Officially Cool: The King of Kong

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 17, 2007

That’s right people, some more “Officially Cool” stuff for the start of your week. Do you like documentaries? Probably not. Most people can’t stand the average dry documentary, so we often gravitate towards more stylish or “themed up” docs like Michael Moore’s very politically controversial Fahrenheit 911. Yet, sometimes we desire all the same controversy with a topic that is not quite as serious. Earlier in the year I was blown away by Air Guitar Nation, the epic story of the rise of the US Air Guitar Championships. Now I get to share with you the next great documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It chronicles the epic (and yes, that is multiple uses of the word epic) battle between Billy Mitchell, widely known as the Greatest Arcade Gamer of All-Time and the world record holder for Donkey Kong, and Steve Wiebe, a high school science teacher from Washington State who challenges Mitchell’s Donkey Kong record after 20 years of dominance. It is unequivocally one of the best movies I have seen all year. Check out the “Officially Cool” trailer below.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is currently in limited release, but it hits 30 new markets this Friday September 21. Go see it. Seriously.

Check out our “Officially Cool” Archive. Do you have something that you think should be “Officially Cool”? Send it over to neil@filmschoolrejects.com.

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