Movie Reviews
Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Carter’ on Netflix, A South Korean Action Squall That Keeps Hitting The “Continue” Button

Carter (Netflix) can’t maintain nonetheless for quite a lot of seconds, and we observe him during this South Korean actioner’s single steady shot spectacle. It’s probably not that, in fact. However that’s a part of the enjoyable as Carter piles on the motion within the excessive. Author-director Jung Byung-gil additionally introduced us The Villainess in 2017, which itself was filled with outlandish fights and bloodlettings; Jung will quickly make his American motion debut with Afterburn, starring Gerard Butler.
CARTER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: When Carter (Joo Received) wakes up with a gaggle of CIA weapons in his face, not solely does he not know why the brokers are there, he doesn’t know the place he’s and even his personal identify. However he does know there’s a mysterious voice in his ear, and he listens when the lady says “Please belief me if you wish to dwell.” South Korea has been overrun by a rabid virus generally known as DMZ after its unfold over the border from North Korea. These change into disoriented, violent, and possessed of irregular bodily power – primarily, they’re zombies on PCP. The voice tells Carter she’s North Korean, and secretly working with the South Koreans to create a DMZ antidote. The secret is the analysis of Dr. Jung Byung-ho (Jung Jae–younger), who cured his daughter Ha-Na (Kim Bo-min) of the virus. However Ha-Na is lacking, presumed kidnapped by components of the CIA. Will Carter discover Ha-Na and ferry her safely to North Korea? After all he’ll. If he doesn’t, his personal daughter can be killed. Oh, and there’s additionally the matter of his reminiscence being restored within the cut price, and the remote-activated bomb in his cranium.
As soon as Carter eludes these CIA brokers by crashing by way of two home windows and touchdown in a bathhouse the place he slashes, punches, and stabs his approach by way of roughly 85 attackers, it’s formally on. He pushes six guys out of one other window and rides their momentum to the floor, the place a frantic bike chase ensues. Some extra close-quarters motion, a quick meetup with some North Korean brokers to gear up, and Carter efficiently grabs Ha-Na, solely to be detained by an Company goon referred to as Smith (Mike Colter). The CIA needs to know who Carter’s working for. They even need to know if he works for them. (Are Carter and an operative named Mike Bane the identical man? Unclear.) However there’s no time for any of that, as a result of one other bike chase is on faucet.
Is it actually a bike chase if it doesn’t morph right into a three-way high-speed minivan crash door rumble? As Ha-Na turns into a pawn, pulled between the automobiles, Carter manages to kill everyone and escape to an airfield the place a airplane to the North awaits. Contained in the jet, the tense environment explodes when DMZ and double-crosses create chaos within the sky, and after a mid-air parachute fistfight turns into a gun battle with Ha-Na nonetheless because the pawn, Carter and his ward lastly land within the wilds of North Korea. They’re not secure but. Conniving military intelligence officer Kim Jong Hyuk (Lee Sung-jae) has Dr. Jung in his clutches and the means to revive Carter’s reminiscence, however a fair darker plan to weaponize DMZ for private achieve.
What Motion pictures Will It Remind You Of? Steady shot gimmickry apart, there are all kinds of references right here, from the frazzled motion hedonism of the Crank movies and the infinity loop “fights on conveyances” fashion of The Quick & the Livid universe, to left-field sci-fi motion like Hardcore Henry and Improve.
Efficiency Value Watching: Mike Colter of Luke Cage and Evil renown reveals up halfway by way of Carter to supply a hand break on its nonstop pound of motion and movement. As Smith, a CIA operative with questionable loyalties, he chews some surroundings and engages with the one take fashion of Carter to indicate off his character’s shifty and mercurial nature.
Memorable Dialogue: “Whenever you get your reminiscence again, who will you blame?” Carter’s dilemma is such that he’s inclined to belief the voice in his ear, even when it’s an enormous a part of the thriller that’s change into his life. As a result of the voice has additionally handed alongside one other morsel he’s inclined to consider. “A deadly bomb was positioned inside your mouth, with a blast radius of ten meters.”
Intercourse and Pores and skin: The primary motion setpiece of Carter takes place in a Korean bathhouse, and it’s shades of Jap Guarantees as a mass bare and near-naked melee ensues and karambits are plunged into a number of necks and chests.
Our Take: To not name the continual shot setup of Carter a gag, nevertheless it instantly and incessantly pokes so many holes within the conceit that it’s clearly only a handy mechanism for enacting the an increasing number of – and extra! – motion that consumes the movie’s bulk. An orgy of bathhouse blood begets a six physique pileup and midair leaps from bikes onto hoods of automobiles or the dangling quarter panel of a dashing minivan, and there’s all the time a pistol inside attain for Carter, although his adversaries can by no means appear to land a shot. (The throngs of besuited thugs with dangerous purpose in Carter, a lot the identical as these within the John Wick movies, change into a faceless mass of meat for butchering.) Typically, our hero stands nonetheless, in a form of pause mode as he downloads new directives from the voice in his ear earlier than starting to stroll. It’s not the continual shot trickery of filmmaking that these moments embody, however the pacing and path of online game prompts. This impact is just heightened by the non-player characters that populate the margins of Carter – principally, anybody who isn’t Carter, Ha-Na, or a CIA or Korean spy company thug is NPC filler.
It may be exhausting, this tiered fashion of hyper motion. However Carter can confuse, too, when it downshifts into muddled bits of exposition about the principle character’s previous. It doesn’t dwell on that stuff – certainly, a number of the plot appears like a seize bag, with components of different movies just like the current Kate and Carter writer-director Jung Byung-gil’s personal 2017 actioner The Villainess – however Carter may also have hassle finishing a few of its motion set items with out the addition of unconvincing computer-manipulated moments. The result’s primed for brief consideration span theater, by no means ready in any second for something aside from the impulse for one more motion blast to start.
Our Name: STREAM IT. A caterwaul of motion on prime of, inside, and to the aspect of different motion, Carter is usually as bewildering and exhausting as it’s riotously entertaining.
Johnny Loftus is an impartial author and editor residing at giant in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Information, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Comply with him on Twitter: @glennganges

Movie Reviews
Finally Dawn (2025) Movie Review: Fellinie-esque excess and coming-of-age meet the hollowness of Hollywood

You’ve seen this before. A young, unassuming person suddenly gets thrust into the Hollywood limelight as they realize the vanity and hollowness of all the glitter. Saverio Costanzo, who you may know from HBO’s beloved Italian drama “My Brilliant Friend,” is no stranger to the 1950s. “Finalmente l’alba (Finally Dawn)”, which is set in the same period and features an ensemble Hollywood cast, evokes a singular time in Italian movie history when Cinecitta (one of the prominent studios of the time) was known for hosting lavish, sword-and-sandals epics like Ben-Hur.
The young person in question here is Mimosa (Rebecca Antonaci), a doe-eyed movie lover whose love for the medium is quickly established as she, her mother, and a more conventionally attractive older sister Iris (Sofia Panizzi) come out of the latest War movie playing in their local theatre in Rome. As they exit the theatre, discussing the obsession of new-age directors with the futility of the war that they have just suffered, a crew member from Cinecitta spots Iris and invites her to audition for the latest epic about a female pharoah (a sort of Cleopatra parody on first look) played by Josephine (is played by Lily James in the movie). Now, Mimosa just tags along with her sister, but is quickly spotted by Josephine in a corridor and is offered one of the bigger roles in the film.
Now, “Finally Dawn” thereby turns into an endless loop of excess that the American actors and their consequent Italian hosts go on. Much like “La Dolce Vita,” the excess uncovers the hidden hollowness of the world of movie stars that Mimosa so dearly adores from a distance. We quietly follow her footsteps once the shot of the day is captured. However, the film’s more surreal edges keep pushing it further away from making a point.

James’ diva-like rendition of Josphine feels melodramatic to a point where you either feel nothing towards her, or you simply follow along. Her reasons for inviting Mimosa to tag along with them stem from some deep-seated insecurities and personal demons, but the film is never able to establish any of that. Making Josphie feel like a centre-piece that is given more attention than it rightfully needs, even in the movie-within-the-movie scenario.
I mean, it is quite right to establish Mimosa’s moral standpoint, who doesn’t accept being naked for her shot, but then the film also opens up the tragic death of Wilma Montesi — a real-life incident where an extra on a movie set was found dead on the beach; but never does anything about it except using it symbolically. Director Costanzo has said that he wanted to make the movie because of Wilma’s story, and while he is able to draw parallels through Mimosa’s coming-of-age, using Wilma’s story like that felt a bit exploitative to me.
The film also features an ensemble cast, including Joe Keery, Rachel Sennott, Alba Rohrwacher, and Willem Dafoe, but none of them feel like characters who bring something substantial to the table. It also doesn’t help that newcomer Rebecca Antonaci, who has a remarkable screen time, doesn’t evoke the kind of emotional connection the director is going for. Her character, although essential to the film’s proceedings, feels nudged down by the script’s many meandering tendencies.
Eventually, beyond the great production design that quietly brings back the 1950s and some smashing costume work, “Finally Dawn” is unable to elicit anything particularly interesting for the audience to pay heed to. The lion, for instance, is used as a broad metaphor, but much like its existence within the context of the film itself, the metaphor falls flat, and Mimosa’s story; instantly forgettable.
Read More: 20 Best Films from Italian Neorealism
Finally Dawn (2025) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
Finally Dawn (2025) Movie Cast: Lily James, Rebecca Antonaci, Joe Keery, Rachel Sennott, Alba Rohrwacher, Willem Dafoe, Sofia Panizzi
Movie Reviews
‘The Scout’ Review: Modest but Accomplished Debut Brings a New York Location Scout’s Routines to Lovely, Low-Key Life

On paper, Sofia (Mimi Davila), the protagonist of Paula Andrea González-Nasser’s mellow debut The Scout, has an enviable job. She spends her days driving through New York, taking photos of building exteriors, cozy apartments and eclectic shops in service of her director’s vision. Sofia is a location scout, an occupation that conjures romantic images of one’s relationship to space.
The truth is that Sofia’s job can be taxing, and in The Scout, which premiered in June at the Tribeca Film Festival, González-Nasser, who was herself a location scout for six years, crafts a modest portrait of its complicated reality. The director reveals how location scouting involves an emotional deftness, a stultifying deference to a director’s vision and lots of patience. Sofia deploys these tools to broker deals between her team and the people from whom they want things. She must act with the urgency demanded by her bosses and be sensitive to the fact that these locations are homes to real people whose memories live in the furniture and on the walls. Often subsumed by other people’s needs and narratives, Sofia struggles to not become a background character in her own story.
The Scout
The Bottom Line
A discreet and confident debut.
Venue: Tribeca Film Festival (U.S. Narrative Competition)
Cast: Mimi Davila, Rutanya Alda, Max Rosen, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, Sarah Herrman
Director-screenwriter: Paula González-Nasser
1 hour 29 minutes
Working from a screenplay she wrote, Gonzàlez-Nasser structures The Scout around discrete interactions Sofia has throughout the day. The film confidently highlights the delicate relationship between people and their spaces, while also acknowledging the understated harshness of a job that requires you to assess, with a certain degree of remove, one of the more intimate elements of another person’s life. Parts of The Scout, in its contemplative tone and observational style, reminded me of Perfect Days. Like Wim Wenders’ poignant study of a middle-aged janitor’s routines in Tokyo, The Scout could find success in arthouse theaters and on the festival circuit.
When we meet Sofia, she is asleep in her own space — a compact, well-lit apartment somewhere in New York. The room resembles the dwellings of so many young people living in the expensive and bustling city. There’s the starkness of the walls, painted an impersonal white, and the minor touches — a standing fan, a gold framed mirror, a small drawing affixed to the wall — that suggest signs of a real life. Following this moment, the young location scout will almost exclusively occupy the shops and homes of other people.
Each space offers an opportunity for Sofia to remake herself. The transformations are subtle; the location scout tweaks her personality just enough to connect with the person living in the space so that they might be more amenable to letting a random crew of people take it over. Sometimes, as with an older woman (Rutanya Alda) who tells Sofia about her son who moved to London and rarely visits, the interactions are sweet and revelatory. It’s clear that Sofia’s presence — her kind eyes and encouraging responses — doubles as an invitation for lonelier people to share parts of their life with her. Other times, as with the pet shop owner (Matt Barats) who asks her to dinner or a father (Max Rosen) who follows her around the house with an air of menace, the encounters are fraught and a touch scary. Yet rarely does Sofia lose her cool.
The young woman, played with a quiet conviction by Davila (Problemista), navigates each situation with an understanding that her role in these people’s lives is merely temporary. Her approach differs from that of her colleagues, who barge into these homes with no consideration and much fanfare. They appraise each space with a callous indifference toward who lives there, commenting on ugly doors and unimpressive heirlooms.
Other elements of The Scout reinforce our sense of this transient atmosphere. Cinematographer Nicola Newton shoots each location — whether its Sofia’s room or a brownstone in Brooklyn — with the kind of attention reserved for places you know you’ll never return to. A spare score (composed by Dan Arnés) and the familiar melodies of a cityscape (birds chirping, engines running) soundtrack Sofia’s experiences.
Despite their meditative loveliness, low-key projects like The Scout can leave something to be desired in terms of narrative. The lure of a story built on vignettes can shortchange its principal characters and the constellation of supporting ones. As Sofia floats from one home to the next, I wondered about the texture of her life. Gonzàlez-Nasser offers some clues through an interaction between Sofia and her old friend Becca (Otmara Morrero), whose gorgeous apartment has been unexpectedly included on the list of the scout’s locations. Their reunion is brief but laden with the weight of history. Conversations about mutual friends and retired dreams are revealing of Sofia’s aspirations; Becca remarks on how Sofia always wanted to be behind the camera and how she, in a way, is a photographer now. The scout doesn’t completely agree and the ensuing silence suggests a history of compromise.
It also exposes a pattern in Sofia’s earlier interactions, underscoring how much the scout almost disappears into each story. When she finally has a moment of self-assertion, in a quiet moment on the beach, it’s a triumph I wish had come sooner.
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: SUPERMAN

Hollywood never tires of telling certain stories. They’re always going back to the same well. Trust me, I’m a jerk, and I love to remind them of it. So, when DC announced Superman would once again be jump-starting their newly re-established cinematic universe, I was skeptical. Well, the comic book tentpole finally hit theaters this week. Does Superman leap to box office gold in a single bound? Or are we heading straight for another “Martha” situation? Read on.
Superman
Superman follows the titular superhero (David Corenswet), who finds himself struggling to match wits with supervillain, billionaire and all-around bad guy Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). Will “Supes” be able to rise up and meet the challenge? Rachel Brosnahan, Skyler Gisondo, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Isabela Merced co-star in the movie. James Gunn directs Superman from his own script.
I was admittedly skeptical looking at the trailers. I desperately wanted to buy in, but something kept holding me back. Do we really, truly need yet another Superman?
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Kids, I could not have been more wrong. I should know this. Always trust in James Gunn. Few filmmakers feel quite as at ease with finding not only the heart but also the humor in a story. Gunn and Corenswet gel to find such a delightful sense of wonder in Superman, and this made the film for me.
Unassuming Sweetness
There’s a lot of pressure on Superman, and with that, a lot of focus on David Corenswet as he steps into the iconic titular role. Some should likely recognize him for his recent work in Twisters and Pearl. For most, though, this is the young actor’s big-screen breakout.
Corenswet brings an unassuming sweetness to the daunting part. As Superman, he’s a Boy Scout, and that’s okay. His sense of wide-eyed wonder is imperative to Gunn’s narrative vision and sells the story’s emotion. It’s easy to get caught up in Clark’s joy, and with that, his pain.
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David Corenswet is, however, only one member of a supremely talented cast. In truth, it would be impossible to call out all the stellar performances by both new and existing members of Gunn’s recurring acting troupe. With names like Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk in the cast, this felt like a return to a joyful old-school “Nerdvana,” the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long time.
A Crusading Reporter
However, there’s one more performance I’d be shirking my duties if I didn’t call out. Friends, I’ve been a Rachel Brosnahan fangirl going back to her days on Manhattan in 2014. It remains one of the best shows no one talked about, so call me biased. It’s probably true.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that I’m in love with Brosnahan’s portrayal of Lois Lane. Her’s is a rare comic book love interest that steps beyond the usual formula. She has her own voice, her own life and a story that could easily be told. I’m officially sending a plea to the DC TV programming team. Can we get an Agent Carter-like series featuring Lois Lane as a crusading reporter? I would watch the heck out of that. We need that spin-off. We deserve that spin-off.
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Doesn’t Break Its Stride
Gunn, meanwhile, is far from a newcomer to superhero films. We know this. I was pleasantly surprised to find, though, that Gunn avoids falling into the usual Superman traps. For one thing, this isn’t an origin story. We really didn’t need to see Smallville and what happens to Pa Kent yet again.
With that, I suppose, there are some light struggles with characterization. As the audience, we’re ushered into a fully established world. Gunn assumes (rightly so) that most already know Superman’s origin story. There’s some pointed narrative setup, but the film doesn’t break its stride to stop and fill in needless gaps.
Ultimately, though, Luthor’s “hands-off” villainy allows Superman to step into a different comic movie structure. The resulting film is packed to the gills with stunt set pieces. There’s plenty of comic action, but it never feels hurried or jammed, despite the fact that Lex Luthor throws a lot at our protagonist. With everything that happens, it’s hard to see where the next threat is coming from, and with that, there are stakes that often feel lacking in comic book movies. There’s a beautiful tension here.
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A Wide-Eyed, Wonderful Look
As the final credits rolled, I found myself with the biggest smile on my face. Superman restarts the DC Cinematic Universe with infectious joy. This doesn’t feel like the same old Superman origin story, and that’s how it should be. This is a wide-eyed, wonderful look at the complicated truth of humanity. Here’s hoping the rest of Gunn’s DCU follows suit.
Superman is now playing in theaters nationwide.
Movie Review: JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH


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