For the Love of Money

Flashback to 1973, and how one brother was good, but the other was always getting into trouble. So much family backstory. About the first hour of the film. It takes a long time for izek and levi to move to los angeles, but they finally get there, and get mixed up with drug dealers. Izek stays on the straight and narrow (mostly), but again, levi gets in deep with rough crowd from miami. Shootouts. Revenge. This seems to want to be a lesser version of the "godfather", but it just goes all over the place. It kind of lost its focus. Does the wife really have to scream so long about her husband going on a trip to straighten something out? Some familiar faces....james caan, ed furlong, jeff tambor. It does have some fun music from the 70s and 80s that we haven't heard in a long time. Lots of violence, blood. Swearing. A goofy ending. Was that just bad editing? This script needed more work. Photos of what appear to be the actual family members on which this was based. Wikipedia states this film was based on the life of one of the producers. Directed by ellie kanner. Written by jenna mattison.

The production design was good. Excessive use of old songs though. Old music is welcomed even in a dentist's chair but they should feel natural. The actual people who's story this film tells may have struggled but it doesn't come out here. A few brothers and cousins go to another country, and a few good and a few bad things happen...Could be anybody's story. James Caan saved it. However, it tried to be The Godfather and that is something no film should attempt to do. Some parts cater to the nostalgia very well but for some reason the film feels like Styrofoam, you watch it and you don't know what to take home from it. Or may be it's just me. This is my first review I hope I haven't written anything that qualifies as spoiling.

"A wise man once said the love of money is the root of all evil." Izek (Longo) is a young boy growing up in Tel Aviv. He is introduced to a life of organized crime at a very young age and has grown accustomed to it. After a member of his family becomes to involved in the world the family decides to movie to Los Angeles. Izek, looking to leave the world behind begins his new life and a quest to live American dream. I have to admit that if a movie is about organized crime in anyway I will watch it. When they are done right they are great, but the problem is that too many try to be "Goodfellas" and end up falling flat. While this movie isn't terrible it is also nothing amazing either. I think the biggest problem I had with this is that it didn't know what it wanted to be. Even though it is a true story it seemed like it was trying to hard to have the organized crime aspect (even having James Caan in it) but it didn't really fit in with the rest of the movie. I don't know how to explain what I mean but watch it and you will see. This is not a bad movie but it tended to drag a little and I was starting to lose interest in some parts. Overall, not bad but also a pretty flat movie that had more potential. I give it a B-.

This film seems to have everything going for it. Good production value, nice nostalgia, great and accurate time warping, good play by good actors, lovely cars and great music memories. So obviously what's not working here is the drive of the story. A pity because this could have been really good. However, it you looking for a drama more than a action movie, there's a good chance you'll be quite satisfied.

A story based on real life events. We meet a couple of Israeli boys growing up in Tel Aviv, later on moving to L.A. To experience the American dream. Being successful with starting burger bars, going further on to dealing with cars, we follow the rise of gangsters. Being stupid enough to not showing the right amount of respect for Levine, they get into deep trouble.

The story is told like many well known gangster movies. I love James Caan's role as the mob boss Mickey Levine here. He is excellent!

The main film makers behind this female, and you might feel that. If you see this as a drama, and don't compare it to the gangster movies it pretends to follow I the line of, this is quite good film making.

The description of this movie makes it sound lively and action-filled. In fact, it is slow, uneven, and devoid of character development. I kept wondering if the people in the film were actors. James Caan does a good job, but it isn't enough to save this. The ending is sappy. If you want entertainment, go someplace else. Don't even bother popping popcorn.