Home Media Magazine - July 29-August 4, 2007 - (Page 15)

www.homemediamagazine.com REVIEWS I AIR GUITAR NATION Prebook 7/31; Street 8/28 Docurama, Documentary, B.O. $0.07 million, $26.95 DVD, ‘R’ for some language and brief nudity. s playing the air guitar art? Sure. What is art, after all, but something with the capacity to entertain, delight and inspire? Certainly, playing the air guitar is more challenging than covering a canvas with a single color of paint, snapping off a photo or delivering a I few memorized lines in front of a camera. So why not call it art? Is it an art worth an 80-minute documentary? Probably not, but its luminaries are ridiculous and reckless enough to at least make Air Guitar Nation as enjoyable as any other real rock doc out there. The personalities of the air guitar masters are no different than those who, in their youth, chose real guitars over their illusory counterparts — if anything, despite their inherent absurdity and over-hip sarcasm, these fake rockers are a lot more fun and human than their musically gifted contemporaries. Yet for all its chops, Air Guitar Nation doesn’t hit more than its one note joke, and although it entertains for far longer than you might think, it may eventually tire some viewers. Plus, as is often the complaint with rockumentaries, the performances often seem too few and far between. — J.R. Wick Starring: Bárbara Lombardo (The Motorcycle Diaries, A Year Without Love) (The Official Story, Seawards Journey) Hugo Arana Directed by Argentinean writer-director Gastón Biraben Cristina’s life is thrown into turmoil when she is suddenly escorted from her strict Catholic school in Buenos Aires and told that she is really Sofía Lombardi, the daughter of activists who disappeared in the ‘70s. Questioning everything she once thought true, she embarks on a journey to find her true identity. I UNDERGROUND Street 8/7 City Lights, Action, $19.98 DVD, NR. ranchises such as “Tomb Raider” and “Mortal Combat” may prove that it’s possible to turn a successful video game into a fairly successful (if not very highbrow) film. But Hollywood’s only slightly less obvious trend of changing the cinematic experience into that of watching a video game has met with less success. The second “Star Wars” trilogy and final installment of “The Matrix” provide more than perfect examples — as does Underground, a recent lowbudget Street Fighter clone that takes the formula to the extreme. While other video-game inspired F to duke it out for a cool $1 million. Then the story is revealed to us in clips, often voiced over, giving us a cursory glance into the personalities of the investors and fighters. Finally, as though guided by two unseen gamers, we get some well choreographed (and somewhat brutal) fight scenes. The film features a cast of stuntmen from such films as Batman Begins, Casino Royale, Blade II and the upcoming The Bourne Ultimatum. For those who like constant action and minimal mental activity, it’s not films may go overboard on CGI, Un- a bad formula. Despite its rather derground simply uses the video game inane premise and scripting, Underframework as its model. We receive on- ground flies along at a rapid clip, ly the tiniest sliver of a true plot — 12 pausing only long enough to give us different types of fighters are chosen a little extra incentive for our next by a group of wealthy corporate types fight. — J.R. Wick Cautiva Item#: KLF-DV-3130 UPC: 7-41952-31309-0 ISBN: 1-4172-0146-0 • SRP: $26.98 Running Time: 115 minutes Technical Information Aspect Ratio: 16x9 • Audio:Dolby Digital DVD Extra: Trailer Language: Spanish • Subtitles: English National Marketing & Publicity Campaign including advertising in FILM COMMENT and FLM View the trailer at WWW.KOCHCLIPS.COM For more information visit WWW.KOCHB2B.COM Pre-Book Date: 8/14/07 Street Date: 9/11/07 July 29–August 4, 2007 Home Media Magazine 15 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.kochclips.com http://www.kochb2b.com

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Home Media Magazine - July 29-August 4, 2007

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