Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A lot of fun.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Pink Floyd: The Wall definitely improves with age. It isn't just a great depiction of one mans' descent into madness and the world that created him and a fascinating takedown of narcissistic rock stars and neo-Fascists alike, looking back it is also an insight into the Baby Boomer generation's mindset. Raised in the long shadow of the Greatest Generation, messed up by parents themselves scarred by war, many Baby Boomers do seem obsessively self-protective and self-centred (it's no coincidence that Trumps' signature project is a wall).What strikes me most about The Wall though, is the way it almost unintentionally shows us just how violent the 20th century was. From the wars that ultimately create the Pink Floyd character, to the corporal punishment at school, various riots and neo-Fascist insurrections depicted, Pinks' violence against women and even the casual racism of the old films he constantly watches - the 20th was an incredibly brutal century and this is, if nothing else, a piece of 20th century art. That we can see this shows us that things have got a lot better! An insight into narcissism, an historical artifact, and above all a complete mind f**k, there's a lot in this film. Don't watch it under the influence though - you will miss too much!

I hated this album when it first came out because I was a member of the "old camp" Floyd fans, i.e. "Meddle". I confess to avoiding the movie treatment for 35 years. Until today. What a glorious way of celebrating the solstice. This movie is what Tommy tried to be but failed at miserably. Quadrophenia meets Fantastic Planet, and, no, you need not be stoned or tripping to appreciate it. You might even miss a lot if you are incapacitated. Wow, what can I say? I wasn't even a follower of the Boomtown Rats, but Bob Geldorf's got the pipes for it, for sure. The only thing that would have made it better is the Syd Barrett input, but it is an amazing film nonetheless with a message that resonates today, at least in America

I'm not a Pink Floyd fan, I never really listened to their music. However I think the idea of a concept album is an intriguing one and I've heard that The Wall is the best one and there's a movie adaption. I picked that up for 2 reasons, one was it was cheaper and the other is I'm more familiar with movie storytelling rather than a series of songs telling a story. But I watched it and what transpires is probably the best band movie ever made.The plot. Pink is a rock star who has walled himself in as he recollects his childhood with a father who died in WWII, a mother who ranges from overbearing to negligent, teachers who shoot down his dreams to adulthood where his wife has an affair while on tour. Soon this causes a mental breakdown and he... becomes a Neo Nazi.What's good here? The cinematography is amazingly good, I love the use of set design, lighting and other such things. It also dives into animated segments where we see what's going on in his mind and these are trippy but never in a way that you don't get the symbolism. I think the movie made Pink without a single line of dialogue... sympathetic. I also think the music, whether you're a fan of Pink Floyd or otherwise balances extremely well with the movie telling the story. I may buy the whole album though because it feels as though some songs last about a minute and none of them are bad in my opinion.I think this maybe the best band movie with the competition being Imaginaerum and Yellow Submarine and I'll tell you why this is better than both. Imaginaerum did tell a good story with good cinematography and acting on an obviously tight budget but that didn't have any of the music from the band. Yellow Submarine fares better in terms of the band's music but the story gets a little off kilter. I would say whether or not you'll like this is entirely dependant on your feelings towards the band's music and art-house storytelling. If you don't like either you'll probably hate this but if you don't have feelings one way or the other towards either like I do then you'll probably like this.

"We don't need no education.......We don't need no thought-control.".... So, proclaims the lyrics of songwriter, Roger Waters.Well, if Waters really thinks we don't need these things, then I'd like to know what the heck this joker thinks we 'do' need. This movie, nor the rest of Waters' lyrics give me any clue.I don't know why Waters is belly-aching so much about education and thought-control. It looks like he did pretty well by them. He's rich. He's famous. Does anyone realistically believe that if Waters didn't have any education and/or if he wasn't subjected to some form of thought-control that he would be in the same boat that he is right now!!?? I seriously doubt it. But who knows.And speaking about 'education' & 'thought-control'.....The way I look at it, Waters' lyrics and music are just that. His words are, in a sense, a type of (informal) education and, along with his lyrics, the hypnotic effect of some of his music could, in its own way, induce some honest-to-goodness thought-control. Well, it could. At least I think so.Uh.....I know this really isn't turning into much of a movie review (I'll get to that business soon enough. I promise), but before I veer off this tangent, I've got one more thing to say about another segment of Waters' lyrics."When we were kids and went to school there were 'certain' teachers who would hurt the kids in any way they could." Well, I don't know about where Waters went to school, but where I was educated (middle-class, suburbia) it wasn't so much the teachers (yeah, there were some real arseholes) that would hurt the kids in any way, it was 'the other kids' who were putting each other thru' pure hell in any way they could. I ain't joking.All the relentless teasing, and betrayals, and pushing, and shoving, and bullying (on & on, year after year) that went on at my schools was enough to turn any sensitive, little tyke into a professional wall-builder in no time at all. The biggest bricks for his or her wall would come directly from their classmates, not from their ass-wipe instructors. (No Good! Do It Again!!) Anyway, enough of that, onto my movie review. I'll make it short and sweet.I don't think anyone would argue that bringing 'The Wall' to the big screen was an incredible undertaking for any director, even Alan Parker. I certainly give Parker and his film crew a lot of credit for their efforts to fuse dynamite-imagery with explosive rock music. This dazzlingly choreographed combination works surprisingly well most of the time.But, personally, I think Parker should have left 'The Wall' alone. He surely could have presented us with something just as impressive without the confines of Waters' cynical lyrics and the audiences' preconceived idea of how everything should have appeared thru' their mind's eye.Oh,well......"I have become comfortably numb!"