--- title: Back to the Future: Read TIME's Prescient Review from 1985 description: The movie was released on July 3, 1985 canonical: https://time.com/3928368/review-1985-back-to-the-future/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-03T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:09.248Z article:section: History og:title: Read TIME's Prescient Review of 'Back to the Future' og:description: The movie was released on July 3, 1985 og:url: https://time.com/3928368/review-1985-back-to-the-future/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4c388ff33222003/69885571cd1bba14d16fbe85/bttf.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Michael J Fox In 'Back To The Future' og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read TIME's Prescient Review of 'Back to the Future' twitter:description: The movie was released on July 3, 1985 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4c388ff33222003/69885571cd1bba14d16fbe85/bttf.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read TIME's Prescient Review of _Back to the Future_ > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far) [Watch (HLS stream): The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far)](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/S3M25t5U.m3u8) (4:16)  _Published 2012-05-17. TIME movie critic, Richard Corliss lists his top films of the millennium (Thus Far). For the full, list go to time.com/entertainment_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 3, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Michael J Fox walking across the street in a scene from the film 'Back To The Future', 1985. Michael J Fox walking across the street in a scene from the film 'Back To The Future', 1985. Universal Pictures/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 3, 2015 11:00 AM UTC Turning the big 3-0 is always a big deal, but for _Back to the Future_ it’s particularly so. After all, 30 years is the time span that sets the whole movie in motion: Marty McFly travels three decades back in time from 1985 to 1955\. Now, on July 3, 2015, he’ll have made it just that many years into the future. (Or, rather, the movie will have made it: the 2015 date to which Marty zooms in the movie’s sequel won’t roll around until October.) Looking back at TIME’s original review of the movie classic (a two-fer that paired _BttF_ with _Goonies_) it’s clear that the charm of the story was immediately clear—and that critic Richard Corliss had his finger on the pulse, or at least his foot on the gas of the film-criticism DeLorean. When looking at the plot structure, he ventured a guess at what might happen to the movie by 2015: --- > “” --- [At this point](http://time.com/3662868/nike-back-to-the-future-shoes/), we don’t need a flux capacitor to guess that, another 30 years from now_,_ that prediction will still hold true. **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [This Way to the Children’s Crusade](http://time.com/vault/issue/1985-07-01/page/64/) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Hi I'm Richard Corliss, Time Magazine movie critic, to show you my infallible or highly debatable selection of the movies of the millennium. [ MUSIC ] [ INAUDIBLE ] Stronger. In a way, these movies, made in the last 12 years, cover the whole history of movies. [ SOUND ] You'll also find a few films that look forward to the stories and techniques of the next hundred years. The fellowship awaits the ring bearer. [ MUSIC ] The Artist. It's a movie set in Hollywood's silent era and it's virtually wordless. Is that a gimmick? Nope. A sustained cinematic inspiration. Deserving of every prize it received, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. This tres French film was also the most classically American picture of its time. [ SOUND ] Found something. The Hurt Locker. US soldiers coming to Iraq knew what to expect: 130 degree heat. And streets full of men, women, and kids, [ CROSSTALK ] any one of whom could detonate a bomb that would blow Americans and Iraqis to bits. What's the best way to, to go about disarming one of these things? The [ INAUDIBLE ]. [ LAUGH ] That's a good one. Determined to get the facts straight, not to score political points. Kathryn Bigelow made an honest, searing war film that fully deserved its Oscar for Best Picture. It's just 39 days. 38 if we survive today. [ SOUND ] Avatar. James Cameron's science fiction 3D film does what fantasy is supposed to do. Create a total environmental experience. Viewers don't just visit the Pandora rainforest, like the movie's paraplegic hero Jake, they find their legs and quickly their home there. To become [ UNKNOWN ]. Hunter, you must choose you're own ikran, and he must choose you. [ NOISE ]. For a sensational, seductive movie immersion, Avatar has it all over Cameron's previous blockbuster. This film is truly titanic. [ SOUND ] The lord of the rings trilogy. Two forms are daring on display here, Peter Jackson's for synopsizing tokens novels into three spectacular three hour films. And the commercial daring of new lines cinema which financed a $ 300 million three part telling of the token saga. Before a single frame had been shot. Will you look into the mirror? What will I see? Even the wisest cannot tell, for the mirror shows many things. [ SOUND ] The movies of the past dozen years, will be remembered for their technical wizardry and digital sheen. Wall- E has all that. [ SOUND ] Plus a toy- meets- girl love story as pure as any in the cinema's first 100 years. This Pixar animated feature, designed as family entertainment, had a bold vision both in story and in sound. [ SOUND ] There's plenty of space out in space, female star liners leaving each day. We'll clean up the mess while you're away. And when Wall E meets his sleek robot Eve, they inhabit a sci fi cyborg romance for the ages. 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