'Balls of Fury' review

A disgraced former child prodigy Ping Pong player is called upon by the FBI to use his skills to infiltrate the headquarters of a possible criminal madman who has a thing for the game. It's like 'Enter the Dragon' but with Ping Pong.

I believe this was meant to be a comedy but there was so little comedic material that it's hard to tell. There are a number of sequences clearly meant to be funny that are anything but funny. Generally funny people (George Lopez, Diedrich Bader) are cast in the film and are rarely humorous. The film is played very straight, which would not necessarily be a problem, but becomes so during the film as nothing counterpoints the 'serious' to be funny. I think the logic was that they'd have everything be serious so that it would make Christopher Walken's wackiness that much more wacky. If so, it didn't work. When the funniest part of the movie is the outtakes during the end credits, there's a problem. It felt like a neutered version of a wacky movie where all the punchlines had been removed.

Some of the humor is just ill conceived. Much of it falls into what I consider the 'Look see!' type of humor as in 'Look see! An oriental mansion in the middle of Central America. Isn't that funny?' In and of itself, no, not really. It's an amusing concept but, of itself, its not funny. There's the 'Look see he's blind!' jokes that are funny when James Wong works the material to the joke's advantage but more often than not I got the impression there was nothing to work with. There's also the 'look see they're gay!' jokes that never get funny and actually grow more and more annoying as they pile up.

Is it because it's a PG-13 film? Did the creators feel constrained by trying to hit a specific rating? I'm not sure. It doesn't seem like it but it's possible.

There are a few humorous moments in the film. It wasn't completely without amusement for me but, on the whole, it just wasn't funny. Not to me anyway.

Strong recommendation to avoid.

Yay bourbon!

Brewers are on a skid.

My back is all sore.

But bourbon still loves me.

H'ray booze!

Such a deal!

I'm on a number of 'hey buy me!' email listings from the different stores that I've done business with online and a few offline. The other day I got a 'hey we have new product' email from one and went to check out the new DVD and the associated pre-order sales. As it turned out, there were a number of different sales involved and another DVD that I didn't have and was interested in. Was there a deal for just the two DVDs I wanted? No, of course not. The only deal featuring both DVDs would also get be 4 CDs I already had as well as an autographed picture that I was neutral on.

Not needing the 4 CDs, I checked the normal price of the other DVD, considering that I could just order those items. The mega deal with the stuff I already had was still cheaper.

I bought the mega deal. Now I have 4 CDs I have to do something with. I've had tougher jobs. :)

Progress is what it is

I've hit a point in my cleaning where I need to dispose of some stuff in order to get the room to continue to clean efficiently. I'm not sure what the best route is for some of this stuff. Books and videos can always be taken to a second-hand store but trading cards?

Or how about broken electronic equipment? I need to find a recycler for that stuff.

It's getting more complicated. And I fouled up my one printer by trying to fix it. Haven't had the time to reopen it. I should have known I had too many screws left over...

Notebook update

Found that notebook I was looking for. I couldn't find it before because I'd put it away properly. Not used to that. Confused me.

'A King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters' review

Everyone wants to feel that they're good at something. For most of us, this is a limited scope sort of thing but it is enough for us to build some healthy self-respect. Perhaps we best understand the expense reporting application so that others in our department at work regularly come to us for assistance. Perhaps our baking skills are excellent so that we can please others with our desserts. Perhaps we're handy with our hands in a way that we can assist others. In the overall scheme of things, these are probably not ways that will gain us celebrity status but can make us happy.

Some have skills that more easily shine on a larger scale. Sports skills, musical skills, comedic skills, acting skills and other entertainment related skills are the sort of thing that can get people to gush over you. Despite your feelings or understanding of your skills, others may encourage you to go 'pro'; that you're good enough to compete at a high level and become a star.

If you're good at playing old video games for high scores, there's an arena to compete in at a high level as well.

'A King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters' is, at its heart, the story of two men competing for the world high score at Donkey Kong. Along the way, trusts are built and broken, shenanigans occur, blockades are built and beaten, there are failures and successes, laughter and tears.

The characters of both main competitors, Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, are drawn well. While the concept of two grown men playing a decades old video game for the status of the high score may call to your mind William Shatner's 'Get a life!' expression from Saturday Night Live, the film makes it clear that both men do have a life outside playing this game. Both are married. Both have jobs. We regularly see the children of Mr. Wiebe. While seriously playing Donkey Kong may occasionally overwhelm their lives, it is not their lives. Some of the other individuals are less developed. As a result, many of them only get the opportunity to look a bit crazy.

Of course, film being film, things can be edited in order to make people look different than they are. Some of the extra footage addresses this concept. From the perspective of some of the main participants, they feel they were represented well. One of Billy's friends indicates that Billy is displeased with how he came across but also that he understands how some of the things he did cast him in a certain light.

Being a Big Geek, I found it easy to relate to these people. While I don't know any of them (I walked past Walter Day either in the year but that doesn't really count) I've know people like them. When people do some things that could be considered suspect, I can understand why they'd be defended. I'm not saying I would have done the same things but I understand.

I recommend this movie and the extras (I watched everything but the commentaries). If you're a Big Geek you REALLY need to watch this film. If not, I think it still has an interest due to the way that the story is told. If you're not a Geek, you may better under why we are like we are. At the very least, you might laugh and tell us to get a life. Which is fine.