Time travel is no longer straight forward: jumping back and forth between points in time. Throughout the years we’ve seen films like In Time use time as a currency. Time between multiverses in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Or time as an endless loop in the action-packed Edge of Tomorrow. Explore this week’s watchlist and time-altering films across all genres.. You’ll be on the edge of your seat for until the end.

Inception

A scene from a tense confrontation between two men, one of whom is angrily pointing at the other, in front of a yellow taxi in a dimly lit industrial setting.
Photo / Warner Bros

Time-Travel Through Dream Manipulation

A thief is offered a chance to scrub his criminal record by using his best skill: entering people’s dreams and stealing secrets from their subconscious. His task is to implant an idea into a target’s mind through a process called ‘Inception’. He works with his team to travel through multiple layers of dreams and the lines between reality and illusion blur.

Director: Christopher Nolan / Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio,

In Time

A scene featuring two characters, one male in a black suit and one female with a bob haircut wearing a black dress, appearing in a stark urban environment with concrete structures in the background.
Photo / 20th Century Fox

Time as a Currency

Time is currency in this dystopian future. People who hit age 25 stop aging and society is divided by social classes (the rich and the poor). Working-class Will Salas acquires a huge fortune in time and becomes a target on the run with a wealthy heiress. They work together to challenge the corrupt system and fall in love while doing so.

Director: Andrew Niccol / Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried

Arrival

A scene from the film 'Arrival' featuring a woman in an orange protective suit holding a whiteboard that says 'HUMAN', with another person in a similar suit in the background.
Photo / Paramount Pictures

Time-Travel as a Language

Dr. Louise Banks is recruited by the U.S. military to communicate with extraterrestrial visitors. As she deciphers their language, she experiences nonlinear visions of her life which lead to revelations about memories and time.

Director: Denis Villeneuve / Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Three characters in a tense moment, with one woman in a maroon vest and long dark hair in the foreground, and two others in the background displaying expressions of concern.
Photo / A24

Time-Travel Through the Multiverse

Evelyn Wang is a laundromat order who is burdened by taxes, her emotionally distant daughter, and a crumbling marriage. She is swept into multiple parallel universes and connects with all versions of herself to stop a mysterious threat.

Director: Daniels / Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu

Edge of Tomorrow

A scene from the sci-fi film featuring a man and a woman standing in a field, with a robotic figure beside them, set against a clear sky.
Photo / The New York Times

Time-Travel Loop

William Cage, a military officer, is thrust into a suicide mission during a brutal alien attack on Earth. He’s killed within minutes and finds himself stuck into a time loop: he relives the same day over and over every time he dies. He partners with Rita and uses the loop to find a way to defeat the enemy.

Director: Doug Liman / Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

Looper

A tense scene featuring a man holding a weapon, standing in a field with dried crops in the background, while another person, restrained and wearing a white hood, is seated on the ground.
Photo / TriStar Pictures 

Time-Travel Loop

In the future, time travel exists and is illegally used by criminals. Joe is a “looper” – a hitman who kills his targets sent from the future. His next target? His future self. As his older self escapes, his younger self must track him down and complete the task.

Director: Rian Johnson / Starring: Joseph Gordon Levett, Emily Blunt, Bruce Willis

Back to the Future

Scene from the film 'Back to the Future' featuring the characters Doc Brown and Marty McFly inside a DeLorean time machine.
Photo / People

Classic Time Travel

Marty McFly is accidentally sent 30 years back – to 1955. He works to make his parents fall in love while returning to his own present day time.

Director: Robert Zemeckis / Starring: Michael J Fox

The Tomorrow War

A group of four soldiers, including a man in a blue shirt and three others in military gear, aim their rifles towards the camera, ready for action.
Photo / Prime Video

Classic Time Travel

Time travelers from 2051 arrive with a warning for present-day humanity – it’s on the brink of extinction from an alien invasion. Civilians and soldiers alike are drafted into the war decades away.

Director: Chris McKay / Starring: Chris Pratt

About Time

A man in a suit and a woman in a red dress sit together on a sofa, smiling during a social event. A lamp illuminates the background.
Photo / Universal Pictures

Classic Time Travel

When Tim turns 21, his father lets him in on a family secret: the men can travel back in time. He uses this to improve his love life but when he alters moments to create a perfect future, he leans that the passage of time and ordinary life problems can’t be controlled. Beautiful, heart-warming, and a dose of rom-com love.

Director: Richard Curtis / Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams

Time Traveler’s Wife

A romantic scene depicting a couple embracing in a grassy field, with lush greenery in the background.
Photo / Warner Bros.

Classic Time Travel

A librarian has a genetic disorder that causes him to travel through time involuntarily. He falls in love with his childhood sweetheart, Clare and the pair try to build a life together. She struggles with the pain of loving a man who can vanish at any moment.

Director: Robert Schwentke / Starring: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams

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