Rating: 
Summary: Funny, strange, poignant, and an interest perspective.
Review: Barry Levinson's semi-autobiographical look at life in the mid '50's, from a Jewish perspective, is funny, interesting, and poignant, and fairly strange. It ironically stars Joe Montegna as a Jewish business man, with many troubles, Bebe Neuwirth, as his wife and some other interesting characters. One funny, but not funny, moment (if your Jewish) is when his son tries to go to a Halloween party dressed as Adolf Hitler, much to the horror of his mother and grandmother (which is understandable). An interesting side story is the relationship between one son and a highly attractive (black) girl. Prejudice runs several ways in this movie; a definite reflection of the times, but does not detract from it. [An aside-the only thing that marred the viewing of this disc was a slight bit of debris; which I cleared off and then the disc played fine-a bit of advice to all dvd users to check and clean edge to edge; never, ever, in a circular fashion.] Otherwise a fine film. Well acted, good story, which does a credit to Mr. Levinson. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: AMARCORD
Review: Director Barry Levinson will certainly not be remembered in the future thanks to such movies as RAIN MAN or SPHERE but rather for his Baltimore movies DINER, TIN MEN, AVALON and now LIBERTY HEIGHTS. This director is clearly suffering from the Clint Eastwood syndrome : a filmography divided in two sections. Like Clint, Barry Levinson has to direct blockbusters to have the right to direct more personal movies that won't bring a penny to Hollywood studios.Don't think for a minute that the Baltimore of Barry Levinson has anything to do with the Baltimore described by John Waters, another glorious son of the city. No, it's the Baltimore of the 50's and 60's that Barry Levinson recreates again and again, a Baltimore seen with the tenderness of the souvenirs. LIBERTY HEIGHTS is a perfect entry for the social comedy genre. LIBERTY HEIGHTS is also a movie about integration and Barry Levinson uses in a smart way the american inclination for cars to describe how racism is nothing more than the fear of something that is unknown to us, even if these strange things or people are only a block away. People must move, in their head or by car, in order to strengthen the social cement. Above average bonus features with, among a lot of goodies, interviews of the cast, a featurette and trailers ( LIBERTY HEIGHTS and DINER ). A DVD to discover.
Rating:
Summary: Much like a TV show movie
Review: I felt like I was watching The Wonder Years, except in the 50s and dealing with slightly more serious themes. I thought it was pretty good, I did not get bored, and the music was very good. I may even buy the soundtrack. Very beautiful girls, funny situations, gives you a very strong nostalgic feel. Simplifies the complex religious, racial, and social borders that are felt by many people, and makes you wonder why they are there. They shouldn't be. A good movie, very much worth watching if you are looking to rent a movie that is new and you have never heard of before. I will probably buy the soundtrack first before buying the movie though... It is that good.
Rating:
Summary: Writer-Director Barry Levinson Scores Again
Review: I love his recollections of the 1950s in Baltimore which mirror the same era where I grew up, Cleveland. Levinson's story is very intimate about families, friends and relationships forming or not forming within that time frame and locale. This film reminds me of an earlier film of his, "Avalon", which depicted the most marvelous relationship between a boy and his grandfather. This newest movie has a family at its core too: a Jewish family with mother, father, grandmother and two sons, all living together. What I like best is that Levinson goes for "days in the lives of" these characters rather than tacking some contrived plot on these people to move things along instead. You literally see them become the people they are through leading their daily lives and what happens in those lives. I didn't find the black drug dealer a contrived aspect since the father owned a numbers racket and could be expected to cross the paths of other criminals. Besides, Levinson did not let his movie become a crime thriller by inserting the black drug dealer whereas so many other writers would have let the whole movie descend to that level. If you are a fan of "Avalon" or "Diner", and I am, than it is hard for me to see how you can go wrong with this movie either.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Intimate yet Touching
Review: I loved this movie, and I certainly didn't grow up in the 50's. Rather, I grew up in the late 80's-early 90's! I thought that the chemistry between the two main characters was great, and I loved how they were so... well... proper! (Unlike today's movies, where they would have had a baby by the end). It was funny and touching, and I ultimately I felt like I was there. I definently recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Worth the money, and worth the time.
Review: I went to see this movie three times, I adored it, I loved it,I can't wait to see it again! I went to see the movie because I am afan of BEN FOSTER'S, and because it was set for the 1950's. I didn't know who ADRIEN BRODY was when I went to see the movie, but now I'll never forget him, because Adrien is a beautiful man, and had major talent to back his beauty up. I think that the few trailers for this movie lied. This movie is NOT about a white boy who falls in love with a black girl. This movie is about a Jewish father, and his two sons. Lovely Ben Foster, who played BEN, befriends a black girl, he didn't fall in love with her. Adrien Brody, who played SYILVAN (VAN)DID fall in love with a girl who happened to be nonjewish. I really loved this movie, but I don't think that the relationships between BEN and SYLVIA (Sylvia played by singer/actress REBEKAH JOHNSON)and SYILVAN and DUBBIE (Dubbie played by CAROLYN MURPHY) were stressed enough, I think that they could have shown Ben and Sylvia hanging out more. I also think that Syilvan's (Van's) friends could have had more of a point in the movie. Orlando Jones was crude and funny, at times. I really think that all people should see this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: watchable but uninspired
Review: If there is one subject the reflective, autobiographically-inclined filmmaker seems to obsess about above all others, it is the glorious innocence of his own childhood. This seems to be doubly the case when that upbringing has taken place in a heavily ethnic family and neighborhood filled with intergenerational and societal conflicts. With Barry Levinson, of course, the scene is the Jewish section of Baltimore known as Liberty Heights at a time - 1954 - in which the old standards of segregation and unquestioning devotion to tradition were beginning to crumble in the face of an up-and-coming generation of freethinking youths. The youths in this case are two brothers in their late teens, sons of a local burlesque theater proprietor and local numbers runner, who face down anti-Semitism as they flirt with interracial and cross-cultural dating. `Liberty Heights' is a perfectly decent little film, well acted, relaxed in its pacing and admirably lacking in obvious melodramatics. Its portrayal of interracial tensions - paradoxically, between two equally despised and mistreated minorities, Jews and blacks - is surprisingly restrained and subtle. Thanks, too, to understated performances from a first-rate cast (Adrien Brody, Bebe Neuwirth, Joe Mantegna) and an air of casual believability in its screenplay, the film does relatively well by itself. Most admirably of all, the movie does not overstate the villainous qualities of its `bad guys,' and by so doing, manages to see the subtle shadings of virtues and faults that lie in each of us. However, all this niceness comes with a price. With so little in the way of genuine conflict, the film seems to wander a bit aimlessly for much of its running time. For one thing, the relationship between the father and his two sons remains strangely sketchy, possibly because they share very little screen time together. We never sense the reality of the bond that so obviously exists between them, so much so, that, when the father is finally caught and sent off to prison, we have no way to fairly register the feelings or reactions of the boys. Not only does this incident seem to leave no mark on their emotions, it provides no sense of how it colors their perceptions of their father's moral character. The unfortunate fact is that this material has simply been played out now by the umpteen similar films which have come before it. What are needed at this late date are some fresh insights to help breathe some new life into the formula. These Levinson, as both writer and director, simply fails to provide. We watch with cool detachment as the scenes play themselves out in predictable and uninspiring fashion. Perhaps it is time for filmmakers as a whole to move on past thinking that their every childhood memory should serve as fodder for the audience's edification. Unfortunately, for `Liberty Heights,' fine as it is at times, we discover we much prefer our own childhood experiences to theirs. **1/2
Rating:
Summary: Personal Cinema Of The Best Kind
Review: Liberty Heights is one of those deeply felt movies about innocence and childhood. Set during the 1950's about a jewish family named the kurtzmans who live in Liberty Heights a suburb of Baltimore. In a time of racial diversity and integration. Two sons Ben Foster and Adrian Brody experience life. Ben meets this African american girl from school who is very sweet and pretty in his eyes. Adrian Brody plays Van who is the older son. Both sons of a Burlesque house owner father played Joe mantegna. In the hands of Barry levinson this is a deeply felt funny movie. The fourth installment of his Baltimore series. With a winning cast Including Ben Foster, Adrian Brody, Joe mantegna and Bebe Neuwirth who is a great actress and is not in the movie enough in my personal opinion. A very good movie worthy of attention and deeply felt. This is a worthy installment in Barry Levinsons Baltimore series.
Rating:
Summary: Too few people saw this movie.
Review: Liberty Heights was one of those movies that seemingly came and went and was forgotten before anyone really had a chance to see it. This isn't all that surprising considering the film didn't contain many things blowing up, didn't have any special effects to speak of, and lacked a big name star. It's a shame though, because this is really a hidden treasure. I wouldn't even know how to categorize this movie. I suppose "coming of age" film would be the most generic way. The plot centers around two Jewish brothers, one in high school, one a bit older, growing up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in the 1950s who come to the enlightened realization that 99% of the country is non-Jewish and some are even of a different race! Thankfully the film never gets preachy about this subject; the boys come to this discovery while avoiding the annoying cliches that "message" movies are too often filled with. What I enjoyed so much about this film, besides the terrific performances by the mostly little known actors, was the quality of the writing. In most films centered around teenagers I have a difficult time suspending disbelief because the characters don't act like real teens would in the given situation. Not so with this film. The relationship between the main character, Ben, and his newfound black friend, Sylvia, progresses almost exactly as I imagine it would have in real life. And when the older brother, Van, comes to the discovery that just because we might idealize someone (in this case a beautiful, blond, WASP), it doesn't necessarily mean the idealized individual deserves the admiration, I had to smile, having had very similar experiences in my own dating life. The only real flaw I can think of in "Liberty Heights" is a subplot regarding the boys father, and the trouble he gets into when a numbers scam he is running goes sour. It just seemed like one of those things they add into a movie to add more conflict. I thought the story of these two brothers was strong enough to carry the film, without having to throw in the somewhat convoluted subplot. Otherwise, I highly recommend seeing this extremely underappreciated movie.
Rating:
Summary: Levinson Brings Back the Past
Review: Liberty Heights, a new movie written and directed by Barry Levinson, shows gives a complex portrait of what it was like to be a teenager during the mid-Fifties in Baltimore, MD. In many of his movies, Levinson uses a character as a cinematic equal to himself. If Elijah Wood was the young, wide-eyed representative of Levinson in Avalon, Ben Foster plays the curious, more mature teenage version in Liberty Heights. The change in the age of Levinson's cinematic emissary is reflected strongly in the film. Taking place in 1954, the film covers such topics as racism, segregation, and anti-Semitism with a more cynical and much less reverential eye than the beatific Avalon. Foster's character, Ben Kurtzman, is a high school senior with one African-American girl in his class as a result of the Brown vs. the Board of Education decision. Partially as a result of a friendship with her, he begins to see the world for what it really is, exiting the sheltered world of his youth where everyone was Jewish and no one had a problem with that. It is apparent that this movie will not sugar-coat this era from the very beginning when Ben's mother, Ava (Bebe Neuwirth), refers to anyone not Jewish as "the other kind" moments into the film. Ava is certainly a kind and sympathetic character, but like everyone else, she is real. To wit, Ben's father (Joe Mantegna) is the proprietor of a burlesque theater and runs a numbers game on the side for real income. The film revolves around the three men of the Kurztman household: Ben, his father and his older brother, Van (Adrien Brody). While Ben is literally discovering African-Americans for the first time, Van, a student at the University of Baltimore, is confronted with anti-Semitism and the barriers that exist for him because he is Jewish. One of the most interesting aspects of this film is the comparison of anti-Semitism with racism against Blacks. It becomes evident that though the civil rights movement was beginning to make headlines during those times, Jews faced a similar, yet subtler brand of discrimination. The performances in Liberty Heights are excellent across the board. Foster quite ably carries the film, aptly conveying a cynical yet curious outlook on the events that unfold. Also good is Rebekah Johnson, who plays Sylvia, the Black girl in Ben's class whom he befriends. Though the same was true of all the performances, Johnson's was particularly free of any of the conventions of acting, coming across as simple and genuine. With Liberty Heights, Barry Levinson has managed to paint a compellingly complex and accurate picture of what the mid-Fifties were like. This multi-faceted story shows it to have been an era where discrimination knew no color or religion, but where change happened rapidly and, in many cases, for the better.
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