The King of Kong is all about arcade games, the kind one finds at the local mall that eats your quarters and dollars, and though it starts a bit like Dog Town and Z Boys by introducing the superstars of arcade gaming, including the top player Billy Mitchell and Walter Day, the official arcade game scorekeeper and head of a society of gamers called Twin Galaxies. Expect for Mitchell, who has an arrogant rock star demeanor, they're a very strange and nerdy bunch that one wouldn't think would be able to maintain the viewer's interest for an entire movie, but that isn't the case because filmmaker Seth Gordon found a great story to follow.

As Billy Mitchell's record score remains unbroken for 25 years, along comes Steve Wiebe, an unemployed family man from Washington state who decides to use his free time to beat that record, figuring that it would allow him to say he achieved something. It becomes an around-the-clock obsession for Wiebe and when he does manage to break the record, it's called into question by the Twin Galaxies officials who have worshipped and praised Mitchell's game prowess for two decades. To prove himself, Wiebe travels to the New Hampshire mecca of arcade gaming and beats Mitchell's high score again, his second victory surrounded in controversy and conspiracy as the elusive Mitchell refuses to show up to defend his title, instead using various stoolies and lackeys to keep an eye on Wiebe only to then submit a questionable video tape with a higher score than Wiebe's new record.

True that this is a movie about Donkey Kong, what some might consider a silly old school video game, but anyone who played it knows how tough it is, and you might be amazed how riveting it is to watch the conflict unfold between Wiebe and Mitchell, who's depicted as a really sleezy character with his arrogant words and actions without ever backing up anything he says. The movie is very entertaining and hilarious, especially seeing how seriously these geeky middle-aged mens take their gaming and the records. They're certainly a very different breed than today's video game players.

Although the production values are fairly limited, the way the movie is edited and paced puts "The King of Kong" up there with some of the greastest sports docs made in that it truly allows the viewer to experience the thrill of competition and agony of defeat while seeing what drives the men (and one or two women) who still play them.

Rating: 9/10

(The King of Kong will be released by Picturehouse on August 17)

The Power of the Game - Michael Apted's documentary couldn't be any more different, but it's also a far more serious effort, looking at the effects that football (aka soccer) has had on people around the world. Shot in the months leading up to and during the 2006 World Cup, it's a fairly comprehensive effort , framed by a look at South Africa's efforts to prepare for the 2010 World Cup after winning their bid shortly before the World Cup held in Germany last year.

If nothing else, it's fairly impressive how Apted and his cameras are everywhere at once, looking at the world's most popular sport from many different viewpoints and angles.The most interesting story is the one in Iran about Mahin Gorji, a female sports journalist in a country where women aren't allowed to attend sporting events (the subject of the recent Iranian film "Offside") and how she covers the World Cup for her country. Racism has also been a major issue in the game, particularly in areas like Germany where skinheads and neo-Nazis make it difficult for foreigners, and it deals with some of those issues by showing the journey of Pakistani Zeshan Rehman, who has been playing in England for years but decides to return to his roots by playing for Pakistan at the World Cup. (His story is quickly forgotten though.) It even spends a good amount of time dealing with America's general apathy to the sport and how a group of fans called Sam's Army are trying to change that by making game attendance a group affair.

Even though the coverage is very thorough and each segment is well assembled, it does get somewhat dull because instead of showing a lot of gameplay, the movie is focusing more on the people, some who are more interesting than others. Apted uses a similar technique as he does in his "Up" series including his questions in the interviews and doing his own voice-overs to tell the story. He also finds a clever way to bring all of the stories together as the various individuals converge on the World Cup tournament, though some of the segments wind up falling through the cracks. Granted, they all play an equally important part in proving Apted's doctoral thesis about the sport, the Argentinian story about a football academy for impoverished street kids comes and goes without much connection to the World Cup.

The documentary ends much like it began, returning to South Africa to show how the country's preparations for the 2010 World Cup are progressing after representatives travelled to Germany to see how they handled everything.

There are a lot of great stories captured in this doc, but you may have to be a true fan of the sport to fully appreciate Apted's examination of the game and the people who play and watch it. Then again, if you're not a fan, it might help clue you in on why it's so popular in other countries and why it hasn't quite achieved the same status here in the U.S.

Rating: 8/10