(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

Project Almanac is the same old time travel movie with the annoying found footage gimmick, only difference is that it involved teens, but that doesn’t make it any better.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

One thing that they are doing too much in movies is the found footage format when showing a movie. When it first started to do this kind of recording footage it was ground breaking. I believe it started with the found footage format with The Blair Witch Project, but really exploded when the movie Cloverfield came out. I remember working in the movie theater when this movie came out, and since people are not used to seeing the camera shake so much, many people were getting sick and throwing up. I personally enjoyed Cloverfield for their creativity in the found footage format. However, more and more movies tried to do the same format, and it got old real quick. Don’t get me wrong for some movies it worked like Cloverfield and Chronicle, but for other movies, it is just a gimmick and needs to go away immediately. As for Project Almanac it is more or less of the same gimmick.

What I Like: Every time travel movie comes with some cool special effects. Project Almanac was no different. Though it wasn’t ground breaking, it did make the movie somewhat cool to watch. Especially when they were starting to use the time machine and how it creates a a mini hurricane and se of the guys drifting from appearing to invisibility. Other than that, it was funny. Especially when Quinn Goldberg, played by Sam Lerner, was trying to pass his chemistry exam by going back into time and aceing it. It took him at least three times to achieve it, and what’s funny was that each time he does it over, he gets more cocky with the teacher. I thought that was pretty funny.

The So So: This movie was definitely a science fiction teen movie which I expected it to be. You see the teens being teens with time travel becoming real wreckless with the time machine. The acting was actually not bad for a teen movie, but somehow the main character is a great genius named David Raskin, played by Jonny Weston, who got into MIT, but didn’t get a scholarship. So when finding some project he could find in the basement, he stumbles on a time machine and actually fixes it to make it work. A guy with that much intellect doesn’t get a scholarship? With any teen movie, they have the stupid romance innocent love story. This time with a nerd and a hottie. Also what is a teen movie without some kind of big party. There was a house party which wasn’t shown much, but the biggest party was when all the friends decided to time travel back to enjoy Lollapalooza, and seeing them partying like teens. It is a typical teen movie with teen cliches.

What I Didn’t Like: There has been many time travel movies. Some good and some horrible ones. This movie leans on the horrible side for their many cliches involving time travel. Like people being wreckless and beat the odds out in the lottery, or to get back at somebody for humiliating you. Also how when you try to change the past, it creates a ripple effect that are catastrophic to the world. This movie wasn’t unique whatsoever, and you can pretty much predict how it is going to end. No originality for an overused story plot like time travel, why even bother watching it. The annoying found footage format just made it even more annoying.

Overall: For a teen flick it is not so bad for the teens, but as a time travel movie it was too cliched and predictable. Also this found footage format needs to stop before people will die of vertigo. At least that will make Alfred Hitchcock proud!!!

Rating 2.5 Stars

(Sidenote: When the Game Stands Tall- It is a movie about De La Salle High School football team who won 151 straight games. The movie focuses that one year where the streak was broken, and shows that it is all about character than winning. It is a cliched sports movies with a very predictable ending. Jim Caviezel as Coach Bob Ladouceur was not inspiring whatsoever. However, the movie did have a lot of cool football game scenes which really didn’t make this movie that boring.
Rating 3 Stars)

(Sidenote: Whiplash- This movie really deserves to have all the Oscar considerations. I really enjoyed the acting of this movie with Miles Teller as Andrew Neiman. A music student who is a drummer that strives to be the best, and help with his school competing for best jazz band. Their coach is Terrence Fletcher, played by J. K. Simmons, who pushes his band players to their emotional limits by verbally and sometimes physically abusing them. It is an interesting story with a great twist ending. Shows how much you can push yourself to be the best no matter what stands in your place. If you’re a fan of music, especially jazz music, you will love this movie. I believe J. K. Simmons has a shot in winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor this year.
Rating: 4.5 Stars)