Garage Days

I had to check the DVD box three times to be sure that it was the name ALEX

PROYAS as director, because this is just such an unbelievably bad and

amateurish film. It would be more believable with its odd tone, jokiness and

musical/fantasy elements if it were a hitherto undiscovered, very, very very early Baz Luhrman project.

"Garage Days" is a whimsical look at a contemporary Sydney, Australia rock

band. For an American viewer, the first obstacle is the slangy, heavily accented Australian dialect. I do understand that is the setting, but for anybody in another English speaking country to understand even half of the plot, they needed to

tone down the accent and the words that are incomprehensible to the (much

larger potential) US audience. Like "pokies"...I guess they are slot machines but it certainly was not clear.

The story is so aimlessly told that although it's about a rock band -- I did get that -- I have no idea after watching the whole film what the band's NAME was. They don't play a whole song until the very end, and then we are told that they really suck -- although actually they are not that terrible. So all the sturm and drang is for absolutely nothing, because they are talentless and as the tie-ups at the end tell us, all the members went on to other careers or get married.

The overall tone of the film is very like an old episode of the Monkees or The Partridge Family -- very jokey and cartoon-like, with lots of stylized action. Of course, because this is the 2000's, we have to get the requisite CGI effects: bullet time, slo mo, CGI monsters and drug trips and other comical moments.

None of this really pans out or seems to work. The emotional tone is so sixties and caricaturing, and yet the story is supposed to be very "now" and the

characters wouldn't have even been born in the 60s.

Some of the lamest moments involve "drug trips", portrayed like something out of Reefer Madness.

I can only scratch my head wondering why Alex Proyas, who made two of the

most stylish, influential and original sci fi fantasy movies of the 90s would have stooped to this embarrassing garbage. It can't have been money, because this is a pretty low budget affair and it can't be fame, because it seems to be aimed mostly at the Aussie film market. Perhaps Mr. Proyas was himself once in a

Garage Band and wanted to relive it a bit, although he would have to be at least 20 years older than the characters in the film.

"Garage Days" suffers quite badly also when compared to rock band films like

"Almost Famous" or "The Committments". Although the idea of a bad, untalented band is quite funny -- think "Spinal Tap" -- there is an inherent problem that no one wants to listen to really bad music for 2 hours. Also, "Garage Days" is just plain unfunny, with tired sitcom-like jokes.

The sound track has a mixture of oldies and contemporary music, played loudly and over every scene, apparently to compensate for a lack of any original music or even covers played by the band in the film. While some of this music is

enjoyable, the loud overwhelming presence of other, more talented rockers

music only draws attention to the lack of any interesting qualities to the

characters or the plot, and doesn't allow the action to slow down enough for us to develop any intimacy with the characters or the romance between the two

leads.

If shown on MTV as the senior project of an wannabe film director, this would still be lacking in quality, but more understandable and maybe forgivable. As the work of one of most respected sci fi fantasy film directors of the last decade, it is actually disturbing. Since "Dark City", Mr. Proyas has only made two films, this and the dull, derivative "I Robot". WHAT HAPPENED???? I'd give ten dollars to know...but the answer would probably make me very very sad.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie sucks on ice.

The "characters" are either overblown clichés (death-obsessed goth girl? Check. Drugged-out drummer with mod haircut? Check check. Ubiquitous use of eyeliner? Check check check!) or ridiculously annoying people who you'd never spend six seconds with in real life.

Script-wise, this is a soggy mess. There are three people credited with the story, which makes sense as there are at least three movies stitched together. My guess is that Dave Warner wrote a comedy, Alex Proyas penned a tragedy, and Michael Udesky scribbled in a notebook while tripping on liquid acid. Then each of them tore out every fourth page of his script, threw the remaining pages up in the air, and stapled the resulting mess together.

The, um, cinematography is aggravating. Tarantino is not hip, MTV is not edgy and that disjointed text-on-screen technique went out of vogue around the 1890's. As for the trip/rave/ingestion scenes, they're as effective as PSAs: Don't do drugs! Why? They're boring as all get-out.

Overall this is a sickeningly inauthentic movie. The acting is laughable, the comedy is unfunny, the pathos makes you hate these people even more than you previously did. All the tattoos look like they were drawn on with Magic Marker. And the band's total playing time is less than two minutes. 90 seconds of that is a fantasy scene.

The ONLY reason to acknowledge the existence of this celluloid horror is its soundtrack. Featuring the Jam, the Femmes, the Cure, Roxy Music and Tom Jones - that's entertainment. Just buy the record and skip this movie entirely.

Being engaged to an Aussie may jade my opinion of this movie, since I have been exposed to some of the little inside jokes and such over the past few years. However, any movie that keeps you talking about it and wanting your friends to see it so that you can chat about your favorite scenes is a movie worth watching.

Yes, it is an old plot, but aren't they ALL?!?! Boy meets girl...boy can't have girl (Groundhog Day fell into this one in one aspect). The underdog(s) fighting all hope to live the dream (a la 8 Mile). We've learned to accept that there are a few plots that work, yet it is the nuances that happen to make them unique. This little movie has some great nuances, so forget the similarities and enjoy the uniquities. Grab a bag of chips and enjoy the ride.

By the way, without spoiling anything, anyone out there who loved seeing the Stanford Tree mascot and the Cal Bear mascot throwing punches during a basketball game will howl out loud at one small scene. I know that I did.

Well, I got mixed feelings about this movie after I saw it. The story is not really bad... and it tries to show what Rock And Roll is about... dreams! But the band image...... I think it happened as many other Rock And Roll movies. The band doesn't look real, it looked as a fake, hand-made band. There's no authenticity in the band. They look like some kinda punk-garage band (specially the bass girl), but the song they're playing at the end sounds as an 80's power ballad or so. The guy doing drums looked more like a techno-whatever D.J. And the other band, the one that it's supposed to be the successful band, is called "Sprimp"... what kinda name is that, for Christ sake?

This film taught me an important lesson. Don't choose a movie based on the past works of the people who made it (which works both ways, actually).

I was expecting a film directed by Alex Proyas to be at least half-decent, but was unpleasantly surprised.

This film has a storyline so lame it's funny, mediocre dialogue, truly appalling acting (with one or two exceptions) and superfluous special effects. Don't waste your time with it. I watched it with my girlfriend and we were ready to switch it off after 10 minutes. We gave it another 10 minutes to see if it improved - nope. Back to the Loch with you, Nessie!