Gotta Get Back In Time..."Project Almanac"

Project Almanac (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Sam Lerner, Allen Evangelista

Directed by Dean Israelite

The Story:

David (Weston) stumbles across a home movie of his 7th birthday party. Much to his surprise he swears he sees himself in a reflection of a mirror.  The reflection is of himself, now, a decade later. How can this be? That's when he discovers that his dad was working on something to do with time travel.  As David and his friends work to perfect the experiment, they set up some rules so that nothing can go wrong. But alas, when love enters the picture, their travels through time may just jeopardize the entire planet!

This is a smart little science fiction thriller that has a lot of fun with the conventions of time travel.

The amazing part, it is shot like a found footage documentary, yet doesn't feel like it, or like it is contrived to shoehorn that aspect of the plot into the movie.

As with all time travel movies, don't think about the plot holes, or it just ruins the whole thing.

Instead, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

That's all.

The less you say about time travel films, the more chance you have to enjoy them without being spoiled.

Final Grade: B

No, "Chasing Mavericks" is Not the Sequel to Top Gun

Surf's up.  Way up!

The Story:

The inspiring true story of 15 year old Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston) who just loves to surf.  Inspired by his neighbor Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler), he wants to learn how to surf Mavericks.  Those are the giant waves that will kill normal mortals.  The two begin their training as they prepare to face the Mavericks at the end of the season.  Will Jay be ready??

Of course he will!

Now, I'm not sure how inspiring it is.  This has to be one of most downer of an endings movie I've seen in a bit.  More on that in  a second...

First, the relationship between the two surfers is an interesting dynamic.  Again, Butler's charisma on screen carries him through most roles fairly effortlessly.

Here's a man that doesn't want to give up surfing, and yet has every reason to do so.

Fate naturally will intervene later and make sure that Frosty never suits up again to stare down the Mavericks, and sadly, Frosty has to grow up and learn that lesson.

As for Jay, well, him and all of the other "teenagers" are played by kids that look older than me. ;)

But seriously, I don't for a minute believe any of them are young enough to still be in High School.  In fact, the movie has a real issue with characters and aging.

Heck, Elisabeth Shue plays Jay's mom, and she looks younger than the girlfriend!

Aside from that, the scenes on the ocean are spectacular.  If they really surfed, it looked great and believable.  If it was done CGI, it was well done and didn't look fake.

Thankfully, most of the movie is filmed on the ocean, so it keeps you involved.

Then when the movie ends, you just think to yourself... Really?  That really happened?

That's the hardest part to believe, moreso than surfing monster waves.

Shame.

Final Grade: C+, carried on Butler's shoulders and the cinematography.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again in the distant future, but won't actively seek it out.