Back to the Future – A Rewatchable Movie Trilogy

Watching movies is one of my favorite pass-times. I enjoy watching movies by myself as a way to relax after a long and stressful day. I also love watching movies with family and friends. While it does depend on the movie, I am the kind of person who enjoys watching the same movies over and over again. Some people might think this is boring as you know what is going to happen, but I like how seeing movies many times helps you to get to know and feel close to the characters. For me, the basic definition of a highly re-watchable movie is it has good characters, talented acting, a story-line that draws you in, and a feel-good aspect to the film.
There are so many movies I could pick for my number one most re-watchable movie, but as I pondered this question, the 'Back to the Future' movie trilogy came to mind. These movies, which were made during the mid-80s and early 90s, are highly entertaining and very re-watchable. To give you a basic overview, the main characters are a young guy called Marty and an older scientist friend he refers to as 'Doc'. Marty's parents and his girlfriend also feature heavily in the movies. The nemesis of these characters is a guy called 'Biff', who wreaks havoc throughout each movie. The basic story is that Doc creates a time machine in which he and Marty, sometimes together, sometimes individually, travel both into the past and the future. Unsurprisingly, their adventures cause much chaos and trouble, and they have to go to great lengths to fix the things that they mess up!
I have chosen these movies as being the most re-watchable for various reasons. First, the characters are such fun, and the acting is excellent. In the future and the past, Marty and Doc run into a mix of their future/past selves, their ancestors, and also the future/past versions and ancestors of Marty's parents, Biff and Marty's girlfriend. With the help of a lot of make-up, these are all played by the same actors and this is quite an entertaining part of the movies. Michael J. Fox, the actor who plays Marty, also manages to pull off acting as his future daughter, which is no mean feat!
Second, the storyline is entertaining, complex and clever, without being too difficult to follow. Movies involving time-travel are notorious for having big glaring story gaps that just don't make sense. In the case of the Back to the Future movies, while if you look hard enough there might be some minor story gaps, these don't really stand out and the story is as logical and believable as one can expect of a time-travel movie. The storyline is complex enough that I tend to forget parts, which adds to it being enjoyable to re-watch. I also really like the way that, if you watch carefully, there are many small details in each movie that connect to the other movies. For example, in the second movie, there is one scene where a TV in the background is showing a show about Biff's ancestor 'Mad Dog'. Mad Dog ends up being one of the main characters in the third movie.

Lastly, I think the Back to the Future movies are re-watchable because they are such feel-good movies. I always feel happy after watching them. I live in a share house and just recently these movies were shown on TV. I really enjoyed laughing with my share house friends as we enjoyed the Back to the Future trilogy together!

Belinda

Vocabulary
feel-good (adjective) – causing a feeling of happiness and well-being
nemesis (noun) – a formidable rival or someone who has been an enemy for a long time
go to great lengths (idiom) – to try very hard to achieve something
no mean feat (idiom) – to be a considerably great or difficult achievement or outcome
notorious (adjective) – famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed