Heart, Hilarity, and Brains.

Rating: 10/10 (8 December 2017)

'Back To The Future' can't be unloved by people. It was loved back when it came out in 1985 and its success has only grown. It has become a pop culture phenomenon worthy of all the success and praise it gets.
Christopher Lloyd just finished 'Taxi' and was doing a slew of successful films. Eric Stoltz was making a name for himself. But at the last minute, Stoltz was fired and 'Family Ties' own Michael J. Fox was replaced as protagonist alongside Christopher Lloyd. This co-stars some other up-and- comers that would go on to become household names.
Fox stars as Marty McFly. He's a high school senior who loves his girlfriend, tries to get gigs with his band, must deal with a mean principal and a weird family. He is also an errand boy for the wacky scientist Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), who Marty calls "Doc." Doc is constantly coming up with odd inventions and nobody can take him seriously, but he does sustain Marty's interest. His latest invention is a time machine made out of a DeLorean. Since that car has been discontinued, everybody's immediate association with it is a time machine. Doc calls Marty to test it at 1am so they can be in complete privacy. But they are soon found by terrorists who Doc fraudulently squeezed plutonium away from. Marty narrowly escapes...
The first act is getting to know Marty and his family and Doc. The subplot with the terrorists is also important. Marty escapes by accidentally entering 1955 on the date Doc got the envision for the time machine. Marty bumps into some people from his own present and tells them their fate. But it is his parents that he encounters that will mess up the timeline forever. His mom is a player who developed the hots for Marty instead of his dad. Marty completely screwed up the day they met. His dad is a total wimp too scared to ask his mother out or stand up to bully Biff Tannen. Marty is a hip daredevil who is the key in changing his father for the better and tricking him. This story with Marty trying to reconnect his parents is hilarious. Its my favourite aspect oft he film. Then there's Biff Tannen, who is the best bully in film history. I'm not condoning bullying, but Biff is hilarious.
How can Marty return to 1985? His escape was too abrupt to retrieve any plutonium for his way back, so he's stuck. Or is he? Doc says a bolt of lightning is the only thing of equivalent charge to plutonium. Hill Valley's (the film's setting) historic clock towers struck by lightning and it hasn't rung since. Next week will be the day it happens, so Doc and Marty construct a plan for the charge to hit the DeLorean and send Marty back to the future. Funny how these three very important events (Marty's parents meeting, Doc coming up with the idea for the time machine, and the clock tower destruction) take place over the course of the same week.
As a time travel film, there are lots of holes and plot errors that cannot be unseen. The wonderment is what makes films like this so groundbreaking. But at least there's enough smarts around this.
As I mentioned earlier, Marty dealing with a week in the 50s with his parents is my favourite aspect. The whole "fish out of water" bit is done so well and so funny. It culminates with Marty doing an edgy rendition of Chuck Berry's "Johnnie B. Goode" which is my favourite scene in all of cinema. His imitations of various guitar legends such as Eddie Van Halen and Pete Townsend make it even more funny than it is.
This movie makes me feel so wonderful each and overtime I see it (which is a lot). it is spiritually uplifting with heart and comedy to make it fun, and complexity to take it seriously.
It should always remain the best movie ever made about time travel. 10/10