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Project Almanac More at IMDbPro »

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125 out of 205 people found the following review useful:

Stupid kids,stupid ideas,stupid waste of time - MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

Author: dna-1138 from United Kingdom
13 May 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

5 annoying students find out how to build a time machine with some car batteries and an Xbox....during the first test, a toy car ends up welded into a wall. They decide to try it on themselves...just as they're about to "jump" the leader warns them they might explode. They do it anyway, and use time travel to get better answers on their tests, and to get girls, win the lottery,humiliate the school bully, and get back stage passes to an Imagine Dragons gig. Someone they know dies on a random plane crash, so the leader goes back in time to say hi to his dad, who died 10 years previously, and destroys the time machine.It ends abruptly. The audience walk away, wishing they also had a time machine so they could go back and stop everyone involved in the making of this nonsense.

69 out of 102 people found the following review useful:

How stupid do they think teenagers are?

Author: Jerghal from Belgium
14 May 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Project Almanac is a found footage time travel movie. And as far as time travel films go this must be one of the worst I've ever seen. It takes them almost half of the movie to make the damn thing (with old car batteries and Xbox 360 parts) and once they have the power to travel through time, what do they do? Go to parties and concerts coz apparently they were to stupid to go to them like in normal time. The movie also does little effort to respect some time travel rules like concerning duplicates off yourself already being there at the same place etc. Spoiler: they redo a certain part like 8 times (groundhog style like the characters correctly state) to do...a chemistry test over and over. WTF??? Then they get the fantastic idea to play the lottery, they f*ck it up by only filling in 5 of the 6 numbers correctly so they only win 1,8 m$ instead of 53m$, and THAT they only do once??? I have to say I've never seen a time travel flick where the characters and the retarded plot enraged me so much as this one. I know the target audience is teenagers but even they must have seen better in this genre. The directors next movie is going to be 'Power Rangers'. I'm wondering if he was so stupid to choose that himself or if the studio execs wanted to punish him for making dumb movies.

72 out of 108 people found the following review useful:

Spoilers *Paradox explained * for those that are to dumb to understand

Author: dimbost
15 May 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

So the films starts off establishing that they are all smart, and the sister likes to film. The whole film is done in the found footage format.

The story is actually interesting when you break it down. The whole ground hog moment, was to establish the beginning of the ripple effect. Every time Quinn entered the Chemistry room, he showed cockiness and preparations, which led the teacher to throw curve ball questions. and until Quinn knew the answers to all of the possible questions he had to keep on repeating it.

The lottery ticket. "Why didn't they go back and rewrite it" as Adam said he didn't want to waste his time worrying that some how they cheated and being in that panic mode. Remember how nervous their were filling in the paper and get away from the store after. Plus this was, plus don't forget this is still all experiments for them. They can go back and win more lotteries any time they wanted to.

David kept on pushing the machines ability to travel further by using the time watchers. Remember in the begging he said that they can only go back as far as 3 weeks, but later he said it can be possible to go back up to 10 years. Next step was 3 month: Lollapalooza. we did hear his sister say that she missed out.

This is where it starts to get more complicated and can be taken in two theories. After the failed kiss David goes back to Lollapalooza and if we see carefully he is walking at fast paced and his friends say "Oh there he is." "Looks like he is actually gonna do it" So we can assume that there was a period of time in which the first time David was away trying to get the courage to approach her, and the second David timed it so that he would take her on this walk before he managed to get there. Still don't get it? Think of Back to the future when Marty goes back for the second time and has to make sure he doesn't run into himself in the past.

David going all the way back to his 7th birthday after Jessie's disappearing. We saw Quinn nearly disappear when he started to look at himself, but the guys quickly moved him away from his sight. They broke the circle of both consciousness trying to comprehend what was happening. Unfortunately for Jessie, David didn't do that and let the circle complete erasing her at the present time line. So if he was to go back another day, she would still exist in that period. But not from Tuesday 7pm or whatever it was.

David destroying the machine in the end is paradox. No its not, and here is why in the first video of him being seen in the mirror. His father is lighting up the candles, when he goes back in the end, his father is talking to his mother. In the first Video when they figure out that the keys belong to Jessie and re watch the video, there is no blood on his hand, when he is there in the end, the blood is clearly visible. Him trying to save his father the first time, theory. His father clearly states "You figured it... i have so many questions" Obviously his father knew that he wasn't going to figure it out. and most importantly why was he hiding it after the mysterious phone call? he knew that he was going to die, probably for not handing over the machine to the government. "Why you ask?' well because David in the end says "its time for you to say goodbye to your son" and the father's line to the young version of David "A friend, he is here to fix something" My assumption on this, is that his father knew the risks with the machine, and was hoping to either have more to study it or die protecting its secret. After seeing his son, he clearly understood what he was there to do.

So why was David in the first video originally, Because the movie we were watching was not the prime time line, but rather already altered time line where David wanted to speak to his father in hopes of figuring out what can be done to try and change the future. Second time line David came back a few moments later. Remember him stopping at the door for few seconds? No? re watch it. David would not have been caught in the Party camera the second time. Through the clips when David was watching all of the party moments, The camera captured the moment when his father was talking to the mother about the call and was in a different angle, so he erased any evidence of himself at that party from that camera. He burnt all of the notes and destroyed the machine as he did that we see that he starts to flicker. That happens, because destroying the machine means you destroy the one that is in your backpack, and if the one in your back pack never existed then you never came here. The camera CAN BE (ad argued for a plot hole but) explained as just a object, which could not alter the universe (Like leaving a stick behind) Camera doesn't have any living organisms or bacteria. The end is them seeing the second camera and discovering that they learned how to time travel, and seeing presumable everything that we saw in the film. So when he walks up to Jessie at the end, he already seen it and knew what she was going to say. But they no longer can time travel, as the machine or the blue prints don't exist

Hope you guys liked my review! and any questions feel free to send me a message.

56 out of 93 people found the following review useful:

Time travel an hour and a half into the past and save yourself the $7.50 ticket

Author: moyarsley from Brisbane
16 March 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Before watching Project Almanac, I'd only ever walked out of one film before but after watching this film, I've since doubled my score. Project Almanac was painful- the acting was hammy, the plot development was that of a TV drama and the Gopro and Redbull product placement was cringe-worthy. I recommend watching this film only if you've time-travelled into the future and want to experience first hand what a bad film is. Project Almanac was either a failed, twenty year homage to the 'Back to the Future' trilogy or was trying to expose a new generation to the awe of time travel. Either way it failed and was just another American teen film held together with a shoddy story line. I can't tell you how it ends, but I'm sure the protagonist gets the girl and everything works out with his dead Dad.

52 out of 86 people found the following review useful:

i had doubts going in but i ended up liking it

Author: Zielke9 from United States
15 February 2015

I just finished watching Project Almanac and if you haven't seen it yet, you might want to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised being that I had low hopes going in. it's another found footage movie, so if you are sick of them you might not enjoy it very much. Also if you're already not into time travel or science in general you might leave the theater with a bad taste in your mouth. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit and if I had to compare it to another movie I would say it has a strong feel of Project X and Chronical mixed together with the bases of it being more scientific then social(Project X) or supernatural(Chronical). You'll spend more time than usual feeling happy for the characters as they're having fun rather than the usual dose of drama every five minutes to keep people chewing their finger nails wondering what's going to happen next if Marie finds out Tony was talking to Marisa behind the bleaches and all that teen nonsense. it had a few mistakes but it's a movie so get over it. If I had to say one bad thing about it, I couldn't. I love science, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and for me it was an easy line drive down the middle of the plate knocked right out of the park. Personally I would give it a solid 8 out of 10 but if you're not a science buff you might be looking more at a 6-6.5 out of 10.

145 out of 272 people found the following review useful:

What were they thinking?

Author: your_niceguy from Denmark
16 February 2015

This movie is a tough nut to crack. Honestly I do not understand the artistic choice in cinematography AT ALL. This has to be the worst found footage film ever made.

When you look apart from that, why is it that American teens are made out to be hysterical hyper idiots even when the story line tries to pass them off as potential MIT students? The general behaviour and choices made takes a lot away from the plot or story line of the movie and simply makes it that much harder to accept the concept.

In the end this movie feels like a dumbed down version of Butterfly Effect, but maybe that's what this generation of teens need? Something hype and simple to soothe their unimaginative minds.

Major thumbs down...

36 out of 57 people found the following review useful:

Very flawed film that squanders its potential.

Author: resolve-239-859515
14 February 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

After seeing the trailer to this film I thought what a fantastic idea and great story this would be. The potential for greatness was evident.

Sadly, the film failed to live up to what it could have been: A great thriller and sci-fi classic.

The "shaky cam" style of the film was overdone and nauseating at times. I feel that the story could have been far better served by shooting it traditionally or at least limiting the use of the "shaky cam." The story has far too many plot holes and flaws and contradictions to be believable or even enjoyable. Again, such a wasted potential. It could have been so much more.

For instance, the main characters express that the reason they built the time machine was not about the money yet one of the first things they do is go back in time to win the Lottery. They could have sold the technology to a global "Microsoft" type corporation and become billionaires and helped to further the advancement of mankind however this group decides to use the time machine for their own selfish and ultimately stupid ends.

I ask you, if you had a time machine at your disposal, what would you use it to do or change? avert disasters? save lives? See your loved ones again? The protagonists in this film use it to:pass an exam, pick up girls, stand up to a bully and go to a concert. All things that they could have done without a time machine.

And speaking of the main characters, again they are badly written and flawed. Right from the start they are portrayed as a group of bumbling fools that mess up at every turn. It is really hard to believe that these clowns had the brains to build a time machine.

As an example, with all the knowledge of the future at their disposal they still manage to Not win the Lottery through sheer ineptness. It also takes them about 5 attempts to pass that chemistry exam, having to travel back in time multiple times. Certainly not the bright minds that you would expect to create such a revolutionary invention (even if the plans were already there for them).

I could go on and on about the numerous flaws and mistakes that make no sense at all, and believe me the list is exhaustive. But instead I will just say what a disappointment this film was. The potential for greatness was there and yet it was squandered hopelessly through bad writing, poor camera work and nonsensical plot-holes and poor character development.

I could not recommend this movie to anyone. What a waste...

31 out of 48 people found the following review useful:

Entertaining and Thought Provoking

Author: luke5119 from United States
19 May 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Much like Chronicle, this film profiles exactly what would happen when you give teenagers certain powers. In Chronicle it was "super powers" in Project Almanac, it's the ability to travel through time. There were elements of this film that made me give it far more credit than I would normally have.

1.) Seeing Yourself - This is the first time travel movie that I've seen where in the instance of someone seeing there physical self in the past can cause a fault in time where both individuals disappear, like they cancel each other out or something.

2.) Time Travel and Power - Unlike most time travel movies where the possibilities seem limitless with the machine, the one in Project Almanac requires mass amounts of power to be able to work. Not unlike the DeLorean in Back to the Future. However in Project Almanac, they can't instantly travel back in time 1,000 years. In fact the furthest they are ever able to go back is 10 years. That's what really made me appreciate this film the most I think. That even time travel has its limits, and even when they work out the algorithms, they can only go back so far, successfully.

3.) Full Circle - I loved how they brought everything full circle at the end of the film. I was quite happy with how they ended it, I had so many questions, but that's what made it so much fun. Not every single thing needs to be answered, some things can be left for the viewer to figure out.

4.) The Budget - One thing you have to remember going into this movie is that it's not a $75 million film, it's a film with a modest to low budget. Given what they had to work with, I was thoroughly impressed with most of the visuals during the time traveling scenes, not bad at all.

65 out of 117 people found the following review useful:

Good film ruined by disastrous camera work.

Author: Chris Kennedy from London, England
21 February 2015

I'm not going to include any spoilers. I enjoyed the story and found the cast appealing. It was an interesting idea with some good special effects. There were a couple of plot holes but there were also some funny nods to movies such as Back to the Future which I enjoyed. You remember the scene where Doc Brown is trying to get two electric cables to connect?

It reminded me a lot of the superb low-budget 'Primer' which covers some of the same ground. In that movie, some geekie guys accidentally discover time-travel and have to decide what to do with it. Also, Almanac had some good jokes, which many movies seem to leave out.

Seriously, did you see any jokes in Man of Steel? Sadly the shocking camera work ruined the whole experience.All the jumping about, whirling, juddering and flicking etc. It just made me feel ill.

22 out of 32 people found the following review useful:

Explorers meets Back to Future in Found Footage style.

Author: Alex Heaton (azanti0029) from United Kingdom
7 June 2015

This film seems to have really divided people on here but on the whole I really liked it.

Teenager David Raskin (A very good Jonny Weston, an actor clearly with a good career ahead of him) is a bit of a brain box at school. His best friend is an even bigger nerd than he is and not as brainy and of course he fancies one of the it girls, while his sister is being bullied by some others. Weston is a very good looking actor, so trying to pass him off as a science geek is really a bit of a stretch one of the films weakest flaws but one I was prepared to forgive. This group form an unlikely alliance when they discover via one of David's deceased Dad's experiments, they have invented time travel. They jump together and change various things in their recent past and also do some fairly typical teenage things like go and win the lottery. Someone on here was moaning saying people wouldn't do that, they would go back and see people they loved and so on - well I am fairly certain as a teenager I would do both.

Our lead character though cannot leave well enough alone and jumps once too often and the ripple effect begins to cause them problems.

Project Almanac is a found footage film and these normally alone will cause me not to watch them but I found the premise of this one intriguing enough to seek it out. It's helped by a reasonably good script which plays out like a good episode of the Twilight Zone but what really helps the film is the cast. Its pretty rare that a group of teenage actors should all be universally so good, but that is certainly the case here. Sofia Black-D'Elia who more recently starred in Born of War is especially good and one I predict big things for while Sam Lerner who plays the thankless role of the Annoying friend clearly has taken on board everything his actor father taught him. This really is a talented group of individuals.

The film reminded me of the 1980s cult film The Explorers and I found myself rooting for the hero towards the end because you wanted him to set everything right. I really enjoyed this film and stayed up really late when I was super tired to watch it. Thankfully I wasn't bored and I was with them until the end. Recommended, from me at least anyway.

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