That was an excellent one.

People are voting emotionally.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Do yourself a favour and see "The Wannabees" (about a gang of foul-mouthed thugs who become the country's most successful children's show), "Razzle Dazzle" (about a failing dance instructor and a bunch of fellow losers trying to coach a bunch of pre-teen girls to victory) and "Garage Days" about... as best as I can summarize... a rock'n'roll soap opera that plays out like a Hunter S. Thompson nightmare (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas)."Garage Days" is exactly what a quirky, offbeat, rock'n'roll Aussie comedy should be: quirky, offbeat & full of rock'n'roll. Before I even get to my review, I'll mention some of the tunes on the soundtrack: AC/DC "It's a Long Way to the Top" & "High Voltage", The Cure "Boys Don't Cry", Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun", Roxy Music "Love Is the Drug", and a particularly hilarious choreographed psychedelic scene set to Rick James "Superfreak". As in Proyas's masterpiece "The Crow", the music really sets the stage for the whole experience."Garage Days" follows a month in the life of a struggling punk-metal-grunge-pop band trying to get their one big shot. Along the way we get roped into the common themes of sex, drugs, love & friendship... and the not-so-common themes of creepy goth girlfriends, soul-sucking slot machines and talking cantaloupes. The whole movie comes at you hard & fast, like "Amelie" on crack. Quite surprising for director Alex Proyas, master of the cinematic shadows ("The Crow", "Dark City")--it's very bright and lively. If you're a fan of Proyas, you must see this side of him. Much like Tim Buton who did "Batman" as well as "Peewee's Big Adventure", Proyas proves that there's a fine line between darkness & light, and he's able to cross it seamlessly.A note for us Yanks, it helps to watch it with the subtitles because the Aussie accent can run over you like a rabid kangaroo. And some of the quips are priceless, you don't want to miss a beat. I found the script to be hilarious, the acting charming, the story suspenseful and the presentation memorable.Tastes may vary, but I found each character to be instantly likable, from "Freddie" (an odd mix of Peewee Herman and a young Christopher Walken) to "Tanya" (a punk rich girl who sports the perfect blend of hot, cute & badass), "Lucy" (Henry Rollins meets Billy Idol meets Mongo from Blazing Saddles), "Joe" (a puzzler who is best left for you to decipher), "Joe's dad" (an aging rocker who himself is more childish & clueless than his son), all the peripheral characters who did a stellar job, and then there's the guy who steals the show "Bruno" their loser manager (played by Russell Dykstra from the aforementioned "Wannabees").There aren't many well-known movies I can compare this to because it's so unusual, but if you've seen the hilarious Japanese flicks "Kamikaze Girls", "Swing Girls" or "Otakus in Love" I'd say this fits right alongside them. It also reminded me a bit of the funny Rainn Wilson flick "The Rocker", only pumped up with twice the adrenaline and totally Aussified. If you like rock'n'roll comedies, do not miss this!

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.

Yes its Proyas, yes it's definitely brighter than his two big films constantly referenced on this page of reviews. look, i don't even really write reviews for films but i had to mention something about the trashtalking. this movie appears as fluff, it has some derivative leanings to other "rock dream" themes, but i still find it entirely original and engaging. the soundtrack pushes it towards a near musical status, and not a single song played in the background lacks reference to a scene. it's silly but i think it clearly communicates its existence as a work of love; i'm thinking that Proyas chose to be involved to maybe put a little more of his music video background on his shirtsleeve and to discard the goth chic shoebox and i applaud him for it. i mean, the snazzy closeups and slowdowns are here, but its not all special fx glitz. there's a lot of attention payed to the camera-work, the colors, the clothing - this is a labor of love, people. dark city was an excellent film, i've probably seen it fifty times, but it had a campy timelessness that many excused, choosing to see past what it lacked for its other merits...an existential sensibility, a patient sci-fi atmosphere that taught viewers new to the genre how to watch it. i won't go on about the crow but i was a pre-teen when it came out, a fact that should speak for itself. o'barr's comic could have been ruined by most any other directors, as these comic-to-films tend to turn out horrid(but look out with all eyes for SIN CITY-hotdamn).garage days is many things, but it's never really dull. i feel like most rock dream films seem to either saturate themselves in cynical failure or syrupy success, and this film decided to process both angles and consistently keep them fencing till the end credits. i'm using more words than other reviewers, but its fun if you give it a patient stab and really is brutally clever at times. don't sell it out too quick (i hear a lot of people who state that they: "couldn't stand the first fifteen minutes"), and it'll be kind in return. and sheesh, everyone's talking about the "drug abuse" in this film...it's NOT DRUG ABUSE. it's plain, good-old, post D.A.R.E. DRUG USE. it's not a huge point, no one gets killed, no O.D.'s or sweeping life assessments construed at the end of a needle. that in and of itself almost made me appreciate this film, that the drugs in it are just there as dressing, they don't represent some deep tragic lesson that Lucy or the rest need to learn. the characters are flawed, sometimes goofy or tormented or earnest or selfish...i'm cutting the rant short. i gather some people can't appreciate something like this, but it's fantastic and i'ma go watch it on cable, right now, again.10/10: open a window,put down your issue of Squee, and let the sun in.

GARAGE DAYS (2 outta 5 stars) I suppose every rock music fan who doesn't actually join a band wants to write about how cool it *would* be to join one. Thankfully, not all of them succumb to the temptation. Unfortunately, all too many of these paeans to this imagined "coolness" are foisted off on unsuspecting movie-goers (or book readers). Practically every one of these "tributes to the spirit of rock and roll" is exactly the same story. The hero is a nice guy who devotes his whole life to the band (most likely the alter ego of the author). There is a wild and crazy drummer (most likely patterned after "Animal" from "The Muppet Show") who likes to drink and/or take drugs. There is the band's second-in-command who gets jealous, thinking that the hero is taking advantage of him (though of course the hero would *never* be that despicable). There is a chick in the band, too... every fictional rock band has to have a token chick in it... who sleeps with at least one male member before the story ends. Then there has to be the slightly inept manager who keeps making funny mistakes (like sending the band to the wrong gig) and gets the major blame for the band's lack of success... but, when all is said and done, gosh darn it, he was there from the beginning and he's as much a part of the band as anyone so they can't just boot him out. Find all these clichés and MORE in this by-the-numbers effort by talented director Alex ("The Crow", "Dark City")Proyas. About the only thing this movie has going for it is a nice selection of songs on the soundtrack. There are lots of wild, flashy camera tricks and needless SFX... but all they signify is that Proyas saw "Trainspotting", too. The most annoying thing about this movie is that it's big punchline (when the band finally does get its big break we find out that the band really *does* suck) is given away in the advertising taglines on the posters and the DVD covers: "What if you finally got your big break and you just plain sucked?" The one original moment in the movie and they give it away in the advertising. No wonder this movie never got a theatrical release to speak of.