Paris, Je T'aime is different from the other films on this list in that it's not one film — it's 18 short films that all feature Paris as a central theme. Because the project is made up of 18 different stories in 18 different arrondissements around the city, viewers get a true, unfiltered sense of Paris, and may even find themselves inspired to visit lesser-known locales in the City of Light.

'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' (1994)

If you've ever longed to take a laughter-fueled road trip with your best friends, this film is worth a watch. In the flick, pals Tick (Hugo Weaving), Adam (Guy Pearce), and Bernadette (Terence Stamp) head out on a cross-country road trip through the Australian outback to perform their successful drag act in a new town. The trio takes up residence in an oversized tour bus called Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in this fun, ahead-of-its-time dramedy.

'RV' (2006)

While plenty of road trip movies have been made over the years, "RV" might be the only one that takes place in, well, an RV . Though the main characters in this movie face more bad luck than fun, family bonding, the film does feature generous desert , mountain , and wilderness scenery, as well as an all-star cast (Robin Williams, Kristin Chenoweth, Cheryl Hines, and Josh Hutcherson are just a few that appear).

'Point Break' (2015)

Yes, we're talking about the "Point Break" remake rather than the original film from 1991, but hear us out: the imagery in this movie inspires some serious wanderlust. The story takes viewers to several of the wildest places on Earth (Mexico's Cave of Swallows, Venezuela's Angel Falls, etc.) and though the plot is slightly different from the original (think eco-terrorism rather than bank robberies), it is quiet possibly the most visually stimulating travel movie ever made.

'Girls Trip' (2017)

When was the last time you took a trip with just your core group of girlfriends? A quick watch of this comedy will have you planning your next gal pal getaway faster than you can say "PTO." In the film, a group of friends (Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish, Regina Hall, and Jada Pinkett Smith) head to New Orleans , but you'll be ready to travel anywhere with your best buds after watching "Girls Trip" — even if it's just to the next town over.

'The Way' (2010)

After his son is killed walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route to Galicia, Spain, Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) sets out on the trail himself to retrieve his son's body. Along the way, Tom meets several other travelers who are walking the trail in hopes of changing their own lives for one reason or another. This inspiring film may just persuade you to make the famed pilgrimage yourself, or to book a similarly reflective trip.

'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' (2005)

If you were a teen or pre-teen in 2005, you have likely seen this movie and its 2008 sequel, and can attest that both inspire major wanderlust. The first film follows best friends Carmen, Lena, Bridget, and Tibby (who share a magical pair of jeans that fits them all perfectly) as they spend a summer in different parts of the world. Lena (Alexis Bledel) travels to Santorini, Greece , which makes for some seriously dreamy backdrops. In the sequel, the whole gang heads to Greece, but not before Bridget (Blake Lively) spends some time in Turkey .

'Up in the Air' (2009)

This George Clooney-led comedy-drama makes business travel and airports look glamorous — hospitable, even. Boasting just as many cityscape shots as it does plane scenes, "Up in the Air" will have you longing to be in the skies, jet setting off to some place new. Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga also star in this critically-acclaimed film about a man who lives out of a suitcase.

'Around the World in 80 Days' (1956)

If this classic adventure film doesn't inspire daydreams of traveling somewhere new, we're not sure what will. In 1872, Englishman Phileas Fogg makes a bet with several members of his gentleman's club that he can travel around the globe in just 80 days. On his journey, he and sidekick Jean Passepartout bring viewers along as they travel by gas balloon to France , Spain , Italy , India, Hong Kong , the United States , and more.

'Home Alone 2: Lost in New York' (1992)

The Home Alone movies usually fall under the comedy or holiday categories, but if you think about it, the second installment in the series is totally a travel movie. The film does a fantastic job of showing off the glamorous side of New York City , the place young Kevin McCallister accidentally ends up while the rest of his family vacations in Florida. From shots of the Rockefeller Christmas tree to the Manhattan skyline , this film is sure to inspire a trip to the Big Apple.

'Under the Tuscan Sun' (2003)

You won't find shots of northern Italy as serene as the ones in this feel-good film about independence, love, and friendship. After losing everything in her divorce, American writer Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) suddenly finds herself beginning a new life in the small Tuscan town of Cortona. And if you're anything like us, Googling "Tuscan villas for sale" will become a regular part of your life after watching this film.

'Angels & Demons' (2009)

Though "Angels & Demons" is classified as a thriller, it'll definitely make you want to head to Rome and dig up some history, both figuratively and literally. Based on the Dan Brown novel of the same name, the story follows Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) as he discovers secrets of the Vatican and faces off against the supposed Illuminati. If you're a fan, check out other Dan Brown adventure travel films, "The Da Vinci Code" (2006) and "Inferno" (2016).

'Easy Rider' (1969)

Our list features travel by plane, train , RV, and even hot air balloon , but "Easy Rider" is the only movie that follows a journey via motorcycle. In the film, drug smugglers Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) ride from Los Angeles to New Orleans in hopes of reveling at Mardi Gras to celebrate their latest score. On their journey, they stop in several small towns, make a few friends, and unsuccessfully try to evade trouble.

'Out of Africa' (1985)

If Africa doesn't currently have a spot on your bucket list, this film might make you rethink that. Meryl Streep and Robert Redford star in this true story about Karen Blixen, a Danish woman who moves to Nairobi with her new husband, and builds a life there despite their many marital issues. "Out of Africa" features sweeping panoramic shots of Nairobi in nearly every scene, leaving it no wonder the drama won seven Academy Awards, including one for Best Cinematography.

'Johnson Family Vacation' (2004)

This family comedy starring Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, and Solange Knowles follows the mildly dysfunctional Johnsons as they road trip to their family reunion in Missouri. On the drive, the family hilariously encounters just about every road trip cliché, from picking up a problematic hitchhiker to running out of gas, before making it to the reunion and performing a musical number to nab the coveted Family of the Year trophy.

'Midnight in Paris' (2011)

Set in present-day Paris , this Oscar-winning film is typically a favorite among art and literature lovers. At midnight each night, screenwriter Gil (Owen Wilson) is transported back in time through different eras of Paris, where he befriends Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pablo Picasso, and even strikes up a romance with a 1920s woman named Adriana. The film offers plenty of inspiration for a culturally rich trip to France.

'The Parent Trap' (1998)

"The Parent Trap" is another film that may not immediately stand out as a travel flick, but once you take into account the film's many settings ( London , San Francisco, Napa Valley , and the northeastern U.S.), it's easy to see that this family classic has been a travel film all along. Plus, the main characters spend lots of time on planes, boats, and camping trips throughout the movie.

'The Talented Mr. Ripley' (1999)

Carefully spliced between disturbing revelations and suspenseful plot twists are luxurious shots of Italian beaches in this Matt Damon-led film. When Tom Ripley (Damon) is paid to travel to Italy and bring Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) back to the States by Dickie's father, Tom ends up befriending — and later becoming obsessed with — Dickie. Despite the plot quickly darkening, viewers are treated to bright, colorful scenes in Rome and glamorous seaside villages .

'Roman Holiday' (1953)

Romance? Check. Stunning visuals of Rome ? Check. Audrey Hepburn? Check. This classic travel comedy lands at the top of many movie buffs' all-time favorite lists, and for good reason. Bored with her mundane life as a European princess while on a trip to Rome, Ann (Hepburn) ditches her duties and hits the town with journalist Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck). The two take viewers on a tour of the Eternal City and fall in love in the process.

'Pee-wee’s Big Adventure' (1985)

Before you roll your eyes, take a moment to acknowledge that this film essentially sends happy-go-lucky Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens) on the great American road trip in search of his stolen bicycle. In this comedy for adults and children alike, Pee-wee stops at the Alamo, the Cabazon Dinosaur park in California , and Hollywood . Traveling by car, truck, and train, Pee-wee befriends a biker gang, competes in a rodeo, and of course, famously dances to "Tequila" before his journey is through.

Hillary Maglin is a digital editor who splits most of her time between New York City and Pittsburgh. You can find her on Instagram @hillarymaglin , where her DMs are always open to discuss travel gear, wine bars, and Taylor Swift's latest record.

Related Articles

Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

Travel Better, Cheaper, Longer

My (Current) Ultimate List of Travel Movies

Way back in 2008, I created a list of ten of the best travel movies ever. It was a great list. But 2008 was a long time ago. Since I watch a lot of movies on flights and there have been many wonderful and breathtaking travel movies made since then, watching The Way a few days ago made me realize that we’re long overdue for a list of my all-time favorite best travel movies that will inspire you to get off the couch, pack your bag, and head to unknown lands:  

1. Lost in Translation

2. Whale Rider

3. Lord of the Rings

4. Into the Wild

5. In Bruges

6. Under the Tuscan Sun

7. Nowhere in Africa

8. Crocodile Dundee

9. Up in the Air

10. The Beach

11. The Motorcycle Diaries

12. Any Indiana Jones

13. Thelma and Louise

14. Lawrence of Arabia

15. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

16. A Good Year

17. Eurotrip

18. Seven Years in Tibet

19. The Darjeeling Limited

20. Midnight in Paris

21. Monsoon Wedding

22. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

23. The Way

24. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

25. Y Tu Mama También

27. Before Sunrise

28. A Map for Saturday

30. Roman Holiday

31. Queen of Katwe

32. Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• SafetyWing (best for everyone)
• Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)
• Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.  

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

Related Posts

Get my best stuff sent straight to you!

Pin it on pinterest.

25 of the Best Time Travel Movies Ever Made

These films will have you flying through the years, decades and dimensions—and ready to do it over and over again.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

From star-crossed lovers to harrowing action sequences, the plots to these films didn't stay in one dimension.

Back to the Future

What is a list of time travel classics a without a nod to Marty McFly and his friend Doc Brown from the 1980's classic, Back to the Future ? Although the second and third movie are equally as entertaining– it's hard to beat the original.

Somewhere in Time

Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour play the ultimate time-crossed lovers in this romantic drama that will have you rooting for time to be by their side.

The Lake House

Settle in for a mystifying romance and watch the relationship between the characters of Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves unfold — all while they are communicating with each other separated by two years of time.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Every marriage requires work, but when your husband has a condition that causes him to involuntarily time travel– your issues are outside the normal scope of relationship stressors. The romantic drama starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana follows a newlywed couple through the trials and tribulations of their unusual relationship.

Palm Springs

When carefree Nyles (Andy Samberg) and reluctant maid of honor Sarah (Cristin Milioti) have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, the two get stuck in a time loop that they can't escape.

Kate & Leopold

A 19th-century bachelor (Hugh Jackman) falls through time and meets a 21st-century woman (Meg Ryan). What more could you want in a time travel movie, honestly?!

Time After Time

No, not the Cyndi Lauper song: this is a time travel movie where H.G. Wells (Malcom McDowell) chases Jack the Ripper (David Warner) through time, and they end up in... 1979 San Francisco! When there, Wells falls for a bank clerk named Amy (Mary Steenburgen). There's a bit of everything: Romance, action, adventure, and obviously, time travel.

Source Code

When Jake Gyllenhaal finds himself inside the body of a man he doesn't know, he quickly figures out there's an important reason for why he's been sent back in time. The film's plot twists as well as the climax of his pressure-filled mission makes for incredible action and drama.

Donnie Darko

A cult classic ever since it's release in 2001, Donnie Darko takes a dark twist on teenage time travel.

Interstellar

Interstellar left audiences perplexed, bewildered, and all around baffled as it's characters journey through a wormhole in space.

Groundhog Day

Ever used the term groundhog day to describe a never-ending day? Well you can thank the 1993 film for that! Comedian Bill Murray stars as a weatherman who finds himself trapped reliving the same day over and over again.

In Loop , actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt star in the marvelous film that combines the the best traits of a mob drama with the intrigue of the space-time continuum.

13 Going on 30

As a thirteen-year old in the 1980's, all Jenna Rink wants is to skip over her teenage years and live as a sophisticated and self-assured 30 year old (who didn't want that?). But when she gets exactly what she's dreamed of, she realizes it's not everything she though it'd be. In a film which imbues the message "enjoy the journey not the destination" cliche, Jennifer Garner does an amazing job of keeping the role refreshing and sweet.

Predestination

The intertemporal plots of the film Predestination along with actor Ethan Hawke's marvelous performance will leave you wanting to view it over and over again.

The Family Man

Although the film Family Man is more about an alternate universe than actual time travel, watching Nicolas Cage portray an investment banking bachelor who gets thrust into the life of a suburban dad to teach him what really matters in life is just too good not to recommend it.

Doctor Strange

Marvel dips its toe into the world of time travel with the release of Doctor Strange, the story of a neurosurgeon who introduces the audiences to an entire world of alternate dimensions.

Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow takes the winning concept behind Groundhog Day and combines it with an action-fueled adventure starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

The film was met with mixed reviews from critics, however the plot's time travel complexities are extremely well done and will satisfy any sci-fi lover.

What would you do if you could go back in time and re-do any moment? We're sure you'd change a few corny pick-up lines, awkward conversations, and coulda-woulda-shoulda moments and that's exactly what you'll find in this romantic comedy meets fantasy drama.

The Adjustment Bureau

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt will captivate you as they protect their love from a mysterious group that is aiming to tear them apart.

@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-transform:scale(-1, 1);-moz-transform:scale(-1, 1);-ms-transform:scale(-1, 1);transform:scale(-1, 1);background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-1jdielu:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}} Best Movies @media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-128xfoy:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}}

Red, White & Royal Blue Sequel Is in the Works

Firebrand: See Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr

Tashi Duncan Style Guide

How 'The Idea of You' Created Solène's Art Gallery

When Is 'The Idea of You' Streaming?

Everything We Know About Kevin Costner's Horizon

20 Best Tennis Movies

Is 'Challengers' Based on a True Story?

Zendaya's "I Told Ya" Shirt from Challengers

When Is 'Challengers' Streaming?

Zendaya's Best 'Challengers' Press Tour Fashion

The 20 best time-travel movies – ranked!

As Adam Driver accidentally winds up 65m years ago , facing not just dinosaurs but an asteroid, we count down the best films about going backwards, or forwards, through the ages

20. Timecop (1994)

Regardless of what anyone says, I believe in my heart that Timecop was greenlit because someone showed a studio executive a picture of Jean-Claude Van Damme and said the word “Timecop” out loud, at which point they had to throw a script together as quickly as possible. Nothing about Timecop makes sense. It is the most 90s film ever made.

19. Tenet (2020)

I have to be careful here, because Tenet might not be a time-travel movie. Certainly time passes in it and some of the people are going backwards in time in it. But I’ve seen this movie twice now, and it mainly just seems to be about people mumbling everything, except for Kenneth Branagh, who gets to shout very loudly three times. Anyway, here it is.

18. Cavegirl (1985)

Finally, a film that uses time-travel for the correct reason; to allow a horny 1980s high school student to go back to prehistory so that he can convince a smoking hot, bikini-wearing cavegirl to have it off with him. You will note I’ve ranked this above Tenet .

17. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Weird to think that Austin Powers was originally a fish-out-of-water comedy, in which the promiscuous titular character had to navigate the (then) uptight world of the 1990s. That all fell apart for the sequel, where Powers was sent back to the 60s to shout his catchphrases at people who actually appreciated them. That makes it a time-travel movie, right?

16. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

God, this film. In summary: Ashton Kutcher plays a man who experiences blackouts, only to learn some years later that he can travel back in time and inhabit his younger self’s mind during the blackouts. But in doing so, he unleashes a world of unintended consequences. He becomes a murderer and loses limbs. Seek out the director’s cut if you can, because it ends with Kutcher’s character deliberately strangling himself in the womb with his umbilical cord. No, really.

15. The Tomorrow War (2021)

Wherein Chris Pratt is drafted into a war that takes place 26 years later, because the invading aliens have already killed all the soldiers who were alive at the time. It’s a great premise for a film – we all pay the price for the actions of other generations – let down by a truly confusing ending. Admit it, you forgot this film even existed, even though it cost $200m to make and only came out 18 months ago.

14. The Time Travelers (1964)

A 1964 movie made on the cheap with genuinely terrible effects, The Time Travelers is about a group of scientists who travel to the future, fight some mutants and then return. What sets it apart, though, is its crazed ending. The film ends with the scientists venturing into the distant future, whereupon the film plays through again, faster and faster and faster until it cuts away to a still of the galaxy. Are they trapped in a loop? Is free will an illusion? Did the producers just run out of money? We may never know.

13. The Adam Project (2022)

In which a young boy’s life is turned upside down when he is visited by an older version of himself from the future. The good news? He grows up to be a fighter pilot. The bad news? He also grows up to have all the cadences and surface-level snarky patter of Ryan Reynolds. What follows is a buddy movie where the two buddies are the same person.

12. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

So seminal that it was namechecked in Avengers: Endgame . A flat-out comedy that primarily exists to allow a bunch of middle-aged men to act like teenagers, Hot Tub Time Machine is a film about an enchanted Jacuzzi that sends people back to the mid-1980s. Possibly a bit too bawdy for its own good, there’s a hint of a message about the unreliability of nostalgia here.

11. Flight of the Navigator (1986)

This family film involves a young boy who goes missing in a Fort Lauderdale ravine, only to show up eight years later having not aged. There are UFOs and rubbery little creatures and whatnot, but there’s a real emotional wallop to the moment when the boy realises that the world has moved on without him, right down to the scene (that plays out like a horror movie) where the boy realises that his parents have become unrecognisably ancient, even though they are probably only in their early 40s.

10. Primer (2004)

Some see Shane Carruth’s Primer as the gold standard of what a time-travel film should be. It’s the sort of movie that seems unnervingly realistic, from the down-at-heel engineers to the unshowy nature of time travel itself, where people in effect just get in and out of some boxes. Almost entirely unwilling to explain itself, for years Primer fans have come to rely on a series of graphs and charts to figure out what the film actually is.

9. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

A time-travel movie that may or may not have any actual time-travel in it, Colin Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed is a delicate wonder of a thing. A man places an ad in a magazine asking for a time-travel companion – “Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before” – and the respondents slowly come to realise that all is not quite as it seems.

8. Planet of the Apes (1968)

If you haven’t seen Planet of the Apes, then the fact that I’ve put it on a list of time-travel movies is probably quite a heavy spoiler, and for that I’m sorry. But what a reveal this is – what seems at first like a silly movie about Charlton Heston being persecuted by some monkeys quickly becomes something darker and much more sinister. That new Adam Driver movie probably could have achieved something similar, if it hadn’t blabbed its big secret in the trailer.

7. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Endgame is a lot, so much so that it is effectively a time-travel movie bookended by two entirely separate movies. And, yes, it takes a lot of liberties with time-travel, from Tony Stark’s “Huh, I did it” invention to the lazy referencing of other time-travel movies as a shorthand for what the characters can do. Nevertheless, when they get to it, the film nails it. The Battle of New York is the obvious highlight, with Captain America fighting Captain America and the Hulk embarrassed by his unreconstructed former self, but the heart of the film really comes when Tony meets his father as a man and learns to let go of the past.

6. Interstellar (2014)

Interstellar is also a lot. But at its core is a simple ethical quandary: would you try to save the world if it meant missing your children’s entire lives? Matthew McConaughey has to touch down on a planet during a space trip. The problem is that every hour he spends there is equal to seven years on Earth. Is the trip important enough for him to miss seeing the wonder of his children grow into adults? Technically, if you want to be fussy about this, Interstellar is a time dilation movie rather than a time-travel movie. But it gets a pass, largely because McConaughey sells the agony of the moment so beautifully.

5. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

There are times when Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure feels like it was written by a toddler off his face on pop. But that’s a deliberate ploy, a way to camouflage all the careful rigour that underpins the script. The lead characters are initially reluctant to embark on their time-travel adventure, until they’re visited by versions of themselves from the near future who compel them to do it; a beautiful and hilarious example of predestination in action. Extra points are awarded thanks to the film’s total lack of interest in consequences. Swiping Abraham Lincoln and Napoleon from their respective eras has no bearing on world history whatsoever, which is probably quite lucky.

4. Looper (2012)

One problem with time-travel movies is that the rules always need to be explained upfront. In lesser hands, this can lead to all manner of clunky, stilted exposition. But when Rian Johnson dabbled in the genre with Looper , he gave us a masterclass in “show, don’t tell”. The sequence where poor Paul Dano’s character is tortured at two different points in time simultaneously, with the older version following instructions carved into the younger version’s arm, is arguably one of the most inventive uses of time-travel in the entire history of cinema. All that plus this is Bruce Willis’s last truly great performance.

3. The Terminator (1984)/Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The lure of the first two Terminator movies were the killer robots running around murdering everyone. But they were very smartly built around a framework of pure time-travel. We only see the future in brief flashes, but what’s important is the present. It is very, very important that Kyle Reese (a guy from the future) has sex with Sarah Connor (a woman from the present), because only that will save humanity as we know it. It’s a hell of a pickup line, but the device also elevates what could have simply been a shonky B-movie into the realm of the classics.

2. Idiocracy (2006)

The smartest time-travel movies use the device as a mirror, telling us more about the times we live in now than the times the characters visit. Enter Idiocracy, Mike Judge’s stinging satire about modern times. An average person is cryogenically frozen and wakes up in the future, shocked to discover that the global IQ has fallen off a cliff in the intervening years. Surrounded by aggressive stupidity, he single-handedly saves the US from famine by suggesting that they use water – and not an electrolyte drink – to grow crops. We are conservatively 15 years from this happening in real life.

1. Back to the Future (1985)/Back to the Future Part II (1989)

The only conceivable first choice. The first two Back to the Future films (the third, which is basically just a western, is far less imaginative) have come to define time-travel as a genre. They deliver a complex set of hard sci-fi rules about what can and cannot happen during time-travel and – miraculously – manage to do it in a way that kids can understand. Good music, cool clothes, a million catchphrases and, in the case of the second film, an unnervingly prescient prediction of how Donald Trump would turn out. Just perfect.

• Science fiction and fantasy films
• Back To The Future
• Avengers: Endgame
• Interstellar

Most viewed

• 15 Offbeat Digital Nomad Destinations You Need to Visit Now
• Cancun vs. Tulum - Which Should You Visit Next?
• How to Play Video Games as You Travel the World
• 21 Unusual Places to Visit in Poland You Must See
• The Best Cenotes in the Riviera Maya
• The 7 Best Vacation Destinations for Nature Lovers
• Work With Us

25 Of The Best Travel Movies To Ignite Your Wanderlust

Looking for some great travel movies? We share some of our favorite adventure films.

Any list of the top travel movies is going to be a bit controversial. After all, opinions about what make the best travel movies are as diverse as the people watching.

However, there are some wanderlust movies that are so iconic that it’s hard to argue about their inclusion on our list.

The Best Travel Movies

Each of these movies is on our list for a different reason. Some bring back memories of carefree summer vacations, while others have characters that visit remote and undiscovered lands. Some of these movies are all about adventure, while others are more introspective, and about the inner journey. Still, others show off the filmmaker’s video editing capabilities, and their gorgeous cinematography.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty stars Ben Stiller as Walter. He spends his days daydreaming about an exciting existence, but spends day-after-day developing photos for Life magazine. His life turns around when he takes the chance to travel the world to find the perfect photo for the magazine’s final print issue.

It’s a funny and inspiring adventure movie, full of gorgeous scenery and grand adventures.

Where to watch. Stream: HBO Now, HBO Max. Buy or rent: YouTube, iTunes.

Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)

Equally touching and funny, Hector and the Search for Happiness stars Simon Pegg as a middle aged psychiatrist who travels the world in his search for happiness.

One NSFW word of caution: You may find yourself saying: “ I want happiness ” in an over-the-top French accent over and over.

Where to watch. Stream: Amazon Prime . Buy or rent: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes.

Lost in Translation (2003)

Lost in Translation is a movie that I’ve watched over and over. It perfectly captures that sense of disconnect that I feel when I first visit a new destination where the language and customs are so different from my own.

Starring Bill Murray and a young Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation was directed by Sofia Coppola. The movie follows the relationship of an aging movie star (Murray) and a lonely, adrift young woman (Johansson) against the backdrop of Tokyo, Japan.

Where to watch. Stream: Crave, Starz. Rent or Buy: Amazon , YouTube.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Starring Diane Lane, Under the Tuscan Sun tells the story of a midlife woman who finds romance and a new purpose while renovating a run-town Italian villa. It’s equal parts romance, self discovery, wonderful food, and views of the stunning Tuscan landscape.

Where to watch. Stream: Amazon Prime Video . Rent or buy: Amazon , YouTube, Microsoft

Eat, Pray, Love (2010)

Based on the bestselling book by novelist Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love follows Gilbert’s (Julia Roberts) journey of self discovery as she travels the globe.

Where to watch. Stream on Starz. Rent or buy on Amazon , YouTube, Microsoft .

In Bruges (2008)

Love it or hate it, the movie In Bruges captures the charms of Bruges, Belgium perfectly. It’s a grittier choice than many of the movies on this list as it follows the adventures of hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) as they await new orders in Bruges however you can’t fault the Belgium ambience.

Where to watch. Stream on AMC+. Rent or buy: YouTube, Google, iTunes, Amazon.

Wild (2014)

Based on the real-live adventure of author Cheryl Strayed, Wild stars Reese Witherspoon. An inexperienced hiker, Strayed decided to walk the challenging Pacific Crest Trail to face her inner demons, and comes to the end of the hike with a newfound clarity about her life.

Where to watch. Stream: Disney+. Rent or buy: iTunes

Into the Wild (2007)

Into the Wild is a real-life true story of the journey of Christopher McCandless, who disappeared while exploring the wilderness in Alaska.

Because of the sad ending, I resisted seeing this for a couple of years, thinking it would be a sad movie to watch. Surprisingly, I found Christopher’s journey to be inspiring and uplifting. The scenery is gorgeous as well.

Where to watch. Rent or Buy: iTunes, YouTube, Amazon.

The Way (2010)

I’ve always wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. This movie stars Martin Sheen, who undertakes the walk as a pilgrimage of sorts to his recently deceased son. It’s a sad premise, but the movie is ultimately a perfect showcase for the gorgeous Camino de Santiago journey.

Where to watch. Stream: Amazon Prime . Rent of Buy: YouTube, Amazon, iTunes.

Tracks (2014)

Tracks tells the real life story of Robyn Davidson, who spent nine months trekking across the Australian desert on camels. Starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver, the movie is an inspiration for solo travelers in challenging terrain.

Where to watch. Stream: Amazon Prime . Rent or buy: YouTube, Cineplex.

Before Sunrise (1995) – Before Sunset (2004) – Before Midnight (2013)

I’ll watch anything starring the talented Ethan Hawke. That said, these movies hold their own as is.

I watched these out of order, seeing Before Sunset before the original, Before Sunrise. I think it was a mistake as the original was my favorite. The movie stars a very young Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy flirting and talking philosophy among the charming streets of Vienna, Austria after hours.

There’s a lot of dialogue and relationship talk here, so this might not be the trilogy for you if you’re craving action and excitement.

Where to watch. Stream: Hoopla. Rent or buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes.

Out of Africa (1985)

Starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, Out of Africa is one of those iconic travel movies. The scenery is stunning, and Streep’s performance is wonderful. The movie itself won best picture and best cinematography the year it was relieased. The movie tells of the story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who moved to Africa to build a new life for herself.

Where to watch. Rent or buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes.

The Beach (2000)

Based on Alex Garland’s book of the same name, this movie tells the story of twenty-something Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is in search of a lost paradise away from the backpacker trail. He finds a strange map, and makes his way to a hidden island.

The Beach was filmed on Maya Beach on Thailand’s Koh Phi Phi Le (or Ko Phi Phi Leh). After the film came out, the beach was overrun by visitors.

When we visited in 2003, once pristine Maya Bay was still beautiful, but covered in a film of oil from boats ferrying visitors like us to the island. It’s since been closed to allow it to recover, and is open in a limited capacity.

Where to watch. Stream on Disney+. Rent or buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Pick, this black-and-white classic is set in Rome. It’s a fun, quirky, love story where a princess (Hepburn) meets a reporter (Peck), and they spend a day exploring 1950’s Rome.

Where to watch. Rent or buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes, Microsoft Store.

Up in the Air (2009)

If you love airports and flying, then this is the movie for you. There’s not a lot of great scenery here, or adventures across the country though. It stars George Clooney as Ryan, who travels the USA firing people for other companies. He’s about to reach his life’s goal of a million frequent flyer miles, when technology threatens to make his travels obsolete.

Where to watch. Stream: FuboTV. Rent or Buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes, Microsoft Store.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

A handful of older Brits decide to retire in the Marigold Hotel in Jaipur, India, rather than in sterile retirement homes back in the UK.

There’s a great cast with Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, and Bill Nighy, who struggle with day-to-day life in India.

Where to watch. Stream: Roku. Rent or Buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes, Microsoft Store.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Starring a young Peter O’Toole, this epic historical drama based on the life of T. E. Lawrence, follows the plight of a British soldier who unites nomadic Arabian tribes to band against the Turks in the first World War. Set against the backdrop of the Arabian Desert, it’s a beautifully shot film and is often considered one of the best movies of all time. Whether you agree with the premise though is up to you.

Where to watch. Stream: Amazon Video . Rent or Buy: Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube

The Best Road Trip Movies

The road trip is gold for adventure, fun, and great scenery. These flicks run the gamut from funny road trip movies to more serious explorations of culture and living conditions on the road.

Sideways (2004)

If you’re a fan of California wine country, this is the travel movie for you. It’s the story of two middle aged men on a road trip through wine country.

Where to watch. Stream on Disney+, Crave, Starz. Rent or Buy: Amazon, YouTube, iTunes, Microsoft Store.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)

Starring John Candy and Steve Martin, this is one of the all time classic road trip comedy movies. Trying to get home during a freak snowstorm, control freak Neil Page (Martin), keeps encountering bumbling and talkative Del (Candy). Out of necessity, the two pair up to try to get home on a cross country road trip from New York to Chicago.

I’ve watched this with the kids (beware the R rating if you have little kids), and they thought it was hilarious. Our favorite quote: “Those aren’t pillows!”

Eurotrip (2004)

Definitely the raunchiest of the movies on this list, the R rated Eurotrip is still one of our favorite travel movies. Crossing 8 countries while trying to get the girl of his dreams, a group of friends travel Europe together one summer vacation and fall into one funnier predicament after another. It’s light and fun however there are some iconic shots across Europe in there as well as a few places you likely won’t find on the beaten path. Also one of the most wrong and catchy (and funny once you’ve watched the movie) songs you’ll ever hear in a movie (Scotty doesn’t know.)

Where to watch. Rent or Buy: Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube

National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

One of the best movies about family vacations , this 1980s classic starts Chevy Chase as bumbling, but well-meaning Clark Griswold. It’s an over-the-top spoof of the classic American road trip, that incidentally takes them through the Grand Canyon and Death Valley.

Somehow, this movie always inspires me check my road trip packing list , grab a list of the best family audiobooks for road trips , and get on the road.

Where to watch. Stream: Starz, Crave. Rent or Buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes, Microsoft Store.

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

The Motorcycle Diaries is based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. Starring Gael García Bernal, the movie shows Che and his pal Alberto Granado on a road trip from the Andes to Machu Picchu and other South American Landmarks.

Where to watch. Rent or Buy: Amazon , YouTube, iTunes, Microsoft Store.

Best Travel Movies on Netflix

Choosing the best travel movies on Netflix can be a bit tricky, since Netflix is constantly changing the movies in their catalogue and they can vary from country to country. That said, here are our picks for the best travel movies on Netflix right now.

Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

Brad Pitt is the lead in this epic film based on a true story. Pitt plays egocentric Austrian mountain climber, Heinrich Harrer, who escapes from a WWII prisoner of war camp in India. He makes his way to refuge in the sacred land of Tibet, where he meets the young Dalai Lama.

Where to watch. Stream: Netflix.

Holiday in the Wild (2019)

Ok, I’m fully aware of the incongruity of putting a fun, escapist movie like Holiday in the Wild directly after a classic like Seven Years in Tibet. That said, Holiday in the Wild is both a fun movie, and chock full of absolutely stunning images of South Africa and Zambia landscapes and wildlife.

The movie stars Rob Lowe and Kristin Davis (who played Charlotte York Goldenblatt in Sex in the City). Davis plays a woman who is Jilted by her husband on the eve of embarking on an African safari. She chooses to travel to Africa alone, where she meets Lowe, who plays an elephant conservationist.

IMDB rating: 6.1

Wine Country (2019)

Another lighthearted romp, Wine Country is produced and directed by Amy Poehler, with a great cast that includes Poehler herself, Maya Rudolph,  Kristen Wiig, and Melissa McCarthy.

It’s set in a girls-only vacation to Napa Valley, where a group of longtime friends reunite and revisit past choices.

Other articles you might like:

• The Best Travel Vloggers on YouTube in 2021
• The Best Songs about Adventure and Travel
• 25+ Best Travel Memories Quotes to Inspire Your Wanderlust
• Five Interesting and Offbeat Travel TV Shows
• Our Favorite Travel TV Shows

Want to see all of the trailers in one place?

Watching trailers for movies is one of my favorite things in the world. Check out our YouTube playlist with trailers for all of the top travel movies here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsfDUGOZ3UU8OxFOY5kxwxe374BOi_uoF

Do you have any personal picks for the best travel movies that we’ve forgotten? Share them in the comments!

Seven years in Tibet is one of my most favorite travel movies. Even the book is so hypnotizing.

These look like some classics. I’d have nothing to add. Nothing like a good travel movie to motivate one to hit the road.

Wow! What a fantastic list of travel movies! As an avid traveler, I’m always on the lookout for inspiring films that ignite my wanderlust, and this compilation delivers perfectly. It’s refreshing to see a mix of well-known classics and hidden gems, ensuring there’s something for everyone’s taste. I appreciate the brief descriptions provided, giving just enough insight without spoiling the magic. This list has definitely added a few titles to my must-watch list! Thank you for sharing such a captivating collection, it will surely keep me entertained on my upcoming adventures. Cheers! Gary Ford

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

55 Best Time Travel Movies Of All Time Ranked

One of the fun things about time travel movies (apart from, you know, the time travel part) is that they're not married to one particular genre. Hopping from one year to the next is a narrative device that benefits everything from romantic comedies to slasher films. If you have a preferred genre, there is a very good chance that there's a time travel film within it just waiting to blow your mind. On the other hand, if you're not picky about your watch habits and are just as keen to watch a Western as a psychological thriller, time travel films are a great way to experience a generous swath of genres while keeping one thematic element consistent: messing with the sanctity of the space-time continuum. 

Below you'll find 55 of the best time travel films that the sub-genre has at its disposal. Along the way, you'll notice a couple of recurring narrative trends. More than one pair of lovers find themselves separated by a decade (or a century). Time-traveling protagonists are forced to accept the messiness of the past after attempting to right the wrongs of history. There are also fish out of water comedies galore, from helicopter-piloting samurai to modern-day teenagers stranded in the Wild West. So with all that said, feel free to take notes, synchronize your watches, and settle in for a look at the best time travel films cinema has to offer ... at least in this timeline.

55. A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court

You may be familiar with that holiest of fish-out-of-water scenarios: "man from the present gets transported back to medieval times." The third installment in the "Evil Dead" franchise, which may or may not feature later on this list, is one example. The 2001 Martin Lawrence vehicle "Black Knight" is another. But there's something especially charming about Tay Garnett's 1949 film, "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court," which adapts Mark Twain's 1889 novel of the same name. 

Inspired by Twain's text, the film follows a crooning mechanic (Bing Crosby) who is launched back to 6th-century England after receiving a blow to the head. There, he finds allies, lovers, and rivals as his modern ways inevitably clash with the antiquated traditions of a medieval court. "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is an easy-breezy Saturday matinee flick that highlights Crosby's undeniable charm.

54. G.I. Samurai

Criminally underseen outside of Japan, Kōsei Saitō's 1979 film "G.I. Samurai" follows an elite squad of soldiers who accidentally slip through the cracks of time to an era when roving samurai clans warred in hopes of securing dominance over the country. Starring comedic legend Sonny Chiba (who, as ever, does most of his own stunts), the film is undoubtedly one of the strangest entries on this list. That said, don't let that stop you from checking out this violent genre mish-mash. "G.I. Samurai" (which also goes by the equally accurate name "Time Slip" and the utterly baffling "I Want To") is a charming if eccentric adventure through time.

53. The Visitors

Directed by Jean-Marie Poiré (who also helmed the 2001 English-language remake "Just Visiting"), "The Visitors" follows two poor medieval souls who accidentally stumble into modern times, landing in the early 1990s thanks to a bumbling, not-all-there magician. With his loyal servant (Christian Clavier) in tow, brazen knight Godefroy de Malfête (Jean Reno) must navigate such futuristic horrors as concrete roads, dentistry, and bowl cuts no longer being a fashion-forward haircut choice. Wacky to its core and endlessly over the top, "The Visitors" is a fish out of water time travel romp that's just about as goofy as they come.

52. The Butterfly Effect

While "The Butterfly Effect" wasn't particularly well-regarded when it first premiered in 2004 (as its low score on Rotten Tomatoes testifies), Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber's high-concept time travel film has since enjoyed a modern reevaluation, emerging as one of the more interesting sci-fi horror offerings of the early naughties. The film follows Evan (Ashton Kutcher, playing against type), a young man who struggles to remember his past, thanks to a history of harrowing abuse. By chance, Evan discovers that reading from his old journals allows him to literally embody his younger self, changing the most traumatic parts of his past by making different decisions. Unfortunately, as the film's title suggests, Evan's meddling in the past, however seemingly insignificant, produces a domino effect of tragic consequences for not just his own life, but the lives of those around him.

51. The Final Countdown

Plenty of films on this list have time machines. Heck, one of those time machines is even a DeLorean. But only one film has a time-traveling nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Released in 1980, "The Final Countdown" tells the story of a US military vessel that has the misfortune of traveling back in time to December 6th, 1941, the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Once the crew (which includes the talents of Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen) comes to terms with the moral implications of their situation, a "Twilight Zone"-like dilemma breaks out as to whether they ought to intervene and change the course of history, or allow a national tragedy to unfold. Part B-movie science fiction romp, part recruitment tool for the US Navy, "The Final Countdown" is utterly unlike any other time travel film on this list.

50. Somewhere in Time

Released in 1980 and starring three of the hottest people to ever exist (Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer, respectively), "Somewhere in Time" follows a young playwright named Richard (Reeve) who has an uncanny experience on the opening night of his first stage play: An old woman, who he has never met before, begs Richard to come back to her. Obsessed by the mystery-laden encounter, Richard does what any self-respecting romantic would do and travels back in time to find her via self-hypnosis. Directed by French filmmaker Jeannot Szwarc (whose 1975 creature feature "Bug" gives William Castle a run for his B-movie money), "Somewhere in Time" is both charming and emotionally devastating. You've been warned!

49. 13 Going on 30

One of the more straightforward romantic comedies on this list, "13 Going on 30" follows a young dorky teen named Jenna who makes a wish on her thirteenth birthday to grow up faster (specifically, she wants to be, "30, flirty, and thriving"). And just like that, Jenna is catapulted into the future, waking up as a 30-year-old woman with 30-year-old problems (first and foremost, the naked man she finds in her new apartment, to her considerable disgust). While the thrills of independence and adulthood are exhilarating at first (what 13-year-old doesn't dream of disposable income?) Jenna soon finds that being older comes with its own set of challenges. A contagiously charming document of all the fashion crimes the early naughties had to offer, "13 Going on 30" is notable for highlighting the considerable talents of its main cast, especially Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, and the ever-delightful Judy Greer.

48. Déjà Vu

Marking the reunion of director Tony Scott and actor Denzel Washington after 2004's "Man on Fire," "Déjà Vu" is a bombastic (pun intended) time-traveling romance that also dares to be a straight-laced crime thriller. The film follows Doug Carlin (Washington), a federal agent who is summoned to investigate a horrific bombing on the Mississippi River. When Carlin proves himself to be a competent ally, an experimental FBI team invites him to participate in a new, super-secret form of investigation: A device, dubbed "Snow White," that allows users to take brief glimpses back into the past. But as the investigation persists, Doug grows less interested in catching the perpetrator in the present day, instead looking to alter history to prevent the accident from ever happening. With Denzel Washington's engaging presence, "Déjà Vu" is thrilling and heart-wrenching in equal measure.

47. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

While there's certainly a debate to be had about whether or not being cryogenically frozen counts as time travel, around these parts we're liable to vote yes. As far as we're concerned, superspy Austin Powers (Mike Myers) going to sleep in the swinging '60s and thawing out in the 1990s absolutely makes the cut. And with his bald-headed nemesis Dr. Evil (also Mike Myers) equally de-thawed and back with a vengeance, it's up to the shagadelic international man of mystery to acclimatize to these modern times in order to save the day. The first (and best) entry in the "Austin Powers" series, Jay Roach's 1997 film is brimming with sly nods and genuinely insightful critiques of its source material (namely, the "James Bond" films). A hoot from start to finish, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" stands tall in the genre of spy parodies.

46. Army of Darkness

The third entry in the flawless "Evil Dead" trilogy, "Army of Darkness" was director Sam Raimi's vision of a horror film set in the past. This tale of the medieval dead reunites us with the series' incredibly groovy hero Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), who was sucked through a wormhole (book of the dead-hole?) at the end of "Evil Dead II" that transported him to the year 1300 A.D. Somehow goofier than its predecessor, "Army of Darkness" follows Ash as he wins over the hearts, minds, and women of a walled city besieged by nefarious deadites. As he attempts to woo his crush and banish evil from the land, our strong-jawed hero is preoccupied with figuring out how to return back to his own time. Bonkers to its core and unabashedly full of both Raimi and Campbell's love of physical comedy, "Army of Darkness" is a blast from the past in more ways than one.

45. Happy Death Day 2U

Yeah, we hear you: Everything was tied up in one neat little bow at the end of the original 2017 film, "Happy Death Day." How could there be a sequel? What could possibly be worse than getting trapped in a time loop where you are killed over and over again by a killer wearing a creepy baby-faced mask? Well, all of you who answered "getting stuck in a parallel dimension where you're stuck in a time loop again " deserve a pat on the back. Yes, Tree Glebman (Jessica Rothe) may have escaped the maddening time loop in  her dimension, but thanks to the science experiment of some neighboring dorks, she's lost all that hard-won narrative closure and must fight for her life (well, lives ) once again. Matching its predecessor in charm and creativity, "Happy Death Day 2U" is an arguably unnecessary yet still delightful sequel.

44. Slaughterhouse-Five

Based on Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same name, "Slaughterhouse-Five" follows the time-tripping exploits of Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks), an aptly named man who is "unstuck in time" after becoming a prisoner of war in 1940s Germany. Slipping in and out of his past, present, and future, Billy trips in and out of decades and major life events (including being abducted by aliens). Directed with a dreamy, atmospheric competence by George Roy Hill (the man behind "The Sting" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"), even Vonnegut himself praised the movie as "a flawless translation ... I drool and cackle every time I watch that film." And if praise from the horse's mouth doesn't do it for you, the film just so happens to enjoy critical acclaim across the board.

If you know one thing about 2004's "Primer," it's that it's famously difficult to explain without sounding like you spent a lot of time in a glue factory. That said, let's have a go at it: "Primer" follows four tech bros who build a machine in their garage that does ... something. They're not sure what, exactly. But it's something . One of the bizarre effects of their creation is that time appears to work differently inside the machine, making it a kind of "time machine," if you will. After much discussion, the foursome decide to experiment with it, only to discover a strange side effect: Whatever passes through the machine creates a double. A puzzle of a film full of paradoxes, loopholes, and sequences of events that overlap, dovetail, and intersect, "Primer" is a feisty, wildly ambitious indie movie that holds its own amidst the bigger blockbusters of the genre.

42. Triangle

Packaged as a typical slasher movie, Christopher Smith's 2009 psychological horror film follows a group of shipwrecked survivors who seek refuge on a mysteriously deserted ocean liner. At first, they think they are alone. Then a shotgun-wielding masked killer emerges out of the woodwork to make an already terrifying situation even worse as they pick everyone off one by one. To say much more than that (or how any of this has to do with time travel) would give away the film's secrets. So we will say no more! Featuring an innovative mid-film plot twist, "Triangle" is an unexpected delight with a captivating lead performance from Melissa George as the mentally fragile Jess. An expectation-subverting watch, "Triangle" will unquestionably win over adventurous fans of the slasher genre.

41. Happy Death Day

Grounded by a charming and sardonic performance by Jessica Rothe, Christopher Landon's 2017 horror-comedy sticks the slasher and time-travel genres in a blender with hilarious results. "Happy Death Day" follows Tree (Rothe), a mean-spirited sorority girl with a tragic past who finds herself reliving the day of her murder over and over again. Some psycho wearing the very creepy mask of their college's mascot has it out for her. And somewhere between being stabbed and electrocuted, Tree starts to suspect that uncovering the identity (and motive) of her die-hard killer is the only way to get out of this cursed time loop. But when the effects of being murdered in a variety of brutal ways start catching up with her, Tree realizes that she doesn't have much time (ironically enough) to solve the mystery. "Happy Death Day" makes dying repeatedly look super fun, and if that isn't a stamp of approval, we don't know what is.

40. Trancers

We have a fair number of time travel methods on this list: cars, hypnosis, telephone booths, you name it. But "Trancers," in all of its 1980s wisdom, takes a different approach: time travel via drugs. Set in the far-flung future of 2247, our hero is the improbably named Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson), a bounty hunter hot on the heels of a psychic villain (Michael Stefani) capable of entrancing his victims with his mind. When Deth finally learns that his foe has traveled back to the 1980s to assassinate the ancestors of future City Council members, it's up to Deth to follow him to the past and stop the nefarious mesmerist from executing his violent scheme. With more laser special effects than you can shake a stick at, "Trancers" comes courtesy of the ingenious low-budget mastermind Charles Band. Ripoffs of "The Terminator" are a dime a dozen, but they're rarely this entertaining.

39. About Time

While you could certainly say that all of the films on this list are about time, only one film is really "About Time." The 2013 sci-fi rom-com follows a young man named Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) who learns that he's inherited the ability to travel in time and change the course of his life. Written and directed by Richard Curtis — a New Zealand-born filmmaker who readers may know from the likes of "Love Actually" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" — "About Time" has charm to spare, with one of the most lovely onscreen father-son dynamics of the 2010s. A film that is the cinematic equivalent of a warm bowl of soup, "About Time" is a high watermark for one of the more persistent themes in time travel cinema: learning to accept things just as they are.

38. Back to the Future Part II

While admittedly falling short of the lighting in a bottle effect of its predecessor, "Back to the Future Part II" succeeds in being better than most sequels and most time-travel films. Directed once again by Robert Zemeckis, the 1989 film sees scrappy teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his geriatric pal Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) journeying forward in time to the unthinkably futuristic landscape of 2015. The objective is to stop Marty's future son from making a mistake that will land him in the slammer. As you'd imagine, things don't go exactly according to plan, leaving the future (and the past) a little shaken in the wake of Doc and Marty's meddling. A solid if decidedly more chaotic sequel, "Back to the Future Part II" is full of charms of its own.

37. Frequency

Released in the year 2000 and directed by Gregory Hoblit (the man behind the Richard Gere vehicle "Primal Fear"), "Frequency" follows John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel), a New York City detective who accidentally stumbles on a way to communicate across time with his now-deceased father (Dennis Quaid) using a HAM radio. Overcome with joy at the possibility of saving his father's life, Gregory warns his father of his cause of death, triggering a series of events arguably more tragic than his dad's fiery demise. "Frequency" is a suspense-riddled character study that also makes for a solid (and probably weepy) Father's Day watch.

36. The Muppet Christmas Carol

Are all movie adaptations of Charles Dickens' cautionary ghost story time travel stories? In our estimation: yes. The story spends Christmas with Ebenezer Scrooge, a real jerk who begins his journey to becoming a better person after he is visited by three ghosts that show the miserly curmudgeon his past, present, and future to gain some much-needed perspective. While everyone has their own favorite "Christmas Carol" adaptation, we're going to make an executive decision here: The best "Christmas Carol" movie is 1992's "The Muppet Christmas Carol," the directorial debut of Brian Henson. Roll your eyes all you want at the presence of the titular Muppets, but this film features one of Michael Caine's finest performances as the cold-hearted Scrooge. Also, it's a musical. What more could you want?

35. The Time Machine

Based on H.G. Wells's novella of the same name, which was literally the work that popularized the concept of a "time machine" , George Pal's 1960 film follows a fancy and adventurous Victorian Englishman (Rod Taylor) who travels into the far-flung future only to find humanity divided into two warring factions: the child-like Eloi and the brutish Morlocks. While the inventor had hopes that the future would be a paradise of new, utopic developments, it would seem that the warring tendency in our species is bound to persist throughout the centuries unless we change our ways. Warmly received by critics , the 1960 adaptation of "The Time Machine" is campy in all the right places with plenty of charm to spare.

If you ask us, "Tenet" is less about the convoluted ins and outs of using time travel to prevent World War III than it is about the vibes (and the friendship between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson). Look, it's totally possible to enjoy a movie without having the faintest idea what it's about. Then again, director Christopher Nolan has always been interested in non-linear filmmaking, from the memory-loss of "Memento" to the languid dream logic of "Inception." "Tenet" is Nolan leaning fully into his love of temporal logistics and while it's disorienting, there can be no denying that it's a hell of a good time. Despite any flaws it may have, "Tenet" is what you get when you put James Bond and time travel in a blender (in the best possible way).

33. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Directed by Leonard Nimoy (yes, the same Leonard Nimoy who plays the pointy-eared Spock), the fourth feature film in the "Star Trek" franchise begins in a far-flung future on the edge of disaster. An alien probe is wreaking havoc on Earth's environment, drying up our oceans and polluting our atmosphere. (Are we sure it's an extraterrestrial threat? Sounds like plain old climate change to us.) In order to save humanity from the impending apocalypse, the swashbuckling Captain Kirk (WIlliam Shatner) and his intrepid crew voyage back in time to the year 1986, where they hope to locate a soon-to-be-extinct animal that can respond to the mysterious probe. Pivoting the series' sci-fi into more comedic waters, "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" leans hard on the chemistry of its cast to buoy the severity of its environmentalist message. If you're going to watch one of the older "Star Trek" films, this is the one to seek out.

32. Peggy Sue Got Married

There is no time machine, per se, in "Peggy Sue Got Married." Instead, the titular character (played by Kathleen Turner) travels back in her own memories. Or maybe it's an especially vivid daydream. Who's to say? When you faint at your high school reunion, anything can happen! In any case, middle-aged Peggy Sue unintentionally travels back to her teenage days in the early 1960s, where she plays with the idea of breaking off her marriage to her high school sweetheart before it even has the chance to start. With a stellar ensemble cast, including Nicolas Cage, Helen Hunt, and Jim Carrey, Francis Ford Coppola's 1986 film is a bittersweet gem.

31. Back to the Future Part III

Very few films as excellent as "Back to the Future" are succeeded by a sequel that doesn't disappoint. And it's even rarer for such a film to produce two excellent sequels. Enter: "Back to the Future Part III," which catapults spunky skateboarder Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and the white-haired Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) back to the 19th century. The pair find themselves stranded in the Wild West, contending with saloon brawls, rowdy dames, and deadly gunfights. As always, the time-hopping duo must lay low while attempting to find a way back to their own time. There are adorable frontier romances, villains with the faces of modern-day bullies, and plenty of adoring references to old cowboy films. Although it doesn't always get the credit it deserves , "Back to the Future Part III" is a sweet-natured love letter to the Western genre.

30. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

In the first of three films charting the time-traveling/dimension-hopping adventures of Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves), our titular doofuses are tasked with a harrowing objective: passing history class. Unbeknownst to these two Southern Californian himbos, the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, because at some point in the future, Bill and Ted write a rock song so great it actually achieves world peace. But in order for the dynamic duo to rock out, they first need a passing grade. Armed with a time machine helpfully supplied by an ally from the future (George Carlin), the pair journey through the past to amass a gang of history's most prolific figures. Lighthearted and energetic, "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" is a profoundly silly journey through history with two of cinema's most radical dudes who have charm (and air guitar riffs) to spare.

29. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey

A wildly strange film on a list full of kooky adventures, Vincent Ward's 1988 fish-out-of-water time travel jaunt is truly an under-discussed, one-of-a-kind experience. The surreal and atmospheric Australia/New Zealand co-production was selected in competition for  the highest prize at the Cannes film festival and received eleven awards from the Australian Film Institute . With a dream-like approach to storytelling, "The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey" follows a psychic nine-year-old named Griffin (Hamish McFarlane) who has trippy visions of an alternate reality that looks completely different from his 14th-century mining village. With the Black Plague at their door, the villagers heed Griffin's warnings and follow his directions to dig deep below the earth. On the other side, the medieval peasants emerge into a bold and bizarre new land: 20th century New Zealand. Full of fantasy and imagination that flies in the face of the film's modest budget , "The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey" is an underrated classic.

28. Jubilee

"Jubilee" boasts one of the wackiest concepts as far as time travel films are concerned. Get this: Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen herself, travels forward in time with the help of occult magic to visit 1970s Britain. Instead of a futuristic new world full of utopian progress, Elizabeth (Jenny Runacre) finds a crumbling country riddled with anarchy, social unrest, and debauchery. Directed by Derek Jarman (who also helmed the evocative 1986 biopic "Caravaggio"), "Jubilee" vibrates with undeniable punk rock energy, both critical and celebratory. So, the next time you're living your best nihilistic teenage dream, think to yourself: what  would  Queen Elizabeth I think?

27. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Released in 2006, Mamoru Hosoda's animated feature film follows the teenage Makoto (voiced by Riisa Naka), a high school girl who acquires the ability to literally jump into the past after stumbling upon a mysterious device in the science lab. Being a teen, Makoto uses her new gift for trivial, self-serving adjustments, acing pop quizzes and side-stepping embarrassing situations with ease. But when Makoto begins to realize that her adjustments have consequences for others, she resolves to only use her powers for good, and begins uncovering the mystery behind these strange abilities in the process. A decidedly personal (and relatable) approach to sci-fi fantasy, "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" captures audiences' hearts.

26. Time After Time

This 1979 film may share a name with a melodramatic ballad, but don't be fooled! "Time After Time" is way kookier than anything Cyndi Lauper could dream up. Behold, the plot: "War of the Worlds" author H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) hunts down infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper (David Warner), who has traveled to the 20th century after stealing the writer's time machine. With little interest in its pseudo-science and a romantic subplot that often gets in the way of the suspenseful thrills, "Time After Time" is an odd duck that manages to charm in spite of its idiosyncrasies. Then again, when your lead actors are having this much fun with a premise this bananas, you're bound to conjure up a good degree of movie magic.

25. Timecrimes

Easily scampering away with the best title on this list, "Timecrimes" follows Héctor (Karra Elejalde), a middle-aged nobody whose lazy day is ruined when a blood-soaked madman chases him into a secret lab in the woods. Inside, he meets a suspiciously unfazed scientist (played by writer-director Nacho Vigalondo) who casually instructs Héctor to hide in a big vat of sci-fi liquid. Sure enough, Héctor is launched back in time by one hour, forced to navigate (and solve) a string of disasters perpetrated by different iterations of himself. Few films on this list have a protagonist this stupid. But that is, in effect, part of the charm of "Timecrimes:" Héctor is just some dude who winds up at the center of an increasingly complicated web of cause and effect. Inventive, moody, and effective for its smaller scope and scale, "Timecrimes" is a pure delight.

24. Je t'aime, je t'aime

One of the older films on this list, Alain Resnais' 1968 film blends time travel with romantic obsession. From the director of "Last Year at Marienbad," the film sees a depressed young man named Claude (Claude Rich) reeling after the end of his relationship with Catrine (Olga Georges-Picot). Claude agrees to participate in a human experiment with a time travel device that promises to send its user back in the past by one year, for one minute. But when the machine malfunctions, Claude finds himself stuck reliving his nightmarish past out of sequence. Navigating fluidly through time, memory, and trauma, "Je t'aime, je t'aime" is arguably the most heartbreaking film on this list, an emotionally draining experience that must be seen (and wept over) to be believed.

23. Time Bandits

From the demented, hyper-imaginative mind of director Terry Gilliam, 1981's "Time Bandits" follows a young history nerd named Kevin (Craig Warnock) who is whisked away by six time-hopping criminals on an adventure to steal treasures from different historical eras, thanks to some convenient holes in the fabric of space and time. With whimsy to spare and an approach towards fantasy that charms both kids and adults alike, "Time Bandits" is simultaneously silly as hell and bursting with technical prowess, it contains the absurdism and production design that distinguishes Gilliam's cinematic output.

22. Safety Not Guaranteed

A bizarre ad shows up in the classifieds section of a local Washington newspaper. Someone is looking for a partner to travel back in time with them. They stress that it isn't a joke, and that they have only traveled in time once before. Tasked with covering the ad as an amusing fluff piece, a group of reporters, including the listless college grad Darius (Aubrey Plaza), set off to find and meet this clearly unhinged individual (Mark Duplass).There's no way that this lunatic actually invented a time machine, right? Unapologetically quirky, this indie rom-com could not be more twee if it tried. But sometimes adorable awkward dorks finding happiness and love while trying to journey through the ages together is exactly what the doctor ordered.

21. Il Mare

This 2000 South Korean romantic comedy follows a love story that transcends time itself ... literally. When Eun-joo (Jun Ji-hyun) in "Il Mare" abandons her seaside home for the city, she leaves a card in the mailbox for the next owner so that they can forward her any mail. Two years earlier , a young man named Sung-hyun (Lee Jung-jae) receives Eun-joo's letter. The pair soon realize that the beach house's mailbox can traverse time and space, and begin a really long-distance relationship. Remade stateside six years later as the Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock romance "The Lake House," Lee Hyun-seung's original is a captivating love story that is worth seeking out.

20. Predestination

Based on Robert A. Heinlein's short story, "Predestination" follows a time-hopping government agent (Ethan Hawke) who is hot on the heels of a serial terrorist equally unstuck in time. In his quest to catch the notorious Fizzle Bomber, the agent allies with a mysterious individual (Sarah Snook) who writes under the pseudonym "The Unmarried Mother." It is difficult, if not impossible, to dig into the "chicken or egg" delights of "Predestination" without giving away key plot details, so you'll just have to seek this one out to see for yourself. It's ambitious, imaginative, and a must-watch for anyone who enjoys a head-scratcher (you may have to whip out a corkboard and some red string once the credits roll).

Did  you  know that Wong Kar-Wai, the acclaimed Hong Kong director behind "Chungking Express" and "Fallen Angels," made a time travel pseudo-sequel to "In the Mood For Love"? If not, you do now. Spanning multiple timelines, real and imagined, "2046" follows a sci-fi author named Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung) as he writes about, and lives within, a hotel filled with memories. Like much of Wong Kar-Wai's work, "2046" is deeply interested in missed connections, the painful "what-ifs?" that haunt you long after they've come and gone. With aching melancholy, Chow Mo Wan recounts his experiences with the mysterious titular room and all the lost souls who pass through it. Many films can be summarized by the mournful thesis that "love is all a matter of timing," but few are able to tease out the visual poetry of such a statement quite like Wong Kar-Wai.

18. Source Code

Directed by Duncan Jones, who more than proved himself in the sci-fi genre with 2009's "Moon," "Source Code" tells of Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a soldier dropped into the body of an unknown man aboard a commuter train en route to Chicago. Soon enough, he realizes his mission: There's a bomb on board, and he's the only one who can prevent the catastrophe from taking place. Reliving the last eight minutes of his host's life again and again, Colter must piece the clues together to thwart further bombings. More action-heavy than many of the films on this list, "Source Code" is a kinetic take on the time loop format grounded by a brilliant and demanding lead performance by Gyllenhaal.

The third feature film from "Knives Out" director Rian Johnson, 2012's "Looper" takes place in a future where mob bosses use time travel to dispose of bodies. Joe Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one such time-traveling hitman, raking in the big bucks with dreams of retiring to a quiet life in France. Then, one day during a hit, Joe is shocked to come face-to-face with his future self (Bruce WIllis). A game of cat and mouse ensues, with mob intrigue, paradoxes, and determinism galore. A thinking man's sci-fi time travel thriller, "Looper" will satisfy viewers who enjoy world-building, masterful plotting, and inventive takes on the noir genre.

16. 16. Midnight in Paris

One of the many entries in the "Rachel McAdams is romantically involved with a time traveler" cinematic universe, "Midnight in Paris" follows Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), an aspiring novelist with his head in the clouds who accidentally stumbles through time while vacationing in Paris with his fiancé (McAdams). Brushing shoulders with literary idols, infamous artists, and starry-eyed creatives, Gil soon finds that the draw of the past easily outweighs his obligations to the present. Featuring an all-star ensemble cast and an undeniably charming romantic attitude, "Midnight in Paris" is an enjoyable viewing experience (especially if you cover your eyes and ears when the director/writer credits flash on screen).

15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

What's a "Harry Potter" film doing on a list of time travel movies? Well, if you'll recall, the third film in the franchise features a third-act plot device called a Time-Turner that allows our wizarding heroes to rewrite history, saving the father figure of hero Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) from a fate worse than death. Sure, the Time-Turner primarily features in the story as a way for bookworm Hermione (Emma Watson) to attend multiple overlapping classes. But, as we'll quickly learn, rules (and the space-time continuum) are meant to be broken. Directed by Mexican New Wave wunderkind Alfonso Cuarón, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" follows Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione as they contend with yet another life-threatening development: the escape of notorious convict Sirius Black (Gary Oldman).

14. Donnie Darko

A moody teen named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) narrowly avoids being incinerated by a plane crashing into his bedroom when he is lured outside by a giant, demonic-looking bunny rabbit. You know. Typical teen stuff. The rabbit, Frank (James Duval), informs Donnie that the whole world is going to end in less than a month. As Frank continues to pull the strings of Donnie's life, the teen is nudged to commit mischief, arson, and yes, time travel. Famously confusing, with tangential universes and deterministic quandaries galore, "Donnie Darko" is the kind of film that will make your brain hurt ... hopefully in a good way. Featuring one of the greatest soundtracks of the 1990s (INXS and Tears for Fears? In this economy ?), Richard Kelly's "Donnie Darko" is one of the defining films of the early 2000s.

13. Arrival

While Ted Chiang's 1998 short story was long thought to be unfilmable, director Denis Villeneuve has a talent for bringing high concept stories to the screen (there's a reason he was drawn to "Dune"). In Villeneuve's 2016 film "Arrival," a renowned linguist named Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is summoned to assist with a bizarre development: Twelve mysterious, smooth-edged alien crafts have touched down across the world. It's up to Dr. Banks to devise a way to communicate with the beings inside the craft and determine if the extraterrestrial visitors are friends or foes. As Dr. Banks discovers, the key to cracking the code may lie in the aliens' nonlinear experience of time. A quiet masterpiece that benefits from repeated viewings, "Arrival" is an intelligent and hopeful slice of science fiction.

12. Palm Springs

Some time travel films see folks hurtling forward (or backward) in time. Others, like 2020's "Palm Springs," have time travelers moving in circles over and over again. One of the most inventive spins on the time loop sub-genre, Max Barbakow's feature film debut follows Nyles (Andy Samberg), a man who has been attending the same wedding over and over again in sunny Palm Springs. After Nyles is shot with an arrow during an impulsive hook-up with Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the depressed maid-of-honor joins the nihilistic Nyles in perpetually sun-drenched purgatory. Released during the beginning of the pandemic when every day really did feel the same, "Palm Springs" embraces the Sisyphean metaphor inherent in the time loop structure.

11. Planet of the Apes

Now, look. If this film's inclusion on this list has you scratching your head, that can only mean one of two things: You haven't seen the original "Planet of the Apes" film,  or you've been living under a pop-culture rock and have somehow avoided stumbling across the iconic twist ending of the 1968 sci-fi classic. Indeed, as we learn at the film's end, our resilient hero George Taylor (Charlton Heston) hasn't actually traveled through space at all ... just time. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, "Planet of the Apes" couches some genuine existential horror in the seemingly campy premise promised by its title. It's an oldie but a goodie that will reward the patient viewer with one of the greatest rug-pulls sci-fi filmmaking has to offer.

10. Interstellar

Are all movies set in space time travel movies? It's certainly a question worth asking. Aging in a relativistic biological space-time is one hell of a drug, after all. Without getting too deep into Albert Einstein's twin paradox , long story short: We age slower when we're zipping about in space. Christopher Nolan's 2014 sci-fi film "Interstellar" not only features some heartbreaking moments of time dilation, but a third act reveal that the power of love can bend the fabric of space and time itself. The film begins with an apocalyptic scenario: A global blight is turning Earth into a pile of ash and dust. A plan forms to find humanity a new home planet and a team, including former NASA test pilot Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), is sent out into the galaxy to scout the three potential candidates. Operatic, inventive, and brimming with intergalactic spectacle, "Interstellar" is an epic space saga of the highest quality.

9. 12 Monkeys

In the alarmingly not-too-distant future of 2035, mankind has been driven underground by a deadly viral pandemic. James Cole (Bruce Willis), a mild-mannered, soft-spoken convict, "volunteers" to act as a time-traveling guinea pig. His mission is to voyage back to 1996, the year of the outbreak, and discover its cause. However, when Cole is accidentally transported back too far into the past, his sweaty warnings about the impending disaster come across as the ravings of a lunatic, and he is promptly incarcerated in a mental health facility. There, he meets two individuals who will profoundly impact not only his life, but the future of the human race: a compassionate psychiatrist and a fellow mental patient who just so happens to be the son of a prominent virologist. Directed by the imaginative former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, "12 Monkeys" balances its gritty surreal gait with an uncomfortable degree of plausibility.

8. Edge of Tomorrow

Arguably the greatest video game movie ever made (despite not being directly based on any one particular video game), "Edge of Tomorrow" (also known by its more plot-accurate title "Live, Die, Repeat") tells of a future in which mankind is engaged in an apocalyptic battle with an alien force that is giving humanity a real run for its money. Major Bill Cage (Tom Cruise), a smooth-talking PR man who's never held a gun (or piloted a mech-suit), finds himself on the frontlines of a naval landing meant to turn the tide. The catastrophic invasion quickly claims the life of the inexperienced Cage, who dies slathered in the corrosive blood of an especially large alien foe. Then Cage wakes up, startled to find that he is very much alive and apparently stuck in a time loop reliving the disastrous day of the invasion over and over again. With creative action set pieces and an inventive approach to the time-loop sub-genre, "Edge of Tomorrow" is a tremendous amount of fun.

7. Run Lola Run

On the face of it, "Run Lola Run" doesn't seem to be an obvious entry in science fiction cinema. The 1998 German film follows a young woman (the titular Lola, played by Franka Potente), whose forgetful boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreau) accidentally leaves a big chunk of change on a subway car that belongs to a dangerous criminal. It's up to Lola to rustle up the funds and rendezvous with Manni in 20 minutes to avoid disaster. Over the course of the film, we witness three different timelines of Lola's sprint, each deviating significantly thanks to the butterfly effect. Experimental, kinetic, and brimming with undeniable 1990s energy, "Run Lola Run" is a breezy, fast-paced meditation on chaos theory, determinism, and all the mind-breaking side effects time travel entails. "Run Lola Run" might not have a time machine, but its detailed, hyper-specific concern with the fallout of how small decisions shape our lives more than justifies its presence on this list.

6. La Jetée

Directed by the prolific experimental filmmaker Chris Marker, this 1962 French-language film may be short, clocking in at just under 30 minutes, but its influence on science fiction cinema is vast. "La Jetée" follows an unnamed man (Davos Hanich), a prisoner of a future war that has driven all survivors below the surface to survive the post-apocalypse. Tapped as a reluctant test subject to be launched back in time (presumably to learn more about and ultimately prevent World War III), the man is hurtled backward and forward through the decades in search of a solution to humanity's "present" predicament. If this brief plot synopsis sounds familiar, that's because "La Jetée" served as the source material for the aforementioned "12 Monkeys." Still, the 1962 film stands on its own and is absolutely worth checking out, even if you're only familiar with Terry Gilliam's quasi-remake.

5. Groundhog Day

One of the best "time loop" films and one of the best romantic comedies of all time, 1993's "Groundhog Day" follows a grumpy, self-centered weatherman named Phil (Bill Murray) who is dispatched to a small town to cover the titular rodent-related holiday. To Phil's horror (and our amusement), the cranky newsman finds that he can't leave the humble borders of Punxsutawney even if there weren't a snowstorm. Trapped reliving the same day over and over again, Phil's anger and despair eventually transform into something far more endearing and productive. A comedy classic that makes full use of Murray's dual mastery of crankiness and charm, "Groundhog Day" is a cinematic gem worth revisiting again (and again and again).

4. The Terminator

The original 1984 "Terminator" film is the real deal. Straddling genres with mercurial ease (Is it a slasher? Science fiction tech-noir? All of the above?), "The Terminator" follows Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who finds herself the target of a nightmarish foe: a machine wearing the flesh of a man, tasked to kill her. Unbeknownst to her, Sarah is going to give birth to the leader of the human resistance in an impending machine-led apocalypse. And while the titular muscle-bound hunk of junk (Arnold Schwarzenegger) aims to kill her son before he can be conceived, an agent of the resistance (Michael Biehn) has been tasked to protect her. Textured, brutal, and methodical, "The Terminator" is the slow-stalking progenitor of its much more bombastic follow-ups. Respect where respect is due, we say.

3. Your Name

Do you know what all of these films about time travel were missing? If you answered "romantic comedy body-swapping" you are correct . Directed by Makoto Shinkai (who readers may know from his 2019 film "Weathering with You"), "Your Name" follows the story of two 17-year-old high schoolers, Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) who repeatedly switch bodies at random. To say much more, or how the story relates to time travel, would give too much away. Suffice to say, "Your Name" was a runaway commercial success , surpassing the international box office of "Spirited Away" and garnering critical praise to match. If you like to cry, "Your Name" is the film for you — a heartbreaking and visually stunning story that features some of the most strikingly well-realized teenage characters in cinema, animated or otherwise.

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

"Terminator 2: Judgment Day" holds a number of high-octane superlatives: it's one of the best time travel films of all time, one of the best sci-fi action films ever made, and one of the best sequels. Taking a decidedly punchier approach than its moodier horror-adjacent predecessor, "Terminator 2" sees John Connor, leader of the human resistance against the AI apocalypse, sending Arnold Schwarzenegger's unstoppable machine back in time to protect his younger self (Edward Furlong). After breaking John's survivalist mom Sarah (Linda Hamilton) out of a psychiatric institution, the trio set off to prevent doomsday before it can happen. Hot on their heels is the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), an advanced AI assassin capable of morphing its liquid-metal body to imitate anyone it pleases. Packing a genuinely emotional center into its back-to-back action sequences and time-defying special effects, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" deserves all the praise it receives.

1. Back to the Future

Spunky teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) joins his senior citizen pal, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) for a nighttime science experiment: a test drive of a time machine that also happens to be a DeLorean. But an unexpected run-in with a gang of terrorists sends Marty fleeing to the year 1955. Through no fault of his own, Marty accidentally threatens his own existence by forming a love triangle with his own parents that would make Freud spin in his grave like a wind turbine. It's up to Marty to make his own parents fall in love and reconnect with the younger version of Doc Brown to find a way back ... to the future. Full of crackerjack silliness and goofy plotting, the secret strength of "Back to the Future" is its simple message that your parents, believe it or not, are people too. Bouncy and full of the charm that makes director Robert Zemeckis a pillar of the 1980s, "Back to the Future" is pure candy-coated perfection.

• Totally Convincing True Sto...
• Wild, True Stories About Ti...
• John Litor, a Real Time Tra...
• Fan Theories About 'Back to...
• Pictures of Real Time Trave...
• Film Plot Holes You'll Neve...
• All About the Montauk Project
• Top Current Shows About Tim...
• Real People Who Time Traveled
• Unforgettable Time Travelin...
• Horror Movies About Time Tr...
• Which Method Would You Use?
• These Time Travel Movies Ar...
• Sudden Time Jumps in Movies
• Underrated Time-Travel Horr...

The 80+ Best Time Travel Movies

Time travel holds a fascination for both filmmakers and audiences alike, with its endless possibilities and intriguing paradoxes. The concept of altering the past and witnessing historic events, or visiting the future captures the imagination, and cinema provides the perfect medium to explore these ideas. The best time travel movies are those that not only venture into the realm of temporal displacement but also present compelling characters and stories. 

These time travel movies offer a diverse range of cinematic experiences, from blockbuster action-adventures to dramas. Each film has themes of time manipulation and its consequences, featuring strong character development and dynamic storylines that make them captivating. 

Notable examples of the best time travel movies include Back to the Future, a classic 1985 film that effortlessly blends humor, action, and compelling characters. Another standout is Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a relentless action blockbuster that raises the stakes of the original film while showcasing an intricate exploration of destiny and the human spirit. More recently, Edge of Tomorrow demonstrates the genre's continued evolution by incorporating a gripping sci-fi premise within a high-stakes action-packed setting. These exceptional films represent just a fraction of the extensive collection of time travel movies that captivate viewers. 

Time travel movies have played an instrumental role in shaping the trajectory of cinematic storytelling, proving their timeless appeal and the potential for further exploration. Whether it's revisiting the past, glimpsing the future, or navigating alternate realities, these films create unforgettable and inspiring cinematic experiences. 

Back to the Future

Back to the Future , a legendary science-fiction adventure film directed by Robert Zemeckis, stands as a triumphant depiction of time travel in the 1980s. With exceptional performances by Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, this movie artfully immerses viewers in the nostalgic world of Hill Valley, 1955, when Marty McFly (Fox) is sent back in time by Doc Brown's (Lloyd) iconic DeLorean-powered time machine. As Marty navigates his new environment, the importance of preserving the past and personal destinies becomes increasingly evident, giving birth to a timeless tale that resonates with audiences across generations. Through its humorous yet tender storytelling and innovative special effects, Back to the Future  remains an essential addition to the pantheon of time-traveling cinema.

• Dig Deeper... Surprising Facts You Didn't Know About Back to the Future
• # 4 of 116 on The 100+ Best Movies About High School
• # 2 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

The Terminator

Helmed by visionary director James Cameron, The Terminator  is a gripping sci-fi thriller that solidified Arnold Schwarzenegger's status as a Hollywood superstar. Set against the backdrop of a dystopian future where machines rule over humans, the film tells the story of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who finds herself pursued by a relentless, technologically advanced cyborg (Schwarzenegger) sent back in time to change the course of humanity's future. Featuring groundbreaking visual effects and an adrenaline-fueled storyline, The Terminator  became an instant classic upon its release and still captivates viewers with its exhilarating blend of action, suspense, and time-travel intrigue.

• Dig Deeper... 56 Things You Didn't Know About the Terminator Movies
• And Deeper... 12 'Terminator' Fan Theories That Are Just Crazy Enough To Be True
• # 6 of 191 on The Best Movies For Men

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The gripping sequel to James Cameron's groundbreaking The Terminator , Terminator 2: Judgment Day  elevates the stakes and pushes the envelope further with its enhanced visual effects, compelling narrative, and poignant character development. In this ambitious follow-up, Schwarzenegger reprises his role as a Terminator, this time tasked with protecting a young John Connor (Edward Furlong) from an even more menacing and advanced cyborg. As the story unravels, themes of redemption, sacrifice, and humanity's struggle against fate take center stage, leaving viewers riveted by the film's immersive storytelling. Terminator 2: Judgment Day  continues to stand as a testament to the power of cinema and the unyielding potential of time-travel tales.

• Dig Deeper... Behind-The-Scenes Stories From 'Terminator 2,' The Sequel That Somehow Exceeded The Hype
• # 10 of 50 on The Biggest Movies Of The '90s, Ranked
• # 11 of 191 on The Best Movies For Men

Back to the Future Part II

In Back to the Future Part II , director Robert Zemeckis reunites Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd for an inventive and thrilling follow-up that expands on the original's narrative and explores new dimensions of time travel. As Marty McFly and Doc Brown embark on a daring quest to save their future, viewers are treated to a visually stunning and expertly crafted adventure that transports them across multiple timelines - from a fascinatingly dystopian 2015 to an alternate version of 1985. With its razor-sharp wit and intricate plot twists, Back to the Future Part II  showcases the boundless creativity of its filmmaking team while solidifying the franchise's standing as a beloved and timeless piece of cinematic history.

• # 41 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 35 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 20 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked

Groundhog Day

Marrying wry humor with a potent dose of existential introspection, Groundhog Day  is a gem of a film that defies conventions and captures the complexities of human nature. Directed by Harold Ramis and led by comedic genius Bill Murray, the film follows the cynical weatherman Phil Connors as he finds himself inexplicably trapped in an infinite time loop, forced to relive the same day over and over again. As Phil grapples with his predicament and searches for meaning amidst the monotony, viewers are drawn into a poignant study of redemption, empathy, and the power of personal transformation within the framework of a seemingly whimsical comedy. Groundhog Day  remains a touchstone of 1980s cinema and serves as an enduring reminder of the potential for growth inherent in every passing moment.

• # 71 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 18 of 379 on The Best Movies Of The 1990s
• # 33 of 703 on The All-Time Greatest Comedy Films

Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt as they embark on a high-stakes sci-fi adventure, filled with adrenaline-pumping action sequences and an intelligent twist on the time travel genre. The film expertly weaves together aspects of extraterrestrial warfare, an unexpected romance, and the concept of repeating the same day to achieve victory against all odds. Cruise's performance as a reluctant hero, paired with Blunt's fierce determination, create a compelling dynamic that drives the film forward. The intricately crafted storyline is bolstered by stunning visual effects, immersing viewers into the palpable tension and excitement of this epic time-traveling battle for humanity.

Masterfully directed by the visionary Terry Gilliam, 12 Monkeys  is a dystopian sci-fi thriller that immerses viewers in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a deadly virus. With captivating performances by Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt, the film follows a prisoner (Willis) as he is sent back in time to gather information on the origins of the lethal disease and potentially prevent the catastrophe from ever occurring. As the plot unfolds, the intricate narrative blurs the lines between past, present, and future, offering a mesmerizing study of fate, reality, and memory. Boasting stunning visuals and an unforgettable storyline, 12 Monkeys  stands as a masterwork in the time-travel genre and a testament to the power of innovative filmmaking.

• Dig Deeper... Behind-The-Scenes Stories From '12 Monkeys'
• # 26 of 252 on The 200+ Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time
• # 549 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Looper is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller directed by Rian Johnson that boldly ventures into the realm of time travel with a unique twist. In the film's futuristic setting, hitmen known as "Loopers" eliminate targets sent back in time by crime syndicates, thus erasing them from existence. Featuring exceptional performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, the movie centers on a young Looper (Gordon-Levitt) who faces the ultimate dilemma when he's assigned to eliminate his future self (Willis). As the narrative weaves through a complex web of morality, survival, and destiny, viewers are left spellbound by the film's intensity and thought-provoking themes. Looper  is a gripping cinematic achievement that will have viewers contemplating its intricate story long after the final credits roll.

• # 348 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 52 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 88 of 176 on The Best Science Fiction Action Movies

Back to the Future Part III

Concluding the beloved time-travel trilogy, Back to the Future Part III  takes Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) on a thrilling adventure to the Wild West of 1885. Helmed once again by visionary director Robert Zemeckis, this installment seamlessly melds classic Western tropes with the franchise's trademark humor and sci-fi elements, resulting in a highly entertaining and satisfying conclusion to the series. As Marty and Doc work together to return to their own time, they encounter a host of new characters and challenges, further exploring themes of fate, friendship, and love. Back to the Future Part III  is a fitting finale that stays true to its predecessors' charm and leaves audiences with a sense of wistful nostalgia for the adventures they've shared.

• # 228 of 288 on The 250+ Best Western Movies Of All Time
• # 104 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 60 of 379 on The Best Movies Of The 1990s

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

With its irreverent humor and endearingly quirky cast, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure  remains an iconic '80s comedy that delivers laughs and heart in equal measure. The film follows two lovable yet dim-witted teenagers, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves), as they embark on an epic journey through time, meeting historical figures such as Napoleon, Socrates, and Abraham Lincoln while attempting to pass their history final. Directed by Stephen Herek, this wildly inventive tale is brimming with hilarious moments, memorable quotes, and an infectious sense of fun that stands the test of time. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure  captures the spirit of adventure and friendship, reminding viewers of the joys inherent in life's most unexpected journeys.

• Dig Deeper... Small But Accurate Details In 'Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure'
• # 19 of 116 on The 100+ Best Movies About High School
• # 180 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Interstellar

Christopher Nolan's Interstellar  is a visually stunning and emotionally charged sci-fi epic that explores the depths of human ingenuity and the complexities of time travel. Featuring powerful performances from Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Jessica Chastain, the film follows a group of astronauts as they embark on a perilous journey through a wormhole in search of a new habitable planet for humanity. With its breathtaking visuals, thought-provoking themes, and intricately woven narrative, Interstellar  pushes the boundaries of storytelling, challenging viewers to ponder the future of mankind and the inexorable passage of time.

• # 67 of 252 on The 200+ Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time
• # 539 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 25 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies

The Time Machine

H.G. Wells' classic science fiction tale comes to life in George Pal's 1960 adaptation of The Time Machine , a groundbreaking study of time travel that captivated and inspired generations of filmmakers. Starring Rod Taylor as a Victorian scientist who invents a machine capable of traversing the centuries, the film transports viewers on a thrilling journey through time, from the peaceful countryside of 19th-century England to the far-flung future. Rich in both visual splendor and narrative depth, The Time Machine  is an enduring cinematic treasure that continues to intrigue and entertain audiences more than half a century after its release.

• # 643 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 48 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 30 of 46 on The Coolest Fictional Objects You Most Want to Own

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect is a captivating psychological thriller that delves into the dangerous consequences of altering the past. Starring Ashton Kutcher as a college student who discovers he can change his traumatic childhood experiences through meditation, the film explores the unpredictable ripple effects of tampering with the delicate fabric of time. Directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, The Butterfly Effect  keeps audiences on the edge of their seats with its intense storyline, inventive plot twists, and compelling study of fate and redemption.

• # 28 of 252 on The 200+ Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time
• # 445 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 37 of 125 on The 100+ Grossest Movies Ever

Avengers: Endgame

Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame  serves as the stunning culmination of an epic saga, expertly weaving time travel into its grand narrative to deliver a thrilling and emotionally resonant superhero adventure. As Earth's mightiest heroes race against time to undo the havoc wrought by Thanos, they confront personal challenges, shattered relationships, and the immutable nature of their destinies. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Endgame  provides both heart-pounding spectacle and poignant character moments, solidifying its status as a landmark achievement in the annals of sci-fi and comic book cinema.

Planet of the Apes

A groundbreaking work of science fiction, Franklin J. Schaffner's Planet of the Apes  presents a chilling vision of a future where intelligent primates rule over subjugated humans. Charlton Heston stars as an astronaut who crash-lands on a seemingly primitive world, only to discover its terrifying secret – a civilization where apes dominate and humans are enslaved. With its thought-provoking themes, iconic imagery, and unforgettable climax, Planet of the Apes  stands as a cornerstone of 20th-century cinema and continues to captivate viewers with its bold study of the consequences of untamed ambition.

• # 353 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 22 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 31 of 176 on The Best Science Fiction Action Movies

Frequency combines elements of sci-fi, thriller, and drama to weave a gripping tale of a father and son separated by time yet connected through a miraculous radio signal. Starring Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid, this unique time-travel narrative unfolds as father and son attempt to solve a murder, even as their actions in the past precipitate unforeseen consequences in the present. Directed by Gregory Hoblit, Frequency  is a suspenseful and emotionally resonant film that deftly navigates the complexities of time travel while exploring themes of family, love, and destiny.

• # 113 of 123 on The Biggest Tearjerker Movies Of All Time
• # 293 of 307 on The 295+ Best Movies For Guys
• # 123 of 168 on The 165 Best Tearjerker Movies of All Time, Ranked

In Mike Judge's darkly comedic satire Idiocracy , time travel serves as the catalyst for a biting examination of societal decline and human stupidity. The film follows a perfectly average man (Luke Wilson) who is accidentally frozen and awakens 500 years in the future, only to find that society has devolved into a dystopian nightmare of ignorance, commercialism, and environmental catastrophe. With its razor-sharp wit and incisive social commentary, Idiocracy  offers both laughter and sobering reflection on the trajectory of human progress.

• Dig Deeper... 17 Ways Idiocracy Has Actually Come True
• # 134 of 191 on The Best Movies For Men
• # 568 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Merging the original X-Men with their younger counterparts, X-Men: Days of Future Past  is an ambitious and thrilling installment in the long-standing superhero franchise. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film employs time travel to bridge the gap between past and present, as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back to the 1970s to prevent a cataclysmic event that could alter the course of history. With its star-studded ensemble cast and compelling narrative, X-Men: Days of Future Past  delivers action-packed entertainment while exploring themes of redemption, unity, and the endless potential for change.

• # 229 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 62 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 14 of 164 on The Best Movie Sequels Ever Made

Galaxy Quest

In the beloved sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest , time travel plays a crucial role in the uproarious adventures of a group of washed-up actors unwittingly recruited by real aliens to save their species. Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman, this hilarious send-up of both classic Star Trek and fan conventions showcases the power of love, friendship, and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. With its delightful humor and heartfelt moments, Galaxy Quest  remains a cherished favorite among fans of lighthearted time-travel escapades.

• Dig Deeper... Why 'Galaxy Quest' Is Pretty Much The Best 'Star Trek' Movie Ever Made
• # 316 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 28 of 178 on The 150+ Best Movies With Aliens

Minority Report

An exhilarating blend of mystery, action, and speculation, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report  presents a chilling vision of a future where psychic technology enables law enforcement to predict and prevent crimes before they occur. Tom Cruise stars as a pre-crime investigator who becomes a fugitive when the system he once believed in implicates him in a crime he has yet to commit. As he seeks the truth, he confronts a web of intrigue, deception, and moral quandaries. Minority Report  is a thrilling cinematic odyssey into a dystopian future, offering both edge-of-your-seat excitement and thought-provoking commentary on fate, free will, and the price of security.

• # 29 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 147 of 675 on The Best Movies Roger Ebert Gave Four Stars
• # 22 of 92 on The 95+ Greatest Dystopian Action Movies

Donnie Darko

Richard Kelly's enigmatic cult classic Donnie Darko  offers a haunting and atmospheric study of time travel, destiny, and mental health. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled titular character, the film follows Donnie's descent into a surreal world of prophetic visions, mysterious occurrences, and sinister manifestations. As he confronts the prospect of an impending apocalypse, Donnie finds himself navigating a labyrinthine narrative that deftly interweaves elements of horror, science fiction, and coming-of-age drama. Donnie Darko  remains a deeply evocative and mesmerizing cinematic experience that continues to haunt and engage viewers nearly two decades after its release.

• # 82 of 116 on The 100+ Best Movies About High School
• # 657 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 13 of 99 on The Best Period Movies Set in the '80s

J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot of the iconic Star Trek franchise boldly goes where no film has gone before, utilizing time travel to create an exciting and refreshing take on the beloved sci-fi universe. Featuring a fantastic ensemble cast led by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, this modern retelling introduces a new generation of fans to the thrilling adventures of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the USS Enterprise crew, while staying true to the spirit of the original series. Brimming with dazzling special effects, kinetic action sequences, and heartfelt character moments, Star Trek  is a thrilling ride that has breathed new life into the storied franchise.

• Dig Deeper... The 19 Coolest Starships In The 'Star Trek' Universe
• And Deeper... The Best Q Episodes of 'Star Trek
• # 211 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

It's a Wonderful Life

Frank Capra's enduring masterpiece It's a Wonderful Life  is a timeless study of the impact of a single life on the world around it. In this heartwarming tale, James Stewart stars as George Bailey, a down-on-his-luck man who contemplates ending his life on Christmas Eve. Through the intervention of a bumbling guardian angel, George is granted the opportunity to witness an alternate reality where he never existed, ultimately realizing the profound effect his life has had on those around him. Though not typically viewed as a time-travel narrative, It's a Wonderful Life  thoughtfully demonstrates the ripple effect of our actions through time and serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of compassion, gratitude, and human connection.

• Dig Deeper... It's A Wonderful Life Is Not The Heartwarming Movie You Remember
• # 278 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 7 of 126 on The Best Christmas Movies Of All Time

This 2002 adaptation of H.G. Wells' groundbreaking novel, directed by Simon Wells, plunges viewers into a thrilling and visually stunning journey through time. Starring Guy Pearce as a brilliant inventor who creates a time machine to change the tragic course of his past, the film introduces audiences to an array of fantastical settings, from Victorian London to a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Though differing from its literary source material in several key aspects, The Time Machine retains the spirit of Wells' work, offering an engrossing study of human ambition, love, and the inexorable march of time.

In Richard Curtis' charming romantic comedy About Time , time travel serves as a poignant metaphor for the beauty and fragility of life's fleeting moments. The film follows Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), a young man who discovers he has the ability to travel through time, and uses his newfound power to find love, fix mistakes, and bring happiness to those around him. With its whimsical humor, heartfelt performances, and beautiful cinematography, About Time  artfully explores themes of love, family, and the importance of cherishing every moment of our lives.

• # 42 of 46 on 50+ Quirky Romance Movies With Unique Love Stories
• # 54 of 136 on The 100+ Best Movies For Date Night
• # 107 of 472 on The 400+ Best Chick Flicks Ever

The Time Traveler's Wife

Based on Audrey Niffenegger's bestselling novel, The Time Traveler's Wife  is a deeply moving study of love, loss, and the complexities of time travel. Starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, the film tells the story of Clare (McAdams), who falls in love with Henry (Bana), a man with a rare genetic disorder that causes him to involuntarily travel through time. As their relationship unfolds across the years, the couple faces numerous challenges and heartbreaks, resulting in a poignant and bittersweet portrait of devotion in the face of uncertainty. The Time Traveler's Wife  is a tender and memorable examination of the enduring power of love, even when time itself seems to conspire against it.

• # 250 of 437 on The Best Novels Ever Written
• # 327 of 375 on The Best Movies Based On Books
• # 18 of 55 on The Saddest Romance Movies That Will Make You Cry

Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: First Contact is an exhilarating installment in the iconic science fiction franchise, blending elements of action, adventure, and time travel to create a thrilling cinematic experience. As the USS Enterprise crew, led by Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, confront the malevolent Borg, they find themselves transported back in time to the pivotal moment of humanity's first contact with an alien race. Faced with the responsibility of preserving history and ensuring the future of mankind, the crew embarks on a desperate mission to thwart the Borg's sinister plans. Directed by Jonathan Frakes, Star Trek: First Contact  is a gripping and emotionally charged journey through time and space, celebrating the spirit of exploration and unity at the heart of the long-running franchise.

• # 674 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 48 of 178 on The 150+ Best Movies With Aliens
• # 181 of 379 on The Best Movies Of The 1990s

Somewhere in Time

Somewhere in Time is a romantic fantasy that captures the hearts of viewers with its touching portrayal of love transcending the boundaries of time. Starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, the film tells the story of Richard Collier (Reeve), a playwright who becomes infatuated with a woman from the past and wills himself back in time to be with her. Through tender performances and a sweeping score, Somewhere in Time  showcases the power of timeless love and leaves a lasting impression on those who have experienced this enchanting narrative.

• # 330 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 16 of 64 on The Best Movies Of 1980
• # 26 of 80 on The Best Period Romance Movies

Predestination

Predestination , a mind-bending science fiction thriller directed by the Spierig Brothers, expertly navigates the intricate paradoxes of time travel to deliver a captivating and cerebral cinematic experience. Starring Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook, the film follows a time-traveling agent on his mission to stop a mysterious criminal known as the "Fizzle Bomber." As past, present, and future collide, a dizzying web of secrets, betrayal, and destiny is revealed, leaving viewers enthralled by the film's labyrinthine narrative and stellar performances. Predestination  is an ambitious and thought-provoking study of fate, identity, and the complex nature of time itself.

• # 177 of 252 on The 200+ Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time
• # 104 of 166 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 11 of 69 on The Most Confusing Movies Ever Made

Hot Tub Time Machine

In the irreverent comedy Hot Tub Time Machine , a group of disillusioned friends, played by John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke, accidentally travel back in time to the 1980s via - you guessed it – a hot tub. As they navigate the raucous decade, complete with outrageous fashions, wild parties, and questionable hair choices, they each face the consequences of their past decisions and the potential to rewrite their futures. Directed by Steve Pink, Hot Tub Time Machine  is a hilarious and nostalgic romp through time that serves as both a love letter and a playful critique of the era.

• # 709 of 769 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 15 of 99 on The Best Period Movies Set in the '80s
• # 498 of 703 on The All-Time Greatest Comedy Films
• Entertainment
• Time Travel
• Watchworthy

As they say in well-written scripts, "You mean... like time travel?" + also a few bizarre stories about real people who have claimed, despite every law of physics, they have traveled through time.

The 15 Best Time Travel Movies Ever Made

Turn back the clock

In Netflix’s “The Adam Project,” a fighter pilot from the future named Adam (Ryan Reynolds) accidentally crash lands in 2022, and has to team up with his 12-year-old former self (Walker Scobell) in order to have a chance at a future victory. But while Adam physically journeys to his own past, other time travel movies have seen objects, communication, and even consciousness skip back and forth along the timeline to affect their stories.

Below, we look at 15 of the very best movies centered around time travel, each putting its own unique spin on the concept of characters who, in some way, manage to traverse time. 

“Time After Time” (1979)

While none of the cinematic adaptations of the prolific works of 19th century science-fiction writer HG Wells are on this list, the writer himself is (or at least a fictionalized version of him) in the time hopping murder mystery “Time After Time.” Malcolm McDowell plays Wells, who takes to his newly invented time machine after realizing that notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper (David Warner) is not only someone he considered a friend, but has also used his machine to travel to the future. Feeling partially responsible for the harm Jack will inflict, Wells follows him to the late 1970s, where both men set their sights on bank teller Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen, who also appears later on this list in “Back to the Future III”), although for very different reasons. While viewers may come to “Time After Time” for the time-hopping cat and mouse chase, as Wells races to stop Jack from killing again, they’ll stay for the sweet romance that blooms between Wells and Amy along the way. 

“Terminator” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1984, 1991)

After the second (and arguably superior) film, the “Terminator” franchise gets a bit uneven, but James Cameron’s first two installments still hold up, with one of the coolest premises in the time travel genre. In a war-torn future where humans are locked in a battle with intelligent machines, a cyborg assassin called a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the woman fated to give birth to the eventual hero of mankind. Meanwhile, humans also send back one of their own to protect her. The result is a tense and action-packed adventure that capitalizes on its paradoxical premise by delivering some truly jaw-dropping twists. The sequel, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” sees Sarah’s son, now a teenager, still in danger from time-traveling machines, but this time protected by a reprogrammed Terminator sent back to save him.

“Back to the Future” trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990)

Still the gold standard for time travel movies nearly four decades later, the “Back to the Future” trilogy has been the entry point to concepts like temporal paradoxes, causal loops, and the space-time continuum for multiple generations of viewers. While the first movie is commonly considered the best, all three are a ton of fun, due in large part to knockout comedic performances from Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox as Doc, the man who invents time travel, and Marty, the high school student who accidentally uses it to break his own timeline, respectively. “Back to the Future II” sees Marty catastrophically changing his own present by getting greedy to the future, while “Back to the Future III” finds Doc and Marty stranded in the Old West and pressed to figure out a way to escape before Doc’s time runs out. 

“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986)

The Star Trek franchise is no stranger to time travel stories, and there are numerous Star Trek films that would make solid additions to this list. But for our money, “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” is the best of them. After an alien probe starts vacuuming up all of Earth’s oceans in 2286 in an attempt to make contact with a then-extinct species, it’s up to Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the starship Enterprise to travel back in time to retrieve a pair of humpback whales from 1986 and save the future. Is the premise a little silly when you spell it out? Yes. But it’s also a ton of fun, giving the original Star Trek cast a chance to stretch their comedic muscles after a few much more dramatic outings, while still delivering the type of earnest, optimistic storytelling that has always defined Star Trek at its best. “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” also stars Catherine Hicks as the 20th century scientist who aids Kirk on his mission, who you may also remember from the other big time travel film of 1986, “Peggy Sue Got Married.” 

“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989)

There are some time travel movies that challenge everything you thought you knew about reality, and then there are movies like “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” We’ll never pretend that this ridiculous romp through history to save the GPAs of a couple high school goofballs (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) destined to write a song that will save the world is exactly what you’d call smart. Its premise alone would be bound to give Doc Brown a migraine. But there’s something undeniably joyous about watching these two kindhearted and enthusiastic doofuses get to interact with some of the most notable figures from history. Just don’t think too hard about it (Bill and Ted certainly don’t) and enjoy the ride. 

“Groundhog Day” (1993)

One of the most fascinating sub genres of time travel is the time loop story , in which a character gets stuck repeating the same stretch of time over and over. But while many movies have come along to play with this idea, the reigning champion continues to be “Groundhog Day,” which sees Bill Murray as a cantankerous weatherman destined to cover the same Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania Groundhog Day festival every day ad infinitum, unless he can figure out a way to stop it. “Groundhog Day” hilariously takes every approach imaginable to the idea of repeating the same day for all eternity, from the macabre to the benevolent and everything in between. It’s a romcom, it’s a drama, it’s a fantasy, and it’s some of Bill Murray‘s best work that will leave you and stitches no matter how many times you watch it.

“12 Monkeys” (1995) 

Sometimes time travel movies have a bit of a wacky idea of what the future might look like, which is definitely the case with “12 Monkeys,” which sees humanity driven underground in the wake of a civilization-ending virus. Bruce Willis plays a low level criminal named James Cole who is presented with the opportunity to wipe his record clean in exchange for traveling to the past and gathering information about the virus. But of course, you can’t just show up in the mid-’90s ranting about being from the future without consequences, and Cole quickly finds himself committed to a mental institution, where he crosses paths with a good-natured psychiatrist (Madeleine Stow) and a fellow patient (Brad Pitt), who finds Cole’s ideas of the future very intriguing. The tone of “12 Monkeys” starts off feeling a little bizarre and off kilter (thanks to director Terry Gilliam), which only increases as the film progresses, helping put the viewer in Cole’s shoes as he begins to question his sense of reality. Like several others on this list, “12 Monkeys” enjoys challenging our perceptions of linear cause-and-effect, having a lot of fun as it tosses Bruce Willis back and forth between a bizarre future and a doomed past, daring us to guess where it’s going.

“Donnie Darko” (2001)

“Do you believe in time travel?“ That’s asked early on in brooding high school drama “Donnie Darko,” although it takes a while for viewers to fully understand why that question is so central to the story. The film follows Donnie, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, a moody high schooler who begins seeing visions of a man in a nightmarish bunny costume with warnings about the imminent end of the world. Soon, Donnie starts experiencing premonitions that he uses to guide his actions, kicking off a series of events that invites questions of predetermination, free will, and inevitability. “Donnie Darko” doesn’t feel like a typical time travel film, forgoing the typical tropes of the genre in lieu of an unconventional coming-of-age tale focused far more on teen angst, mental health, and social dynamics than questions of temporal causality and metaphysics. Still, the film is predicated on fascinating ideas about the malleability of time, and although it doesn’t provide all the answers, the questions alone are worth it. 

“Primer” (2004)

No film has ever been less interested in interpreting its scientific jargon for lay people than Shane Carruth’s “Primer,” a film which focuses on a pair of engineers who accidentally invent a time machine in their garage. After initially being overjoyed with their groundbreaking discovery, the pair finds themselves at odds over implications of their invention. Unlike many films about scientific innovation, “Primer” makes zero effort to translate the technical and scientific vernacular used by its characters for the audience; Unless you have PhDs in mechanical engineering and theoretical physics, you’ll just just have to pay attention to context clues and hope for the best. (And if you have to watch the film more than once to figure out what’s going on, that’s okay, too. Most people do.) But whether or not you can fully follow the intricate mechanics of the film’s time travel, the intriguing conflict between the two central characters — one of whom sees time travel as a shortcut to prosperity, while the other views it as a Pandora’s box of potentially disastrous consequences — should be more than enough to keep you invested.

“About Time” (2013)

While many time travel movies tend to deal with world-threatening stakes or adrenaline-fueling adventures, “About Time” is a quieter entry into the genre that simply asks what you might do if you had the ability to revisit any moment in your life. Domhnall Gleeson plays Tim, who finds out on his 21st birthday that the men in his family have the ability to travel back to points in their own past. From then on, Tim uses his ability to undo embarrassing moments, relive fond memories, and find true love with Mary (Rachel McAdams). Although Tim experiences his fair share of thrilling moments in his non-linear life, his journeys through time are much more about learning what gives life meaning, what moments matter, and accepting that there are some types of pain that even time travel can’t circumvent. Bring tissues for this tear-jerker from Richard Curtis, the filmmaker behind “Love, Actually” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

“Edge of Tomorrow” (2014)

While “Groundhog Day” trapped Bill Murray in a humdrum small town holiday, “Edge of Tomorrow” finds Tom Cruise stuck in a far more precarious loop when an alien infection gives him the ability to reset back to 24 hours before that infection every time he dies. And he dies a lot, since unfortunately he got infected in the midst of a doomed battle with massive insect-like aliens invading London. Fortunately, along for the ride is Emily Blunt, whose character Rita Vrataski has experienced the same ability, and has some ideas about what to do with it. Featuring awesome creature design, impressive visual effects, and an action-packed storyline that makes great use of its premise, “Edge of Tomorrow” delivers a thrilling blend of sci-fi action and time bending twistyness that, despite having seen the same day dozens of times by the time the movie ends, leaves us yearning for more.

“Interstellar” (2014)

It takes a while before Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” truly reveals itself as a time travel movie, but the pieces are there from the beginning. After learning that the Earth is dying, former pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) gets recruited on a mission to travel to another star system in the hopes of finding a planet to which humanity can flee. The journey takes Cooper and his crew to uncharted regions of space and fascinating new worlds, and along the way, the astronauts are faced with questions of relativity, our perception of time, and faith in the unknown. But it’s not until the final act of the film that it fully addresses the idea of sending something through time, although the seed of that idea is planted much earlier. The film’s approach to time travel is more philosophical than scientific, asking what sorts of things transcend the limits of time, and what they might give us the power to do.

“Predestination” (2014)

If the age old question of the chicken in the egg were a time travel movie, it would be “Predestination, a mind-scrambling exploration of cause-and-effect that will make your brain feel like it just ran a marathon. Sometime in the future, a time agent played by Ethan Hawke is on the hunt for a temporal terrorist responsible for killing hundreds of people throughout the timeline. His investigation leads him to cross paths with a person with their own interesting story to tell, and the way their story intersects with Hawke’s will leave your head spinning. It’s impossible to say much more about “Predestination” without spoiling some of the film’s many surprising twists, but suffice it to say that if you like your time travel challenging and accompanied by a hefty helping of existential wrestling, this is the film for you.

“Your Name” (2016)

Many animated films have delved into the world of time travel, but the Japanese film “Your Name” is perhaps one of the most impressive of the bunch. The story follows a rural teen girl named Mitsuha, who lives in a remote village and yearns for a more exciting life in the city, and Taki, a teenage boy from Tokyo, after the two inexplicably begin waking up some mornings in each other’s bodies. For the first half of the film, the two teens work to navigate their bizarre situation so that their daily lives are disrupted as little as possible, before it eventually becomes clear that not only are they swapping bodies; they’re also swapping times. From there, it becomes a race against the clock as they hurtle towards a cataclysmic event that is in the past for one, and the future for the other. Yet despite the compelling time travel element, it’s Mitsuha’s and Taki’s unlikely relationship with each other that gives the film its heart, and lingers with viewers afterwards. 

“Avengers: Endgame” (2019) 

After the snap heard round the universe at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War,” there was really no place for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to go other than back in time. Once the Avengers figure out that the only way to save the day is to retrieve the all-powerful Infinity Stones from various points in their past, “Avengers: Endgame” becomes a delightful tour through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, revisiting plots and places from over a decade’s worth of films in a way that pays off years of careful and expansive world building. It’s a plot that could only work within a long-running franchise, but in addition to being an excellent capper for the first three phases of the MCU, it’s also a satisfying time travel adventure in its own right, nodding to the many time travel films that have come before while also presenting its own unique spin on the genre.

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

'Great Scott!': Here are the 31 greatest time travel movies ever made, ranked

Let's gun the ol' speedometer up to 88 miles per hour with a look back at the best temporal adventures in movie history. 

Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown and Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in Back to the Future.  Credit: FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Image

No matter how much we try to hold onto time — which is less of a tangible thing and more of an ethereal human construct — it always seems to slip away through our fingers like sands glimpsed through an hourglass. To borrow a lyric from Pink Floyd's "Time": "And then one day you find ten years have got behind you."

Doesn't that just hit you right in the feels?

Perhaps that is why we, as a species, are so enamored with the idea of time travel and the tantalizing, yet elusive, promises the genre has always held in the realm of science fiction. If the ability to travel to the past or the future existed, we'd be able to rectify egregious mistakes, visit with notable historical figures, or fight off unstoppable robot assassins from the future. Okay, maybe not the third thing, but you get the point. Our collective fascination with temporal displacement isn't going anywhere and to that end, we present our ranking of the 31 best time travel movies ever made.

31. Idiocracy (2006)

As the years go by, Mike Judge's sci-fi comedy about a guy with average intelligence who wakes in a world full of morons (effectively making him the smartest man alive) feels less like satire and more like reality. Sad, yet true. Why water crops with an energy drink? Because it's got electrolytes! Why electrolytes? Because electrolytes are what plants crave! Duh, everyone knows that.

30. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Hot Tub Time Machine could have easily taken the lazy route with tired jokes and poorly-written characters. Instead, the film offers up a surprisingly tender message about yearning for the past and getting a second chance to fix the missteps of one's youth. It also helps that the comedy is just as strong as the emotion. What's more: you've got Chevy Chase playing a mysterious repair man who recalls Don Knotts' character in Pleasantville . What else could you really ask for?

29. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Shagadelic baby, yeah! On par with parody greats like Airplane and The Naked Gun , the first Austin Powers film lampoons to the James Bond franchise to perfection. Not only that, but the concept of a womanizing British super-spy from the 1960s trying to navigate the modern world felt ahead of its time, putting forth ideas of contemporization nearly a decade before Daniel Craig stepped into the shoes of 007.

28. Timecop (1994)

Timecop is exactly what it's title suggests: in the future, there exists a police force tasked with monitoring the timeline. Simple as pie. Nineties action icon Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as Max Walker, a titular temporal cop who must prevent a dangerous political from altering the past for his own gain.

27. The Time Machine (1960)

No, we're not talking about the Guy Pearce version from 2002 — we're talking about the OG adaptation of the iconic H.G. Wells tale directed by George Pal and starring Rod Taylor. The actor takes on the role of time traveler (duh) who gets way more than he bargained for when he travels to a future where humans battle a subterranean species of monstrous creatures known as morlocks.

26. Flight of the Navigator (1986)

A stone-cold ‘80s classic whose influence can certainly be felt in films like The Adam Project , Flight of the Navigator centers around a young boy who unwittingly travels to the future in an alien spaceship. A remake's been in the works for years, but it doesn't seem like much progress has been made on it.

25. Back to the Future Part II (1989)

One of several sequels on this quantum list, Back to the Future Part II set the stage for Avengers: Endgame three decades in advance with the idea of revisiting fan favorite moments of a previous movie via the utilization of time travel. When future Biff goes back to 1955 to give his younger self the sports almanac, Marty must follow and evade the version of himself in Part I . Great stuff!

24. Time After Time (1979)

H.G. Wells returns in this time-twisting movie in which the sci-fi writer attempting to stop Jack the Ripper, only for the infamous killer to use Wells' time machine against him. Several years later, director Nicholas Meyer would go on to direct another sci-fi classic — Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

23. Time Bandits (1981)

Most likely a major influence on Tony Fleecs' Time Shopper comic (well worth the read!), Time Bandits was among Terry Gilliam's first efforts as director. It's just something you won't get anywhere else: a unique Monty Python spin of the time travel genre. A tale of time-leaping dwarves on the hunt for treasure. As of 2019 , Thor director Taika Watiti was attached to a small screen remake at Apple TV+.

22. Army of Darkness (1993)

Army of Darkness is where the Evil Dead series went completely off the rails in the best way possible. After two outings at a possessed cabin in the middle of the woods, writer-director Sam Raimi needed a change of scenery? He could have gone to another contemporary location, but deciding to thrust Ash Williams back in time to the Dark Ages was a stroke of unexpected genius.

21. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

There was no way we could talk about the best time travel movies ever made and not give a shoutout to Mamoru Hosoda's 2006 masterpiece of an anime.

"The film plays the time-looping games of Groundhog Day, but it's also a sweet, credible study of a girl who wants to turn back the clock on her relationships with two boys who are starting to think more about romance than baseball," Kim Newman wrote in their review for Empire Magazine . "It has few fireworks, but still sticks in the mind, and is a definite upgrade from Digimon: The Movie for director Mamoru Hosoda."

20. Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Immediately following the events of Part II , Marty travels back to 1885 to save Doc Brown from living out the rest of his life in the Old West (Emmett's favorite time period). While there, our favorite skateboarding teenager runs afoul of Biff's ancestor, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen. Oh, and Doc falls in love with a schoolteacher named Clara, giving us a softer side of the mad scientist we've come to know over the last two installments.

19. About Time (2013)

Richard Curtis — the man who gave us Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually — tries his hand at the time travel genre with heartwarming results. Curtis, who both wrote and directed the film, is less interested in the sci-fi element and more preoccupied with the human drama of a young man who suddenly learns that the men in his family can jump through time.

18. Timecrimes (2007)

Writer-director Nacho Vigalondo's tight sci-fi thriller sort of flew under the radar when it was initially released back in 2007. If you haven't yet watched it, we can't recommend this one enough. Its handling of those pesky paradoxes that come with the time travel territory is *chef's kiss*.

17. Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)

It only took about three decades to get another entry in the Bill & Ted saga, but Face the Music was well worth the wait. An offbeat exploration of what it means to get older and come to terms with not achieving all the goals you once hoped to achieve, the third outing for Bill Preston and Ted Logan hits all the right notes. Even after all these years, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter have still go it. Rock on!

16. Star Trek (2009)

It had been close to a decade since the release of Star Trek: Nemesis when J.J. Abrams brought the classic franchise back to the big screen. But how do you reboot such a beloved property after so many decades of shows and movies? You take it back to its roots with just a few twists here and there. Enter the narrative device of time travel, which gave audiences fresh takes on Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Sulu, and the rest of the Enterprise crew while still remaining true to who these characters were in the OG run.

15. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

You can set anything in the 1970s and you're going to have a good time. Based on the seminal comic book arc by the dynamic X-Men duo of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Days of Future Past finds Logan traveling back in time (courtesy of Kitty Pryde) to prevent the mutant-hunting Sentinels from every being created. The finished product is a perfect marriage of the Bryan Singer films with the prequel continuity established by Matthew Vaughn in First Class . The ‘70s-set adventure is seriously groovy (who could ever forget that Quicksilver sequence set to Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle"?), while, in the dystopian present, the last gasp of mutant resistance engages in the real last stand against the Sentinels, which have been encoded with Mystique's adaptive cells. Nail-biter is an understatement.

14. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

The second Star Trek feature to be spun out of The Next Generation TV show, First Contact features a race against time (both literally and figuratively) to stop the Borg from preventing humanity's first contact with an alien species (the Vulcans).

"I think the most important plot aspect of the movie and what gave it its title was that Vulcan encounter at the end," co-writer Brannon Braga told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. "This is what Star Trek is and this is where it all began. And you want it to happen. It's what's at stake — Star Trek itself — and that to me gives the movie such a strong core.

13. Run Lola Run (1998)

If you're a fan of that Community episode that explores all the potential outcomes of a simple game night gathering, then you'll probably enjoy Run Lola Run . Similar to Pulp Fiction four years prior, Tom Twyker's third directorial effort plays around with the timeline of its storytelling (something that would serve Twyker well on Cloud Atlas ). When the titular woman's boyfriend loses a bag of money that belongs to a very dangerous crime lord, Lola only has 20 minutes to come up with the dough. A simple and engaging premise gets an added boost from the screenplay's exploration of fate and how our actions can lead to unforeseen consequences.

12. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Time travel isn't something we often associate with witches and wizards (Doctor Strange being an obvious exception), but Prisoner of Azkaban features one of the tightest examples of a paradox-free time loop you're likely to find anywhere in the genre. When Sirius Black and Buckbeak the hippogriff are wrongly sentenced to be executed, Harry and Hermione use a Time Turner to save both innocent souls. Director Alfonso Cuarón effortlessly sets up the temporal element long before we ever get to that point, so that when our heroes do go back to change the past, it feels both earned and satisfying. Moreover, the time travel sticks to a concrete set of rules about not changing that which is immutable. Good stuff. Magical even.

11. Source Code (2011)

Groundhog Day , but as a heart-thumping action mystery/thriller. That's Source Code , baby — the second feature-length effort from David Bowie's filmmaker son, Duncan Jones. His follow-up to 2009's Moon proved Jones was not a one-hit high concept pony. Jake Gyllenhaal leads the project as Colter Stevens, a man forced to relive a specific train journey in an effort to find out who bombed the locomotive. Verga Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan, Jeffrey Wright, and Michael Arden round out the cast with Scott Bakula making a voiceover appearance as Colter's dad (most likely a loving reference to Bakula's role as Dr. Samuel Beckett in Quantum Leap ).

10. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

Whoa! On paper, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure sounds so off the wall as to be un-filmable: Two high school slackers with a love of rock n' roll travel through the centuries in a futuristic phone booth given to them by risqué comedian George Carlin in order to ace their history exam and not be sent to military school. If we were Hollywood executives in the late ‘80s, we'd probably ask what kind of reefer screenwriters Chris Matheson (son of famed sci-fi icon Richard Matheson) and Ed Solomon were smoking. But it works! And by golly, it works well.

9. Groundhog Day (1993)

Less of a time travel movie and more of a time loop movie, Groundhog Day is, perhaps, the finest directing effort from late actor/writer/filmmaker Harold Ramis. In this existential comedy, a bitter and self-centered newscaster is forced to relieve the same day over and over again until he learns a bit of humility. He can't leave the epicenter of the titular holiday (Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania) and any suicide attempt simply sends him back to the previous morning. It's a horrifying prospect, living out a hellish purgatory of repetition each and every day, but in Ramis's able hands, Groundhog Day keeps things light, earning its place as one of the finest dramedies ever made.

8. Looper (2012)

Looper is noteworthy for two big reasons: 1) Rian Johnson's snappy screenplay never gets too bogged down in the "rules" of the time travel genre and 2) Joseph Gordon-Levitt went the extra mile to wear facial prosthetics that made him look like a younger Bruce Willis. The decision to focus on a low-level enforcer for a group of future mafiosos who dispose of their victims in the distant past is pretty genius stuff. Johnson not only makes time travel feel fresh, he also manages to breathe new life into the crime thriller space. Not an easy feat by any means.

7. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Terry Gilliam just couldn't help himself; the dude just had to churn out another time travel masterpiece 15 years after Time Bandits . And we're very thankful he did. A top-of-his-game Bruce Willis steps into the shoes of a convict who is sent back in time to learn about a mysterious pathogen that wiped out a good chunk of humanity. The movie itself is a remake of the French film made in 1962. Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer co-star. Pitt, who played mental patient Jeffrey Goines, nabbed a Golden Globe victory and Oscar nod for his performance.

6. Arrival (2016)

Denis Villeneuve's first foray into the world of science fiction, Arrival is a thinking person's time travel story. In fact, that little detail isn't really made obvious until the very last act. If you're looking for explosions and cheesy one-liners, then you're looking in the wrong place. Might we suggest our list of best action flicks from the ‘90s? Arrival takes a methodical and procedural approach to the question of: how would the world react if alien spaceships showed up on our doorstep tomorrow? How would we communicate with beings that are so wildly different from ourselves? The film is subdued and thoughtful — a masterful slow burn of an audition for its director's genre chops.

5. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Source Code walked so that Edge of Tomorrow could run. Edge of Tomorrow , Live. Die. Repeat. — Call it whatever you want, just don't call us late for the battle against the Mimics. Under the direction of Doug Liman, Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, and the rest of the cast (which features the late Bill Paxton) clearly have a ton of fun in this movie about a man thrust into a war against his will. He can't fight for crap, but when an alien bleeds time travel blood all over him, he gains the ability to relive the same day over and over again. Liman plays everything organically, taking the time to allow us to learn the rules alongside our hero before he truly figures out how to use his newfound ability to his advantage. Now, when is the sequel coming out?

4. The Terminator (1984)

"Come with me if you want to live!" This shouted by a complete stranger who, just a few moments ago, showed up in a back alley naked as the day he was born. We are, of course, referring to Kyle Reese, the soldier sent back in time to prevent the T-800 from murdering the mother of John Connor, who will one day lead humanity against the machines. Little does Mr. Reese know that he is destined to be the father of that child. Time travel is just a means to an end here: an excuse to pit two flesh bag protagonists against an unstoppable killing machine with one simple goal: assassinate Sarah Connor.

3. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

The fourth Star Trek movie to feature the OG cast members from the '60s-era television series, The Voyage Home , Kirk, Spock, and the rest travel back to San Francisco (circa 1986) and communicate with whales. You shouldn't be laughing over there, because that's actually what happens. Leonard Nimoy, who sat in the director's chair for this one, wanted to go for a very different Trek story.

"No dying, no fighting, no shooting, no photon torpedoes, no phaser blasts, no stereotypical bad guy," he once remarked . "I wanted people to really have a great time watching this film [and] if somewhere in the mix we lobbed a couple of big ideas at them, well, then that would be even better."

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Arnie's T-800 wasn't kidding when he said "I'll be back" seven years prior to the release of T2: Judgment Day . He definitely did come back and with quite a vengeance. Except this time, the killer android with the Austrian accent didn't come to the past to kill young John Connor, but to protect him from a new mechanical threat: the shape-shifting T-1000.

Sequels are tricky to pull off properly, but writer-director James Cameron has yet to fumble the follow-up ball. This film ramped up everything audiences loved about the first movie, deepening the mythology while never losing sight of its heart: the fractured relationship between John and his mother as well as the budding relationship between John and his buff, sunglasses-wearing protector.

1. Back to the Future (1985)

Credit: Universal

You knew this one would be at the very tip-top of our list, didn't you? There's just no getting around it, no matter what timeline you travel to, Back to the Future is the greatest time travel movie of all time. Despite an overt lack of coherent rules and paradox resolution, the movie speeds by (at 88 miles per hour, of course) on charm, memorable characters, and relatable stakes.

And that's not even mentioning the most iconic time machine in the history of the genre: a winged-door DeLorean that runs on a plutonium-powered Flux Capacitor. What's a Flux Capacitor? Again, don't mind the science — just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride to 1955, where young Marty McFly has to ensure that his parents end up together, lest he and his siblings disappear forever.

Speaking with SYFY WIRE in 2019, Back to the Future co-screenwriter Bob Gale summed up the film's immortal legacy: "The idea that we were able to just tell this time travel story and make it not about changing history; making this human story and the big surprise was that everybody in the world has wondered the same thing: ‘What did my parents do on their first date?' It just connects with everybody."

Watch Resident Alien

• Back To The Future
• Back To The Future Part II
• Science Fiction
• Star Trek: First Contact
• SYFY Insider
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Time Travel

Related Stories

The Riddick Timeline Explained

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Directors On That 'Shrek' Tease

Jurassic Park's '6-Foot Turkey' Kid Looks Back on Iconic Role

The 10 Best, Most Shocking, WTF Twilight Zone Twist Endings

Best Animated Shows on Peacock in May 2024

The Dark History Behind the Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretel

The Best Fantasy Movies Streaming on Peacock in May 2024

The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Peacock in May 2024

10 Action-Comedy Films to Watch if You Loved The Fall Guy

Abigail Sets Streaming Premiere: What to Know, How to Watch at Home

The 20 Best Sci-fi TV Shows on Peacock Right Now

The 13 Best Horror Movies on Peacock for May 2024

Recommended for you.

Linda Hamilton on Resident Alien Role: "I'm Not the Funny Girl, I'm the Straight Man"

The Classic Twilight Zone Episode That Inspired Jordan Peele's Us

Resident Alien's Alan Tudyk on Harry's New Love Interest, Edi Patterson's Blue Avian

The 15 Most Creative, Mind-Bending Time Travel Movies Ever Made

With Safety Not Guaranteed and About Time , these are the best movies about time travel you haven't seen yet.

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Ever wish you could go back in time and handle a situation differently — or live through a historic event before your time? You're not the only one. Time travel has captured the imagination of countless creatives over the years, giving us some fascinating, morally challenging and even hilarious movies. We may not be able to talk a walk into the past — but as some of these films prove, that may be a good thing.

About Time (2013)

Instead of altering history and life as we know it, the protagonist in this charming British film uses his time-traveling abilities for something a little more relatable: finding love. The result is a surprisingly sweet and criminally underrated romantic comedy.

RELATED: The 60 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time to Stream Right Now

Predestination (2015)

Based on Robert Heinlein’s short story All You Zombies , this Ethan Hawke movie will leave you guessing (and second-guessing) the whole time. Without spoiling the ending, it's definitely worth watching again.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

Of the three movies where Rachel McAdams dates a time traveling man (girlfriend's got a type), the drama is definitely the most serious. Based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel of the same name, Clare tries to build a life with the man she loves — while dealing with the fact he has no control over where and when he will travel through time.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

Excellent! You're going to want to revisit this goofy, fun time travel flick before Keanu Reeves returns for the upcoming sequel.

Groundhog Day (1993)

Does living the same day over-and-over again count as time travel? This Bill Murray film about a weather man trapped in the worst day of his life is a classic, so we're going to count it.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Marvel fans are probably already familiar with Benedict Cumberbatch's role as a neurosurgeon with the powers to access alternate dimensions, but even if you're not familiar with the Marvel Universe, you can still enjoy this superhero romp.

RELATED: How to Watch All 24 Marvel Movies in the Correct Order

Back to the Future (1985)

If you're looking for some good, old-fashioned nostalgia, this 80s classic holds up! Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly, a teen who accidentally who accidentally gets stuck in the 1950s thanks to his mad scientist friend — and must make sure his parents fall in love with each other so he can still exist!

Interstellar (2014)

Trippy, mind-bending, and everything you want out of a time-travel movie, Christopher Nolan's time-traveling space epic will stay with you long after you finish watching,

Donnie Darko (2001)

Though it initially flopped at the box office, this film gathered a cult-following when it was released on DVD, thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal's intense performance and the surrealist images and themes just waiting to be dissected and discussed. See if you can untangle this famously dense plot for yourself.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

One of the best Harry Potter films happens to also be a time-traveling tale. Hermione uses a "Time Turner" to take more classes at Hogwarts, but that's not all Harry and his friends use the device for.

Time Bandits (1981)

Terry Gilliam's endlessly imaginative film follows an 11-year-old boy who teams up with 6 dwarves for an adventure through time.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

A classified ad from a mysterious man looking for a time-traveling companion intrigues three cynical Seattle journalists. An unexpected connection forms between the would-be scientist and one of the reporters in this low-key indie.

Primer (2004)

Two engineers create an invention that can alter time — and butt heads over how to handle the magnitude of their creation.

Time After Time (1971)

H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper in 1970's San Fransisco — as outlandish as the premise is, it's a fascinating movie once you get on board with it.

The Terminator (1984)

Two time travelers from the future, an evil cyborg and a resistance fighter, fight over the life of modern woman Sarah Connor, after it's revealed her fate can save humanity.

@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-o9j0dn:before{margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-right:0.625rem;color:#ffffff;width:1.25rem;bottom:-0.2rem;height:1.25rem;content:'_';display:inline-block;position:relative;line-height:1;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}} Entertainment

WATCH LIVE: GH with Dr. Mark Hyman

See Kelly Clarkson "Cover" Her Own 2004 Hit Song

Luke Bryan Announces Farm Tour 2024 Tour Dates

Everything to Know About 'NCIS: Tony and Ziva'

Krysten Ritter Makes Travis Kelce Blunder on 'WoF'

Erin Krakow Delivers Epic 'WCTH' Season 12 News

Luis A. Miranda Jr. on Family and His Latino Roots

Shania Twain’s Makeup Routine for ‘Dewy’ Skin

Is 'Ginny & Georgia' Season 3 Coming?

Fans Are Losing It Over This HGTV News

20 Most Shocking American Idol Eliminations

The Best Road Trip and Travel Movies Ever Made

Posted: March 15, 2024 | Last updated: March 17, 2024

50. Easy Rider (1969)

> IMDb user rating: 7.3/10 (105,530 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (82 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (54 reviews) > Directed by: Dennis Hopper

49. A Perfect World (1993)

> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (77,234 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 84% (84 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 79% (33 reviews) > Directed by: Clint Eastwood

48. The Way (2010)

> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (31,762 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 83% (83 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (100 reviews) > Directed by: Emilio Estevez

47. Sorcerer (1977)

> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (19,883 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 84% (84 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 79% (42 reviews) > Directed by: William Friedkin

46. Thelma & Louise (1991)

> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (144,492 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (82 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 85% (72 reviews) > Directed by: Ridley Scott

45. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (298,246 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (89 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 78% (154 reviews) > Directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen

44. The Blues Brothers (1980)

> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (190,151 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (92 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 73% (90 reviews) > Directed by: John Landis

43. Captain Fantastic (2016)

> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (205,102 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 85% (85 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (229 reviews) > Directed by: Matt Ross

42. Deliverance (1972)

> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (103,391 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (82 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (62 reviews) > Directed by: John Boorman

41. Duel (1971)

> IMDb user rating: 7.6/10 (72,182 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 84% (84 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (45 reviews) > Directed by: Steven Spielberg

40. The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (55,754 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (89 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 82% (144 reviews) > Directed by: Roger Donaldson

39. Nomadland (2020)

> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (126,891 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (82 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (416 reviews) > Directed by: Chloé Zhao

38. The Last Detail (1973)

> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (23,636 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (87 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (36 reviews) > Directed by: Hal Ashby

37. Sideways (2004)

> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (185,184 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 79% (79 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (233 reviews) > Directed by: Alexander Payne

36. Leave No Trace (2018)

> IMDb user rating: 7.2/10 (55,265 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 80% (80 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (240 reviews) > Directed by: Debra Granik

35. Zombieland (2009)

> IMDb user rating: 7.6/10 (541,908 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (86 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (257 reviews) > Directed by: Ruben Fleischer

34. Nebraska (2013)

> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (115,265 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 83% (83 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (251 reviews) > Directed by: Alexander Payne

33. Green Book (2018)

> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (496,895 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (91 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 77% (360 reviews) > Directed by: Peter Farrelly

32. The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (102,152 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (92 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (158 reviews) > Directed by: Walter Salles

31. Into the Wild (2007)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (626,587 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (89 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (200 reviews) > Directed by: Sean Penn

30. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

> IMDb user rating: 7.6/10 (130,619 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (87 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (60 reviews) > Directed by: John Hughes

29. Midnight Run (1988)

> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (81,968 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (87 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (54 reviews) > Directed by: Martin Brest

28. True Grit (2010)

> IMDb user rating: 7.6/10 (323,355 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 85% (85 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (275 reviews) > Directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen

27. Forrest Gump (1994)

> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10 (1,905,676 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (95 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 71% (104 reviews) > Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

26. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (122,685 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 88% (88 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (138 reviews) > Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón

25. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (36,300 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 88% (88 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (26 reviews) > Directed by: Jim Jarmusch

24. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (69,738 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (91 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 90% (41 reviews) > Directed by: Clint Eastwood

23. El abrazo de la serpiente (2016)

> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (23,798 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 85% (85 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (149 reviews) > Directed by: Ciro Guerra

22. Rain Man (1988)

> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (490,155 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (90 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (80 reviews) > Directed by: Barry Levinson

21. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (454,829 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (91 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (218 reviews) > Directed by: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris

20. Almost Famous (2000)

> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (279,276 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (92 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (174 reviews) > Directed by: Cameron Crowe

19. The African Queen (1951)

> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (75,886 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (86 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (45 reviews) > Directed by: John Huston

18. The Searchers (1956)

> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (85,281 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 88% (88 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (49 reviews) > Directed by: John Ford

17. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (1,042,131 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (86 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (439 reviews) > Directed by: George Miller

16. The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (47,055 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (90 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (31 reviews) > Directed by: John Huston

15. Red River (1948)

> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (29,715 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (87 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (30 reviews) > Directed by: Howard Hawks

14. Stagecoach (1939)

> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (46,215 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (86 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (45 reviews) > Directed by: John Ford

13. True Romance (1993)

> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (216,812 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (93 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (54 reviews) > Directed by: Tony Scott

12. The Straight Story (1999)

> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (91,786 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91% (91 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (103 reviews) > Directed by: David Lynch

11. Stand by Me (1986)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (380,190 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (94 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (57 reviews) > Directed by: Rob Reiner

10. Sullivan's Travels (1941)

> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (25,347 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (89 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (35 reviews) > Directed by: Preston Sturges

9. Paris, Texas (1984)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (112,195 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (93 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (51 reviews) > Directed by: Wim Wenders

8. Paper Moon (1973)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (44,587 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (94 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (41 reviews) > Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich

7. Central do Brasil (1998)

> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (41,163 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (95 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (50 reviews) > Directed by: Walter Salles

6. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (89,491 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 88% (88 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (48 reviews) > Directed by: John Ford

5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (296,218 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (93 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (132 reviews) > Directed by: David Lean

4. It Happened One Night (1934)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (98,815 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (93 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (97 reviews) > Directed by: Frank Capra

3. Before Sunrise (1995)

> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (286,974 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (93 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (46 reviews) > Directed by: Richard Linklater

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10 (1,731,527 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (95 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (235 reviews) > Directed by: Peter Jackson

1. Apocalypse Now (1979)

> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (629,925 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (94 votes) > Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (96 reviews) > Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

More for You

Russia Suffers One of Its Most Deadly Attacks of the War

Harris utters a profanity in advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

22 Movies So Intense We Never Want to Watch Them Again

18 Trivia Tidbits For Trivia Elitists

Idaho Doctor Dead After Triggering Avalanche as Girlfriend Tried to Save Him: 'Will Be Missed'

These Are 10 Smells That Cats Absolutely Hate

What time is 'American Idol' on tonight? Start time, top 5 contestants, judges, where to watch

11 Brilliant Uses for Your Leaf Blower

A Simple Trick for Peeling a Potato, No Peeler Required

25 TV Characters We Hate More Than Anything

“I was not a flashy player, I didn’t do a lot of dunking, I didn’t win a championship” - Alex English speaks about why he’s not as well-known as his peers

Dua Lipa's ‘Radical Optimism' Debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales Chart

I was over-employed and worked other jobs on top of my full-time one. To achieve the American dream, you have to beat the system.

Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé join “The Voice ”season 26 as coaches

Russia suffers 'worst day yet' in Ukraine with 1,740 troops killed and 72 tanks destroyed

The Best Kaiju Movies of All Time

Dave Ramsey: Why You Shouldn’t Pay Off Your Mortgage Early Even If You Can

Why WNBA Star Cameron Brink Wears SKIMS During Games

10 Funny Jokes For The Comedy Hall Of Fame

Anthony Edwards clarified what he told Jamal Murray in awkward post-game conversation

30 Highest Rated Movies of all Time: Movies With 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

For 23 years, Rotten Tomatoes has been the go-to for those looking to get the scoop on what is new in movies. Aggregating opinions from fans and critics across the country, Rotten Tomatoes uses its “Tomatometer” system to calculate critical reception for any given film. If 60% of reviews are positive, the movie is given a “Fresh” status, but if positive reviews fall below that benchmark, it is deemed “Rotten.” A popular piece of media will typically fall between the 70-90% range, but rarely, a project will receive a 100% score. This means every last review from critics was positive.

Close to 480 films with at least 20 reviews have achieved a 100% score, with many coming very close. Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” had a 100% rating with 196 positive reviews before a critic submitted a negative one, knocking it down to 99%. The immortal classic “Citizen Kane” had a 100% rating until a negative review from a 1941 issue of the Chicago Tribune was rediscovered, revoking its 100% status.

Here are Rotten Tomatoes’ highest-rated movies that have managed to maintain a 100% score and have the highest number of reviews.

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

“The Philadelphia Story” is based on the 1939 Broadway play and follows a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the arrival of her ex-husband and a tabloid magazine journalist. Directed by George Cukor, he film stars Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey.

“It’s definitely not a celluloid adventure for wee lads and lassies and no doubt some of the faithful watchers-out for other people’s souls are going to have a word about that,” Variety ‘s review said. “…All of which, in addition to a generous taste of socialite quaffing to excess and talk of virtue, easy and uneasy, makes “The Philadelphia Story” a picture every suburban mamma and poppa must see – after Junior and little Elsie Dinsmore are tucked away.”

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Christmas musical film “Meet Me in St. Louis” follows a year of the Smith family’s life in St. Louis leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, known as the St. Louis World’s Fair, in the spring of 1904. The film stars Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll and directed by Vincente Minnelli, who Garland later married.

“‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ is wholesome in story [from the book by Sally Benson], colorful both in background and its literal Technicolor, and as American as the World’s Series,” Variety ‘s review said. “Garland achieves true stature with her deeply understanding performance, while her sisterly running-mate, Lucille Bremer, likewise makes excellent impact with a well-balanced performance.”

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

The musical romantic comedy “Singin’ In the Rain” follows three Hollywood stars in the late 1920s dealing with the transition from silent films to talkies. Starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor, the movie was one of the first 25 films selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

“‘Singin’ In the Rain’ is a fancy package of musical entertainment with wide appeal and bright grossing prospects,” Variety ‘s review said. “Concocted by Arthur Freed with showmanship know-how, it glitters with color, talent and tunes, and an infectious air that will click with ticket buyers in all types of situations.”

Seven Samurai (1954)

Epic samurai action film “Seven Samurai” follows the story of a village of farmers in 1586 who seek to hire samurai to protect their crops from thieves. The film was the most expensive movie made in Japan at the time.

“Director Akira Kurosawa has given this a virile mounting,” Variety ‘s review said. “It is primarily a man’s film, with the brief romantic interludes also done with taste. Each character is firmly molded. Toshiro Mifune as the bold, hairbrained but courageous warrior weaves a colossal portrait. He dominates the picture although he has an extremely strong supporting cast.”

The Terminator (1984)

Sci-fi action film “The Terminator” follows a cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose son will one day save mankind from extinction from artificial intelligence, Skynet. Co-written and directed by James Cameron and co-written and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, the film topped the U.S. box office for two weeks and grossed $78.3 million.

“‘The Terminator,’ which opens today at Loews State and other theaters, is a B-movie with flair. Much of it, as directed by James Cameron (‘Piranha II’), has suspense and personality, and only the obligatory mayhem becomes dull,” wrote Janet Maslin in a New York Times review. “There is far too much of the latter, in the form of car chases, messy shootouts and Mr. Schwarzenegger’s slamming brutally into anything that gets in his way. Far better are the scenes that follow Sarah (Linda Hamilton) from cheerful obliviousness to the grim knowledge that someone horrible is on her trail.”

Toy Story (1995)

Animated comedy film “Toy Story” follows the first adventures of cowboy doll Woody and space cadet action figure Buzz Lightyear. Owned by a boy named Andy, Woody and Buzz are a part of a group of toys that spring to life when humans aren’t around. Birthed after the success of Pixar’s short film “Tin Toy,” “Toy Story” was the first feature film from Pixar and the first entirely computer-animated feature film.

“To swipe Buzz’s motto –“To infinity and beyond”–“Toy Story” aims high to go where no animator has gone before,” wrote Leonard Klady in a 1995 Variety film review . “Fears at mission control of the whole effort crashing to Earth proved unwarranted; this is one entertainment that soars to new heights.”

Toy Story 2 (1999)

“Toy Story 2” continues Woody and Buzz Lightyear’s journey as the co-leaders of the toy group. When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and the other toys must find set out to find him. During his time with the collector, Woody meets Jessie and Stinky Pete, other toys also based on characters from the TV show “Woody’s Roundup.” The animated film was originally supposed to be a direct-to-video sequel, but was upgraded to a theatrical release by Disney.

“In the realm of sequels, “Toy Story 2″ is to “Toy Story” what “The Empire Strikes Back” was to its predecessor, a richer, more satisfying film in every respect,” wrote former chief film critic Todd McCarthy in a 1999 Variety film review . “The comparison between these two franchises will be pursued no further, given their utter dissimilarity. But John Lasseter and his team, their confidence clearly bolstered by the massive success of their 1995 blockbuster, have conspired to vigorously push the new entry further with fresh characters, broadened scope, boisterous humor and, most of all, a gratifying emotional and thematic depth.”

Deliver Us From Evil (2006)

“Deliver Us From Evil” is a documentary that follows the case of convicted pedophile Oliver O’Grady, who molested approximately 25 children as a priest in northern California between the late 1970s through early 1990s. Filmmaker Amy Berg tracks O’Grady down to Ireland, where he was deported after being convicted of child molestation in 1993 and serving seven years in prison.

“Given how strong this kind of testimony is, “Deliver Us From Evil’s” decision to hype it more than it needs to be is unfortunate,” L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan said about the film in a 2006 review. “The film has a weakness for over-dramatization, for unsettling music and portentous close-ups of O’Grady’s hands and lips that are distracting and unnecessary.”

“There is nothing over-dramatic, however, about the deeply painful testimony of the adults who were victimized as children and their still traumatized parents,” he continued. “’He was the closest thing to God that we knew,’ one mother says. ‘I let the wolf in through the gate.'”

Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)

“Taxi to the Dark Side” is a documentary film directed by Alex Gibney about the 2002 killing of an Afghan taxi drive named Dilawar, who was beaten to death by American soldiers while being detained without a trial and interrogated at a black site, a detention center operated by a state where prisoners are incarcerated without due process or court order.

The film was a part of the “Why Democracy?” series, produced by The Why Foundation, which consisted of 10 documentary films examining democracy.

“Gibney (“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”) has crafted more than just an important document of systemic abuse — he’s stripped the rhetoric from official doublespeak to expose a callous disregard for not only the Geneva Conventions but the vision of the Founding Fathers,” writes Jay Weissberg in a Variety film review . “All enemies in wartime are perceived as animals, but Gibney uncovers the ways the White House and Pentagon have encouraged torture while distancing themselves from responsibility.”

Man on Wire (2008)

James Marsh’s “Man on Wire” documents the death-defining hire-wire stunts of Philippe Petit, who in 1974, performed a tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. “For contemporary audiences, Petit’s moment of mastery is inevitably shot through with a sense of loss; the following scenes, which reveal the band’s subsequent dissolution, reaffirm the bittersweet truth that triumph is but fleeting,” wrote Catherine Wheatley, who reviewed the film for Sight and Sound in 2010. “The film’s vision, though, is ultimately uplifting: relationships, like buildings, can collapse into rubble, but as [Annie Allix] tenderly puts it, sometimes ‘It is beautiful that way’.”

Poetry (2010)

Lee Chang-dong’s “Poetry” chronicles the life of Mija, a Korean grandmother who is simultaneously dealing with an early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis and the violent crime committed by her teenage grandson. “Now is the time to bestow on yourself the gift of one of the most, well, poetic films of 2010,” Lisa Kennedy wrote for the Denver Post in 2011. “And by ‘poetic,’ we mean rich with soulful pauses that are at once visual and aural and deeply observant of the dance of routine and quiet surprise.”

Waste Land (2010)

Lucy Walker’s “Waste Land” follows modern artist Vik Muniz to Jardim Gramacho, Brazil, the world’s largest landfill. There, he photographs the work of “catadores,” men and women who collect the refuse to recreate classical art. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times in 2011, “I do not mean to make their lives seem easy or pleasant. It is miserable work, even after they grow accustomed to the smell. But it is useful work, and I have been thinking much about the happiness to be found by work that is honest and valuable.”

The Square (2013)

“The Square” is a documentary film by Jehane Noujaim, which follows Egyptian revolutionaries during the Egyptian Crisis, a period that started with the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 at Tahrir Square and lasted for three years. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won three Emmys.

“Continuing to follow a group of activists as they rally against the undue powers of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Army, ‘The Square’ understands that the Revolution itself is a work in progress, and while its immediacy means it, too, will soon be superseded, it stands as a vigorous, useful account,” writes Jay Weissberg in a 2013 Variety film review .

Gloria (2013)

Sebastián Lelio’s “Gloria” follows the relationship between an aging divorce and an amusement park operator after their chance encounter at a singles disco. “With someone else in the central role, ‘Gloria’ might have been cloyingly sentimental or downright maudlin,” wrote Joe Morgenstern in his 2014 Wall St. Journal review. “With [Paulina García] on hand, it’s a mostly convincing celebration of unquenchable energy.”

The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2014)

Isao Takahata’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” tells the fable of a beautiful young woman who sends her suitors away on impossible tasks in hopes of avoiding a loveless marriage. In a 2015 review for Sight and Sound, Andrew Osmond wrote, “While the characters feel very simplified at times, there are scenes that put great weight on performance and subtle expressions, in a way that’s nearer to the classical Disney tradition than most Japanese animation.”

Seymour: An Introduction (2014)

Ethan Hawke’s documentary “Seymour: An Introduction” chronicles the life of Seymour Bernstein, a concert pianist who, at age 50, gave up performing to become an educator and composer. “Coming off of his superb one-two performances for Richard Linklater in ‘Before Midnight’ and ‘Boyhood,’ Hawke continues to work at a creative high level,” wrote Bruce Ingram in his 2015 review for the Chicago Sun-Times. “He demonstrates a rapport and openness with his subject that proves exceptionally affecting.”

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)

From directors Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem” follows an Israeli woman’s three-year battle to separate from her husband who refuses to dissolve their marriage. “Ultimately the movie is wearying, but then it’s likely supposed to be,” Tom Long wrote for Detroit News in 2015. “If Viviane’s going through the wringer, you’re going through the wringer too.”

One Cut of the Dead (2017)

Shin’ichirô Ueda’s “One Cut of the Dead” follows Director Higurashi and his crew who attempt to shoot a zombie movie at an abandoned WWII Japanese facility. Things go wrong when they realize they are being attacked by real zombies. In his 2019 Los Angeles Times review, Carlos Aguilar called the film, “A master class in endless narrative inventiveness and an ode to the resourceful and collaborative spirit of hands-on filmmaking, ‘One Cut of the Dead’ amounts to an explosively hilarious rarity.”

Leave No Trace (2018)

Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” follows a father and daughter hiding in the forests of Portland, Ore. When a misstep tips off their location to local authorities, they must escape and find a new place to call home. Peter Travers wrote in his 2018 Rolling Stone review, “Debra Granik’s drama about a damaged war vet (Ben Foster) living off the grid with his teen daughter, brilliantly played by breakout star Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, is hypnotic, haunting and one of the year’s best.”

Summer 1993 (2018)

Carla Simón’s “Summer 1993” is told through the eyes of six-year-old Frida, who watches in silence as her recently deceased mother’s last possessions are packed into boxes. “Some creatures are able to grow new limbs,” wrote Joe Morgenstern in his 2018 Wall Street Journal review. “Frida, given more than half a chance after demanding it, achieves something no less remarkable. She grows new joy and hope.”

Minding the Gap (2018)

“Minding the Gap” follows the relationship of three boys who use skateboarding as an outlet to escape their hardships at home. “The film captures more than a decade long documentary footage showcasing their friendship. In some documentaries, the filmmakers attempt to make themselves invisible. Despite Liu’s camera-shyness, he never pretends to be anything other than a part of the story, hitting his subjects with direct, deeply personal questions,” wrote Peter Debruge, who reviewed the film for Variety in 2018.

Honeyland (2019)

“Honeyland” is a Macedonian documentary film that was directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. The movie follows a woman and her beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of North Macedonia. Guy Lodge from Variety describes “Honeyland” as it begins as a “calm, captured-in-amber character study, before stumbling upon another, more conflict-driven story altogether — as younger interlopers on the land threaten not just Hatidze’s solitude but her very livelihood with their newer, less nature-conscious farming methods,” he said.

Welcome to Chechnya (2020)

“Welcome to Chechnya” released in 2020, exposes Russian leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his government as they try to detain, torture and execute LGBTQ Chechens. “A vital, pulse-quickening new documentary from journalist-turned-filmmaker David France that urgently lifts the lid on one of the most horrifying humanitarian crises of present times: the state-sanctioned purge of LGBTQ people in the eponymous southern Russian republic,” wrote Guy Lodge from Variety in 2020.

Crip Camp (2020)

“Crip Camp” is based on Camp Jened, which was a summer camp for teens with disabilities in the ’70s that inspired real-life activism. The film eliminates stereotypes and challenges the way people think about disabilities. “It may be startling for those who haven’t spent time with people with cerebral palsy or polio to see how a paraplegic gets from his wheelchair into the pool,” wrote Peter Debruge for Variety in 2020. “On closer inspection, it becomes clear that these teenagers…are having the time of their lives.”

76 Days (2020)

“76 Days” is a documentary released on Netflix in 2020 that shows the struggles of medical professionals and patients in Wuhan, China dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. “As an artifact alone, the result is remarkable, capturing all the panic and pragmatism greeting a disaster before its entire global impact had been gauged, while strategies and protocols are adjusted on the hoof,” wrote Guy Lodge for Variety in 2020. “That it’s so artfully and elegantly observed, and packs such a candid wallop of feeling, atop its frontline urgency is testament to the grace and sensitivity of its directorial team, not just their timely savvy.”

His House (2020)

“His House” is a horror movie that initially released on Netflix and terrified audiences. The plot follows a refugee couple that try to create a new life for themselves in an English town by escaping South Sudan but find their new home is haunted. Jessica Kiang reviewed the film for Variety in 2020 and wrote “‘His House’ is at its most persuasively terrifying when it gets out of the house and into the existential terror of reality. Out there are aspects of the refugee experience that contain greater horrors and mortifications than all the blackening plaster, childish ghostly humming and skittering presences in the walls could ever hope to suggest.”

Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)

“Quo Vadis, Aida?” documents the journey of Aida, a translator for the U.N. in Srebrenica interpreting the crime taking place when the Serbian army takes over the Bosnian town. “This is not historical revisionism, if anything, ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ works to un-revise history, re-centering the victims’ plight as the eye of a storm of evils — not only the massacre itself, but the broader evils of institutional failure and international indifference,” wrote Jessica Kiang, who reviewed the film in 2020 for Variety.

Hive (2021)

“Hive” tells the true story about a woman, Fahrije, who becomes an entrepreneur, after her husband goes missing during the Kosovo War. She sells her own red pepper ajvar and honey, and recruiting more women to join her. “Within the heavily patriarchal hierarchy of the country’s rural society, this places these maybe-widows in an impossible situation, especially when, like Fahrije, they have a family to care for,” writes Jessica Kiang for Variety . “They are expected to wait in continual expectation of their breadwinner-husbands’ return, subsisting on paltry welfare handouts, because to take a job or set up a business is looked on not only as a subversion of the natural order, but as a sign of disrespect to the husband and possibly loose morals.” 

Descendant (2022)

Netflix described its 2022 film, saying, “Descendants of the enslaved Africans on an illegal ship that arrived in Alabama in 1860 seek justice and healing when the craft’s remains are discovered.” “This past remains present, Brown shows, as activists explain how the land on which Africatown (formerly Magazine Point) was established once belonged to Meaher, who sold some of it to former slaves.,” wrote Peter Debruge for Variety . “Talk of racial injustice calls for nuance, and it’s impressive just how many facets of the conversation Brown is able to include in her film.”

20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

“20 Days in Mariupol” tells the story of a group of Ukrainian journalists who are trapped in Mariupol during the Russian invasion and struggle to continue documenting the war. The film is directed by Mstyslav Chernov, a Ukrainian director and it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film in 2024. “Powerful as those glimpses were to international viewers, Chernov doesn’t spare his documentary more brutally sustained moments,” wrote Dennis Harvey for Variety . “There’s no political analysis or sermonizing here, just a punishingly up-close look at the toll of modern warfare on a population.”

More From Our Brands

‘back to black’: amy winehouse’s biopic is seriously out of tune, paul mccartney is auctioning off the iconic beatles boots he wore at the 2012 london olympics, sporticast 346: paul rabil talks media, pll, youth lacrosse, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, amazon’s legally blonde series will revisit elle’s high school days, reese witherspoon reveals, verify it's you, please log in.

A Neil deGrasse Tyson-approved list of the best sci-fi movies

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

Celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has never been shy about expressing his opinion about movies on X/Twitter — and, specifically, weighing in as to whether they got the scientific elements right or not. On a recent episode of his show StarTalk , meanwhile, he decided to actually share a detailed list of the sci-fi movies that he thinks are the best of the best, detailing what they got right, what they missed the mark on, and why some of them are so good that they deserve a “hall pass” for any errors.

At any rate, the list below includes all the movies that Tyson ranks as the best sci-fi gems, and it adds some color from him here and there as to why he’s included these specific picks. And we’ll start with his single favorite movie of all time.

The Matrix (1999) : “You gotta love The Matrix and how deeply thought through those plot lines are,” Tyson says. One plot point he does quibble with: The humans are used by the machines as a source of power, but the humans still need to be fed in order to be kept alive. Tyson mused that the machines could actually derive sufficient energy from what the humans were being fed with, cutting out the middleman entirely.

Tech. Entertainment. Science. Your inbox.

Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there.

By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use and have reviewed the Privacy Notice.

The Blob  (1958) : Reaching deep into the past for this one, Tyson gives this old-school creature feature high marks because of the way it imagines aliens looking amoeba-like — totally different, in other words, from almost every other movie in which you see an alien depicted as something like a little green man.

Interstellar (2014) : Tyson has made no secret that he’s basically a Christopher Nolan fanboy. This one is many people’s favorite movie from the director (I’m one of the weirdos who loves Tenet the most, but that’s neither here nor there). Interstellar — in which a team of NASA scientists, engineers, and pilots traverses the universe to find a new home for humanity — earns a spot on Tyson’s list for having “the most authentic physics” compared to any other movie ever made.

Back to the Future (1985) : Gee, I wonder why this all-time classic starring Michael J. Fox is on this list of the best sci-fi movies? Obviously, in Tyson’s words, it’s the best time-travel movie ever made, hands down.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) : “No, there’s no weird aliens,” Tyson points out here. No violence, and no blood. “It’s just a suspenseful drama of how we might react, learning that aliens have come to visit.” Watch it, he urges, for how much thought and care was put into the film and the story.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) : Last but not least, we come to director Stanley Kubrick’s classic that’s adapted from a story by Arthur C. Clarke. Tyson puts this one all the way at the very top of his list of the best sci-fi movies. “Yes, it gets weird,” he acknowledges. “What matters is how much influence this film had on everything .”

Check out Tyson’s full remarks in the clip below, in which he not only explains his favorite sci-fi movies but the ones that he thinks are the worst — like Armageddon , which he blasts for “violating more laws of physics per minute” than almost any movie ever made, despite being another entertaining romp in which Bruce Willis gets to save the day.

This article talks about:

Andy Meek is a reporter based in Memphis who has covered media, entertainment, and culture for over 20 years. His work has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Forbes, and The Financial Times, and he’s written for BGR since 2015. Andy's coverage includes technology and entertainment, and he has a particular interest in all things streaming.

Over the years, he’s interviewed legendary figures in entertainment and tech that range from Stan Lee to John McAfee, Peter Thiel, and Reed Hastings.

• A new romantic comedy just bumped Fallout from the #1 spot on Prime Video
• This new NBC comedy sounds like a cross between The Office and Scrubs
• OpenAI's big reveal: Making ChatGPT feel and sound so much more human

More Entertainment

Maybe Apple should hire Wes Anderson for its next M4 iPad Pro commercial

Netflix’s best show you’re not watching just returned with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score

The biggest TV shows dominating Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, and Max right now

Here’s who might write and direct Marvel’s first X-Men movie

Latest news.

Apple’s M2 iPad Air is great, but you should get the M1 iPad Air instead

Pixel 9 phones revealed in massive leak ahead of Google I/O 2024

Apple’s next iPad Air reportedly won’t get the big upgrade people are expecting

Popular MacGPT and Petey apps now support GPT-4o

Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there.

The 45 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time, Ranked

From classics like Metropolis and Alien to Everything Everywhere All At Once, this is Collider's ranking of the best science fiction movies ever.

The science fiction genre has been one of the most consistently thrilling to explore throughout the history of cinema. The way a visual medium like film can depict futuristic worlds or alternate realities means that almost anything that can be imagined can be depicted on-screen. Since the silent era, filmmakers have been using the medium to their advantage, commenting on humanity's present and hypothesizing about its future through the science-fiction genre.

There are countless great sci-fi movies that have been released since the birth of cinema as an art form, and it's ultimately futile to try and name every single amazing one. There are simply too many top sci-fi movies, and it's a genre that's still thriving, with new potential classics released seemingly every year. The following are among the best of the best from the sci-fi genre, being classics for their entertainment value, excellent technical qualities, and historical significance , and are ranked below in order from great to greatest.

45 'Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes' (2020)

Directed by junta yamaguchi.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is one of the best Japanese movies of the last few years , and also stands as one of the most entertaining and rewatchable sci-fi films in recent memory. It deals with an initially limited form of time travel that involves a screen that shows footage from two minutes in the future, which leads to wonder, fortunes, and eventual chaos for the people who discover this strange phenomenon.

Made on a limited budget and filmed in a way that makes it appear like a single take , Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is quite dazzling for such a small-scale movie, and endlessly inventive/clever. It’s got an infectious spirit and is overall the kind of movie that will provide significant entertainment value for just about anyone who seeks it out.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

Watch on Amazon Prime

44 'Voyage of the Rock Aliens' (1984)

Directed by james fargo.

Calling Voyage of the Rock Aliens ridiculous would be underselling it to a considerable extent, but that’s obvious, given it’s literally called Voyage of the Rock Aliens . It functions as a surprisingly good (and wonderfully cheesy) musical, a comedy that feels like a throwback to teen movies of the 1950s and ‘60s, and a sci-fi movie about aliens coming to Earth and trying/failing to fit into life on the planet.

Voyage of the Rock Aliens is a cult movie through and through, and one of the most 1980s-feeling movies to come out of the decade. It’s sloppy, the music probably isn’t for everyone, and watching it is an undeniably chaotic experience, but there’s so much energy and vibrancy to the whole thing that it’s hard to resist , particularly for any sci-fi fans who have a particular fondness for science fiction of the B-movie variety.

Watch on Tubi

43 'August in the Water' (1995)

Directed by gakuryu ishii.

Blending some fantasy/supernatural elements with an odd yet compelling science fiction story, August in the Water is both a unique and underrated film. It focuses on several teenagers living in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, and explores what happens when one of them – a young girl – begins to develop mysterious powers, all the while strange occurrences continue to happen to the city’s population.

August in the Water isn’t exactly clear about the story it’s telling, nor is it particularly narrative-centered in the first place, but it is undeniably atmospheric and provides a distinct look/feel. It’s broad and open-ended enough to leave many things up to interpretation , and even those who get a bit lost in August in the Water will still be able to appreciate its visual style and singular tone.

Buy on Amazon

42 'Poor Things' (2023)

Directed by yorgos lanthimos.

Poor Things was surprisingly successful for such an odd and offbeat movie, but those willing to get immersed in something a little different will likely find the film to be a rewarding one. It’s a surprisingly funny and always visually dazzling sci-fi movie about a woman who’s brought back to life, and then goes on a strange and sometimes alarming journey, rediscovering life and effectively coming of age for a second time.

Yorgos Lanthimos is perfectly suited to this kind of story and this sort of style, with the cast also shining while digging into the strange material they’ve been given, especially Emma Stone in the lead role, who won a second Oscar for her performance. Poor Things is a movie that’s a highlight of the 2020s so far, and feels like the sort of sci-fi movie that will one day be held up as a classic .

Poor Things

*Availability in US

Not available

41 'Godzilla Minus One' (2023)

Directed by takashi yamazaki.

Speaking of relatively recent science fiction movies that already feel like modern classics, Godzilla Minus One was one of the biggest surprises of 2023, and one of the best Godzilla movies of the past couple of decades. It takes things back further in time than any other movie in the long-running series, taking place right after World War II, following people who are already struggling with surviving the war’s aftermath when the titular monster emerges and makes life even more difficult.

All the monster action in Godzilla Minus One is exciting and satisfying, but it’s the human characters – and their story – that give it the edge overall, and make it function as a genuinely good drama on top of being a kaiju movie . It’s very approachable and a perfect entry point into the series, particularly for anyone who’s more familiar with the American Godzilla movies and has yet to watch any from Japan.

Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla Minus One is currently not available to stream, rent, or purchase in the U.S.

40 'Woman in the Moon' (1929)

Directed by fritz lang.

The most famous sci-fi movie directed by Fritz Lang came out before Woman in the Moon (more on it a little down the line), but this 1929 shouldn’t be overlooked just because it’s his second-best science fiction film. It’s a remarkable cinematic achievement, considering it’s close to a century old, and remains an engaging film about an expedition to the moon – led by a scientist – in search of gold.

Now, given its age and premise, there are aspects here that feel more fictional than ever in a post-moon landing world , but considering Woman in the Moon predated humanity actually reaching the moon by 40 years, the sci-fi movie's predictions were still impressive . It’s also got inventive special effects and a surprisingly well-told and dramatic story, making it one of the best – and most underrated – films of the silent era, sci-fi or otherwise.

Watch on Kanopy

39 'Electric Dreams' (1984)

Directed by steve barron.

Perhaps feeling more like a quirky and heartfelt romantic comedy than a full-on science fiction movie, Electric Dreams does still center around an advanced computer that begins to fall for a young woman. The computer, in a sense, enters into a love triangle of sorts with the young man who purchased it, given the man also has feelings for the same woman, yet is too shy to approach her.

Electric Dreams then becomes like a sci-fi take on Cyrano de Bergerac , with the computer being Cyrano, helping a more conventional romantic partner while also having his own intense feelings of love toward a romance that can’t be. It might sound ridiculous, and Electric Dreams is kind of silly, but it’s also got a sincerity to it that makes it hard to resist . The cynical need not apply, but those open to the film’s odd charms might be it to be one of the more underrated sci-fi flicks of the ‘80s .

38 'Godzilla vs. Destoroyah' (1995)

Directed by takao okawara.

Throughout the remarkably long history of the Godzilla series , the titular monster has fought many other powerful and intimidating titans. For as mighty as foes like King Kong and King Ghidorah have been, there’s an argument to be made that his most powerful enemy wasn’t even a “King,” and that it was actually Destoroyah, a monster who’s only been featured in one Godzilla film to date: 1995’s Godzilla vs. Destoroyah .

Notable for being one of the most intense, frightening, and moving films in the entire series, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah serves as a grand finale for Godzilla ’s Heisei era, which comprised seven movies released between 1984 and 1995 that told a surprisingly continuity-heavy narrative spanning just over a decade. It might not be as powerful outside the context of the series/era, but it’s nevertheless one of the finest of all Godzilla films, and stands as a great work of science fiction as a result.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

Rent on Amazon

37 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' (2017)

Directed by rian johnson.

There are certainly things to criticize when it comes to the most recent Star Wars movies, largely owing to the messily constructed and planned-out sequel trilogy. Yet buried within this flawed trio of films is a genuinely great sci-fi movie that itself is divisive: Star Wars: The Last Jedi . This eighth entry in the Skywalker Saga has passionate fans and vocal detractors, but that seemed inevitable, given it was directed by the guy who was behind what some people call the worst Breaking Bad episode (“Fly”) and what many call the best Breaking Bad episode (“Ozymandias”).

Star Wars: The Last Jedi brings Luke Skywalker back into the fold, taking his character in interesting directions while ultimately having him live up to his legacy by the film’s end. Other aspects of the film seem odd or disappointing at first, but all of it comes together in an interesting way by the end . It reckons with the history of Star Wars , celebrates it, and critiques it all at once, and does so while also being tremendously moving, emotionally speaking, and spectacular, from a visual standpoint.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

36 'forbidden planet' (1956), directed by fred m. wilcox.

Of all the science fiction movies made during the 1950s, Forbidden Planet is undeniably up there with the most iconic. It follows a crew of space travelers who go in search of another exploration party that's been missing for years, only to make some unusual and startling discoveries during their attempted rescue/recovery mission.

It has an undeniably distinct aesthetic that's inextricably tied to the look and feel of classic '50s sci-fi. It's also notable for having what's perhaps Leslie Nielsen 's best-known non-comedic role, given his career was rejuvenated in the 1980s thanks to starring in a range of iconic parody/spoof movies . Some may find Forbidden Planet to be a little old-fashioned and maybe even slightly cheesy by today's standards , but it's the aesthetics on offer here that might also prove charming to others.

Forbidden Planet

35 'inception' (2010), directed by christopher nolan.

Inception certainly was a cinematic highlight of 2010 , and it had some pretty tough competition that year, too. It's Christopher Nolan blending his affinity for action and science fiction in one , and making this blend go down smoothly with an engaging premise that's about performing a reverse heist within a target's subconscious, making it function well as an action/thriller movie as well as a piece of science fiction.

It's a movie that throws tons of fairly complex ideas at the viewer in rapid succession, and so if there's one criticism that can be thrown Inception's way, it's that it's a little heavy on the exposition at times. But the action-packed scenes serve well as payoffs, and the narrative does find interesting and sometimes unexpected places to go beyond the explanatory dialogue-heavy opening act.

34 'Under the Skin' (2013)

Directed by jonathan glazer.

Those who prefer their sci-fi conventional may want to steer clear of Under the Skin , or approach it very cautiously, given it's another strange, haunting, and unapologetic film directed by Jonathan Glazer . It's essentially an arthouse take on a story about an alien coming to Earth, perhaps being for the 2010s what the equally bizarre and captivating The Man Who Fell to Earth was for the 1970s.

Scarlett Johansson plays the alien at the center of Under the Skin , and much of the movie is about this life form - after taking on a human appearance - stalking and capturing various men who become prey. It offers little by way of easy answers, and much of the film is up to the interpretation of the individual viewer , for better or worse (probably more better, so long as you know roughly what you're in for).

Under the Skin

Watch on Max

33 'Avatar' (2009)

Directed by james cameron.

James Cameron might've referred to himself as the king of the world after his 1997 film Titanic swept the Oscars, but it's perhaps more accurate to call him the king of the sci-fi genre. He's made some of the biggest and most popular works of science fiction in cinematic history, with none being as successful (at least financially) as his 2009 film Avatar . Indeed, Avatar joins Titanic and its own sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water , as a movie that can claim to be the highest-grossing of its decade of release .

It recycles familiar tropes and story beats, but does so in a fantastical world and with breathtaking visual effects. Typical of Cameron, Avatar is also successful in blending genres to ensure it has mass appeal , with this movie being a sci-fi film, an action/adventure movie, and a romance all at once.

32 'Planet of the Apes' (1968)

Directed by franklin j. schaffner.

For as good as the reboot/prequel trilogy released throughout the 2010s was, it's hard to top the original Planet of the Apes film from 1968, at least when judging each movie in the series on its own merits. It's an eerie and oftentimes mysterious film, building to a fantastic conclusion that might still surprise those lucky enough to avoid knowing about it without having seen the movie.

It flips things around by having human beings be the subservient species, and forced to contend with an advanced race of apes who do indeed rule the planet they're on. It's not nearly as cheesy as you'd think (the sequels don't fare quite so well), and holds up as a compelling and entertaining sci-fi/action movie with some interesting things to say about humanity and its possible future.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Watch on Starz

31 'District 9' (2009)

Directed by neill blomkamp.

Though some are clamoring for a sequel that will probably never arrive (never say never, unless you can cowardly include a "probably" in there), District 9 still stands on its own as a great film regardless. It's part mockumentary, part action movie, and part body horror, detailing what happens to an alien ship that becomes stranded over the city of Johannesburg.

It's also packed with social commentary regarding race and how refugees are mistreated in real life, considering in this movie, it's the aliens who find themselves in the middle of a large-scale refugee crisis. It's thought-provoking, unique, exciting, and one of the best science-fiction movies of the 21st century so far, as well as one movie that demonstrated how 2009 was an unusually good year for the sci-fi genre as a whole .

30 'Stalker' (1979)

Directed by andrei tarkovsky.

One of the most acclaimed films of 1979 , Stalker is also among the best-known titles in Andrei Tarkovsky 's filmography. It follows three men who are trying to find a mysterious location known only as the Zone, as it's rumored to grant great power to anyone who can locate it. Stalker feels less focused on the narrative necessarily, as its status as an arthouse science fiction movie means it's more concerned with exploring abstract themes and providing a unique (in this case, also eerie) mood.

It unfolds in a way that's very slow, but also surprisingly absorbing . It's an intensely psychological sort of science fiction, exploring the minds of its characters more so than putting them in a series of exciting set pieces or action scenes. It's the kind of approach to sci-fi that might not be for everyone, but it is undoubtedly interesting.

29 'Moon' (2009)

Directed by duncan jones.

One of many great science-fiction movies released in 2009, Moon is about one man dealing with isolation while being the sole person at a manufacturing facility on the Moon. Things take a turn into the unexpected as he's about to return to Earth, though, throwing the film's events into an entirely new direction.

The less said about the rest of Moon , the better, but it's fair to say that it's certainly engaging and surprising in all the best ways. It's also a showcase for the talents of Sam Rockwell , given he maintains a compelling presence on-screen, even though he doesn't really have any other actual actors to appear alongside, and act with, and Moon undoubtedly solidifies Rockwell as one of the best and most underrated actors working today.

28 'Ex Machina' (2014)

Directed by alex garland.

Before taking a turn into horror by directing movies like Annihilation and Men , Alex Garland had his directorial debut with the sci-fi film Ex Machina . It's a unique look at artificial intelligence, revolving around a series of experiments in a remote location with a new, unnervingly smart robot, the creator of said technology, and a young coder who's won a competition to visit said location.

It's an eerie and engaging look at familiar science-fiction tropes and ideas , presenting things that viewers might have seen before in ways that are confined, realistic, and eye-opening. It's small-scale, personal science-fiction done right, and though it's not particularly old, it feels like the kind of movie where it's safe to say it will age well, and continue to hold up in years to come.

27 'Minority Report' (2002)

Directed by steven spielberg.

Minority Report is set in a future where surveillance has become so widespread and powerful that the crime/justice landscape has completely changed. Violent crimes can now be predicted before they even happen, leading to people being arrested and charged for crimes they didn't actually commit, but were ultimately going to commit, or so those in the business of "Precrime" say.

It's an uneasy and thought-provoking premise, and was explored in a way that ensured Minority Report ranked among the best movies of 2002 . It's getting on in years, but what it has to say still feels relevant and unnerving, and time will ultimately tell how relevant it'll continue to feel, and how unsettling its premise will feel for viewers even further in the future. Undoubtedly, it's one of the very best sci-fi/thriller movies Steven Spielberg has ever directed.

Minority Report

26 'interstellar' (2014).

While Interstellar isn't Christopher Nolan's only great science-fiction movie, it might be his most pure sci-fi effort, given Inception ' s action-heavy nature and Tenet feeling like an espionage thriller with sci-fi elements. Interstellar 's also one of his longest movies, making it a true sci-fi epic in every sense of the word.

It centers on a group of astronauts who explore space through a wormhole, as humanity is in danger on Earth and may need to find a new planet to live on. On the technical side of things, Interstellar is spectacular, with amazing visual effects and a phenomenal Hans Zimmer score . It's a long but rewarding film, and in contrast to some science-fiction, also contains a surprising amount of heartfelt - maybe even sentimental - emotion.

Interstellar

• Tickets & Showtimes
• Trending on RT

• TV & Streaming Shows
• Godzilla x Kong x Apes
• Essential Studio Collections
• Best & Popular

(Photo by 20th Century Studios / courtesy Everett Collection)

Planet of the Apes In Order: How to Watch the Movies Chronologically

When it comes to Apes , the Planet doesn’t turn, it twists. That’s because the reveal at the end of the original 1968 Planet of the Apes is one of those iconic shots from movie history, known and parodied the world over, guaranteeing you’d never look at a 150-foot woman the same way ever again. With the Planet producers predicting nothing topping that twist, for the sequels they went for more lore. Maybe a time paradox or two.

“What if the first movie was just scratching the surface?” asked Beneath the Planet of the Apes .

The next sequel, Escape from the Planet of the Apes , transported the series to contemporary time: 1973. So if you wanted to watch the original series in story-chronological order, you’ll want to start with Escape , and then follow it with the final two sequels, 1972’s Conquest and 1973’s Battle . This trilogy is all set before the original duology’s timeline.

In 2001, a reboot was launched. It did its own thing (actually, it adapted more of the Pierre Boulle novel than the original movie), it didn’t carry on after that, but it did mark the end of the original Tim Burton weird era.

A new series and continuity began in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes , which takes a ground-level look at the eventual ape uprising. The film’s serious tone and exemplary special effects were polished further for 2014’s Dawn and 2017’s War . All together, not only was the reboot run a success, but represents a rare trilogy where critical reception kept improving upon the last.

With War making significantly less money than Dawn , and the story relatively concluded, 20th Century Studios let the series go underground again. But it’s back after seven years with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , set many generations after War where humans have regressed to a primitive state, clubbing predators with fax machines and subsisting off natural springs of Crystal Pepsi.

Planet of the Apes (1968) 86%

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) 37%

Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971) 76%

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) 52%

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) 36%

Planet of the Apes (2001) 43%

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) 82%

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) 91%

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) 94%

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) 80%

Related news.

Weekend Box Office Results: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Reigns Supreme

Owen Teague and Wes Ball Break Down a Scene From Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

More Countdown

Spike Lee Movies and Series, Ranked by Tomatometer

30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

Movie & TV News

Featured on rt.

The Most Anticipated TV and Streaming Shows of 2024: New and Returning Shows We Can’t Wait to See

May 14, 2024

May 13, 2024

Top Headlines

• Spike Lee Movies and Series, Ranked by Tomatometer – movies
• Box Office 2024: Top 10 Movies of the Year –
• 30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming –
• Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now –
• Roger Corman’s Best Movies –
• 100 Best Movies on Tubi (May 2024) –

Den of Geek

The Best X-Men Time Travel Stories Ever

These mind-bending X-Men time travel tales make for some of the best stories in the Marvel mutant canon.

• Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
• Share on email (opens in a new tab)

X-Men comics have always been about the future. They are, after all, stories about mutants, the next stage in human evolution. The central tension dividing Professor Charles Xavier and his best friend Magneto is how to go into that future, either working with humanity or ruling them.

X-Men comics have also always been very, very confusing, with their frequent tales of clones, shape-changers, and alternate realities.

Given those two facts, it’s no wonder that X-Men creators would embrace time travel as a storytelling conceit, throwing Marvel’s Merry Band of Mutants far into the future or launching them deep into the past. The results vary, but these fifteen tales represent the best, and sometimes most headache inducing, of the X-Men’s adventures across time.

15. Days of Future Present (1990)

The 1990 crossover Days of Future Present is only half an X-Men story, as Franklin Richards is the main character. The son of Reed and Sue Richards, Franklin spins out of Fantastic Four comics. However, Franklin is a mutant (well, used to be, until a recent ret-con and the coldest of shoulders from Professor X), and thus his future self concerns the X-Men.

Ad – content continues below

Days of Future Present comes at a transitional point in X-Men history, with longstanding writers Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson losing control over the plots and flashy artists Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld gaining influence over story beats. As a result, Days of Future Present has lots of splash pages, lots of shouting, but not so much in the way of character development. It’s always fun to see Franklin as a powerful kid mutant, but the the storyline doesn’t offer much more beyond that.

14. “Cable” (Ultimate X-Men #75 – 78, 2006 – 2007)

Of all the original Ultimate Comics series, Ultimate X-Men may have aged the worst. At once too edgy and hip for its own good, while also repeating too many beats from the mainline series, the comic managed to irritate everyone and please no one. So many reacted with a sigh when the first appearance of Ultimate Cable ends with popping claws three claws and telling Wolverine , “This is it, bub.”

Yes, in the Ultimate Universe, Cable is not the long-lost son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, but Wolverine, who became a cyborg to off-set his depleted healing factor. He’s come back for… something. But his goal doesn’t really matter, because Ultimate Bishop arrives almost immediately after, leading to a knock-down battle between time travelers with the X-Men in between. Writer Robert Kirkman deserves credit for a twist on the Cable mythos, and pencilers Ben Oliver and Yanick Paquette make the fight scenes pop. But there’s not much to the storyline beyond the Wolverine reveal.

13. X-Cutioner’s Song (1993)

When Cable showed up in 1990’s The New Mutants #8, he was just a time traveling tough guy with giant guns and tiny feet. His backstory was a secret (or, undeveloped), following in the vein of Wolverine and Gambit. But as Marvel published more and more Cable stories, it became clear that he had a much deeper connection to the X-Men. The 1992-1993 crossover event X-Cutioner’s Song clarified things. Cable was not Nathan Christopher Charles Summers , the son of Madelyne Pryor and Cyclops. Rather, Nathan grew up to be the villain Stryfe and Cable was his clone.

At least, that’s what we thought. But later stories have established the opposite, with Cable as the real son and Stryfe as the clone. (Hey, it’s Marvel in the ’90s; of course they’re going to make a mess of their clones). Even before that reversal, X-Cutioner’s Song confuses more than it clarifies. On the surface, it’s about Stryfe getting revenge on the X-Men, Apocalypse, and Cable. That said, the enjoyment of X-Cutioner’s Song isn’t contingent on it making sense, as it delivers more than enough mutant-on-mutant action.

12. “Berserker” (Old Man Logan #1 – 4, 2016)

As anyone who has seen Logan knows, Old Man Logan is not a time travel story. Rather, it’s an alternate universe tale in a potential future, in which the haggard and bitter Wolverine gets called back into action for a lot of Mark Millar edge lord nonsense. In the same way that Logan improved on the original story from Millar’s 2008 Wolverine run with Steve McNiven, the follow-up ongoing Old Man Logan from 2016.

The first arc from Old Man Logan finds the elderly Wolverine transported in the present, before the Wasteland has has developed and with his friends still alive. Yet, Old Man Logan remains haunted by the memory of things to come, terrified that it will happen again. With “Berserker,” writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino revisit the classic Logan conflict between person and beast by giving readers a Wolverine who knows that he’s killed his friends.

Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

11. “Here Comes Tomorrow” (New X-Men #151-154, 2004)

When Grant Morrison took on the X-Men in 2001, they revitalized the franchise in ways that continue to resonate even today. But for all of the run’s high points, it ended on an uneven note. “Here Comes Tomorrow” mostly takes place 150 years after the previous story, which climaxed with Magneto, addicted to a drug called Kick, killing Jean Grey and leaving Scott heartbroken. Beast tries to take his place but, as happens kinda often with Beast, he goes mad and becomes an ageless tyrant who rules the world.

If that sounds high-concept, well, it is Grant Morrison. Unfortunately, Morrison’s heady style clashes with the pencils from Marc Silvestri, an artist who did great work with Claremont back in the late ’80s but has lost some storytelling skills by the time he returns. Between Morrison’s oddball ideas and Silvestri’s unclear pencils, much of “Here Comes Tomorrow” reads like a mess. That is, until, the return of Jean Grey allows the heroes to go back to the past, making a nice setup for Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men .

10. X-Men: Battle of the Atom (2012)

Speaking of Beast doing crazy things, Hank McCoy crossed a real ethical line when he went back in time to bring his younger self and the other four original X-Men, still teens studying under Xavier, into the present. In Hank’s defense, things had gotten bad. Pushed to the limit, Cyclops became a militant, taking half the team with him. In a desperate attempt to talk some sense in his old self and reunite the X-Men, Beast brought the teen team to talk some sense into their older selves.

Of course, it didn’t work, as demonstrated by Battle of the Atom . As the teens resist attempts to send them back to the past, the X-Men of the future arrive and demand they go back. But when the present X-Men realize that the future X-Men are in fact the future Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, they fight to keep the past X-Men here. Confused? Well, you should be. But at least the creative team, including writers Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron as well as artists Frank Cho and Stuart Immonen keep things entertaining.

9. “Tooth and Claw” (X-Men #8, 1992)

Like Cable, Lucas Bishop came to the X-Men from a ravished future, bearing a gun and a bad attitude. And like Cable, he wasn’t entirely trustworthy, as he kept under wraps his mission to prevent the dystopian future from which he hailed. However, in X-Men #8, Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell add another juicy twist to Bishop’s story when he meets the X-Men Blue Team for the first time. While impressed to shake hands with the great Cyclops, Bishop loses his cool at the sight of Gambit, branding the Cajun mutant a traitor.

Really, Bishop did Gambit a favor. For years, questions about Gambit’s trustworthiness gave him a new edge of cool among readers. But X-Men #8 doesn’t get into any of that. Instead, it’s a splashy issue full of Jim Lee cheesecake and beefcake, in which the Gambit and Bishop battle climaxes with a pie in Rogue’s face. Bishop’s mission and Gambit’s betrayal will later become major plot points. But in “Tooth and Claw,” they’re just an excuse for mutant shenanigans.

8. The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (1994)

Remember how I said the future identity of Nathan Summers would get clarified later on? Well, that happens in the miniseries The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix . And “clarified” might be too strong a word. The story begins with Jean and Scott’s other time-displaced kid Rachel Summers, now an elderly woman, pulling her the consciousness of her parents into new bodies in a future conquered by Apocalypse. They’re joined by the infant Nathan Summers, who has been stashed in this reality to train for an eventual stand-off with Apocalypse.

The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix does the readers no favors by throwing them into a disoriented time frame, complete with lots of word balloons and unfamiliar versions of Cyclops and Jean Grey. But after that first issue, writer Scott Lobdell and penciler Gene Ha zero in on the emotional stakes of the story. Under the assumed names Slym and Redd Dayspring, Cyclops and Phoenix get to be the parents they never were, raising Nathan before returning to their time without memories of the occasion. It’s a strangely sweet story, hidden under complex time travel mechanics.

7. Cable #10 – 12, (2021)

If you’re rolling your eyes at the sight of another Cable story on this list, rest assured — this one is much easier to follow. The fourth Cable ongoing series, launched in 2021, follows Nathan Summers in his late teens, having gone back further in time to kill his apparently corrupted older self. Okay, that is a bit confusing, but it mostly comes down to grizzled old Cable being replaced by young excitable Cable.

At least until the end of the third series. In the final three issues of that run, written by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto, young Cable encounters his older arch-enemy Stryfe. Stryfe has stolen mutant children from the island of Krakoa, but the young Cable can find no way to stop him. In an act of desperation, Cable finds his older self, resulting in a delightful and unlikely team-up.

6. Marvel 1602 (2003 – 2004)

Every story on this list is confusing to some degree, but by putting magic at the center of its time travel tale, Marvel 1602 outdoes them all. The product of Neil Gaiman and penciler Andy Kubert, Marvel 1602 involves not just the X-Men but the entire Marvel Universe. Furthermore, it mostly reads like an alternate universe story, in which recognizable heroes take surprising forms. Nick Fury , Agent of Shield becomes Sir Nicholas Fury, spymaster for Queen Elizabeth I. Explorer Sir Richard Reed takes his family aboard his sailing vessel the Fantastick . And Charles Xavier becomes Spaniard Carlos Javier, who runs a school for the hated and feared witch breed.

The time travel aspect of Marvel 1602 doesn’t become clear until late in the series, and even then has a more metaphorical and scientific bent, as one would expect of Gaiman. Even before then, though, the early 17th century take on mutants allows readers to see different ways that hatred takes form, whether in the past or in the future.

5. Legion Quest (1994 – 1995)

Inspired by an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series , the 1995 storyline Age of Apocalypse stands as the brightest point of 90s X-Men comics. Set in an alternate present ruled by Apocalypse, the Age of Apocalypse came to be when Xavier’s troubled son Legion travels back in time and kills his father before the X-Men can be formed.

Before Age of Apocalypse came Legion Quest , a six-part story that crossed between X-Factor , Uncanny X-Men , X-Men , and Cable . While the storyline has more than its fair share of the big poses and hyper-crosshatched artwork common to ’90s X-Men comics, it also has a tragic heart at the center. An incredibly powerful but deeply troubled person, Legion wants nothing more than to please his father, which he hopes to do by going back to kill Magneto. Even before the story reaches its tragic end, it pits Legion against Xavier’s students, the children he truly loves over his own neglected son.

4. House of X/Powers of X (2019)

When Jonathan Hickman took over the X-Men universe, he introduced a number of radical concepts, including the Resurrection Protocols that make mutants functionally immortal and a sovereign nation in the island Krakoa. But the most controversial change may have been to Moria McTaggert, a longtime human ally to the X-Men. In the twin miniseries House of X and Powers of X , which launched the Krakoa era, Hickman revealed Moira to be a mutant, one who could resurrect with the memories of her past lives.

Thanks to this shift, House of X and Powers of X is a time travel story, although it doesn’t function like one. Each of Moira’s lives involve timelines, some of which end in childhood and others that go one for millennia. And each time she reincarnates, always at the same point in history, she does so with knowledge of those futures. From that concept, Hickman uses Moira as a catalyst for a new imperative, as humans, mutants, and even machines battle to control tomorrow.

3. Multiple Man #1 – 4 (2018)

In superhero comics, the existence of two (or more) people with the same identity means one of two things: time travel or clones. In the case of Jamie Madrox, it’s both! One of the most criminally underused characters in the X-Men bullpen, Jamie Madrox is the Multiple Man, a guy who has the ability to make perfect duplicates of himself. Madrox usually gets ignored or misused by writers who aren’t Peter David (looking at you, X-Corp ), but the miniseries Multiple Man stands as a wonderful exception, thanks to its time travel plot.

Latest Comic reviews

The sandman review: one of the best comic adaptations ever, paper girls review: prime video adaptation delivers, 7fates: chakho review — how do the webtoon & web novel compare.

Written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art from Andy MacDonald and Tamra Bonvillain, Multiple Man begins in the manner of most new Madrox stories, with the revelation that he is not, in fact, dead. The dead Madrox was, of course, a duplicate. But then this newly-revealed Madrox gets captured by Madroxes from the future, who have the powers of the Hulk , Deadpool , Cloak , and others. These Madroxes take the other Madrox into the future, to join other Madroxes in a resistance against a Madrox who has conquered the world with his army of Madroxes. Mind-boggling? Yes! Delightful? Absolutely!

2. X-Men: Messiah Complex (2007 – 2008)

Even though the X-Men had two time traveling gun nuts running around since the early ’90s, the two didn’t really come to heads until the 2000s (save short spats, as in the aforementioned X-Cutioner’s Song ). But with the 2007 – 2008 crossover Messiah Complex , which ran across all of the X-books at the time, Cable and Bishop finally face off over Hope, the first new mutant born since Scarlet Witch decimated the population in House of M .

For Cable, Hope is exactly what her name suggests, the way toward a better and vibrant future for mutants. But Bishop comes from a future ruled by the Mutant Messiah, which appears to be Hope. As important as this difference of perspectives is, Messiah Complex is about much more than just two buff dudes in a grudge match. Rather, a creative team that includes Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Billy Tan, and Chris Bachalo craft a story about the way forward for the X-Men and their status as the next stage in evolution.

1. “Days of Future Past” (Uncanny X-Men #141 – 142, 1981)

Of course the number one pick is “ Days of Future Past .” How could not be? Not only is it a legendary story that has been adapted into every other type of medium, but it remains a model for telling a satisfying time travel story. After all, look again at the headline above. The entirety of “Days of Future Past” occurs across just two issues, telling a complex story with clarity and conciseness. Those qualities come courtesy of one of the greatest collaborations in comic book history, between writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne.

The premise is simple: after Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants murder the hateful Senator Robert Kelly, the bigoted backlash creates a police state ruled by Sentinels. To prevent this from happening, Rachel Summers sends the adult Kate Pryde’s consciousness back to her younger self, then a new recruit on the team, to save Kelly and the future. It’s a classic X-Men story with both creators at the height of their powers, one that keeps its time travel mechanics clean, giving the adventure full emotional heft.

Joe George | @jageorgeii

Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!

The Best Time Travel Movies Ever

1. Predestination

2. Interstellar

4. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

5. Frequency

6. About Time

8. 12 Monkeys

9. The Butterfly Effect

10. Edge of Tomorrow

11. Source Code

12. Men in Black³

14. The Time Traveler's Wife

15. The Time Machine

16. Arrival

17. Back to the Future

19. Travelers

20. Continuum

22. Paradox

24. Time Lapse

25. The Time Machine

More to explore, recently viewed.

Memorial Day: Best and worst times for San Diegans to travel and other tips

For Southern California travelers, San Diego will be the second most popular destination, just behind Las Vegas, so expect plenty of crowds over the holiday weekend

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

Southern Californians’ love of travel will be in full force over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, with forecasts predicting a record-setting number of people getting away by plane, car, train and cruise ships.

The Auto Club of Southern California’s forecast, released Monday, expects 3.5 million people to travel over the holiday period, which translates to a 4.7 percent increase over 2023 and 150,000 more travelers compared to 2019, a year before the pandemic. It marks the second year in a row that the record has been broken for Memorial Day travel.

Even as experts are predicting a coming slowdown in the pace of travel overall, the Auto Club says it’s pleased to see continued enthusiasm for domestic getaways for the holiday weekend.

“It’s remarkable,” said spokesperson Marie Montgomery. “It kind of shows how people are really prioritizing spending more time with family and friends and travel is a great way to do that. There certainly are some more economic concerns in the mix so time will tell if this pans out. But given what our partner, S&P Global Market Intelligence, is projecting, they believe it’s another positive year for travel. They’re taking into account leading economic indicators such as employment, household net worth, stock prices, and the housing market.”

More people traveling by car than ever

The majority of people traveling between Thursday, May 23, and Monday, May 27, will do so by automobile despite still high gasoline prices. The Auto Club of Southern California predicts 2.9 million people will be driving to their destinations, while 371,000 will be flying, and the remainder — 237,000 — will be taking the train, bus or boarding a ship for a cruise.

Similarly, 38.4 million of the 43.8 million expected to travel nationally will be doing so by car, according to AAA’s forecast. Both in Southern California and nationally, that’s a new record, and represents about a 4 percent increase over the same period a year earlier.

While gasoline prices have been dipping slightly in recent weeks, they still are topping out at more than $5 a gallon and are well ahead of last year’s price of $4.83 a gallon. As of Monday, a gallon of regular gasoline averaged $5.27, about five cents less than a week earlier, according to the Auto Club.

For those driving to their holiday destinations, the Auto Club recommends that motorists inspect their vehicle tires, battery, and fluid levels. Also, pack food, water, a first-aid kit, and mobile phone charger in case your car breaks down. Nationwide, AAA expects to rescue more than 378,000 stranded drivers at the roadside, including more than 95,000 in California.

Best and worst times to drive

INRIX, a provider of transportation data and insights, has taken the guesswork out of how to time your travel. It’s advising that if possible, you should try to avoid the afternoons and evenings of Thursday, May 23, and Friday, May 24, when freeways will be most congested.

In Southern California, the busiest stretch of freeway is expected to be Interstate 5 North from Los Angeles to Bakersfield on the afternoon and evening of May 23, when the normal travel time of 90 minutes will surge by 84 percent to nearly three hours.

More optimal times to hit the highways, INRIX says, are before 11 a.m. or after 8 p.m on Thursday and Friday; before 1 p.m. on Sunday; and after 7 p.m. on Monday.

Most popular getaway destinations

San Diego, as it often is, will be the second most popular destination for Southern Californians getting away for the holiday weekend.

Las Vegas retains its position as No. 1 but in a change from last year, when Santa Barbara, Grand Canyon and Palm Springs filled out the top three remaining spots, this year, Grand Canyon remains in the top five but Hawaii and Seattle/Alaska cruises are identified as the fourth and fifth most popular destinations.

“We had the downturn in Hawaii travel after the fires and all of Hawaii was affected by that,” Montgomery said. “Now there seems to be some pent up demand for Hawaii now that it is all reopened, so that’s a popular destination. And cruises are doing very well but the vast majority of people will be driving, and in Southern California we’re fortunate to have so many great locations 50 miles or less to choose from.”

Tips if you’re headed to the beach

A big help transportation-wise for those wanting to hang out in Pacific Beach is an on-demand shuttle called the Beach Bug . While it debuted last year, this will be the first Memorial Day that it will be available. For most riders, it costs $2.50, which covers all-day access.

Operating hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. Like the popular FRED shuttle that has long operated downtown, the Beach Bug responds to requests made on a smartphone app called Ride Circuit.

Also be wary of a new regulation enacted this year that prohibits private companies from staging picnics , corporate events, large parties, bonfires or similar organized activities on any city beach.

While the city had weighed a formal permitting process, it ultimately opted for an outright ban. However, there are specific locations in the city where luxury-style picnics will be permitted — Fanuel Park, Sunset Point, Ventura Cove, Playa I and Vacation Isle West on Mission Bay, the Arbor and Botanical Lawn East and West in Balboa Park, and shoreline parks Ellen Browning South, Saratoga, South Palisades and Sunset Cliff-South Cuvier.

Get U-T Business in your inbox on Mondays

Get ready for your week with the week’s top business stories from San Diego and California, in your inbox Monday mornings.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune.