Project Almanac

It's a brave time-travel adventure that dares reference Looper and the Terminator franchise. Director Dean Israelite's found-footage B-movie is nowhere near as noteworthy as either, and nobody chronicles their life on camcorder 24/7 like they do here, but it's a pretty fast and fun ride through teen angst and "temporal relocation" clichés. Brilliant science student Jonny Weston and his nerdy friends uncover blueprints for a time machine in his late inventor father's basement workshop. Soon they're zipping through time zones making their high-school days more bearable and winning the lottery. But a series of butterfly effects starts impacting on their present with devastating results. Project Almanac shows much more ambition than usual for movies with the tedious subjective camera gimmick, its young characters are intelligent for a change, the script has a winning humorous strain and its top-notch visuals really help the core conceit. A hectic but better than expected entertainment.