Jonny Weston

Sofia Black-D'Elia

Sam Lerner

Allen Evangelista

Virginia Gardner

Amy Landecker

Gary Weeks

Macsen Lintz

Gary Grubbs

Michelle DeFraites

Jamila Thompson

Katie Garfield

Hillary Harley

Courtney Bowers

Patrick Johnson

Joshua Brady

Danielle Rizzo

Mychael Bates

Onira Tarés

Mani Yarosh

Andrew Benator

Aaron Marcus

André Nemec

Anthony Reynolds

Ben McKee

Daniel Platzman

Dan Reynolds

Wayne Sermon

Agnes Mayasari

Fred Galle

Johnny Otto

Jason Pagan

Brad Fuller

Andrew Form

Dean Israelite

Michael Bay

Christina Fong

Martin Bernfeld

Kimberly Greene

Dustin Berry

Jessica Jackson

Julian Clarke

Lee Alan McConnell

Denise Chamian

Karen Czukerberg

Mary Jane Fort

Charlotte Raffi

Matthew Hackett

David H. Nash

Maher Ahmad

Steve Rhee

Mark Owen Forker

Joulles Wright

Seong Joon Lee

Cheryl Starbuck

Robert East

Andrew Deutschman

Vicki Dee Rock

Josh Appelbaum

Brian Adams

Melissa Yonkey

Anna Zenner

Daniel John Lerch

Lance Flowers

Lynsey Mouer

Kouji Tajima

Greg Argarin

Jonathan Carbonaro

Saj Mack

Melissa Kennedy

Brett Andrews

Bradley Huffman

Jason Vigdor

Rob Hamby

Martin L. Mercer

Chris Birdsong

Joshua Min

Benjamin Rowland

Steve Kupfer

Lay'Na Anderson

Evan Woolery

Jerome Allen

Tam O'Brien

Torey Lenart

Dennis Winkler

Kurt Kornemann

Nathan S. Clark

Sam Carter

Dana Morris

Bill Chapman

Dionne Pitsikoulis

Matthew J. Lloyd

Greg Gonzalez

Laurent Ben-Mimoun

James Stockton

Jermaine Brantley

Alexander G. Smith

David Edsall

David Smith

Vincent Bates

Michael Green

Meiklejohn Pate

Brittany Regan

Randy Lewallen

David McLean

Chris Antignane

Keith Cutler

'Jamie' James Free

Kyle Spicer

Brian Malone

Allen Robinson

Ross Davis

Paige Jarvis

Jake Ures

Ron Ruanphae

Doyle Petty

Patrick Schlote

David McLendon

David Shakibanasab

Guy D'Alema

Richard Dennis Kinnard

Benny Smyth

Charles S. Hodes

Sam Tedesco

Science Fiction

Thriller

Project Almanac

Insurge Pictures

Paramount Pictures

MTV Films

Platinum Dunes

United States of America

English

Frank Ochieng

Look…one can never have enough time travel movies for our escapist needs, correct? After all, the possibilities are endless in terms of how filmmakers could explore the surreal dynamics of different dimensions thus allowing audiences to suspend their disbelief and engage in the wonderment of SF exuberance. So the question remains: can first-time director Dan Israelite instill some fresh distinction into the ubiquitous genre with the teen-oriented time travel vehicle ‘Project Almanac’? Well, let’s just say that superior spectacles such as ‘Looper’ and this year’s engaging ‘Predestination’ have nothing to worry about in terms of giving way to Israelite’s featherweight found footage fantasy. In fact, ‘Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ looks appetizing and inspired in comparison.  Relentlessly sketchy and as exhilarating as a PBS-televised high school science project during summer vacation, ‘Project Almanac’ fails to bounce sufficiently with its erratic presentation of cockeyed camerawork and crew of stock character whiz kids along for the surreal joyride.

Israelite and screenwriters Jason Harry Pagan and Andrew Deutschman concoct a breezy kiddie escapist flick where the scientific impishness feels somewhat upbeat and the young cast seem to be engaged in the time-traveling adventure that giddily plays out. However, whatever spry momentum that ‘Project Almanac’ manages to achieve is undermined by the distracting shaky hand-held camera movements and choppy jump cuts that turn this sci-fi caper into a disjointed B-movie bubble. Furthermore, the inclusive found footage material is overblown and exhausting. The gimmick, when used sparingly, was a treasured touch to heighten the anticipated tension. But ‘Project Almanac’ is not the only guilty party to spoil the essence of such a ‘trick of the trade’. The reality is that contemporary cinema–especially in horror and sci-fi–resort to these technical tactics to the point of no return.

It is no surprise that the arbitrary jittery cosmetics behind ‘Project Almanac’ is under the producing credit of Michael Bay whose reputation for exorbitant twitchy filmmaking has been documented in previous pulsating actioners.  Brilliant high school science mastermind David Raskin (Jonny Weston) has ambitions for attending prestigious MIT and needs the appropriate experimental project to be conducted in his attic for acceptance to his choice of prestigious schooling. The finances are tight and David is chasing after a scholarship that should ease the economic burden on his widowed mother (David’s scientific father had recently died).

So David is a chip off the old block like his late father. Daddy Dearest, however, did provide some incentive for his son to to realise his MIT dreams. David had discovered an unfinished experiment of his dad’s – a mysterious machine that has the capability of relocating individuals through time. This discovery is in the company of his ‘herd of nerd’ friends plus his younger sister Christina (Ginny Gardner) along to record the curious contraption that will eventually take them all on a back-and-forth odyssey where they can pop into time traveling moments that range from dealing with school bullies to being placed in front of chemistry class testing sheets.

Interestingly, ‘Project Almanac’ never seizes the opportunity to think big in its time-traveling exploration. Instead, the movie mopes around with trivial tidbits such as petty scholarly set-ups and never really delves into grand confrontational entanglements that one would expect young impressionable brainiacs to face while awkwardly placing them in sensitive settings that all the book learning in the classroom cannot solve. The concept of this so-called time machine that David found in the basement by the skilled hands of his deceased old man should have predictably brought both father and son briefly together immediately in the name of their beloved interest in science, an irony nearly overlooked that could have been both poignant and profound. The nonsense of the kids cheating through invading the lottery result and retaking tests is a mere slap-on-the-hand cautionary tale that comes off somewhat corny and predictable.

Sadly,  ‘Project Almanac’ morphs into teen soap opera territory and sinks the minimal sci-fi flavoring it had for a nonsensical diversion punctuated by the aforementioned shoddy camera fluctuation and lack of time-traveling zest beyond small-time incidental dilemmas. Weston’s David Raskin had the potential to be the second coming of ‘Back To The Future’s Marty McFly but the lame plot and punchless exploits handcuffs him from answering the call.

Project Almanac (2015)

Paramount Pictures

1 hr.  46 mins.

Starring: Jonny Weston, Allen Evangelista, Sam Lerner, Ginny Gardner and Sofia Black-D’Elia

Directed by: Dean Israelite

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Science Fiction/Teen Time Travel Adventurer/Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Critic’s rating: ** stars (out of four stars)

Project Almanac is a film based on time travel. A bunch of students find a device which allows them to make jumps to the past. While the film starts off well, the second half of the movie has way to many plot-holes leaving the viewers with too many questions. The cast is young and is good for the film but nothing out of the world. It's worth a one time watch if you aren't one who complains about timeline consistencies.

Peter McGinn

I have always been drawn to stories of time travel. The best book I have read was Time and Again, by Jack Finney. I am sorry they never made a movie out of it, probably because it was more subtle with less action than other sci-fi stories for most of the book. But there are plenty of time travel movies out there, like this one.

The fact that teenagers are using the device to travel in time, plus the fact that - at first - they can't travel back more than a few weeks, obviously was put in place to limit their ability to travel whenever they want. So instead of trying to prevent a horrific world event, for instance, they are jumping back in time to tweak their own lives and mistakes. If you have watched many time travel movies, it isn't a spoiler for me to say things don't go exactly as planned.

There are a few clever plot twists here, and I mostly liked the chemistry between the lead characters. The dialogue became a bit wooden here and there, but overall the writing wasn't bad. I have to say my biggest gripe was with the hand-held camera routine. I almost wonder if they used it just to honor another movie with the word "Project" in the title, if you are wondering 'witch' movie I am referring to. But whatever the reason, it didn't really work for me.Their reasons for always lugging the camera around, even when there was just one character, fell flat for me. For the loss in camera work quality, there wasn't enough of a gain in plot or character interaction. But it didn't cause me to give up on it, just to wish it lived up to its potential. I am not going to comment on the ending and risk giving anything away, except to say that it felt a bit anti-climactic to me.

Project Almanac Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Sci-Fi Movie HD

Welcome To Yesterday Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Sci-Fi Movie HD

Project Almanac

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