Joe Molotov

Finally saw it today, and it was fantastic! It's very close to being my favorite movie of the year so far (although I'd still have to give a slight edge to Zodiac).

filmerp

Saw it with an audience of about 15 other people who were laughing throughout at how ridiculous the whole concept of the gaming championships were, yet everyone gave passionate applause by the end. Charming film- too bad it's so hard to find a screening.

gmal2003

Saw it Saturday with my sister (iggystar). This was an excellent film!!! It had alot of key elements to a good movie. It definitely had comedy (how serious some of the gamers were). It had drama and was a great look into the struggle many go through day to day. Even if you arent a videogame fan go see it. Its about much more than arcade games.

movieking

Finally got a chance to see this, and I really enjoyed it. Did anyone else follow up to see what happened after the movie ended? There's been more developments.

Chew

I just wonder how high the scores can still go?

Cameron

looks like fun. I'd see it

JPRaup

I really want to see this. No way is it coming near me though

SPiRAL

I saw this a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was hilarious at how passionate these dudes are about video games. Good doc, very entertaining.

The Bus

I saw this a few weeks ago and it's highly recommended. Parts of it were (un?)intentionally hilarious, like a Christopher Guest movie.

pjflyer

I finally got to see this. Can't add much other than it is a must see when you get the chance.

I'm not a fan of video games, but I found it incredibly entertaining. I've never seen a film that is so funny and bizare, yet has some touching human moments.

How can you not love a movie when a guy who calls himself "Mr. Awesome" is one of the voices of reason.

Michael Corvin

Watched this last night. What a great film. They really did paint Billy as a dick with certain camera shots and dialog choices. Even if you set those aside the shit he pulls earns him the 'dick' moniker himself anyway. Furthermore I can't believe he is allowed to be on the panel of judges for records he holds himself. That's a homecookin' ref right there.

I know it was posted above, but in the features segment the outcome of the duel has flip-flopped since the DVD was pressed. Don't miss it.

Very entertaining film.

bdshort

I watched the DVD last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was pretty interesting how Twin Galaxies was so quick to accept Billy's taped record score, but not Steves. I got a real kick out of how Billy's groupies were upset that Steve showed up to eat at Billy's restaurant! Hah!

P.S. According to Wikipedia, Steve's initial high score beat one set by Tim Sczerby in 2000, not Billy, and Billy and Steve have actually met on an occasion or two NOT shown in the movie, and got along just fine. Don't know how true this is but it's based on comments by Walter Day.

tylergfoster

I find this doesn't affect the movie much. The times that Steve and Billy met happened previous to the events of the movie. It is lame that Billy stopped associating with Steve after Steve just happened to talk to Mr. Awesome one time, and even lamer that despite an existing bond he wouldn't show up to the competition near the end of the movie and play Steve even though Steve called him in advance. Plus, of course, even though (also not shown in the movie) Twin Galaxies only accepted Billy's taped score for two days, it still sucks that Billy would go out of his way to show up Steve for the weekend, and just as the movie says, in contrast to his insistence that live scores > taped.

monkeyboy

I was reading up on the Twin Galaxy website because I heard there were a lot of things not included in the movie. As much as I love the movie, there was quite a bit left out that seems pretty misleading. It's definitely not much of a documentary of events that took place during that time. It kind of ruins it a bit for me.

dan30oly

It doesn't matter what was left out. Billy = arrogant douchebag.

The only thing that would get me to change my mind about Billy's attitude during the entire documentary is if there was a scene where Steve walked up to Billy, knocked him out, started grabbing his wifes boobs, then while escaping ran over Billy's dog.

Oh crap...gotta go, there's about to be a Donkey Kong kill screen!
Donkey Kong kill screen over here!
Do you wanna see a Donkey Kong kill screen???

ukywyldcat

I haven't watched a movie this entertaining in quite awhile. I loved Donkey Kong back in the day when I was 13 or so and this movie actually has me shopping eBay for a potential purchase. In fairness, I've shopped eBay for years for a few games I'd like to have, I've just never pulled the trigger.

I thought it was interesting how Billy was the hero up until Steve came along, and then he was suddenly a total douchebag. Because of that, Billy gets a pass in my book without knowing him or learning more. Steve is definitely a class act.

I Netflixed this movie, watched it, but saved the bonus material for later b/c I'm buying this movie for sure, and I don't even buy DVDs anymore ~ aside from the Blade Runner briefcase, I think I've only bought 3 to 5 movies over the last 6 years on DVD.

Fucking fantastic, though. And people that 1) don't like video games or 2) don't like documentaries, I have this to say: give this movie a shot. It really is entertaining, and, although its status as a true documentary can be questioned, I imagine its kind of like watching an episode of 60 Minutes or an episode of Biography...even if you don't like the story/subject in the least, the story is told in a fashion that just about anyone giving it a chance will really enjoy it.

As for my favorite part of the movie:

Charlie Goose

That guy was truly excited at seeing the kill screen.

Fascinating documentary. I know that it plays a little loose with history, but that's true of most documentaries.
As a child of the 80s, I remember those games and the thrill of getting a high score. Not ashamed to say I set a few neighborhood records myself on my favorite games, and we even kept rudimentary records, but nothing as organized as Twin Galaxies. And our scores weren't anywhere near them either. Not even close.

I don't think I ever got past level 3 or 4 on Donkey Kong.

beavis69

Finally saw this movie with a buddy of mine. Both of us sat there the first 20 minutes kinda wondering where this was going. After that we worth both VERY drawn into it. So much so that we were cheering this guy on as he was going for the record. Such as great documentary. I would say that they made Billy look like an ass from editing, but clearly they couldnt edit the god complex this guy had about himself. I mean hell, his mom compared him to Jesus on the special features. Amazing story and well worth a watch

GoldenJCJ

Caught this on G4 the other day. Thought it was highly entertaing. They sure did go out of their way to make Steve look like a class act and make Billy look like a total douche. Although I will say it looks like Billy's a dickhead even without manipulative editing.

I had a smile on my face for much of the day after watching. It's good to see the nice guy finish first for once (not counting the recent events).



I played a little Donkey Kong myself when I was younger and I didn't even realize there were "elevator" levels.

starman9000

Yeah, he came off as a d-bag back when MTV featured him on a program about gamers as well. No doubt the movie highlighted it, but they didn't make it up.

porieux

I think in addition to that, he was trying to put more pressure on Steve by having a bunch of people watch him, to possibly make him more likely to screw up.

DeputyDave

Great doc, but the conflict did seem to be a bit over dramatized.

Geddlo

My friend and I watched this and we enjoyed it up to the end. But then the epilogue hit with the "but wait..." line and we flipped. What a fantastic way to end the film.

project86

Even though

lawyer goodwill

Yeah, that guy was a fantastic weasel.



I love this doc as well, and I liked the fact that the conflict was played up - it was all a bit ridiculous and fun. While it was fun cheering for Steve, I thought Billy Mitchell was a hoot. I think a lot of people get very irritated with him when watching this movie, but he's a genuine character (and let's face it, Gaming God), and just knowing that this dude is actually out there is amusing stuff.

Also, I really need to order his hot sauce; I'm a big fan of hot sauce, and his seems to be pretty dang popular (probably moreso after this movie came out).