DVD Report
Jason Katzman
Air Guitar Nation is one of those DVDs that has lots of impressive quotes on its cover. In your mind, you can kind of hear some announcer over-hyping the thing. David Ansen from Newsweek says “genius,” Variety calls Air Guitar Nation “hilarious!” Hollywood Reporter says this film is “…as funny as Spinal Tap.” That’s a lot of hype. Air Guitar Nation lives up to it. It’s one of the most genuine, funny and overall entertaining documentaries in some time.
The film follows the first air guitar championships to be held in the U.S. The organizers will send a representative to Finland, where air guitar has more of a presence and where the world championships have been held since 1996. During the East Coast championship, two rivals emerge and the film follows them throughout. The first is actor David Chang, who takes the name C-Diddy and appears on stage in a red cape and a Hello Kitty bib. The second is Dan Crane, who goes by the clever stage name Bjorn Turoque. Bjorn is much more about the essence of air guitar and his technical prowess. C-Diddy is more of a stage performer.
At each stop along the way, the competition between the two ratchets up and provides the film with remarkable tension. However, it’s the combination of humor and unique subject-matter that gives Air Guitar Nation its wonderful tone. The continuous line-up of weird characters is endlessly entertaining and while there can be a certain seriousness to what’s going on as the competition grows, the contestants, particularly Chang and Crane, never lose perspective, though Crane does seem to come close a few times.
It’s a wonderfully quirky and satisfying film that feels like a cult classic.
At the end of the second season of House, the cranky doc (Hugh Laurie) went into emergency surgery. At the beginning of the third season, now out on DVD, his leg seems all better. Or is it? Of course, not much else has changed. Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) is still trying to figure out how to get House to do what she wants. Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) is still trying to be House’s friend while tolerating his manipulations. And the dynamics between House’s staff, Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps), Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer), and Dr. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) are still largely the same.
So, if “House” is basically the same show it was when it started three years ago, why bother? Well, medical dramas do really work well in the hour format and Hugh Laurie is just that good. If you don’t believe me, go watch The Black Adder sometime. Laurie always has House teetering on that edge between having the audience loving him and hating him and that, more than the medical mysteries that continue to be a lot of fun, is what drives the show. How long it will remain fresh is anybody’s guess, but for now, watching House on DVD is as addictive as any show out there.
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