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MiraJeff's a Queen for THE KING OF KONG!!!
Greetings AICN, MiraJeff here to weigh in on The King of Kong, director Seth Gordon’s buzzworthy documentary about the two best Donkey Kong players in the world, champion Billy Mitchell and challenger Steve Wiebe. The question du jour of course, is does Kong live up to the considerable hype? I'm pleased to report that the answer, thankfully, is yes, it does. In fact, The King of Kong is the best time I've had with a documentary since Air Guitar Nation.
There are conspiracies abound in The King of Kong, mostly concerning how Steve's taped world record attempt was not considered a valid submission because of his circuit board, which two of Billy's cronies go to Steve's house to inspect. And later, when Billy sends in his taped submission to his friend who also happens to be the head of the scoring verification organization, the ref is all too eager to report Billy's score on the Internet without verifying its credibility, which is in serious doubt because of inconsistencies in the point-counter and a static line that appears visible on the left side of the screen suggesting that there may have been some post-production done.
After watching The King of Kong, some people might feel like Billy and Steve’s lives are a little bit sad and more than a little bit pathetic, but they certainly don't see it that way and neither did I. These guys take this thing hyper-seriously, putting their families on hold for the chance to chase a lifelong dream. The dream of course, is being seen as a winner. Being the best in the world at something, even if that something is Donkey Kong. Seeing your name in the Guinness Book of World Records is an ambitious thrill. You can't be in the Guinness Book of World Records for merely being attractive, athletic or charming. Sure those attributes will help you in life but they won't necessarily distinguish you from your peers. Being the best becomes an obsession for both of them.
I don’t want to say too much more about Billy and Steve. It’s better to let you discover their idiosyncratic personalities for yourselves. I’m not a big fan of reality TV but these two guys are remarkably watchable, especially the arrogant Mitchell who has a fascinating aura about him that pulls you in and compels you to watch. He’d make perfect fodder for a Spike TV series. These guys are so worthy of being documentary subjects, it comes as no surprise that Gordon is developing a feature remake at New Line with writer Michael Bacall, who was recently listed as one of Variety's Ten Screenwriters to Watch. The consistently entertaining documentary is the perfect property to be adapted into a feature. Two wildly different lead characters, one charismatic but cocky, the other an underdog who just needs a break. And one of doc’s strengths is that Gordon never mocks his subjects, which I have a feeling the feature version will do, inadvertently or not.
That’s the beauty of the documentary. You simply can't make up some of these kooky characters. Like Brian Kuh, Billy's uber-annoying lackey, or as he might prefer, disciple. Or Russell Maracyzk, a nebbish video game referee who is pretty much begging to be played by Paul Giamatti in the feature adaptation, although Judah Friedlander might be a more practical casting choice. And how about Head Ref Walter Day, who looks like Kevin McAllister's creepy old neighbor from Home Alone. These guys are so priceless that there were times during the film where I felt like I was watching an inspired Christopher Guest mockumentary. In fact, if Guest was the one adapting this material, I bet it would be his biggest hit yet considering its youth-skewing subject matter.
In summation, The King of Kong really is the definition of a must-see documentary. And I’m shocked to realize that I haven’t even used the F-word yet. This movie is funny. Really funny. So get out there this weekend if you live in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle or Austin and show it some support. I know the film is going wide in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled because this movie is worth more than a fistful of quarter. At a brisk 77 minutes, it’s worth your time too.
That’ll do it for me, folks. I’ll be back with a plethora of reviews. That’s right. A plethora, so hang tight. ‘Til next time, this is MiraJeff signing off…
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I mean are you guys going to continue reviewing this movie every couple of months?
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Kinda boring, and while he kept his own idiotic opinions down for the most part, the few he said were supremely idiotic.
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r u talking about me or michael moore?
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Not a cinema trip for me, but Kong certainly sounds like a fun movie to watch around 10pm after a few spliffs.
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Id like to see some hot chicks in Bikinis play Miss Pacman for the world record.whos with me??
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All they did is take the Spellbound formula and replace spelling with air guitars. Sounds like you're gonna go mental for my documentary on the tiddly winks world championship.
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I found Sicko to be his most boring movie with the least information. Maybe because its a topic I know a little bit more about then his other documentaries, but it seemed like everything he said was common knowledge. But for the most part he kept his idiotic comments in check in this one, as opposed to his other movies. Then again his other movies, while also knowing the general issues I felt he went more into them and pointed out things that I did not know. So basically I felt Sicko was his most boring movie, but least annoying. Still, its a movie that had to be made, as I am sure there are many many people who didn't know that much about the healthcare system.
And my other King of Kong comment wasn't really towards you either, but rather how it seems every month there is another review of it... And its one thing when a movie gets 4 reviews in a row towards its release date, but another when it gets one 4 months ago, 2 more 3 months ago, another last month, another this month, etc. -
But that doesn't help me in becoming the greatest Talkbacker of all time. I missed my daughter's birth, didn't pay my bills, haven't spoken to my wife in months, but I hope providing this and other talkbalk forums with snarky remarks will be worth the sacrifice when Guiness writes their book.
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You just told me that you had a plethora, and I would just like to know if you know what it means to have a plethora. I would not like to think that someone would tell someone else he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.
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Since the documentary was filmed, the two have continued their points rivalry, and there is now apparently a new high score record.
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in my book, anyone that thinks Sicko is a crappy movie, and thinks that a movie that hasn't come out yet is an "old movie", is a couple blocks short of a Jenga game...no one even MENTIONED Sicko, you just pulled that out of your butt.maybe stick to the Lost talkbacks, if you can't get your brain cyllinders firing...those guys will believe anything...
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I know that I, Derpy Der, do not have your superior een-tuh-layct and education. But could it be... okay, y'know what? I'm not going to be sucked into this further you bastard. Good one, though.
Okay, so Sicko wasn't mentioned as much this time. I've heard that a lot. Look at every OTHER Michael Moore work that AICN fawns over. Maybe they didn't make as much of a big deal about Sicko due to the LACK OF CONTROVERSY. Let's face it, this is the first doc he's put out where reviewers, experts on the subject matter, etc. (save for perhaps Sanjay Gupta), have all said, "Wow... he actually got pretty much ALL of his facts straight on this one. Magical." I'm not bashing Moore so much. I really enjoyed Roger and Bowling especially. But in hindsight, they are so full of shit. -
i would've reviewed it if i saw it but it just got away from me along with a mighty heart
i know we've been covering king of kong a lot but that's because it was SXSW and played really well there. I saw the film on DVD months ago and wanted to hold my review til the weekend of release. i know we've been hyping this and superbad up a lot but they're both worthy of every single word of praise. if you guys feel like you've read enough about king of kong or superbad then just don't click on the reviews, no one is forcing you to read them. we're just trying to bring people's attention to the films, especially kong, since not many people outside of this site have heard of it and when they do hear about it, they immediately prejudge it because it's a documentary and it's about video games. the subject matter of the film is irrelevant, its the people on display that make it so winning and charming. -
enlighten me. what is a plethora? please educate me in a way webster's can't. smug know-it-all.
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three amigos
u got me -
reality television: documentaries are investigate a subject or a character while reality television is just an hour of people yelling at one another. I actually heard someone refer to reality television as documentary TV the other day. I hope this change in language isn't an attempt at making the format respectable. Oh, and Billfro, when I read plethora I too thought of that line from Thee Amigos. Well played, sir...well played.
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Does skoobyx have to smack a bitch?
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