Best alternate reality movies you can stream right now

The sequel to the campy 1982 Tron, Tron: Legacy carries the story into the 21st century. Jeff Bridges is back as Kevin Flynn, and the story follows his adult son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), as he’s transported into the “Grid,” a light-filled VR world. The plot leaves something to be desired, but the visuals are fantastic, as is the music from Daft Punk. The production design of the film is worth the watch alone.

The Matrix is far from the first film to look at alternate realities, but it may be the most well-known and most influential. At the turn of the century, the Wachowskis delivered the first movie of a trilogy (recently rebooted) that upended all expectations of science-fiction movies. The original film follows Neo as he discovers his world is just a simulated reality, built to harvest energy from humans. Some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history stem from The Matrix, such as the red pill versus blue pill conundrum, and the use of bullet time to enhance action scenes. The sequels and resurrection of the franchise don’t match the caliber of the original, but all are worth streaming if you’re ready to get lost in a new reality for an entire day.

One of the most oft-repeated sentiments in stories involving time travel is that it’s better to learn to live with the past and be grateful for your present. Things, after all, could always be worse. But what if the trauma you suffered as a child is unthinkable? Shouldn’t you get a pass when it comes to the conventional time-travel rules? Not according to The Butterfly Effect. Ashton Kutcher stars in the thriller as Evan, a college student whose childhood trauma includes sexual abuse and almost being murdered by his own father. So when Evan discovers that reading his childhood journal somehow gives him the ability to return to the past and change what happened, he goes for it. But the more he does it, the more unpredictable alternate futures he creates — each one more disastrous than the one before it. Worse still, years of contradicting memories begin pulverizing his mind. While critics weren’t the biggest fans of The Butterfly Effect, audiences clearly parted ways with reviewers and helped pave the way for 2006’s The Butterfly Effect 2 and 2009’s The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations.