With it being December this is when all the critics and groups start to announce their picks for best films of the year. This year has been a bit of a lackluster year in my opinion, but there have been a few gems that have managed to surprise me. A Real Pain, the directorial and writing debut for Jesse Eisenberg, is one of those few gems that crackles with great dialog and impressive cinematography, but most importantly is anchored by the performances of its two leads, played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin. On a surface level, this is a story about two cousins going on vacation together, but really it’s about two young men struggling with their own pain. You’d think a film like this would be a drag or even a chore to sit through, but instead it is engaging and heartfelt throughout and has moments that will have you laughing and crying.

After the passing of their grandmother, Benji (Culkin) and David (Eisenberg) are cousins who decide to take a trip to Poland not just to reconnect, but to see their grandmother’s homeland and get a glimpse into what her life was like during the Holocaust. Right from the get-go we see that Benji and David are a bit of an odd couple, Benji is prone to emotional outbursts and a bit of a free spirit, while David is more timid and serious. As for the tour the boys have signed up for, it’s with a group of four other travelers who have made the pilgrimage, each with their own personal reasons. What I wasn’t expecting is how the other travelers integrate into the story and are more than just background characters, but are there for the journey and help the cousins in their own way.

It’s that time of the year again when critics start to makes their lists of the top films they’ve seen since January. Personally, this year has been a bit lackluster when it comes to “great” films, but there have been a lot of fun films to come out this year. To be even more specific, the horror genre has kind of taken off the year in my opinion. Now, while Sting may not be the best horror film of the year, it is a lot of fun.  Every year there’s that fun movie that comes along that flies under the radar, but I feel is great. Cocaine Bear and Violent Night immediately come to mind. Sting, at least in my humble opinion, is what going to the cinema is all about. It’s not high art, but instead it’s pure escapism, and it’s just a fun way to shut your brain off for 90 minutes while a giant alien spider wreaks havoc on a New York apartment. Is it the most original concept? No, but it has just enough scares and blood to make arachnophobes squirm in their seats.

Sting is a film that I feel could have been made in the heyday of Amblin films, when Spielberg was behind films like Poltergeist and Gremlins, and I’d almost put it on that level if the plot wasn’t so familiar. The film takes place within an apartment complex in Brooklyn after an alien spider egg crashes through a window and Charlotte (Alyla Browne), a young girl with a rebellious streak as well as a talent for comic book art, finds the baby spider and calls it Sting. The film spends a good portion with her family: Ethan (Ryan Corr), her stepdad who happens to be a comic book artist while also working as a part-time super in the complex; then there is her mom, Heather (Penelope Mitchell) and her newborn brother. A good portion of the film revolves around Ethan struggling to juggle his work life as well as adjust to becoming a family man, and we see the stress that he is going through. As for Charlotte, she finds sanctuary in her room and enjoys spending time with her new pet and slowly starts to realize that Sting is no typical spider.

As a horror fan, 2024 has easily been one of the best years for horror releases in a long time. It’s not just that we’ve gotten several horror releases this year, but the quality and the diversity of the genre has kept the year fresh. Cuckoo is one of the better horror films of the year. It sadly got overlooked at the box office, but it’s one of those films that for those who have seen it, I feel it leaves an impression, because aside from taking familiar tropes, it manages to feel fresh but also has a WTF factor that seems harder to come by these days. In my opinion, Cuckoo is a film that works better knowing as little as you can about it. Going in blind definitely puts you firmly in place to enjoy the film’s ambiguity, and when it starts to go into some strange directions, just go with it. The film may seem a bit odd and confusing as it progresses, but that’s the fun of it.

Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) is the film’s protagonist; she’s a precocious American teenager who is stuck going on vacation with her father, Luis (Martin Csokas), along with his new wife (Jessica Henwick) and their mute daughter, Alma (Mila Lieu). The vacation is to a remote resort in the Bavarian Alps. It’s a beautiful setting, though you’ll have to allow for the slightest bit of suspension of disbelief that a fully equipped hospital is nearby. Now this sort of makes sense as the film plays on, but it’s really just a way to keep the narrative going. The resort is run by Herr Konig (Dan Stevens), and he has invited Luis to the resort with hopes of them working together on creating a new project … though from the moment Gretchen meets Konig, she knows not to trust him, but it takes a bit to find out if she’s right or not.

"What we do in life echoes in eternity."

What Ridley Scott does often echoes quite nicely at the box office. In 2000 Ridley Scott released Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe as the Roman Legion turned gladiator that ended in a fight to return Rome to the Senate and its citizens. Maximus fought gallantly and fell just short of his goal. But the story that the film wove was truly a masterpiece and stands as one of my top 10 films of all time, up there with Unforgiven and the first two Godfather films. I've often said in these pages that expectations kill, and I was well prepared for that to be the result when I sat down to the press screening for Gladiator II. Scott himself calls this the best film he's ever made. That's a big boast coming from the guy who brought us Alien, Blade Runner, and, of course, the original Gladiator. I disagree. While I found Gladiator II to be an impressive film from every perspective, it didn't quite make me feel the way I did when I left the theater for the first time after seeing Gladiator. But take heart. It's a damn good movie, and it's a can't-miss for any true film fans out there in the arena. The question is pretty simple. Are we not entertained? The answer is, "oh yeah".