ledryno Reviews

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

This is awful. Awful.

[3/10 · 20 July 2021]

I don't know how anyone could rate this movie higher than a 3. Really. There's almost no plot. You have some guy, Barry Nyle, regularly meeting with some (possibly sedated) young woman to ask her questions which she doesn't answer. As far as I could tell, the woman, Elena, lives in some sort of compound and under Arboria's control. She's basically a lab rat under observation. You get zero help piecing what is going on (or why) until halfway through the movie. There are scenes of gratuitous violence I believe add nothing to the story

People, I watched this movie until its end because I wanted to give it a fair shot. This movie is a waste of time. Avoid it.

Archenemy (2020)

Save your time and your money

[4/10 · 2 March 2021]

I was disappointed. I got the impression the budget for the movie was on the low side, but that didn't bother me anywhere as much the threadbare story line. It just wasn't interesting. The acting performances were passable. I watched to the end of the movie and thought to myself, "Okay, at least some of what Fist claimed was true." The ending, where Fist and the girl are together and something spectacular happens, made no sense.

I suppose you could do worse things than watch this movie but I suggest there are many more - and better - uses of your time than watching this movie.

Project Power (2020)

Weak story. Disappointing.

[3/10 · 26 August 2020]

Wow. I was disappointed. There really isn't much to the story. A New Orleans cops uses unorthodox methods to find and put out of business those who are distributing a dangerous pill to the people of his city. An ex-military man goes in search of his kidnapped daughter, kidnapped by the people who are distributing the dangerous pill. These two men cross paths and join forces to take on the bad guys. Except for the unusual effect of the pills on their users, there are no surprises here. None. The acting is passable. The story fails.

Don't Let Go (2019)

A questionable sci-fi twist but still worth a watch

[5/10 · 30 April 2020]

After the deaths of his brother, sister-in-law and niece, a distraught cop wants a second chance. Then comes a tale of two time lines - one present time and one two weeks past - that interact and affect each other.

I had a problem with the science fiction because there was zero explanation of why time splintered and turned back on itself or how past and present could communicate in real time. There was zero explanation midway through the movie when the niece changed the time line yet somehow her uncle the cop knew there were changes. Fortunately, I stopped asking questions.

Once I did that, the movie was enjoyable. It was a bit interesting how the cop tried to learn things from his niece in order to find the killer. There was something touching about the interaction between uncle and niece that helped me like the movie ending. The bad guy was a little too easy to figure out.

Don't analyze it much and the movie is a decent watch.

Molly (II) (2017)

This movie will test your patience

[2/10 · 18 June 2019]

Not much of a plot. Not much dialogue. Pathetic fight sequences.

In some sort of post-war or post-disaster wasteland stands this lone girl - just trying to stay alive. She wanders around looking for food while protecting herself from other scavengers who would rob/hurt her. Something about her is special and one scene suggested she was the unwilling subject of an experiment. A local boss learns of her and wants her captured to participate in his cage fighting matches. But be careful because you may get what you want!

I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. Nothing interesting happened until the very last scene. I won't say what happened, just in case you decide to watch this movie but I urge you not to waste 91 minutes of your time to see the 92nd minute at movie's end. It's not worth it.

The Scopia Effect (2014)

C- I watched it once and never again

[4/10 · 12 May 2015]

Basia starts remembering strange and disturbing things after her therapist guides her through a hypnotic timeline regression. Her new memories and waking hallucinations affect her job and personal life.

The storyline repeatedly shifts between past and present time to reflect what's going on with Basia. It confused me because I didn't understand the connection between Basia and these past events. And after I did make the connection I was still left wondering why the characters from past times all died in similar ways. There's also no explanation how or why Basia's therapist is involved outside the therapy sessions.

The movie was confusing at first and, while it was, kept my interest. After I was able to grasp what the memories represented there wasn't anything more to keep my interest, but I watched to the end anyway. I thought the ending was both dissatisfying and hopeless.

Lost River (2014)

Almost interesting. The photography was okay.

[3/10 · 8 April 2015]

The plot seems centered around a mom with two kids trying to hold on to their home in a virtually deserted part of town. She's months behind in mortgage payments. She takes a job at this weird club to earn money to pay the mortgage. Everything else in the movie seems designed to complement that idea: her oldest son scavenges copper from abandoned homes for money to buy car parts so he can fix his car and leave for who knows where; a neighbor girl who speaks of a curse on the city that can only be undone by dredging up something from part of the city under water; a vicious hoodlum type that thinks he's lord and master over this deserted part of town. These elements ARE connected but not very well.

I got from the main characters a sense of helplessness, a sense of hopelessness and desperation. It wasn't spectacular but there was some interesting photography.

By the end I was scratching my head wondering how to makes sense of what I saw. I'm not sure it makes sense.