Garage Days

Rating:
Summary: "You make me feel like an enemy of art."
Review: "Garage Days" is an energetic Australian comedy that follows the antics of a rock band as they make an attempt at fame. The big problems are finding a gig, internal arguments between band members, and getting a decent manager.

Band members are lead singer Freddy (Kick Gurry), waif-like girlfriend Tanya (Pia Miranda), guitarist, Joe (Brett Stiller), and drummer, Billy Idol look-a-like, Lucy (Chris Sadrinna). They are managed by the well meaning but totally hopeless, Bruno (Russell Dykstra). Just as the band pushes for a first gig, Freddy crosses the line by kissing Joe's girlfriend, Kate (Maya Stange). This incident triggers internal conflicts and the film's romantic element. Freddy pursues a slightly sleazy manager, Shad Kern (Marton Csokas), and this gives him a glimpse into the world he so desperately wants to join.

"Garage Days" is an uneven film. It's well edited, colourful, and full of life. The plot is original in spots, but cliched in others. One of the weakest areas of the film is the ongoing sub plot/joke concerning Joe and his melon. It was silly, and rapidly grew old. On the other hand, Joe's underlying mental problems were handled with great originality. Like most Australian films, the story is packed full of quirky characters. Joe's dad, Kevin (Andy Anderson), for example, is an old rocker from the 70s. He spends his days reminiscing about the past and urging the band on. The film's strength is in the characterizations and its fundamental firm grounding in reality. I doubt I would have enjoyed the film half as much were it not for the fact that it's Australian--and that means it's cheeky, bold, and funny--displacedhuman



Rating:
Summary: A rock band in Sydney tries to finally get their big break
Review: "Garage Days" is a comedy from director Alex Proyas made in between "Dark City" and "I, Robot," that asks the musical question, "What if you finally got your big break and you just plain sucked?" The setting is Sydney, Australia, or more specifically the suburb of Newton, although that fact is probably lost on anybody who does not live Down Under. Freddy (Kick Gurry) is the lead singer of a band, the name of which I do not think we ever get to hear, which makes sense because we never really get to hear their music that much either. This is because the band has trouble getting a gig.

Besides Freddy the band consists of Joe (Brett Siller) on lead guitar, Tanya (Pia Miranda) on bass, and Lucy (Chris Sadrinna) on drums. Bruno (Russell Dykstra) is the less than competent manager and Kate (Maya Stange) is Joe's girlfriend and apparentlty the group's sole groupie. What becomes key here is not the group's music (they play "rock") but the fact that they are about to go through the whole "Rumours" phase of Fleetwood Mac, but without the hit album. Freddy and Tanya are living together, but when Joe ignores Kate to run off on his own a conversation sparks a kiss between Freddy and Kate. The next thing we know Joe is trying to rip Freddy's head off, Tanya has moved out, Karen discovers she is pregnant with Joe's child, Lucy continues his question to find the perfect "10" in terms of pharmacological high, and I can still hear you saying that you will never break, never break, the chain.

Freddy and the band need a break, and they might have found one with Shad Kern (Marton Csokas), who is a big shot in the music industry (or at least he acts like one). The band just needs a break, one opportunity to play their music for a crowd and change their destinies. They are about at the point of giving up on the dream, but as Kate points out to Freddy, a dream only becomes something stupid when you stop believing in it and while the notion of having a date with destiny drives the film, it eventually dawns on Freddy that he is dreaming about more than being a rock star. After all, there is the example of former Seventies rocker, Kevin (Andy Anderson), who is as much a cautionary tale as he is an indirect glimpse at the glory days possible as a rock star.

Although the fact that Joe is deeply troubled in a way that goes beyond what the band members experience when Lucy gives them a bit of ecstasy to help mellow them out, this is essentially a feel good comedy. You will get the best sense of this during the final credits when the cast taken their curtain calls dancing to the Tom Jones hit "Help Yourself." Maybe the good feeling I picked up on is more than is actually justified by the comedy, but Freddy is a decent bloke and the story is not exactly following the familiar formula of a musical rags-to-riches story, which also helps. A happy ending is a safe assumption, but what it might take is not a foregone conclusion. Proyas spices up the story with some cute tricks and the result is that "Garage Days" is a fun little movie without aspirations to be much more.


Rating:
Summary: another Proyas enjoyment....for the most part
Review: After seeing The Crow I had much loved respect for Proyas and then he did Dark City and I still did, but I was pretty mad at him for doing I, Robot because I hated that movie with a passion. Then I saw this one on the video shelves and I rented it and I liked it, to some extent. Rock stardom is always interesting, especially when they play. Some good performances (one in mind being Kick Gurry), but some come off as bland. Brett Stiller?? Any relation to Ben Stiller? Maybe? Who knows. Anyway, the slow motion stuff was interesting and kept me from steering away. Marton Csokas (costarred with Vin Diesel in Triple X) also stars as the head manager to Sprimp (nice band name). Highlight would be the dinner scene when their all hallucinating..funny s**t. Proyas pulls off another enjoyable movie...for the most part. This made up for I, Robot. My suggestion is dont go see the crappy I, Robot...rent this one.

Rating:
Summary: very entertaining
Review: I saw this film well over a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival. It was very funny and often visually stunning. Proyas brings his intense and imaginative style to a simple romantic comedy about a garage band, resulting in a unique experience. The romantic aspect is not very strong, but I still give the film 5 stars (rounding up from 4.5). I plan to buy the DVD when it is released...

Rating:
Summary: The "Citizen Kane" for struggling musicians
Review: In the tradition of "Airheads" and "That Thing You Do" comes this against-genre film from the director of the dark fantasy adaptation of "The Crow" and sci-fi classic "Dark City" (as well as this summer's would-be box office hit "I, Robot") Alex Proyas. It's another in a line of interestingly quirky Australian movies (and in fact not terribly dissimilar from the late Michael Hutchence's acting debut "Dogs In Space", though certainly far more light-hearted) that adds to that nation's reputation as a producer of fine cinema that pound-for-pound can go round-for-round with the heavyweights of the industry in Hollywood without breaking a sweat.

The film was obviously a labor of love, and even though the band at the center of the movie was definitely low-fi, the movie itself was shot using first-class editing and production values. The scenes of introspection when characters are given to voiceover monologue are particularly effective, to say nothing of the "Fun With Drugs" sequences. And even though there is a shortage of original music (how do you go about writing a song that you DON'T want to sound good?), the music used on the soundtrack itself is a terrific sampling of classic rock and alternative music that have been genre standards for ages, used to good effect (especially AC/DC and the Cure).

The actors are certain to be unknown to most American audiences, and not all characters are developed as evenly as they should be (this is particularly true of the band's bassist Tanya, who starts out as the frontman's girlfriend and then almost disappears from the plot entirely, instead being relegated to a position player; the fact that the characters are introduced at the beginning of the movie by the instrument they play in the band rather than their respective character names is not likely an accident). It is true that all of the classic rock-&-roll lifestyle cliche's are represented; there are problems with relationships, problems with drugs, and even problems with maintaining a grip on reality. There are sleazy managers, sexually manipulative diva wanna-bes, and has-beens who just don't know when to cut the mullet and get a real job. We've seen these issues play out across the pages of Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines with megaplatinum acts like the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and of course the Rolling Stones. This is a movie that is dedicated to all the bands (a few of which I have been a member of) that never made it far enough to implode in such public surroundings.

As the case of the DVD asks: "What if you finally got your big break...and you just plain sucked?" See this movie and find out.


Rating:
Summary: Saw in Theatres... great movie
Review: Though I have not yet seen the DVD or VHS versions of the movie, I was lucky enough to see it in theatres while in Australia, October of 2002. The Aussie culture shines brilliantly in this film, leaving nothing out.. not even "pokies". There are moments during the movie where I laughed almost hysterically. The acting is great, hilarious lines and characters that could easily be my friends. DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE