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Simply A Masterpiece

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Blistering performances.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I have always liked this movie and am sorry it did not do as well as other Levinson films. It's obviously a Jewish family that is depicted although there are no specifically Jewish scenes, like lighting the candles or anything like that.As the family becomes more Americanized they move away from the family circle center. The suburbs and TV become the two most alienating forces. Armin Mueller-Stahl, Joan Plowright and Elijah Wood were all great.I particularly liked Aiden Quinn as the father although he is obviously not Jewish.I mention it as one of the Best American Movies about Immigrants on Associated Content.

"Avalon": I don't put a film into my TOP category with ease. I take it very seriously. Each time I see "Avalon" by Barry Levinson, I appreciate it, and him, more. This film has depth, humor, complexity, subtlety, sadness, resignation, joy… It is Family. For better and for worse, Family. The passage of Time, the scars we Inherit, Create, Share. Moments and Memories - precious commodities. A beautiful film that looks at five generations of Family, over a 60+ year span. It's a totally emotional film. The layers are always present. We see this family through the eyes of everyone, which is quite a feat. You get to know everyone. You see their point, then you see someone else's point, then you see what is happening and what may not be repaired. On it goes. And it makes you want to hold your family a little closer, and work a little harder at making it the center of Life, even when it seems impossible.

1st watched 5/18/2007 - 9 out of 10(Dir-Barry Levinson): Wonderful storytelling and performances in this very personal account of a family from Russia in the early 1900's and their life adventures in America. The story is told from the grandfather's perspective, played remarkably by Armin Mueller-Stahl, who arrived in Baltimore in 1914 during the 4th of July celebration and was mesmerized and humbled by the city's grand welcoming party. It is told by interweaving flashbacks as the grandfather tells the story to his grandchildren but the current storyline is kept in place. We see how family's start in-tact and then are spread apart by distance, class, jeolousy and petty bickering chronicling how probably many families were separated once arriving in the United States. We see enterprising young people trying to make it big in this new land of opportunity and their ups and downs in that struggle, portrayed by cousins played by Aidan Quinn and Kevin Pollack. We see the rough interchange between the mama's boys' new wife and the stepmother as they try to keep the family together despite the American mentality in it's early formings of keeping each unit to themselves independently. All of this intertwined with excellent performances, direction, visuals and a quiet stroll thru their lives. I admit, there are some minor story additions that seemed un-necessary but for the most part this is a well done perspective of America from those coming here from another country and enjoying it. A rare, clean family movie about a family that should be seen by all families.

It's hard not to like a film that has a lot of positive qualities, especially one that's been touted as a classic and has otherwise had praises heaped upon it. And, as if to add more laurels, Barry Levinson is at the helm of something that is very dear to his heart. I really love the picture for all of its positive qualities, but wow, what an emotional downer at times.This film offers a slice of Americana that's all too familiar with people east of the Rockies, and depicts the various eras it travels through with great ease and artistic thoroughness. Everything from the young can-do energy of the offspring to the stern wisdom of the family heads. Their loving moments, pitfalls and other emotional crests and troughs are depicted with tender loving care.But my God how depressing. I feel like I just had dinner with a Russian Jewish family, and went home with not only some leftovers for tomorrow's dinner but a healthy portion of guilt.It's as if the film is a backhanded criticism of the good things America offers. The family grows, diversifies (as all families do) and eventually comes to an end as a traditional Euro-Asian clan might once exposed to the rigors of American society. We're given guilt, but the main character never comes to a realization of how or why it is things have come pass.As magnificent as much of this film is I can't help but feel stabbed in the heart at the end. But one wonders whether that was because it was the filmmakers' intent, or whether it was because the need to be true to the actual person upon which the film's main character is based was kept true to form. If the later is the case, then it speaks volumes about how this person treated others in terms of laying guilt, and perhaps, in this way, speaks of the culture from which he came.In the end it's not a movie I'd see again, but certainly one I'm glad was made, and certainly one that I'm glad I finally saw. If you're in the mood for some high drama and your personal and familiar history is more in tune with east coast and Midwest America, then give the DVD a whirl. But do yourself a favor and see a cartoon or comedy at the end.