Gearlog readers are probably all pretty good at classic video games, but compared to this guy, you all suck. "King of Kong" is a new documentary that recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival about the quest of mild mannered Steve Weibe (above), a junior-high teacher from Seattle, to break the 25 year old Donkey Kong world record score. If you are a lifetime gamer and grew up on Donkey Kong, then this movie is great because it gets into the nitty, gritty of one of the hardest arcade games ever. And if you are a fan of documentary films (like "Hands on a Hard Body," for example), then this movie is also right up your alley. It takes a subject that in lesser hands could have ended up a case study on archnerds and their obsessive compulsiveness and turns it into a thrilling story full of earnest heroes and pro-wrestling-like villainy. The film features a litany of titans who have conquered such classic games as Missile Command, Pac-Man, and Marble Madness and their Champion, the hirsute hot-sauce merchant Billy Mitchell.

I had dinner with director Seth Gordon after the screening, and he told me that when they started filming they had several storylines in mind and were not sure where the movie was headed. But as they went along, the battle to break this decades-old record unfolded. He also let me know that the film is now going to be turned into a major Hollywood picture with real actors. Seth Gordon will direct the new version and has also been signed on by DreamWorks and New Line to tackle two new feature films for them next year.

Post by Dan Evans