King of Kong

[cmoneyr]

My wife and I watched this last night, about the race for Donkey Kong supremacy between two guys. Great documentary, even better if you care at all about video games. Some of the people, Billy Mitchell specifically, are just too much to believe, my wife though it was some kind of mockumentary at first because it's almost hard to believe he is who he is.

Another recommendation would be Two Days in April, follows 4 guys entering the 2006 NFL draft out of college, 2 from Oklahoma, 1 from ASU and 1 from New Mexico. Really cool behind the scenes look at all the preparation that goes into making a successful draft candidate.

Both are on Netflix instant viewing for anyone that's interested.

 

[tman24]

I have watched King of Kong on G4tv. It was pretty good. If i remember right it was surprising that the game record headquarters were in Iowa.

 

[bos]

I have this in my Instant queue. I think it looks fantastic.

 

[sunset]

That was a pretty good show. Creepy, but good.

 

[CHim]

I haven't watched King of Kong, but Murderball is a great documentary.

 

[cmoneyr]

The TwinGalaxies site that is the supposed record keeper for all things video games is located in Iowa. I think the video game hall of fame is in Ottumwa also?

 

[The_Architect]

I watched it from my Netflix instant queue - great documentary.

 

[isukendall]

The other day on Showtime I saw a movie similar to King of Kong, but goes into several different games. They feature Ottumwa several times. That Billy Mitchell has a boss haircut!

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HrXIu5ibYk"]YouTube - Chasing Ghosts Trailer[/ame]

 

[cmoneyr]

I also watched Word Wars about scrabble players, not as good as King of Kong, but still entertaining. One of the main players they followed was G.I Joel Sherman...they call him G.I. because of his Gastro Intestinal reflux.

 

[Palmer]

Billy Mitchell is the ultimate bad guy...

 

[cmoneyr]

I've never seen someone with so little think so highly of themselves.

 

[dustinal]

A friend of mine says that the editing of the film is very misleading. I haven't even seen it, but there you go.

 

[cmoneyr]

Misleading how? Is your friend Billy Mitchell?

 

[dustinal]

Misleading how? Is your friend Billy Mitchell?

Haha, no. I don't know. He just said the editing is selective. Actually, his exact words were "Movie isn't bad, the lies created by editing are...." (Comment left on Netflix.) He also says the Twin Galaxies forums have info about what was fabricated?

Now I have to see this movie.

 

[dustinal]

Here's my friend's full review on Netflix...

Entertaining movie, too bad it's far from what really happened. Through omissions and outright lies, the filmmakers far from truthful about the characters, their interaction (Billy Mitchell had played against Steve Wiebe head-to-head before) and who had the top scores when (Wiebe held it for 3 years and the movie said Mitchell had it during that time). Google "twin galaxy king of kong" or "king of kong falsehoods" for more info.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I can't remember the name of it, but my wife got a documentary from Netflix about some people who went out to LA and are working as sidewalk superhero look-a-likes. It was rather sad.

Edit- found it, Confessions of a Superhero: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/31551/confessions-of-a-superhero/

 

[cmoneyr]

I can't remember the name of it, but my wife got a documentary from Netflix about some people who went out to LA and are working as sidewalk superhero look-a-likes. It was rather sad.

Edit- found it, Confessions of a Superhero: Confessions of a Superhero : DVD Talk Review of the Theatrical

I have that on my queue too, lots of good documentaries on the instant queue, stuff I would probably never see otherwise.