The King of Kong (with link)

Employee · Post by **Employee** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:00 pm

This looks strangely engrossing:
________________________________________________
The King of Kong

'The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters'
Friday, August 24, 2007
MIKE RUSSELL
Special to The Oregonian

One of this year's funniest movies -- and its most inspirational sports drama -- is a documentary. A documentary about two middle-aged guys who are really, really good at Donkey Kong.

That's right, Donkey Kong: the 1980s coin-op arcade game with the monkey and the ladders and the barrels and the little Italian guy with the 'stache and the hammer.

"The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" is shamelessly manipulative and wildly entertaining. It had me simultaneously laughing at and rooting for a group of spectacular nerds obsessed with something society deems unimportant. And by the film's end, director Seth Gordon had persuaded me that this unimportant something was a valid sport, with its own hard-to-master skill set and hall of champions.

Director Seth Gordon starts out by introducing us to the insular world of elite vintage arcade-game masters -- specifically, to Billy Mitchell, the self-styled "best classic arcade player of all time." Like many of the people we meet in "King of Kong," Mitchell has an outlandish personality so outlandish it seems redundant that Hollywood is thinking of adapting Gordon's documentary into a feature film. There's no doubt that Mitchell is a talent. In 1999 he played a literally flawless game of Pac-Man, and his '82 Donkey Kong score of 874,300 stood for decades. But Mitchell is possessed of a competitive ego as vast as his flowing mane. He wears patriotic ties and uses the high-score initials "USA" and has his own line of hot sauce and is prone to trash-talking like Clubber Lang and comparing himself to Helen of Troy. He's worshipped by the self-appointed referees who run Twin Galaxies, keepers of the world's highest video-game scores.

And then a newbie crashes the party and all hell breaks loose.

Steve Wiebe is an easygoing seventh-grade science teacher in Redmond, Wash., and a perpetual runner-up in life. He's choked on the pitcher's mound, gone nowhere with his garage band and was laid off from Boeing the day he signed the papers on his house. But then he has the audacity to not just break but smash Mitchell's Donkey Kong record, scoring more than 1 million points.(The videotape of Wiebe doing this in his garage as his toddler son screams at him is priceless.)

But when Wiebe submits his record to Twin Galaxies and unbalances the apple cart of Billy Mitchell worship, it sets in motion a chain of subterfuge and one-upsmanship and ego-popping too juicy and hilarious and rock concert-exciting to spoil here. It involves accusations of game motherboard sabotage, travel to and confrontations with critics, curious rule bending and at least one lackey who is basically the Mr. Smithers to Mitchell's Mr. Burns.Grown men cry. A wife becomes a fan. A person calling himself Mr. Awesome urges Wiebe not to "chumpatize" himself. And there are detailed explanations (with graphs!) of how Wiebe and Mitchell just absolutely rock Donkey Kong all the way to its legendary "kill screen."

I do want to note, again, that "King of Kong" is manipulative as heck. We get to know Wiebe and his family fairly well but only see Mitchell's public persona, which would make Tony Robbins blush. There are even "training montages" set to '80s sports movie schlock classics like "Eye of the Tiger." Mitchell is making a big stink about how he's portrayed as the villain of the piece, and he may have a point. It's also worth noting that the Mitchell-Wiebe rivalry has reversed itself once or twice since the doc was filmed, with no end in sight.

But none of that makes "King of Kong" any less moving or inspiring. By the end, you're out of your seat -- realizing with perverse joy that this trivial pursuit has escalated to Thrilla in Manila levels of ferocity and drama. It's "Over the Top" via Nintendo, and it is stunning to behold.

(79 minutes, PG-13, Cinema 21) Grade: B+

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:04 pm

andvil wrote this up a bit in the movies watched thread, he liked it. I've been wanting to catch it too, that whole super-competitive early video game subculture should be a gold mine for all sorts of oddball character stories.

Scott Free · Post by **Scott Free** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:05 pm

i watched it last nite, theres a dvd rip u can find online.. it was good but it wasnt great, but for what its worth it did keep my attention

EMCEE DARTH MALEK · Post by **EMCEE DARTH MALEK** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:42 pm

how long is this documentary?

Website · Post by **Random Sample** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:11 pm

EMCEE DARTH MALEK wrote:how long is this documentary?

it is about an hour and twenty minutes.

this is so awesome. such a great documentary.

I need mr. awesome's guide to getting girls.

EDIT:

BILLY MITCHELL IS A SOFTBATCH PUSSY!

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:02 pm

I've watched this 4 times now. Such a quick, easy, great watch.

The look on Brian Kuh's face when he's telling the camera that Steve just got the first ever kill screen at Fun Spot is fucking PRICELESS. It was like someone told him his parents just died.

PopeyeJones · Post by **PopeyeJones** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:30 pm

Torrent Link

http://www.mininova.org/tor/859076

citizen · Post by **citizen** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:34 pm

i cant believe how much press this is getting, so it makes me think its really good, this guy has a definate fanboy following now

Vlad Analogue · Post by **Vlad Analogue** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:15 pm

PopeyeJones wrote:Torrent Link

http://www.mininova.org/tor/859076

thanks

sneed · Post by **sneed** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:29 am

Vlad Analogue wrote:
PopeyeJones wrote:Torrent Link

http://www.mininova.org/tor/859076
thanks

its slow as shit, can anyone upload this joint?

sneed · Post by **sneed** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:01 am

sneed wrote:
Vlad Analogue wrote:
PopeyeJones wrote:Torrent Link

http://www.mininova.org/tor/859076
thanks
its slow as shit, can anyone upload this joint?

PLEASE?!

Website · Post by **Random Sample** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:31 pm

I am uploading it now. It will be done later today for you guys.

sneed · Post by **sneed** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:52 pm

^^^fuck yes!

all the torrents were stalling constantly, it was so annoying.

binary · Post by **binary** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:28 pm

This movie truly rules on so many levels. Weeebee rulez. Mitchell is a shook one.

Website · Post by **Random Sample** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:08 pm

Here it is fellas, enjoy!

http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/3195468 ... f_Kong.AVI

PopeyeJones · Post by **PopeyeJones** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 9:00 pm

sneed wrote:
sneed wrote:
Vlad Analogue wrote:
PopeyeJones wrote:Torrent Link

http://www.mininova.org/tor/859076
thanks
its slow as shit, can anyone upload this joint?
PLEASE?!

Should have mentioned it was a protected link, meaning that you need to follow that to Ilovetorrents and register (you can tell if there is a little red "p" on the torrent when you look it up on mininova. In any case, saw that shit last night and it was dope. I had just watched Air Guitar Nation the day before, which on the surface could be seen as kind of similar, but doesn't even compare to this IMO.

Matt925 · Post by **Matt925** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:56 am

Reviews are in!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2zywRgdgus

we can't embed youtube videos here??

sneed · Post by **sneed** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:48 pm

Random Sample wrote:Here it is fellas, enjoy!

http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/3195468 ... f_Kong.AVI

cant wait to watch this, thanks a ton!

Guun · Post by **Guun** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:21 pm

really enjoyed this.. although was disappointed to find out that Mitchell took the record back earlier this year.. guy was a pussy.

binary · Post by **binary** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:58 am

Guun wrote:really enjoyed this.. although was disappointed to find out that Mitchell took the record back earlier this year.. guy was a pussy.

Probably did it via fuzzy video, what a lame.

blabberingbullshit · Post by **blabberingbullshit** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:14 am

Guun wrote:really enjoyed this.. although was disappointed to find out that Mitchell took the record back earlier this year.. guy was a pussy.

whered you hear that?

Guun · Post by **Guun** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:36 am

blabberingbullshit wrote:
Guun wrote:really enjoyed this.. although was disappointed to find out that Mitchell took the record back earlier this year.. guy was a pussy.
whered you hear that?

i went to that twin galaxies site...

Guun · Post by **Guun** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:39 am

http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx? ... 3852&vi=22

slimebucato · Post by **slimebucato** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:17 pm

Whenever I try to use that gigasize link, it just acts like it's a really small file and doesn't actually download. Busted, I guess.

Anyway someone could re-up? I really wanted to see this.

AWAE · Post by **AWAE** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:41 pm

is this streaming online anywhere?

Website · Post by **Random Sample** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:33 pm

AWAE wrote:is this streaming online anywhere?

Here is a link to download it that I posted up a few weeks ago:

Random Sample wrote:Here it is fellas, enjoy!

http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/3195468 ... f_Kong.AVI

it is still active.

slimebucato · Post by **slimebucato** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:27 pm

^ Ok, working now. Yesterday it was messing up. Thanks.

Seiko Flossberg · Post by **Seiko Flossberg** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:37 pm

Great flick.

Billy Mitchell reminds me of Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore.

darkwingduck · Post by **darkwingduck** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:09 pm

Random Sample wrote:
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/3195468 ... f_Kong.AVI

it is still active.[/quote]

GLUS · Post by **GLUS** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:17 pm

darkwingduck wrote:
Random Sample wrote:
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/3195468 ... f_Kong.AVI
it is still active.