Considering how many terrible movies have been adapted from video games (all of them, so far), it is almost shocking the number of quality documentaries there are about video games themselves.
The most famous is probably “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” about gamers playing the arcade classic “Donkey Kong.” Discovery Channel turned out the five-part series “Rise of the Video Game,” which is a comprehensive look at the industry from birth through to 2007, when it aired.
Now there’s “Video Games: The Movie,” a Kickstarted film executive produced by Zach Braff and narrated by Sean Astin that treads on the same territory as “Rise of,” but with coverage of the seven years of gaming that has come since then as well. The parts discussing the earlier years has been done ad nauseam — perhaps this film would have been better served as a sixth part to Discovery’s miniseries.
As a stand-alone endeavor, it’s interesting, but I would have appreciated more new insights into the industry.
Documentary by Jeremy Snead
Playing at Village East Cinema and on Video on Demand
