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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Garage Days (2002)

Garage Days (2002)

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Released 17-Feb-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Musical Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Audio Commentary-Alex Proyas (Director)
Outtakes
Deleted Scenes-9
Music Highlights-'Squeeze Me' & 'Master Plan' - Garage Days Band
Music Highlights-'Less Than One' & 'After Us' - Sprimp
Music Video-Katie Noonan
Featurette-Garage Days Backstage Pass
Interviews-Cast & Crew-Behind The Garage Doors Interviews
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2002
Running Time 101:00
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (67:52) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Alex Proyas
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Kick Gurry
Maya Stange
Pia Miranda
Russell Dykstra
Brett Stiller
Chris Sadrinna
Andy Anderson
Marton Csokas
Yvette Duncan
Tiriel Mora
Holly Brisley
Matthew Le Nevez
Dave Cotsios
Case ?
RPI $31.95 Music Andrew Lancaster
David McCormack
Anthony Partos


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
English Audio Commentary
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Alex Proyas' Garage Days (2002) is a recent Aussie film that poses the question: "What if you finally got your big break and you just plain sucked?"

    Egyptian-born, Aussie director, Alex Proyas, achieved some success in the world of music videos, before moving on to the big screen. Apart from Garage Days, Proyas also wrote and directed Dark City (1998), and is best known for directing The Crow (1994). Garage Days looks very different to these very dark movies, and is very different in many other ways as well.

    "It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n' roll" (Bon Scott of ACDC)

    Set on the grungy streets of Newtown (Sydney), usually around King Street, Garage Days is a rock saga about a Sydney band's quest for a gig and hopefully, a record deal. Set in contemporary times, Garage Days explores a world where pokies have taken over the pubs, and Aussie pub rock has been pushed aside for cheaper recorded music.

    Freddy (Kick Gurry) is a singer in a garage band. By day he works in a music store, but by night he dreams of being a rock star. Along with his band-mates, Tanya (Pia Miranda), Joe (Brett Stiller), and Lucy (Chris Sadrinna), Freddy desperately tries to raise money to rent a gig venue, and to make a demo to impress famed band manager, Shad Kern (Marton Csokas). Along the way, Freddy falls in love with Joe's girlfriend, Kate, (Maya Stange), while the other band members also face a few personal issues of their own.

    In many ways this movie seemed like the Australian television drama, The Secret Lives of Us, with the odd drum kit in the background. Overall, it is fairly well-acted, and I particularly enjoyed Russell Dykstra's performance as the shonky manager, Bruno. The film is well-shot and edited, and has excellent production values and SFX, with plenty of CGI, funky captions, and fancy cut-scenes.

    However, often the story seems to drag. Some of the scenes are far too long, and some of the gee-whiz cool effects get a little tiresome.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Overall, the transfer is excellent.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness, black level, colour, and shadow detail are all excellent.

    There are no problem with MPEG artefacts, or film-to-video artefacts. Very rarely, a few tiny film artefacts appeared, but it is hardly worth mentioning.

    Only English subtitles are present, and they are accurate.

    This is a RSDL disc, with the layer change placed at 67:52. It was not disruptive.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The feature only has one audio option: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448kb/s).

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent throughout.

    The musical score is credited to Andrew Lancaster, David McCormack, and Anthony Partos. Surprisingly the movie doesn't feature a lot of Aussie pub rock, but rather includes a lot of overseas music of various genres. That said, two ACDC songs feature, which is a nice touch.

    The focus of this movie is on the dialogue, and the rear speakers aren't called upon heavily. Occasionally there is some minimal ambience, such as in the pub at 11:34. The LFE track primarily supports the music, such as the deep bass at 14:01.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are a few extras, which unless stated otherwise, are all presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

Menu

    An animated menu.

Audio Commentary

    Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), co-writer and director, Alex Proyas provides a screen-specific commentary, in which he discusses what inspired him to write the story. Proyas also refers to some of his other films, and the reception this one got at the Sundance Film Festival. On the whole, I found his commentary to be very dry and uninteresting.

Goofs

    Running for about five minutes, this goof-reel contains a short collection of out-takes.

Deleted Scenes

    Nine deleted scenes are included, some of which are extended scenes of those already included in the film.

Songs and Music Videos

    This extra includes Squeeze Me and Master Plan performed by the Garage Days Band; Less Than One and After Us, performed by movie-band Sprimp; and a music video featuring Katie Noonan.

Featurette - Garage Days Backstage Pass

    Running for about four minutes, this extra features Proyas and some behind-the-scenes footage.

Interviews - Cast & Crew - Behind The Garage Doors Interviews

    Running for about seven minutes, this extra features interviews with some of the main cast discussing their characters.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Garage Days does not appear to have been released on DVD in Region 1.

Summary

   To be honest, I volunteered to review Garage Days because some of my friends had told me how much they had enjoyed it. While there were some aspects of the movie and story that I liked, overall I found it a little boring and simplistic.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is good, but limited in its presence.

    There are a few extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Brandon Robert Vogt (warning: bio hazard)
Monday, March 15, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using S-Video output
DisplayGrundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony STR DE-545
SpeakersSony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer

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