Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

kenrichorton Great acting, Great story. Greed. Bad ending Actors really brought this story out well. Still can't believe how this man did this

davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningAfter the worldwide financial crash of 2008, as that notorious year drew to a close, another massive monetary scandal hit the headlines, in the shape of Bernie Madoff (Robert De Niro), who created a Ponzi scheme that defrauded an endless stream of investors. Speaking on the record to a journalist from prison, he recounts how it all got started, when it all went wrong and the massive impact it had on his wife Ruth (Michelle Pfeiffer) and sons Andrew (Nathan Darrow) and Mark (Alessandro Nivola), who both passed away during his incarceration.Whilst the big screens of the cinemas are clogged up with superhero franchises, and various other loud, mindless mayhem simply designed to suck cash from a loyal fan base, it's falling on online streaming services such as Netflix, or television channels like HBO to bring us weightier, more dynamic and ambitious drama, drawing in the big names along with it. Such has been the case with director Barry Levinson's portrait of Bernie Madoff, the Wall Street fat cat and living embodiment of the 'greed is good' mantra that went so grossly off course.Whilst every other form of diversity is being celebrated and pumped for maximum effect, Hollywood seems to forget that not so long ago, ageism was the number one accusation coming its way, with dozens of older stars pushed to the side lines in favour of younger talent. And so it's to his credit with this that Levinson is able to highlight was this was such a folly, as it seems to be the age and experience of the seasoned, veteran cast that make it work so well. Being the same age as lead star De Niro, the pair seem to have formulated some fine actor/director dynamic that makes it all flow smoothly. It's interesting to think how this might have worked out if it had been another De Niro collaboration with Martin Scorsese, as Madoff appears to be on familiar territory with the type of characters they've explored before, a gruff mobster type using coarse language and taking no sh!t.De Niro never loses his ability to carry a film, and here he perfectly fits the skin of this emotionally detached manipulator, who possesses the ability to destroy hundreds of lives with the coldness of a mass murderer. At the end, as he struggles to comprehend his comparison to serial killer Ted Bundy, does the realization of his persona seem to remotely dawn on him. ****

Sankari_Suomi Controversial actor/producer/director Robert De Niro stars as Bernard L. Madoff in this straight-to-TV drama by popular screenwriter Sam Baum.Beginning in the 1970s, the Madoff crime family rose to power by acquiring huge wealth via their family business: the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC. Ostensibly a well respected investment firm, it was in fact the world's largest Ponzi scheme.The Madoffs took >$64 billion from gullible clients, promising to invest it wisely, and offering strong returns.Some of this money was spent buying politicians and paying off officials to ensure that America's largely unregulated stock market was allowed to run without government interference. Most of it was spent on the Madoffs' billionaire lifestyle.The Madoffs ran their scam successfully for several decades, despite multiple investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As the crime family infiltrated industry bodies such as the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, their access to market controls grew exponentially, until there was virtually nothing to stop them exploiting Wall Street in every possible way.As early as 1999, financial analyst Harry Markopolos informed the SEC of the Madoffs' criminal activities, having concluded that the returns they promised clients were impossible to achieve. Authorities ignored him, and continued to do so for the next 10 years.He later wrote an 'I-told-you-so' book, entitled No One Would Listen.Similarly, none of the major Wall Street firms traded with or invested in the Madoff corporation, because they rightly suspected that it was a criminal enterprise.When Bernard was finally caught by the FBI in 2008 he immediately pleaded guilty, and denied any involvement by the rest of the Madoff cartel. Faced with a lengthy and expensive battle to prove the culpability of other family members, federal investigators accepted his plea, and Bernard took the fall for everyone.Bernard settled comfortably into prison life, and boasted of his preferential treatment, and respect among the inmates.I have no sympathy for his victims. They were all rich people, looking to get richer through a scheme they were too greedy to recognise as criminal.For the rest of the crime family, life continued as usual. They retained their wealth, their lifestyle, and most of their assets. Bernard's sons, Mark and Andrew, were separately investigated for tax fraud, but they cheated justice by dying before authorities could settle the case (Mark by suicide, Andrew from mantle cell lymphoma).Mark had allegedly become 'depressed' after his family's crimes were uncovered, and struggled to find employment after the collapse of his father's Ponzi scheme, having never worked a proper job in his life.His CV contained vague, meaningless titles like 'licensed broker', and his entire career had been devoted to the Madoff corporation. Since nobody in the finance industry wanted to hire an unqualified felon from a notorious crime family, Mark took the easy way out and hanged himself with dog leash, leaving behind a wife and child.Sam Baum's version of the story is a softball puff piece, intended to wash away the stench of illegality and rehabilitate the Madoff crime family as much as possible. De Niro portrays Bernard sympathetically, as a good man—well-intentioned, but a little dreamy—who simply got carried away with his own success. A gag-inducing scene shows Madoff's wife reduced to tears when she discovers that her celebrity hairdresser won't serve her anymore because the Madoffs are now known to be criminals. Such are the terrible First World problems of the super-rich. How they must have suffered! The two sons are played as lovable idiots who had no idea what their father was doing with everyone's money, despite being privy to the inner workings of his corporation. Their deaths are accompanied by buckets of crocodile tears that left me cold.I rate The Wizard of Lies at 9.99 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a pathetic 3/10 on IMDb.

phd_travel You may ask why so many TV treatments of the Madoff affair. But the story is so colossal a tragedy that it is fascinating to watch even though you know all the events. Compared to the Richard Dreyfuss Blythe Danner version of events, this is more stylishly directed more serious in tone. The casting is better too. But there is a bit less detail because it's shorter. There isn't much about how he built up the Ponzi scheme it's more about the downfall and the tragic effect on his sons. It is quite sympathetic to his sons portraying them like victims although some of Bernie's victims might not think they were totally innocent. It isn't sympathetic to Bernie but he does give an excuse about the extent of their losses saying he warned people not to give him not more than half to invest. So why people lost everything was due to their own greed.Robert De Niro looks so much like Madoff there were some scenes I couldn't tell which was footage and which was acting. Michelle Pfeiffer is of course too pretty for Ruth but she acts well and gets that pinched half anorexic Upper East Side look.