Avalon
Director: Barry Levinson
Year Released: 1990
Rating: 2.0
A series of vignettes about a family that comes to America, 'the greatest place they've ever seen' - and then as time passes, we witness their disillusionment with what a 'mess' the country has become (in their eyes, at least). Armin Mueller-Stahl is delightful as the grandfather, but the deus ex machina that ignites the metaphorical warehouse of capitalist dreams is a cop-out, and the movie's waving its judgmental finger at television belongs in the 'oh please' category - funny how a director can be complaining about the very medium that makes him money (the 'benefits' of a 'global village' are always glazed over). Levinson's dialogue, for some reason, usually turns into Abbott & Costello: "What's the movie with the stagecoach in it?" "Stagecoach." "No, no, the movie with the stagecoach in it..." etc.
