Pink Floyd The Wall (An AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL Tale Where Any Resemblance to Any Person, Living or Fictional, is Completely Coincidental)

Hello People of the Interwebs!

This week, I'm reviewing the 1982 film illustrating the 1979 album 'The Wall' by the band Pink Floyd. The film is "Pink Floyd The Wall"!

Image Credit to IMDb

The film (and the album itself) is about the lead singer of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters (or as he's known in the album "Pink"), and his descent into insanity. It follows his life from childhood to adulthood in a non-chronological, kinda mind blowing way.

The music is amazing. I've listened to The Wall many times before seeing this film, but the visuals in the movie make the songs have even more impact for me. Each song is packed with emotion and power. I-I can't really describe it all that well. My dad and sister were actually the ones who introduced me to The Wall. Am I ever grateful that they did!

The acting in this film is... surprisingly good. The most impactful performance for me was the performance from Bob Geldof as Pink. He says nothing the entire movie. But, his face and body say everything that needs to be said. His emotional performance going from bored rock star to insane maniac is brilliant. The rest of the actors support Geldof's performance perfectly.

The visuals are very interesting. It goes from war scenes, to Pink floating in a pool, filling with blood, to a flower eating another flower as a symbol of sex, to Nazi symbolism. There's some brilliant imagery, but also some very disturbing ones too.

All in all, this film is astounding. The story is beautiful and sad, the music is beautiful and sad, and the visuals are just incredible. Plus, any movie that can make me tear up because of a child playing with a toy airplane gets some respect.

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz

Into the Woods

Hello People of the Interwebs!

Today, I'll be reviewing, 'Into the Woods', a musical that I saw as a part of the TRaC, or the Teen Reviewers and Critics, Program, run by Arts Connection. It's a great program, and they do it for completely free! Check them out here. Anyway, into the review!

Image Credit to Roundabout Theater and Joan Marcus
Fiasco Theater in 'Into the Woods'

The story follows a baker and his wife, and some classic fairy tale characters. These characters include Cinderella, Jack (of the beanstalk), Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood. They each have a wish, and go out to try to fulfill that wish. The story does some clever things, like how the first act ends with a "happily ever after", and then the second act shows that "happily ever after" isn't always forever. But enough with the story!

This show was put on by a theater company called 'Fiasco Theater'. I'm not gonna do any PR fo them right now, but here's their website for you to explore: http://www.fiascotheater.com/. These actors are quite good. They do well with switching between characters in a flash, and they all have pretty decent singing voices. 

What really struck me was HOW it was performed. The set was complicated, with a rope pattern on the back wall, and piano casings on the walls. There were tables, chairs, boxes, lamps, etc. all over the place. The cast used these minimal props amazingly. They used a ladder as a tower, shadows as a giant, stick horses as real horses, sheet music as birds, and all sorts of other clever things. There's just something about this type of theater that really gets me. It reminds me of PigPen Theater Company, and their show "The Old Man and the Old Moon", which I reviewed a few months back. (You can check it out here) There's just a feeling of whimsy that comes from this style of performance.

There's not much more that I can say about it. It's just a beautiful performance. Definitely go see it! You can buy tickets here!

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz