A Glean movie guide
Mind-Bending Sci-Fi (Without the Headache)
Reality-warping, simplified.
High-concept thrillers that challenge your reality while keeping the plot on track.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Source Code
A tight, repetitive thriller that explains its high-tech simulation rules clearly from the start.
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
- 02
The Matrix
The definitive simulated-reality epic with a clear, heroic journey through a digital world.
Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.
- 03
Edge of Tomorrow
A high-stakes action loop that uses video game logic to make its complex premise easy to follow.
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.
- 04
The Prestige
A masterclass in cinematic misdirection that remains anchored by a fierce, grounded rivalry.
A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.
- 05
Minority Report
A sleek futuristic noir that turns complex predictive technology into a propulsive murder mystery.
John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator targets him for a murder charge.
- 06
Looper
A gritty, character-driven take on time travel that prioritizes emotional stakes over confusing paradoxes.
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
The Adjustment Bureau
A fast-paced chase through a hidden reality where the rules of fate are explained as the action unfolds.
A man glimpses the future Fate has planned for him – and chooses to fight for his own destiny. Battling the powerful Adjustment Bureau across, under and through the streets of New York, he risks his destined greatness to be with the only woman he's ever loved.
- 08
Total Recall
A straightforward action-adventure that questions memory and identity without losing its narrative thread.
Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Recall, a company that manufactures memories. When his memory implant goes wrong, Doug can no longer be sure what is and isn't reality.
- 09
Ex Machina
A tense, single-location psychological thriller that explores artificial intelligence with clinical precision.
Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.
- 10
Limitless
A stylish thriller that uses clear visual cues to represent the expansion of human consciousness.
The life of an unsuccessful writer is transformed by a top-secret 'smart drug' that allows him to use 100% of his brain and become a perfect version of himself. His enhanced abilities soon attract shadowy forces that threaten his new life.
- 11
Strange Days
A gritty noir that uses memory-sharing technology to drive a classic, high-stakes investigation.
In the last days of 1999, ex-cop turned street hustler Lenny Nero receives a disc which contains the memories of the murder of a prostitute. With the help of bodyguard Mace, he starts to investigate and is pulled deeper and deeper in a whirl of murder, blackmail and intrigue.
- 12
Upgrade
A lean revenge thriller that uses a neural implant to deliver inventive action and a direct plot.
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.