Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

The Wizard Of Lies
This film is astonishing! It tells the tale of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history told by one of the best working directors Barry Levinson captured with an incredible cast giving knockout performances from Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hank Azaria and Alessandro Nivola. This film can get a little tiring as the run time of the film is 2:15 minutes and dose feel long but makes up for it with the tremendous performances the film is surrounded by. The Wizard of Lies left be breathless, shocked, disgusted and captivated this film is a fantastic movie.

This film tells the chronicle story of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme.

Rated R : strong language throughout, disturbing images, some drug use

Robert De Niro : Robert shows in this film why he is one of the greatest actors of all time! Robert is one of my favourite actors and he has given us great performances from his work in films like Cape Fear, The Godfather part II and Goodfellas. He dose an outstanding job once again with his truly Captivating performance. Robert plays Bernie Madoff and he could of easily of played him as a sympathetic guy and try and make the audience like him but Robert doesn't do that in any sense of the word he plays him for who he is a devious person and a person that was  unliked by many and lied to many. The way he did it onscreen was so incredible to watch for one its Robert De Niro and he took the character and ran with it he became Bernie. When I was watching him in the film he didn't even seem like Robert he was Bernie from the way he spoke to the way he looked everything Robert really gave a transformative performance. As well as shedding serious emotions in the film. Their was a moment in the film that truly was amazing it was a scene where in order to get himself out on bail he needed the four signatures of his sons and when they tell him they didn't sign the sheer look on his face the pain you see on Roberts face was so real their was no lying behind those eyes. And the greatest thing is he didn't even say a word all that was captured from just Emotion without any use of dialogue that's brilliant acting right their if you can do that. Robert also could show real layers of sadness without breaking into tears and also then switch and become full of anger and just rip people apart in an argument then go back to being quiet and the way Robert could switch all these emotions and make them believable and seem genuine is incredible. Overall Robert De Niro gave one of his best performances I've seen in recent years and probably one of his best performances period.

Hank Azaria : Hank surprised me with his outstanding supporting performance in this film! Hank is known for his voice work on the Simpsons and taking on more comedic roles so when I saw Hank in this I was blown away truly. We haven't seen Azaria really explore the dramatic arena much so after seeing him in this I will tell you he should do more dramatic material because he is terrific in this film. He plays the only man who knew about the scheme of Bernie's now he doesn't have a huge role in the film he probably is only in the film for a good 45 minutes but that 45 minutes Hank chews up the scenery and captivates you within the time he's given onscreen. He showcases emotions I haven't seen Hank explore before. He would show emotions of anger and humour and he really did a great job with it. One minute he could be full of such rage or just being calm and giving such great line delivery the range we see from Hank in the film is incredible. He steals the scene whenever he's in it and truly gives a great supporting performance that shouldn't go unnoticed.

Michelle Pfeiffer : Michelle gives a incredible performance in this film! Michelle is a fantastic actress and has given great work over her career and dose so once again with this film. I'll admit for the first half I wasn't really into her character but when the film progressed and we saw the transformation her character makes Michelle really captivated me with her performance. She really sheds so much different emotions in the film. She plays a wife who wants to stand by her husband through his hard times but when she finds out more and more of what he's done she distances herself and you can see that. The way Michelle way able to show that onscreen was fantastic she would be so full of sadness and sorrow like what have I done I Don't deserve this and she seemed so genuine. When she would deliver her dialogue it didn't seem like it's just being read of a script it felt like the words came to life and she truly meant the words she spoke. She was truly incredible in this film and overall gives a fantastic performance.

Alessandro Nivola : Nivola gives a incredible supporting performance in this film. This actor I am unfamiliar with I haven't seen any of his work prior to seeing this film but after seeing his work on this film I will for sure check out his future projects because he is brilliant in this film. In the movie he plays one of the many sons of Bernie Madoff and he I would say is the most stressed, obsessed and alone son in the film. He really is boxed into a corner and their is a scene where he's calling people and they won't answer and the rise of anger and tension in his voice was so astonishing you can't take your eyes off his performance. His play on emotions explode onto the screen so well he would go from being full of such anger but he would build up to it then he would be totally calm and want his dad's acceptance so the journey his character takes emotionally is incredible to see Nivola go through and he has no false note in his performance he was so real onscreen theirs no flaw in his work in this film. Sadly his performance has been overlooked but it shouldn't it's brilliant overall a incredible supporting performance.

Barry Levinson : Barry gave outstanding direction on this film! Barry is one of the best working directors out their he has given us one of my favourite films Rain Man to films like you don't know jack another great HBO drama. The story we see in the film everyone already knows so the Question is what can you bring that will make the film worth watching and entertaining. Well I will say Barry did a stellar job at taking something that could of been boring material and made it thrilling to watch. He was able to capture fantastic tension in the scenes with his actors along with great performances the work from the actors make this film worth watching and he was able to get such great performances from them. Barry has always been able to entertain the audience with the story but mostly captivate them with the acting and emotion which he dose here once again so well. As well he didn't glamorize Bernie he showed him for his true colours and I loved that he didn't sugar coat anything he showed it for what it was. Overall Barry gave truly fantastic direction once again.

The Lighting : The tones were very blue and grey. The lighting mixture of the film was very grey and it had this tone to it that just worked with the frame and really made it stand out I enjoyed it great job guys.

The Cinematography : The camerawork in this is fantastic! Their is a shot where you see a close up of De Niro looking into the lens or another shot is a close up of his eye and the way the camera was able to capture just those kinds of moments and make them feel so thrilling to watch was amazing. I loved their ability of trying new ways of capturing the scene with different angles I loved that overall fantastic truly fantastic camerawork.

The Score : the music in this film was good. The music was very soft and you wouldn't hear it for the most part but you still knew it was their. It had this calm feel to it that fit the tone and feel of the film right I loved it.