Project Almanac 2015

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Step back a step from "Almanac," and the whole thing seems beyond absurd. But while it's playing, you can kind of buy what it's selling. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: A time-travel premise goes nowhere fast in this latest take on the increasingly tired found-footage genre. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: [It] could have been a lot worse. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The premise has been done to death, but screenwriters Andrew Stark and Jason Pagan give it a fresh and pleasant spin by using it as a vehicle for adolescent wish fulfillment Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Lesson learned: time travel is difficult, but making it work on screen is even harder. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Along the way Almanac is forced to cheat so much with its ostensibly self-shot material that one has to ask why the format was chosen. Read more

Martin Tsai, Los Angeles Times: "Project Almanac" feels like a leap backward. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The found-footage technique is aimed at teens, but surely they're smart enough to see through the thin characters and skimpy story. An almost-enjoyable throwaway. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Every generation gets the time travel it deserves. Read more

Nicolas Rapold, New York Times: Self-awareness doesn't save the film from fizzling. Read more

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: What have we done to deserve another found-footage movie? Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: The premise, which initially has a certain interior logic, grows implausible and then nonsensical. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Maybe it will work better on home video where unrestrained camera movement is less likely to provoke nausea but it certainly doesn't work on a big screen. Read more

Thomas Lee, San Francisco Chronicle: I found it hard to care about anybody, when I wasn't too busy trying not to get sick anyway. Read more

Lenika Cruz, The Atlantic: The genre dramatizes the identity formation that goes on during the digital technology-glutted adolescent years, which are filled with screens and captured images, whether from smartphones, cameras, vlogging, or pictures on social media. Read more

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail: Youth is wasted on the young, and apparently time machines are as well. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Bizarre camerawork and that laziest of all plot devices, the stash of found footage, soon slots it in the "unrealized potential" category. Read more

James Rocchi, TheWrap: Project Almanac has enough heart and brains to keep it steady even as the camera isn't, and its wires-and-widgets variation on "The Monkey's Paw" is very much informed and improved by the charm and capabilities of its young cast. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: How about a moratorium on the found-footage genre? What was once fresh and innovative now is tired and overdone. Read more

Simon Abrams, Village Voice: Ugly, unfocused photography makes it impossible to enjoy the film beyond its theoretical novelty. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: On the whole, this is a good B-movie that hits it modest marks. Read more