Billy Mitchell, mullet and all, rules his world. He reminisces of the legions of fans, desirous groupies and the tour schedules that sucked his life. He thinks back to the 80's when he was king and the world wanted to be him. And now, with his close-knit group of die-hard followers he secretly plans a comeback. In fact, his comeback, riddled with secrecy, promises to shock the world and once again crown him the best of his domain. The funny thing is, Billy is not what you would call a rock star. His mullet is not what's left over from Butt Rock glory and his fans don't wait for him to slide into an old pair of black leather pants. Billy doesn’t slobber on microphones and certainly has never trashed a hotel room. For Billy, being a rock star means handling a joystick and breaking world records instead of hotel suites. Billy is a rock star. But his stage is the world of classic arcade games.
King of Kong: a Fist Full of Quarters is a glimpse into Billy's world. It follows a group of frenzied record-seeking gamers who will do anything to etch their names in the record book archives and feel, even for a second, what it's like to be Billy Mitchell. The top of the heap of would-be contenders is Steven Wiebe, a soft spoken science teacher from Washington State. Wiebe, oblivious in the beginning to the dynamics and hierarchy of the gamer world, sits quietly at his personal Donkey Kong machine in his suburban garage attempting to crack 1 million points. After kicking some major Donkey Kong butt, Wiebe sends his video taped record performance in for review and finds out the hard way that it takes more than just a high score to crack into this odd world.
As a documentary King of Kong does not disappoint. It’s as fascinating as it is bizarre and devishly clever in the way it makes us want to be part of this weird, wacky world.
3 comments:
fascinating clip - who knew donkey kong could lead to death threats and conspiracies about game boards! I saw this movie on your Netflix queue but passed for now (being the movie/videogame gentiles that we are :) Vitus did come and we'll let you know what we think.
Yes, me again. I feel like your movie page might not be the place to leave personal comments, but I'll go ahead anyhow. THANKS the comments on our blog, its fun to hear from you guys. I love your garden experiences and can't wait to hear how this year goes. I bet you got more produce from your spot than we got from our humongo insane spot. For all the work we put in we sure didn't get much food - but live and learn, eh? You should checkout that book I posted on our blog, it helps squish things into a small spot.
Sorry we can't make the trip this summer, but hopefully next summer we can go somewhere together. Oh, we found out we are having another boy. Anyway, keep the comments coming and your posts too.
I look like a stalker as the only one making comments. COME ON PEOPLE! Anyways, your comments on our blog bust my guts, thanks.
So I finished Vitus and really liked it. Foreign films aren't usually as "entertaining" as US films, but its always a nice break. Very clever how he tricked everyone and an interesting look at how his mother reacted to his accident. Thanks for the recommendation!
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