The best movie of all time

When I think back about what I might personally call the best movie of all time, there are a lot of diverse candidates. The Matrix, for example. American Beauty, yes. Titanic, why not.

But when I add a little context, the answer changes. How about this question: "If I was alone on a space station a million years from now, and I had one last movie to watch to remind me what all of humanity was about before dying, what would it be?"

My answer would have to be the one I just watched now: About Time.

Where was this movie in 2013 in South Africa, when it was launched? Where was I? I completely can't recall it, and it might have passed out of my life forever if my wife hadn't just suggested we watch it because we were bored and I felt like watching a comedy.

I can't over-stress how completely amazing this movie is. I wouldn't change a single little iota of it, which isn't something I can say about many movies.

It is just so completely human ... filled with wry humour, surprising discoveries, endless failure, hope for something better, and real god's honest empathy.

So yes, Spock, let's devote the last of our space station's energy to powering this screen and this DVD player and dust off this relic from 2013.

It explains how pitifully vulnerable we all are, in the most beautiful, touching way I could never think of because I'm not a scriptwriter. But I AM a human, and it speaks a forgotten language in cinema: truth.

Thanks to Richard Curtis, Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and the rest of the pitch-perfect cast (mad props to Lydia Wilson) for this absolute gem.

Watch it now. If you're uninspired, lonely, bored, or even happy, confident and tremendously busy ... just watch it. If you want your two hours back after watching it, I'll go back in time and get that for you.