A Glean movie guide
Masters of the Timeline
Rewriting history, one jump at a time.
From mind-bending paradoxes to hilarious loops, these are the essential films that defy...
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Back to the Future
A perfect blend of 80s charm and clever temporal mechanics that remains the genre's gold standard.
Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.
- 02
The Terminator
A relentless thriller that uses a closed-loop paradox to fuel one of cinema's greatest chases.
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
- 03
Groundhog Day
The definitive time-loop comedy that finds profound meaning in the repetition of a single, snowy day.
A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.
- 04
Interstellar
A visually stunning epic that explores the heartbreaking reality of time dilation across the cosmos.
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
- 05
Primer
A low-budget masterpiece of hard sci-fi that demands multiple viewings to untangle its dense logic.
A group of fledgling inventors discover a complex method to manipulate reality. At first, they successfully game the stock market with it, but the consequences of the invention start to catch up with them.
- 06
Looper
A gritty, inventive noir where hitmen must eventually face the consequences of their future selves.
In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
- 07
Edge of Tomorrow
A high-octane spectacle that turns a deadly time loop into a thrilling video-game-style puzzle.
Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.
- 08
About Time
A gentle, moving drama that uses time travel to explore the beauty of ordinary life and family.
The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. They can't change history, but they can change what happens and has happened in their own lives. Thus begins the start of a lesson in learning to appreciate life itself as it is, as it comes, and most importantly, the people living alongside us.
- 09
Tenet
A massive, complex puzzle of 'time inversion' that pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling.
Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
- 10
12 Monkeys
A haunting, atmospheric mystery about the futility of trying to change a fixed, tragic past.
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
- 11
Predestination
A mind-melting exploration of identity and causal loops that will leave you questioning everything.
Predestination chronicles the life of a Temporal Agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to prevent future killers from committing their crimes. Now, on his final assignment, the Agent must stop the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time and prevent a devastating attack in which thousands of lives will be lost.
- 12
Midnight in Paris
A charming fantasy that captures the magic of nostalgia through a writer's nightly trips to the 1920s.
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.