Have you ever thought to yourself “I could do this for a living” while you were playing a game of Scrabble? If you’re like most people you probably haven’t. Word Wars is an eye opening film that follows the lives of several individuals who are obsessed with the game of Scrabble. So obsessed, in fact, that some live in near poverty conditions taking part-time, low wage jobs so they have enough time to memorize lists of words that can be used in the game. These gurus have no idea what the words even mean or how to use them in a sentence, but do know they are worth points. Amazing. Grab a seat, some Scrabble tiles and get ready to watch a documentary that is sure to be a triple word score in your movie library.

About Documentary Summer: As the Summer movie box office breaks record after record (biggest opening weekend, most popcorn shoved in mouths, etc), we can’t help but feel bad for the little guy & the films that are forgotten in the multi-million dollar marketing blitz coming from Hollywood. This why we have started our ‘Documentary Summer’ feature. A hand selected group of A&SB staff members will be doing nothing but sitting on their couches throughout the hot days of the coming months, remote in hand, watching documentaries. We will be creating write-ups for the finest ones (A&SB recommended!).

Red Sox vs Yankees, Chevy vs Ford, Ali vs Frazier, and of course Steve Wiebe vs Billy Mitchell. Few rivalries have been as intense and stood the test of time.  King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (trailer) is like watching a voyage back in time to a place where home game consoles were non existent and the dark video game arcades reigned as kings. TKOK takes a look at the intense battle of a science teacher as he struggles to dethrone a cuthtroat hot-sauce mogul for the Guiness high score of the arcade classic Donkey Kong. Watching this movie feels like watching Rocky for the first time, a true underdog story with twists and turns sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. After watching it you might even want to start playing some old 8 bit games again.

About Documentary Summer: As the Summer movie box office breaks record after record (biggest opening weekend, most popcorn shoved in mouths, etc), we can’t help but feel bad for the little guy & the films that are forgotten in the multi-million dollar marketing blitz coming from Hollywood. This why we have started our ‘Documentary Summer’ feature. A hand selected group of A&SB staff members will be doing nothing but sitting on their couches throughout the hot days of the coming months, remote in hand, watching documentaries. We will be creating write-ups for the finest ones (A&SB recommended!).

We don’t want to come off as a bunch of nerds when talking about Helvetica, a documentary film by Gary Hustwit. That will be hard though, primarily because most people invision this film as a simple homage to a common typeface that you find on your computer. Don’t judge us! But we insist that you open your mind (and DVD player) up to this documentary. What we found while watching Helvetica was not just history of a font, but a wonderful commentary about typography, graphic design and visual culture. Most people go about their day to day not realizing the importance of something like ‘fonts’, nor do they realize how much thought is put into their use around them. From major corporate logos (American Airlines, Bank of America, The Gap to name a few) to subway signs in NYC, the Helvetica typeface is more of a part of your life than you may think and letting this documentary open your eyes to that is more entertaining than it sounds.

Nerdy? Yes or No? Oh and this is amazing.

About Documentary Summer: As the Summer movie box office breaks record after record (biggest opening weekend, most popcorn shoved in mouths, etc), we can’t help but feel bad for the little guy & the films that are forgotten in the multi-million dollar marketing blitz coming from Hollywood. This why we have started our ‘Documentary Summer’ feature. A hand selected group of A&SB staff members will be doing nothing but sitting on their couches throughout the hot days of the coming months, remote in hand, watching documentaries. We will be creating write-ups for the finest ones (A&SB recommended!).

Confessions Of A Superhero, directed by Matt Ogens, was one of the darkest & most entertaining films I’ve seen in years. The film tells the story of 4 struggling actors in Los Angeles whose path has led them to dressing up as some of our nation’s most beloved “superheros” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame & taking photos with tourists for tips to survive. As you can imagine, back story after back story is one darker than the next as the director weaves in and out of their lives in this beautifully shot and edited documentary. Though their methods of paying the bills may be outlandish, the drive behind these 4 characters is somewhat inspiring as they simply try to survive in the cut-throat sweatbox/business that is Hollywood.

Go watch this one right away and let us know what you think!