The King of Controversy - The Onion AV Scores Interview with Kong's Billy Mitchell

Firstly, I'd like to thank Jacob (Rosdail) for bringing to my attention a very interesting interview that The Onion AV Club scored with Billy Mitchell, legendary arcade gamer and record holder featured in the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. If you've seen the film, then reading the interview is a "MUST READ" follow-up. Admittedly, I would have missed it entirely, so thanks to Jacob for mentioning it.

Now, what better way to follow up my recent review of The King of Kong than to post a link to the interview in question. You can read it here. Watching the film is quite the experience and for something so obscure (competitive arcade gaming) it sure seems to strike a chord and get people talking. Luckily for us, Billy Mitchell decided to do some talking of his own and we are now afforded the opportunity to get the rest of the story. So check out the film and then check out the interview!

Public Service Announcement: Avoid The Brothers Solomon

This is not an official review as I didn't even make it through 30 minutes of the movie, but avoid The Brothers Solomon. Written by SNL's Will Forte and also starring Will Arnett (Arrested Development), it was completely devoid of any interesting or even worthwhile plot. The "jokes" fell completely flat. I would liken the experience drinking water - completely bland, only you receive absolutely no refreshment from doing so. This movie defines terrible and makes films like Battlefield Earth look decent, although it does nothing to help fellow trash like Date Movie. Rest assured that if I took the time to do a fleshed out review it would score a solid 0/10.

As for Will Forte, I wouldn't take writing credit if I were him. Frankly, I'm surprised to hear that there was actual writing involved. Utter crap.

The King of Kong One of the Best of 2007

I'm certain that there is a large portion of the population that would roll their eyes and scoff at hearing the words "competitive arcade gaming". It might easily conjure up a mental image of kids with thick glasses and ratty clothes huddled over arcade game cabinets, their faces silhouetted by the flashing glow of the video screen. They may be mall rats, nerds and uncool. But despite all that, one thing is for sure - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters will suck you in and keep you entertained from beginning to end. Of that I am absolutely sure.

The King of Kong is a documentary film which debuted in 2007 and has begun to grow a cult following. As you may have guess from the introduction, its subject matter is competitive arcade gaming. Don't be fooled by how it sounds, because all I can say is that I was shown a world of competition beyond anything I could have fathomed. Those childhood sentimental favorite games from the 1980's (Pac-Man, Q-Bert, Donkey Kong, etc.) are a bigger deal that we all might have thought. Holding ownership over high scores is a big enough deal that there is an official record-keeping organization that acts as referee (Twin Galaxies) and there are officially sanctioned methods by which to challenge an official high score. Still think it is a farce? Well, when the Guinness Book of World Records gets involved, let me assure you that egos reign supreme and the competition is cut-throat, maniacal and borderline mafia-esque!

This film documents just such a challenge to the 20 year old high score to arcade classic Donkey Kong while also chronicling the history of organized arcade gaming. Billy Mitchell is a gaming master and officially laid claim to the Donkey Kong high score in 1982 after another kid, Steve Sanders, claimed to have topped his score. After a live head-to-head challenge, Steve was shown to be a fraud and was blown out of the water by Billy. Competitive arcade gaming was born.

Fast forward to 2005. Steve Wiebe (wee-bee) was out of work and looking for direction. In the meantime he bought a classic Donkey Kong arcade cabinet for his garage to help take his mind off things. Soon he found that he was really pretty skilled at Donkey Kong and wondered what the all-time high score was. He came across Twin Galaxies and Billy's high score, proceeded to video tape himself breaking the score and sent the tape in to be viewed, logged and awarded the new high score title! Instead of that being the end of the story, it turns out to only be the beginning of a very wild, intense, mind-blowing ride that sees Steve travel across the country from his home in Washington state to New Hampshire to the mecca of arcade gaming known as FunSpot.

This film is totally engrossing and slowly, but methodically, pulls you into the world of competitive arcade gaming. Before you know it, you find yourself chomping at the bit to see what will happen next! Who will be the official record holder? Will David beat Goliath? What will it take to be the best? It truly is a entertaining match-up of wills and personalities in what Twin-Galaxies co-founder and referee Walter Day describes as "one of the greatest rivalries of all time!"

The King of Kong was a truly unexpected gem of a film and the most entertaining documentary I have ever seen, bar none! In some ways, it mirrored the comedy of the competitive dodgeball world as parodied in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, but was also completely engaging being the true story that it is from a world mostly hidden from public view. It's an instant classic that can appeal to everyone and earns the label "MUST SEE". Do yourself a favor and check this one out. 10/10

Vantage Point Not What You Expect, Packs Surprises

Having expectations can sometimes prove to be unfortunate, especially with films. When you expect one thing and get another, it can either be pleasantly surprising and enhance a viewing experience or it can hinder than experience. While Vantage Point is a worthwhile and entertaining film, I found that I was a slight bit disappointed due to my own expectations. The film probably isn't exactly what you expect going and it certainly is not predictable. But don't let my experience fool you - its an entertaining film that puts an original story on the screen.

Featuring a star-studded cast including Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt as President Ashton, Vantage Point does stay true to its title. It presents us with a modern day scenario - an international anti-terrorism summit where the president of the United States is attacked by terrorists and we witness the alarming events that unfold through eight different perspectives of people who are at the scene.

Where my expectations went wrong is that I was expecting more of a mystery thriller where multiple perspectives would play together to solve the puzzle, perhaps almost JFK-ish. What Vantage Point turned out to be was more of an action thriller that was built less on hiding clues that could actually allow the viewer to solve the puzzle and more of an event dissection that, once at full steam, simply presented the actuality of it all. In fact, Vantage Point turned out to be much more of character-matrix film that showed how every character tied together despite their diverse positions and perspectives. While the ultimate plot turned out to be well devised and entertaining, I found myself a bit disappointed with the character-matrix vehicle because I'm beginning to see it becoming more of a Hollywood fad following in the wake of acclaimed films like 21 Grams, Crash and Babel. The style makes for an intriguing story once in a while, but I fear that if it becomes over-used it will become tired. Frankly, I'm already weary.

Beefs aside, Vantage Point wasn't a bad film. Dennis Quaid's character, rattled Secret Service Agent Thomas Barnes, was interesting and made for an enjoyable protagonist. The action also wasn't bad, featuring a wild car chase through the busy streets of a Spanish city as well as some gun-play throughout. And there are definitely surprises! If you think you know what is really up, don't kid yourself - I'm fairly confident that you will be caught by surprise if you are truly spoiler free.

I have no doubt that Vantage Point will post a successful opening weekend at the box office and if you're looking for an intriguing thriller, you'll most likely be satisfied. Just don't be shocked if it isn't exactly what you expect it to be. 7/10

Millennium Actress A Unique and Beautiful Anime

Right around Christmas this past year I finally had the opportunity to dig into the filmography of anime director Satoshi Kon. Readers of the blog probably recall my high praise for Paprika, the film that really got me interested in his stuff. All of his films are very independent of each other and bring their own unique offering to the mix and it goes without saying that the second film I viewed, Millennium Actress, is extremely different from Paprika.

Millennium Actress is a story told through flashback. It is present day and a historical Japanese movie studio is being torn down and TV personality Genya Tochinaba decides to seek out and interview the studio's most legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara. Now a recluse, Chiyoko is an old woman living in modest home in the mountains and she hasn't made a public appearance since suddenly vanishing from the public eye some 30 years before. His visit re-unites her with a long lost item - a key given to her by a stranger when she was a girl.

During the course of the interview we follow the life of Chiyoko through the films she made during her illustrious career and we are witness through the eyes of Genya and his cameraman. What we learn is that the key was given to her by a mysterious stranger (an artist and political dissident) that she helped escape from state police during pre-war Japan in the 1930s. Having developed a love for him and always wanting to find and re-unite with him, her roles became a metaphorical representation for her search as her career takes her around the world as well as her own personal development and growth. I suppose, too, that the key could be seen as symbolic of personal freedom... something that the stranger represented and something Chiyoko feels she loses or cannot find with her career. Even so, her search never ends.

The approach Millennium Actress takes to storytelling is probably not new or groundbreaking, but it is nonetheless interesting, albeit a bit confusing at times as reality and fantasy tend to blur, a hallmark of Kon's style. Another similarity to other Kon works is the emphasis on the art of film itself. Actress is no doubt a tribute by Kon to filmmaking itself as evidenced by the subject matter of the film and the care with which it is handled. We see similar thematic elements in Paprika with Detective Kogawa's storyline.

Despite being a bit hard to follow at times, Millennium Actress is a worthwhile title for anime fans to check out. It is a love story of, both of its characters and for filmmaking, and definitely possesses universal elements to appeal to film aficionados. A Kon production, it is beautifully animated with careful attention to detail and a fantastical element that taps into the imagination. I didn't like it as much as Paprika, but it is a great film in it's own right and I can easily recommend it. You probably won't find it at your local movie rental place, but it is available through Amazon and NetFlix. 8/10