No Other Choice
Oldboy is one of the most disturbing movie endings in cinema history, and I’m kind of amazed to realize upon the release of No Other Choice, I’ve never seen another Park Chan-wook movie. But never late than ever, and I’m glad our friend Max talked this up, as it pushed us to go see it before the Oscar nominations, where it would be shockingly snubbed. The ZEJ rating of 8.XX makes this the highest rated movie of 2025 without a single nomination! A travesty! To be fair, the International category is always stacked, and really, the category needs to be expanded to showcase more of the brilliant non-English work across the world. But anyway, in regard to the movie, it’s a very fun ride. As Jord says, it’s a tad long, and perhaps with a tighter edit, this could have been even stronger. Lee Byung Hun was amazing in Squid Game, and even better in this. A great story, with a lot of blink and you’ll miss it layers, that I’d heartily recommend to anyone.
-Z
It is very hard to understand how this didn’t earn any Academy Award nominations! A very artistically designed dark comedy. I felt it was a little slow at times, but the story overall remained compelling. The ending just felt a little underwhelming to me - things felt tied up a bit too quickly. But there are definitely some larger messages here to ponder.
-E
I had no idea what to expect since Oldboy is the original mind grenade of a movie. I found myself laughing a lot and in awe of some great shots. Overall, I do think the movie felt a bit long for my liking in the first half, but once it got going I was locked in. I think some of the different themes and meanings went over my head, but he has now given a very unique way to get the job that you wanted, especially if you are a paper guy. If you can read subtitles, I think this is a must watch from 2025.
-J
