Monday Movie Miscellany - King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Holy cow is this movie is great.  I mean seriously fantastic.  It's the classic story of an unassuming underdog coming out of nowhere to defeat an arrogant title-holder, all in an epic fight for the world record in Donkey Kong. 

I should also mention that it's a documentary, which makes the movie that much more wonderful as the super serious people the movie follows are indeed for reals.  Apparently the rivalry between title-holder Billy Mitchell and challenger Steve Wiebe was over-hyped (the two are on friendlier terms than the movie implies), but where the film falls short on accuracy it excels in distortive editing for the sake of entertainment.

The soundtrack is really well done, and all things considered I'd highly recommend King of Kong to pretty much everyone - nerds, gamers, those with a competitive streak, those who wax nostalgic for the lost days of arcade gaming, or anyone who likes cheering for the underdog.

And as a brief addendum, the drama continued after the release of the movie! Mitchell reclaimed the record and held it for a few years, but was then outdone by some random dude (Hank Chien).  Mitchell took the record back again, and then was once again beat by Wiebe, who currently holds the record.  But only time will tell how long this record will stand...