Yeah that scene was silly. Also it was a $3m movie, according to one of my friends - not a mainstream movie, so I think thats why it nails much of the Q4 2008 story that WS2 and TBTF don't. I liked WS2 also, even if it had less to do with Wall Street and more to do with Michael Douglas and David Byrne songs...
I was surprised it was rentable on Youtube while in theaters, but I guess it wasn't released nationwide. Budget: $3,395,000 (estimated) (from imdb.com) From boxofficeguru: "Roadside Attractions enjoyed a good start for its financial thriller Margin Call which opened wider in 56 locations grossing an estimated $582,000 for a commendable $10,393 average. Reviews were encouraging and the performance was especially impressive given that it was also made available day and date on numerous cable video-on-demand systems plus other digital platforms like iTunes, Amazon, PlayStation, and YouTube."
This is so cool how the internet is changing the way we live our lives. Honestly ever since you can watch movies that are in the theater on your computer I'm beginning to invest in that apple tv. Would be great. Forget about going to the movies, much more comfortable at home in my nice warm room.
Breaking Bad goes to great lengths to be correct on the chemistry. I have seen one episode of the program and the lead character went into detail about a cleavage process when discussing his lab with another chemist who he was going to hire. They may as well worked in some magical elves or Bush 9/11 conspiracies. The head-trader (Bettany) came-off as not knowing what a spreadsheet looked like. Head traders would at least have some working knowledge of the maths, but nobody in this firm knew what their VaR was at? That's beyond a plot-inconsistency as the entire film revolved around the plot element that the risk had been unknown.
Atticus reminds me of myself: You are so caught up in your own world you have lost sight of the bigger picture which people have pointed out here. 1. The point of a lot of things in this world are to make money, or an attempt at it. 2. Movies are not aimed at the atticus' of the world, rather the average Joe, and are a source of entertainment, not as reliable fact sources. As my cousin told me, you need to "loosen up." If you go looking for logic holes or flaws you will always find them, especially in movies, which are not *usually* designed to be 100% accurate. Think about the people that direct them. The spend their lives directing, not trading (or anything related to what they are trying to portray in their films), *usually*. I dare you to try to produce a movie atticus. You won't make any money because your film will be on a level few would understand.
(1) Does the "point" change if it's done with a basic level of competency? By fcuking it sideways it somehow becomes more relevant? I'll need some help with that. Here's a direct comparison/different genre. "Limitless" was excellent, IMO. You go into the first 10 minutes knowing that you won't enjoy it unless you suspend disbelief, but it's no less enjoyable. Most fiction is like that. "Hanna" was an excellent thriller, but not based in reality. There is no attempt to make it a dramatization of real events (Limitless). This garbage (Margin Call) is made in attempt to do just that. I don't care about the acting if the central plot element was botched. Making it out as though they were caught with their pants down was over the top. Apply some "new math" and portray that Ito's lemma was wrong, we can travel faster than light, and the new math says we're all fcuked. Make it extraneous, but don't try to pass it off as based in fact. I didn't see it beyond the first 20-25 minutes, but I'm reading here that they somehow netted the toxic assets at a good price to some unsuspecting counter-party? Ya, ok. I only produce pron. I give these titties two thumbs down. 4 Stars! (Out of 10)
I liked the movie, and since I'm about 1000x smarter than 99% of you , that's all than needs to be said.
Movie was great! Let's see... There are no wall street traders, just quants who create bullshit products that no one understands unless explained in "plain english". Risk models that always break and then it's too late. A sales team that needs to dump the products the quants created for a year end bonus. Everyone has to participate like in a collective hippie farm for the "greater good". Finally, there are a few people that try to look good but in the end, they don't give a shit because "they need the money". Perfect Wall Street. Forget the small details that they got wrong, the big picture is good. Enjoyed it..a lot! RG
Disappointingly, 'Margin Call' was a badly underpaced and forgettable movie. It was watchable (just) but lacked atmosphere, lacked believeability and it managed only a simplistic, unrealistic plotline. The reality in the 2008/9 meltdown was that major Wall Street investment banks (eg Goldman Sachs and J P Morgan) had bought swaps to cover their risk exposure to holdings of CDOs. The reality too is that risk is understood on Wall Street through a variety of risk measurements; in the movie the risk scenario proposed came as a shock to a collection of top executives playing dumb surprise to the obvious. Without his usual self-satisfied grin, The Mentalist was one of the top executives but this time lacking entirely his easy ability to decypher whats going on and whats going to happen next. Dan from Gossip Girl had come on down from the Upper Eastside to join in but after wandering about with an empty role he ended up having a boohoo in the craphouse because he'd been given a character with virtually no script.