"Doc! I have to tell you about the future!"
The epitome of time travel comedy, 'Back to the Future' is a brilliant classic headed by the squawking Doc and the confused Marty. Played by Christopher Lloyd and Mitchael J Fox respectively, these two work together brilliantly, in a relationship similar to what the Doctor of 'Doctor Who' and his companion is at the best of times. There are plenty of other movies that try to do a similar thing, but 'Back to the Future' is just so much better than them all.
The time travel aspect is just complex enough to be entertaining, while not being too confusing as to distract you from the other aspects of the plot. It also has the ability to laugh at itself - it's far from serious - and it does this well too. Plenty of movies just feel dumb when they try to mock their own plot, but here it's not too overdone while still being clear that it is on purpose.
As I was writing this I thought to myself "is this movie dated?" And I struggled to answer. I think that it is, but in a good way. It's very 80s. It couldn't have been made in any other time, and there can never be a fourth film made that will be anywhere as good. Now that we're past the future that they go back to in the second movie, it just wouldn't work, but the movie knows that it's a joke, so it still works now even now that we know for sure that 2015 has happened, and we don't have hoverboards or wear two ties (though I think I did once for school). It's also aware of the dumb aspects of the 80s, though. Marty is a good example of this, as he spews slang and stumbles about is his life preserver. There are lots of comments from the 50s people on his clothes and mannerisms, and revealing to Doc that the current president of the US is Ronald Reagan probably wasn't the best way of confirming his authenticity as a time traveler. When Doc hypothesises that the president must be a movie star, as he would have to look good on camera all the time seeing as there were so many of them, I laughed, then thought about it, and grimaced and nodded a bit like Silvio does in "The Sopranos".
"I have to tell you about the future!"
It's a huge amount of fun, and watching it always cheers me up. Timeless.
Back to the Future: 84.9