Thursday, August 21, 2014

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies About Time Travel


Happy Thursday, all! I'm glad you're joining me for another installment of Thursday Movie Picks, hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves. Or maybe, you're reading this from the future. Maybe you're from the future and when you landed in 2014 you walked past a computer, and had to stop to check today's date. You may have even journeyed here from the past and are simply stunned that computers no longer take up entire rooms, if they even exist during the time from whence you came.

What am I babbling about?

That's easy. This week's theme is Movies About Time Travel. As has become my usual for this feature, I'm going to explore lesser traveled to pockets of time. That means no going back to November 5, 1955. You figure that one out. So I'll once again try to hip you to some hidden gems.


Deja Vu
(2006)
It's hard to imagine a Denzel Washington vehicle as a hidden gem, especially one released within the last decade. Truthfully, this one did gross about $180 million worldwide. However, only about a third of that came from here in the U.S. and the critics were not exactly singing its praises. That said, I quite enjoyed this movie where Denzel plays an ATF agent who goes back in time trying to stop a terrorist attack and save the life of the key witness played by Paula Patton. Much of the time is actually spent watching her through a device called "Snow White" which enables us to look back roughly four days into the past. Why yes, that is a pic of Denzel watching himself four days prior.



The Jacket
(2005)
We meet Gulf War Vet Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) in 1992 after he's survived getting shot in the head, but now suffers bouts of amnesia. This means he can't recall the facts of an event that led to him being charged with the murder of a police officer. He's found not guilty by reason of insanity, but ends up incarcerated in a mental institution (hey, travel back in time to when that was the theme). The doc there, played by Kris Kristofferson, does what docs in these types of movies do. He puts our guy in a strait-jacket, and injects him full experimental drugs. Next thing you know, Jack finds himself 15 years in the future. This one bends your mind as far as it can without actually breaking it.


Safety Not Guaranteed
(2012)
Of all the movies about the subject, this might have the least time travel of them all, if it really has any at all. Hmmm. Still, it's a wonderful little film about a guy who runs an ad in the paper requesting a companion to go back in time with him and the reporter sent in to see if he's cuckoo for Coco Puffs. It's much more a film about human interaction than about hopping through time, but it does happen. Or, does it? Read my full review here.





12 comments:

  1. Wow, I don't think I've seen any of these, but here I was concerned that Back to the Future would be too obvious (it seems I'm not the only one who reached that conclusion). Then again, I thought The Time Machine would also be an obvious choice and I haven't seen anyone else put that one on their list.

    I really should see Safety Not Guaranteed at some point. I've been told it's a very interesting movie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was going with the assumption that the vast majority of people have seen at least the original, if not all three Back to the Future movies so I steered clear of that. Safety Not Guaranteed is very interesting.

      Delete
  2. Good call on Safety Not Guaranteed and The Jacket! I think Looper is my favorite time travel themed film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I love Looper also. Didn't list it because it hasn't been long since it was a pretty big hit.

      Delete
  3. Haven't watch any on your list, but the one I'd like to watch is Safety not Guaranteed having heard about it here and there and it has a good intriguing title.
    Wandering through the Shelves

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keep in mind SNG is a good compromise because it incorporates elements from both sci fi and rom coms. So yeah, give it a watch when you get the chance.

      Delete
  4. I've only seen Safety Not Guaranteed, and it was a pretty good film. Great list!

    ReplyDelete
  5. These are interesting picks. The Jacket didn't entirely work for me, but the premise was intriguing and it left an impression. Deja Vu was better than I expected despite some over-the-top direction, and Safety Not Guaranteed was a cute movie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Glad you've seen them all. The Jacket is a bit tricky, but I enjoyed it.

      Delete
  6. I just saw The Jacket, and yes it's pretty mind-bendy. :-) I had to think about it for a while after turning it off. It reminded me of Jacob's Ladder, a movie I saw many years ago, but if I remember correctly Jacob's Ladder was better (and trippier). I did like The Jacket though -- it had some great performances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool. Glad you enjoyed. I've never gotten around to Jacob's Ladder, though I have heard some good things about it.

      Delete