In an effort to try to pump out at least a post a week here, I’m going to shake up my format a little bit and condense my thoughts on movies and TV that I’ve been watching as well as any games I might be playing. This of course will not preclude me from my normal review posts, but I appreciate any and all feedback.
Better Watch Out
Just in time to completely miss the holiday season, I decided to check out Better Watch Out, a holiday-themed thriller/comedy directed by Chris Peckover and starring Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller, and Ed Oxenbould. What starts out as what I can only describe as an R-rated take on Home Alone, the film quickly takes a turn in a different, unpredictable direction that I won’t spoil here. The whole movie essentially takes place in one house with only three primary characters but manages to really keep the thrills (and blood) coming on strong once things get going. My only substantial gripe with the film was some of the off-putting sexually-charged dialogue between two of the preteen boy characters.
I watched Better Watch Out on Amazon Prime Video
Bacurau
After seeing it on a number of top 10 lists for 2020, I sought out the Brazilian “weird western” film Bacurau. After the matriarch of a small impoverished Brazilian village dies, her granddaughter returns home to find weird things happening. That is going to be my pitch for this movie because I believe it’s a better experience not knowing how the plot is ultimately going to unravel. Without divulging too much more about the movie, I can say that it feels like a cult film in line with something like The Road Warrior or The Raid through the lens of Alejandro Jodorowsky.
I watched Bacurau on Kanopy
Nomadland
Nomadland is the newest feature film by Chloe Zhao, who previously directed the critically acclaimed film The Rider, and stars Frances McDormand as a nomad, living out of her van in the wake of the Great Recession. Much like one of my favorite movies last year, Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, this film’s main agenda appears to be to educated audiences about this very real subculture that is often overlooked by popular media. In what feels like a pseudo-documentary, Nomadland seems primarily concerned with telling the stories of these individuals who have built a community around not being stationary, tied down with a house or many belongings using Jessica Bruder’s book and Frances McDormand’s character Fern to tie it into a narrative. For as enlightening as it is, I really couldn’t sympathize with Fern and the choices she makes and her attitude towards those who don’t share her nomadic lifestyle. I kept conjuring the image of being at a party, stuck listening to someone trying to impose their lifestyle choices on others without thinking about besides themselves.
I watched Nomadland through questionable means
6 Nimmt!
This week two friends and I spent a couple of hours playing the “classic” German card game 6 Nimmt! (Take 6!) on boardgamearena.com. In this game, each player is dealt a hand of 10 cards that each have a number between 1 and 104. Each card also has a number of “bull” icons that serve as the game’s points. The aim of the game is to NOT GET THESE POINTS as the winner of the game is he or she who has the lowest score once someone has hit 66 points.
In the middle of the table are four cards, each acting as the first card of one of four rows. Each turn, each player secretly selects one card from his or her hand and reveals it simultaneously with everyone else. Then, in ascending order according to the cards everyone has played, the cards are placed in one of the four rows, building each row out to the left. Your card must be placed in whatever row ends with the highest card that is still lower than your card. If doing this would ever cause you to place the 6th card in a row, you instead take all of the cards in that row and begin the row anew with the card you were going to place. These cards are then scored according to the number of bulls on them. Additionally, if your card is lower than all other leftmost cards in the rows, you must choose any row and take all of the cards in it, replacing them with your card. Remember: getting bulls is BAD.
After a couple of turns we got into the groove and found that this game is fast, snappy, and a hell of a lot of fun. The core of play is the mind game you have to play with yourself and others as to what anyone is going to be playing on any given turn. Do you try to squeeze into a row with 4 cards, hoping someone else doesn’t get to go before you and force you into the sixth position or do you just play a low card, guaranteeing you add to your points total but likely less than busting an entire row? One of my friends referred to playing 6 Nimmt! as “playing 4D Uno.” I highly recommend seeking this one out, either for free digitally on Board Game Arena or even a physical copy if you have 3-6 players inside your quarantine bubble willing to check it out.