A Glean movie guide
Stuck in a Loop: The Best Time Loop Movies
Break the cycle.
From hilarious resets to mind-bending paradoxes, these films are worth repeating.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Groundhog Day
The definitive comedy that turned a repetitive nightmare into a profound journey of self-improvement.
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.
- 02
Edge of Tomorrow
A thrilling sci-fi epic where a soldier uses a deadly reset to become the ultimate weapon.
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.
- 03
Palm Springs
A refreshingly cynical and hilarious take on the loop trope with a romantic, existential twist.
When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honor Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated when they find themselves unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.
- 04
Source Code
A high-stakes race against time that uses short, eight-minute bursts to solve a train bombing.
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.
- 05
Looper
A gritty, inventive crime thriller where assassins must eventually face their own 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.
- 06
Predestination
A complex, identity-warping puzzle that explores the absolute inevitability of a closed temporal loop.
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.
- 07
Happy Death Day
A clever and energetic slasher that breathes new life into the genre with a "die to survive" mechanic.
Caught in a bizarre and terrifying time warp, college student Tree finds herself repeatedly reliving the day of her murder, ultimately realizing that she must identify the killer and the reason for her death before her chances of survival run out.
- 08
Timecrimes
A masterfully tight Spanish thriller showing how one man's attempt to fix a mistake creates a recursive trap.
A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.
- 09
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
A charming, low-budget marvel filmed in a single shot about a two-minute window into the future.
A cafe owner discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.
- 10
Primer
The ultimate challenge for sci-fi fans, featuring a grounded and incredibly dense depiction of causal loops.
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.