Watch Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade For Free

Thanks for the memories!

Good movie but grossly overrated

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

1982's Video Game World Champions share their philosophies on joysticks, groupies and life.I enjoyed the discussion of how to make the buttons react faster by using an electric knife, a pencil, or the double tap. I cannot say I was ever so devoted to games that I felt I needed to speed up my response time. Is this devotion? Obsession? A waste of time? Hmmm.I also loved Billy Mitchell's mullet, and the trash talking from the "Missile Command" champion Mister Awesome, who has an obsession with phallic objects. There is something seriously wrong with that guy. Mitchell may not deserve to be famous, but you cannot fault the guy for taking advantage of opportunities that come his way. Awesome, on the other hand, seems to have a warped sense of his own importance... the costume and comic book take any bit of respectability gaming might have and throws it away.

This movie made me laugh, sad, and look away in disgust. You all know the plot by now. Some of the people in this documentary are so over the top, it's hard to believe their real people. One guy has a mullet. A mullet! Who has a mullet in 2007? If you've seen King of Kong, you know who I'm talking about, and he's just as unlikable in this film as he is in King of Kong if you ask me. It could be the mullet that just makes me hate him though. Anyway, back to the movie, a few others have very, um, odd collections, to put it nicely. I won't ruin what they are, but they aren't things I would ever invest it. But don't get me wrong. Some of these guys seem to be normal people you would meet on the street and think nothing of. They all took their arcade gaming experience and made it either the high point of their life, their entire life, or just one thing they did in the past that it isn't really who they are now. You'll feel horrible for some of them, laugh at others, and see yourself being best friends with one or two of them. They may have been famous for similar things, but they are extremely different people.Of course, a comparison to King of Kong is necessary, and while King of Kong is better, I still enjoyed this documentary all the same. 8/10 may be pushing it, it's probably more a 7.5. If you like documentaries, this is one to check out. If you like video games, this is one to check out. If you're really bored and want to watch a movie, this is one to check out. If none of the above apply to you, then. . . go on with your bad self.

I have seen a number of docs in the past year about different forms of gaming, and they have generally been pretty interesting. Part of the fascination is to look into someone else's life and compare it to yours, hopefully making you feel better about yourself. Most of the docs that I've seen don't go out of their way to emphasize how silly or odd some of their subjects may be--they are usually pretty respectful about presenting things objectively, although I am sure they edit the footage to show us the most ridiculous moments. King of Kong was the most successful of these because, I think, it was able to tell a linear story. It had some of the same story elements we are familiar with in fiction, such as exposition, and a climax. Chasing Ghosts is somewhat less satisfying because it just talks to several of the people who participated in a group photo back in the early 80's. Everyone in the picture was a "world champion" of one video game or another. Some of them still take gaming and their accomplishments pretty seriously. The movie seems content to just get by on showing us how geeky the kids grew up to be. I'm not sure what else I could have wanted; I just didn't think it was especially interesting.

Did you know that Arnold Schwarzenegger made his fortune by selling drugs and working as a prostitute? That's perhaps the most surprising revelation of this extremely enjoyable documentary about the glory days of the video arcade. Focusing on half a dozen or so men who became temporary celebrities thanks to their prowess at such games as Frogger, Burgertime, Pac Man, and the most manly of them all, Missile Command, Chasing Ghosts features tons of archival footage and plenty of amusing interview segments. Most of these guys would happily be described as nerds, a few of them are totally over the edge, but their passion is undeniable, and who am I to criticize? After all, I spend all MY spare time watching movies--and there's even less reward for that than racking up a record score on Ms. Pac Man.