6. Back To The Future (1985) (Dir. Robert Zemeckis)
The plot for Robert Zemeckis’ time-travel/high school movie amalgamation sounds ridiculous on paper, and yet the director managed to craft one of the most purely entertaining and genuinely likable movies ever made from its premise. Marty McFly, played with overwhelming affability by Michael J. Fox, finds himself transported back to 1955 by means of a time-travelling DeLorean. The movie zings thanks to a hilarious, self-referencing script, and the genius idea that forces Marty to hang out with his parents as teenagers. The heart of the movie, however, is in the relationship between Marty and Christopher Lloyd’s erratic Doc Brown, one of cinema’s best (and most unlikely) double acts. Not a moment is wasted, nor is there a single scene that steers the movie off-course. How exactly the messy premise emerged as perfectly as it did remains a mystery, but Zemeckis’ deserves maximum credit for getting the tone just right.