J made me watch The King of Kong today. At first, I was highly, highly skeptical. It's about Steve Weibe's quest for the Donkey Kong high score. And y'all know how interesting that might be to me? Right. Sorry, were you dozing off already?
Luckily, at the heart of the documentary is the very compelling drama of the rivalry between Steve and Billy Mitchell, the man who held the 1980's world record that was considered untouchable. Add in a video game referee with a heart of gold and a couple of slimy toadies (plus one guy who excitedly plays video games with his feet) and it was freakin' riveting.
Steve Weibe is the everyman-- the sweet, honest family man who tends to get screwed over by his own perfectionism... plus a whole lot of tomfoolery that might set your jaw agape. His amazing ability to keep pushing on to prove his skills unquestionably and above-board is really inspiring.
But of course, watching a simple rivalry movie would get sort of boring after awhile. Thankfully, Billy Mitchell fills the role of the villain with amazingly self-deluded aplomb. Not since The Karate Kid have I wanted to see a villain get his nose caved in so earnestly. Honest to my various Gods, I have never yelled "you fucking douchebag!" at my television more in such a short period of time. Like, even when watching those godawful Free Credit Report Dot Com commercials, so you know that's saying something.
I can say that without a doubt, Billy Mitchell is the toadiest, most manipulative, spineless hypocrite maybe ever. He's so smarmy that he reminds me of Criss Angel, but with WORSE hair and chipmunk teeth. Jesus christ, dude, you are NOT Lorenzo Lamas. Your initials are BM, and really, nothing else could be more appropriate. In fact, I'm going to refer to his royal scattiness as BM from here on out.
The documentary doesn't even have to TRY to make him out to be an obvious asshole. He starts out at just "self-obsessed tool" level, but is finally damned by a BRILLIANT passage in which the director Seth Gordon contrasts BM's vehement assertions of the way a title should be won with footage of his absolute and unquestionble lack of having done those things. He sets conditions for others that he has no intention of meeting himself, and deep down, it's because he just flat out can't. His drive to hold onto his title-- by any means necessary-- just comes off as fucking pathetic.
( And this is the part where I get spoilery, so skip it until you've seen the movie. Or read on if you won't, but seriously, see the movie.Collapse )
Luckily, at the heart of the documentary is the very compelling drama of the rivalry between Steve and Billy Mitchell, the man who held the 1980's world record that was considered untouchable. Add in a video game referee with a heart of gold and a couple of slimy toadies (plus one guy who excitedly plays video games with his feet) and it was freakin' riveting.
Steve Weibe is the everyman-- the sweet, honest family man who tends to get screwed over by his own perfectionism... plus a whole lot of tomfoolery that might set your jaw agape. His amazing ability to keep pushing on to prove his skills unquestionably and above-board is really inspiring.
But of course, watching a simple rivalry movie would get sort of boring after awhile. Thankfully, Billy Mitchell fills the role of the villain with amazingly self-deluded aplomb. Not since The Karate Kid have I wanted to see a villain get his nose caved in so earnestly. Honest to my various Gods, I have never yelled "you fucking douchebag!" at my television more in such a short period of time. Like, even when watching those godawful Free Credit Report Dot Com commercials, so you know that's saying something.
I can say that without a doubt, Billy Mitchell is the toadiest, most manipulative, spineless hypocrite maybe ever. He's so smarmy that he reminds me of Criss Angel, but with WORSE hair and chipmunk teeth. Jesus christ, dude, you are NOT Lorenzo Lamas. Your initials are BM, and really, nothing else could be more appropriate. In fact, I'm going to refer to his royal scattiness as BM from here on out.
The documentary doesn't even have to TRY to make him out to be an obvious asshole. He starts out at just "self-obsessed tool" level, but is finally damned by a BRILLIANT passage in which the director Seth Gordon contrasts BM's vehement assertions of the way a title should be won with footage of his absolute and unquestionble lack of having done those things. He sets conditions for others that he has no intention of meeting himself, and deep down, it's because he just flat out can't. His drive to hold onto his title-- by any means necessary-- just comes off as fucking pathetic.
( And this is the part where I get spoilery, so skip it until you've seen the movie. Or read on if you won't, but seriously, see the movie.Collapse )
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