Pink Floyd - The Wall

How could he possibly be anything less than artistic when his entire creative spark was ignited by LSD itself? 🙂

It’s honestly kind of impossible to give a fair critique of The Wall when you grew up listening to Pink Floyd—like, my bias is totally showing there! So, yeah, I can't be objective about it at all. But purely from my own perspective? This was one of those first DVDs I grabbed the second I finally got a player... and man, what a ride. The movie is just awesome, but seriously, you really need to catch it in a theater or on a high-quality DVD to actually feel it, you know? You need that crisp picture and that deep sound to get the full experience. At the end of the day, the whole audiovisual vibe is basically half the movie itself.

The movie's great—but man, it’s a total downer. It definitely makes you think... but I’m still sitting here with this weirdly dark vibe lingering after the credits rolled.

I watched it back when I was a total Pink Floyd fanatic, but even then, it just struck me as this incredibly self-indulgent, ego-driven piece of junk.

I could live on a deserted island with just The Wall and the Bible. 😁

The DVD includes some cool bonus footage where Alan Parker mentions he’d change quite a bit if he were remaking it today, but honestly, that’s just part of the process.
I actually had no idea that Bob Geldof made his participation in the movie conditional on getting to sing certain songs.
A friend from a small town in Florida (rest his soul) was telling me about when he first picked up "The Wall" at a shop in Miami and listened to it for the first time. He cranked the volume all the way up, and when that helicopter sound kicked in, he genuinely thought one was hovering right outside his window.

I haven't really listened to much Pink Floyd, aside from that one legendary hit—you know, the one with the kids in school and the wall.
From what I can gather, the movie basically tracks the life of Pink Floyd, right from birth all the way to the end. It makes me wonder though... what actually drove him crazy? Was it his dad passing away, the school system, his mom, or maybe his wife?

Who knows? Honestly, I feel like he probably needed a bit more than just one thing to snap. Maybe this whole world just got to him. Probably just everything getting on his nerves.

My take? The movie is super interesting and pretty unique. Like, compared to something like 2001: A Space Odyssey, this flick has way less dialogue. Most of what you're getting is just the music.
It's pretty wild how a story can be told through songs like that. And based on what I've picked up, Pink Floyd's songs actually touch on a lot of his own life stories.

Yeah, Parker says he’d probably handle certain things differently today—but hey, lucky for us, he wasn't allowed to—though honestly, I'm not sure anyone takes him seriously anymore after Evita. He said everything he had to say a long time ago, and he's pretty much run out of steam since then.

I figured I’d just stick to this thread instead of starting a whole new one, since I really want to hear everyone else's takes on the film. I'm actually downloading it right now...

Is this forum really starting separate threads just to debate whether bands like Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, or U2 are overrated? Unbelievable.

The film is garbage, and honestly, so is the band. I've been successfully avoiding that U2 3D thing so far.

redowl90 said:Is this forum really starting separate threads just to debate whether bands like Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, or U2 are overrated? Unbelievable.

The film is garbage, and honestly, so is the band. I've been successfully avoiding that U2 3D thing so far.

Blasphemy.🙂

One does not debate matters of taste; that would be as absurd as claiming Mahatma Gandhi was a drug dealer or that the earth is flat. However, I respect your perspective.😁
I respect the film *The Wall*, but I do not enjoy it. It feels less like cinema and more like a bad trip or a clinical study of schizophrenia. It serves as an allegory for the life of Syd Barrett—a brilliant artist and dreamer who was ultimately imprisoned by his own mind within a wall of internal fear and suffering. Or something to that effect.😁

Not for everyone

It's dark, just straight up dark. Every single time I watch it, I’m honestly shocked by how good it actually is.🙏

I watched it quite some time ago—back before I had even discovered the music of this incredible band—and I found it to be very good.

People need to realize that you don't actually "debate" Pink Floyd... why do you think there is such an endless cycle of controversy surrounding them, their lives, and how we interpret everything they’ve ever touched, from the music to the films and beyond? 😕 It is precisely because they are such massive enigmas, and they proved that through their craft; you can experience the same song or film a thousand different ways, with no set rules and no two people having the same reaction, which is exactly why they are unique, distinct, and why nobody has ever managed to replicate what they did... 🙏 Honestly, I don't get you all; just immerse yourself in the music and listen, because that is the whole point—it's about the listening, the moment, the feeling, and that craving for something fundamentally different, rather than arguing over what the songwriter intended. You are the one telling the story while you listen; listening is an art form, not a debate, and that is the single most important thing about Pink Floyd—eternal artists. RESPECT

I didn't even know that film existed! Does it cover their whole journey, or just that dark era with Syd Barrett?

restlessharbor25 said:I didn't even know that film existed! Does it cover their whole journey, or just that dark era with Syd Barrett?

Look, the film isn't really about Pink Floyd or their actual history, even though you could argue the main character—Pink, who's basically a stand-in for Roger Waters since he wrote almost the entire damn album—is the focus. It’s an adaptation of their double concept album, "The Wall." The story follows Pink's life as he deals with losing his father, having a mother who's constantly pushing him, and getting bullied at school... it all just builds up until he becomes this totally dysfunctional person who constructs a literal wall around himself just to shut the rest of the world out.

Honestly, The Wall isn't even really a film about Pink Floyd... I mentioned this recently—and ended up rewatching it immediately after saying it—but it’s actually about relationships. It's primarily about the bond between a mother and her son, and then it branches out into all those other human connections... just such a powerful psychological drama, wrapped in great music and incredible animation that hits you with a massive message!

The Wall - Pink Floyd is basically the ultimate combo if you just want to vibe out with a killer film and an incredible band at the same time...

The visuals in this movie are absolutely striking... we’re talking about the early precursors to those flashy cinematic effects long before anything seen in Ston. As for the audio, it’s already being hailed as the absolute peak of Floyd's career—though I suppose it isn't exactly for everyone, is it? Honestly, my old man wanted to drag me to a therapist after seeing what I was watching... though he eventually gave up once he realized that women were my true priority in life. Regarding Parker, he really hit his stride with Angel Heart; that remains one of my all-time favorites. He tried to catch the modern wave later on, but you can't really blame him for that.👍
Definitely recommend it if you happen to be a bit emotionally fragile... especially if you're navigating that mid-life identity crisis. Go ahead, struggle with it a little more, why not?

I took another look at it yesterday after such a long time... and honestly, everything I said before still holds up perfectly.