6. There Are Still Plenty of Places to Go with Time-Travel - Looper
After the "wait, what?" intensity of MIB III earlier this summer, we were due for a fun flick that did time-travel right when Rian Johnson delivered with Looper. It's by no means a light-fare film, copping on family-friendly endeavors like the Back to the Future movies of old, but it makes its hardest attempt to be a thinking person's sci-fi movie. And for the most part, it succeeds. Looper knows the ins and outs of its genre and keeps things pretty close to home base, but is certainly a welcome addition to a genre of film that often uses time travel as a sloppy way to make up for continuity issues. When done right, (note *right, not *perfectly), time-travel can open up all the necessary doors to a new kind of movie. It's an advantage JJ Abrams has taken with the Star Trek franchise, and it's an advantage this movie uses quite fluently and refreshingly. So, let it be known to the world that time-travel with purpose can really provide something unseen in a summer movie season. Don't abuse it. And when all else fails, cast Emily Blunt.