New DVDs: The joy of 'King of Kong'

I know the villain in the movie "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters." He hails from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., my hometown.

Never met the man, but I've known plenty like him in "Fort Liquordale." A weasel with a mullet and a lame hustle. That's one of the reasons I left as soon as I could drive.

Now Billy Mitchell might in reality be an OK guy, but his profile in the documentary "The King of Kong" comes straight out of an old western. Say "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." He's not twirling his mustache, just stroking that natty black beard.

On the other side is Steve Wiebe, our Jimmy Stewart. He's a good-hearted family guy from the Northwest who's never been all that good at anything but playing Donkey Kong, the old arcade game.

Wiebe wants to be accepted by the arcade-game establishment (go figure) and post the high score for the planet. Mitchell holds that world record and is in no hurry to give it up. He runs away from a joy-stick showdown the entire movie, preferring to slither around and send in dubious videos of his latest triumphs.

"King of Kong" works the good-vs.-evil angle shamelessly, delightfully. As you've probably heard, this was one of the best films of last year. And, um, the Best Movie Ever Made About Arcade Games.

The story is a moving target, so the extras lead off with "The Saga Continues," which updates the audience using that "Star Wars" scroll. There's an hour of additional interviews and clips expanding on the arcade world and its denizens. Plus, a side-by-side comparison of the two players' styles and a fun animated history of Donkey Kong. The director and producer do one commentary; another comes from IGN's editorial director and an arcade-inspired artist.

The video looks fine in widescreen and the center-oriented audio does OK with the various songs you'd expect to hear.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are "El Cid," that magnificent epic (more to come), and an "Immaculate Edition" of Monty Python's so-so "Life of Brian" that looks heaven-sent on Blu-ray.

Also: With all the crap on TV and all the crappiness associated with that business right now, it's a cleansing experience to watch PBS' four-part "Pioneers of Television."

Pick of the week: El Cid
Dog of the week: No woofers, sorry

New and notable:
Bordertown (ThinkFilm)
Chancer, Series 2 (Acorn Media)
Cisco Kid Collection (MPI)
The Comebacks (Fox)
Curb Your Enthusiasm season 6 (HBO Video)
Daddy Day Camp (Sony)
Drumline Special Edition (Fox)
El Cid (Weinstein Co./Genius)
Groundhog Day (Sony)
Hannah Montana: One in a Million (Disney)
JAG season 5 (Paramount)
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (New Line)
Monty Python's Life of Brian: The Immaculate Edition (Sony)
Moving McAllister (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
The Nines (Sony)
Pioneers of Television (Paramount)
Rocket Science (HBO Video)

Complete list of today's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

Comments

[Liz]

I'm looking forward to getting this from Netflix, but it's "Short Wait." Lame. That villain reminds me of many, many irritating nerds I've known.