VIRAL [2016]

Paranormal Activity director-duo Ariel Schulman & Henry Joost getaway from the found footage genre for the so-so parasite outbreak horror Viral.
The plot mostly follows two high-school sisters who fight to survive during a viral outbreak that leads to a frightening quarantine.
The film was wise to build a strong believable bond between the siblings because that's really the only thing of interest in this film.  It constantly steers off course and begins focusing heavily on horror aspects of the genre we've seen too much of or isn't fleshed out enough to care about.  It could have been a twist on the tired tropes by being more about the relationship, much like the far superior Maggie but instead it loses it's brave ambition and falls into been there done that far too often.  It's loaded with so many potentially interesting elements it comes off as just frustrating to see them ignored.

2 brave rats out of 5

PROJECT ALMANAC [2015]

Director Dean Israelite (who will soon be known as the guy who ruined Power Rangers) misses a big opportunity with the time-travelling found footage film Project Almanac.
Here we follow a group of high-school kids who stumble upon the blueprints for a time machine and all is great until they discover the consequences of the ripple effect.  The most glaring mistake the film makes is pointlessly deciding to shoot it as a found footage film.  It's mostly distracting and really takes away from it's overall impact, especially when it's quite obvious the narrative is begging to follow traditional film-making.  Secondly, the story never quite explores all the incredible situations it could have dealt and instead pushes them aside with haste or doesn't even acknowledge them even as their staring the viewer straight in the face.  Still, it comes up with some refreshing ideas and packs in enough fun to hold it's own until the end, even with it's obligatory time-travelling plot-holes galore.

2 most Excellent Adventures out of 5