Change Your Image
Maxwell_Kennedy
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
State of Play (2013)
One of the best esports docs out there.
This film deserves a better rating here on IMDB. This film tells three stories really well. One of a young a korean boy with the goal of becoming a professional gamer in the highly competitive world of StarCraft esports. The second of a new recruit for a pro team and the third featured character is the legendary veteran Jaedong. All three of these stories intertwine to give the viewer a whole view of the scene of Starcraft and professional esports in its birthplace, South Korea. The cinematic pacing and treatment of the subjects is fascinating. This is the first time esports has been approached by a gifted storyteller and is one of the first docs to watch in the esports space.
The King of Kong (2007)
One of my favorite documentaries of all time.
This film is a masterpiece. It is likely the first esports documentary before there was esports. It is much more than that however. Steve Wiebe seems to be driven to prove his value in a way that seems akin to compulsion. At his core he is an honest man that cannot help but be himself. His honesty paints a picture of a victim in the film. He wears his humiliation and acknowledges it. Billy Mitchell has the exact same flaws but is not honest to himself or others. His manner of coping with defeat is to mask, hide and ultimately we find out, cheat.
This is, at its core a film about how two men, compelled to prove their worth, handle defeat and humiliation. It's highly relatable because we all do one or the other. I relate to Mitchell for example and this film has aided me in identifying this flaw. It not like I changed or anything, cuz I'm so great, but yea, at least now I have a glimpse at the appearance of my masquerade.
All Work All Play (2015)
Talented filmmaker makes a valiant attempt
All work all Play is not a riveting story. It is a success however. To date it is one of the few docs to get on Netflix, which is good for esports fans. More is always better. The best parts of the film follow Michal Blicharz. I also loved the opening moments of the film. A doc about esports must be hard to plot for a main stream audience. It requires a lot of explanation to get the viewer up to speed. Describing the game itself to a general audience is next to impossible but also somewhat necessary. I give these guys credit for what they did manage.
Free to Play (2014)
Good doc
I realize that this pieces is a passive commercial and the filmmakers likely had to fulfill a contract, but it's good anyway. I have recently started binging on esports docs and this is one of the better ones.