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Directed by |
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Starring |
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Specs |
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- 16:9 Enhanced
- Dual Layer (RSDL 62:28)
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Languages |
- English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
- English: Dolby Digital Surround
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Subtitles |
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Extras |
- Deleted scenes - Hey You
- Theatrical trailer
- Audio commentary - Roger Waters and Gerald Scarfe
- Photo gallery
- Animated menus - Designed by Storm Thorgerson
- Music video - Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2
- Booklet
- Digitally remastered
- Awards/Nominations
- 1 Documentaries
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Pink Floyd - The Wall |
Sony BMG/Sony BMG .
R4 . COLOR . 95 mins .
M15+ . PAL |
Feature |
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Contract |
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I'll warn you, I think Pink Floyd are great. Well, were great; I try to pretend they died in 1983 and were replaced by evil cyborgs who went on to make soulless corporate tripe rather than challenging, emotive and creative works like Wish You Were Here and The Wall. The Wall is Roger Waters' baby, a mostly autobiographical concept album, stage show and film about a burnt out popstar who begins going mad. Haunted by the death of his father in World War II and the departure of his wife, he begins fantasising himself as a fascist dictator who is eventually tried and convicted by a giant arse! Sounds strange? Well, sure, but that's 70s excess for you, and it's spiced up by some astounding animation by political satirist Gerald Scarfe, and of course, the amazing music of Pink Floyd at the height of their creative powers.
Video |
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Contract |
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The video has been digitally remastered and the results are very satisfying. Good, deep blacks, moody and purposeful colour, exceptional sharpness and detail and no obvious MPEG artifacting despite a fairly typical average bitrate. The animation in particular looks gorgeous on DVD. The only marks against the picture are a few minor film artifacts (which you'd expect) and a bit of troublesome aliasing during some scenes, which are a result of the crisp transfer. Softening the picture would have reduced the problem, but who wants that, really?
Audio |
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Contract |
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The most obviously impressive aspect to this disc strikes you as soon as the animated menus appear - there's some serious surround action happening, and throughout the film, the surround channels are used very aggressively. We like, oh yes. The next thing that hits you is the almost excessive amounts of bass that have been mixed into the music. The Wall is the first disc that I've watched in my new room where I've noticed the windows vibrating! Also, the dynamics of the soundtrack are impressive - you'll definitely need Dolby Digital to feel the full impact of 5 speakers roaring at you at once! So, great music, great use of the surrounds and the LFE channel, what's with the average mark? Well, there's some quite distracting hiss during some sections that I tried to mask with cinema equalisation; it did a fair job, but I always heard the hiss there. It's not something we need to put up with with modern digital sound processing technology.
Extras |
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Contract |
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Overall |
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Contract |
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If you're a Floyd fan, you'll want this disc for sure. Sony have done a great job with the transfer, and though I would have liked them to have included the Alan Parker commentary recorded for the laserdisc SE a couple of years ago, the Waters/Scarfe commentary is possibly more relevant and interesting. Good buy, blue sky!
LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=301
Send to a friend.
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And I quote... |
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Review Equipment |
- DVD Rom:
Pioneer 103(s)
- MPEG Card:
RealMagic Hollywood Plus
- TV:
Mitsubishi Diva 33
- Amplifier:
Yamaha DSP-A1
- Speakers:
Richter Excalibur
- Centre Speaker:
Richter Unicorn
- Surrounds:
Richter Hydras
- Audio Cables:
Monster RCA
- Video Cables:
Monster s-video
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