Rating: 
Summary: Liberty Heights: highly Personal and pedestrian
Review: the Baltimore Series includes the Excellent DINER and TIN MEN but also the also-ran AVALON and LIBERTY HEIGHTS. The all have many things in common. First, they all take place in Baltimore. But, more importantly, they each examine life in a charming, personal way with great dialogue and offbeat situations. LIBERTY HEIGHTS aims very high tackling anti-semitism, racism, communism, segregation and Frank Sinatra. And all of that is done in light, quaint surroundings that display the innocence of the 50s. Even with some great performances, LIBERTY HEIGHTS can't help but feel derivitive. The youngest son travels a road already explored in Robert DeNiro's A BRONX TALE while the oldest brother seems ripped right from THE CIDER HOUSE RULES. All of this mixed with obvious connections to the earlier Baltimore films. So, Libert Heights is a nice film and a must for fans of LEVINSON's Baltimore films, but his pacing is starting to age. Enjoy..
Rating: 
Summary: An Eye Opening Film For All Generations To Enjoy
Review: The first time I watched this movie was on a whim and I didn't know what to expect from it. I quickly found myself becoming infatuated with the story line. Barry Levinson has created a masterpiece with this film that stars Joe Mategna, Ben Foster, Adrien Brody and Bebe Neuwirth who are theKurtzman family living in suburbian Baltimore, Maryland in a place called Liberty Heights in the year 1954. Along the way their experiences are chronicled as integration has just begun. I could go on and on, but you have got to see this movie for yourself. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: So nu, where was the plot???
Review: This film started out with some great moments, such as the young Jewish boy's first encounter with lunchmeat on white bread at the home of a gentile friend -- served with MILK yet! (For non-Jews reading this, the kosher laws forbid serving meat and milk at the same meal -- it just doesn't happen in Jewish cuisine.) And I loved his parents' shocked reaction when, in a creative stroke of adolescent rebellion, he dresses up as Adolf Hitler for a Halloween party. But I soon became bored with this attempt to do a Jewish version of American Graffiti (if that's what it was...) After 45 minutes of trying to find a plot that went beyond drooling over girls who were forbidden fruit, I finally gave up. My impression is, that this film was a disconnected series of nostalgic vignettes from Levinson's childhood, strung together on a weak thread about how hard it was to be Jewish in the 1950s. Problem is, I already KNOW it was hard to be Jewish in the 50s -- so what else is new? Although the acting was good and the characters were sometimes interesting, the script itself didn't hang together. The subplot about the father's burlesque show and the numbers game served no real purpose in the story except to give an excuse to have a stripper strut her stuff every other scene change. Or was this a broad hint that the scenes were like vaudeville acts, each entertaining in itself, but only loosely related to the rest of the show? Whatever Levinson's intent, this movie just did not cut it for me.
Rating:
Summary: Charming
Review: This is a charming movie. I lived 6 blocks from Barry Levinson in the Forest Park section of Baltimore. I think he lived on Springdale. I lived on Norfolk Avenue. We are 10 years apart. I'm now 49. We both went to school #64 (Liberty School) and Beth Tfiloh synagogue. This is a terrific movie. It has a lot going for it. I never heard the expression "the other kind." "Goyim" -- yes. "The other kind" -- no. Barry's Baltimore films are wonderful. Human warmth is their chief attribute.
Rating:
Summary: Charming
Review: This is a charming movie. I lived 6 blocks from Barry Levinson in the Forest Park section of Baltimore. I think he lived on Springdale. I lived on Norfolk Avenue. We are 10 years apart. I'm now 49. We both went to school #64 (Liberty School) and Beth Tfiloh synagogue. This is a terrific movie. It has a lot going for it. I never heard the expression "the other kind." "Goyim" -- yes. "The other kind" -- no. Barry's Baltimore films are wonderful. Human warmth is their chief attribute.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this movie
Review: This is one of the sweetest films I have seen in quite some time. I was really touched by the gentleness of the story. Everytime I thought something bad would happen to the characters, it wouldn't. I was very disarmed by that and it helped remove me from myself and really drew me into this very loving portrait of growing up in Baltimore in the 50's. Wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Entertaining.
Review: This movie is about a Jewish family and how each goes through some kind of prejudice or problem. Surprisingly they take it with a comic view. I happen to own it, and I just love watching it.
Rating:
Summary: Love those Baltimore movies
Review: This was a sometimes humorous, sometimes touching, sometimes serious movie. Well-acted and thought out, this movie takes you back to the 50s in post-segregationist Baltimore. As a resident of Maryland, I love movies that show this state in a positive light. Although this movie may not have done well at the Box Office, it is worth checking out since it touches on a little romance, drama and everything else. Bebe was terrific as the prejudiced, but well-meaning Mum. Since it has some sex jokes and strip scenes, this film is probably not suitable for young children.
Rating:
Summary: Love those Baltimore movies
Review: This was a sometimes humorous, sometimes touching, sometimes serious movie. Well-acted and thought out, this movie takes you back to the 50s in post-segregationist Baltimore. As a resident of Maryland, I love movies that show this state in a positive light. Although this movie may not have done well at the Box Office, it is worth checking out since it touches on a little romance, drama and everything else. Bebe was terrific as the prejudiced, but well-meaning Mum. Since it has some sex jokes and strip scenes, this film is probably not suitable for young children.
Rating:
Summary: well-intentioned mess
Review: This was a very disappointing movie. Barry Levinson's record on Baltimore-based movies has been excellent: "Avalon" and "Diner" are films to be seen over and over. "...And Justice for All" [as co-writer, not director] is a memorable black comedy. And "Tin Men" is OK. "Liberty Heights" just does not come together; it's all over the place. The segments featuring Ben Foster as the younger son almost work, thanks to the actor. Joe Mantegna shows what a great professional actor can do with weak material. Adrien Brody as the older son spends much of the film [this is definitely a movie, not a film] looking confused; probably more as the result of not receiving help from the director as to what his segments are all about. The confusion and the stereotyping in these segments [about the supposed lifestyles of wealthy English-Americans] are embarrassing. Even more distressing are the scenes involving a black drug dealer. This is one of those cases where one wishes a talented filmmaker had a good friend who could look at the filmed bits and ask, "Are you sure you want to do this?" With this kind of semi-autobiographical movie, one is tempted to cut the director some slack because of the overlap between hazy nostalgia and an ostensibly accurate depiction of past events. However, in this case the result is not worth the ambiguity. This is the kind of movie people want to like. It is supposed to be personal and it is dealing with socially important issues. Fine. But, it has to be evaluated as a MOVIE and, as such, it fails.
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