Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Great film - King of Kong

On Saturday night I saw a great film - King of Kong: A fistful of Quarters.

It doesn't sound like much but stay with me - there's this guy called Billy Mitchell, in 1982 he set the highest ever score for Donkey Kong (the original nintendo arcade classic), and it has remained unbeaten ever since. He thinks he's pretty amazing, and has a little band of adoring followers.

Then there is a guy called Steve. He's almost been good at a lot of things and keeps striving to make his mark at something. He loses his job and then starts playing Donkey Kong. He sees the high score and figures he'll give it a go. He does and eventually manages a record score, and he has it on video. But, the judges disqualify him because they don't like some guy he's friends with, so they tell him to do it live in person at a games festival. Steve then challenges Billy to go head to head. Who will win?



It's really compelling and the plot twists and turns like it was scripted. The characters are wonderful, Steve and his all American nice guy, Billy and the ego. At the end you can feel the tension.

Rent it or buy it, you'll love it.

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