There is a lot of talk these days about finance, greed, and money. As the stock market took on some losses last year and the Federal Reserve Bank raising interest rates at an unprecedented rate, it’s a good time to sit back and watch some movies about the market makers that move money behind the scenes. I guess there always has been a lot of talk about finance, but it seems to be accentuated these days and nearing a fever pitch. Hollywood has taken notice and made movies in the past about these things. Some are based on fact and some are pure fiction. Regardless of your preference, here’s a list of some of the best moves about money, power, finance, and greed.
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- “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, tells the true story of stockbroker Jordan Belfort and his rise and fall on Wall Street.
- “American Psycho” (2000) directed by Mary Harron and starring Christian Bale, is a black comedy based on Bret Easton Ellis’s novel of the same name. It’s about a wealthy investment banker who becomes a serial killer.
- “Glengarry Glen Ross” (1992) directed by James Foley and starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, is a drama film that is based on David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It’s about the high-pressure world of real estate salesmen and their cutthroat tactics.
- “The Big Short” (2015) directed by Adam McKay and starring Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, is a biographical comedy-drama film that tells the story of the 2008 financial crisis.
- “There Will Be Blood” (2007) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, is a drama film that tells the story of a ruthless oil prospector in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- “Boiler Room” (2000) directed by Ben Younger, starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, It’s about a college dropout who gets a job as a stockbroker at a company that is engaged in insider trading and fraud.
- “Margin Call” is a 2011 American independent drama film directed and written by J.C. Chandor. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, and Demi Moore.
“The Wolf of Wall Street” is a 2013 American biographical black comedy crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Terence Winter, based on the memoir of the same name by Jordan Belfort. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, a Long Island penny stockbroker who runs a firm that engages in securities fraud and corruption on Wall Street in the 1990s.
The film follows Belfort as he rises from a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to a corrupt trader who defrauds wealthy investors out of millions of dollars. The film portrays how this greed and corruption ultimately leads to his downfall and arrest. Alongside with DiCaprio, the film also features Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey and Kyle Chandler.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising DiCaprio’s performance and Scorsese’s direction. It was nominated for several awards, including five Academy Awards and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for DiCaprio. The film generated a lot of controversy due to its depiction of sex and drug use.
The film was based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, who was a stockbroker in the 1990s and early 2000s, and his firm Stratton Oakmont, which was involved in securities fraud and corruption on Wall Street. Belfort’s activities eventually led to his arrest and conviction for fraud.
“American Psycho” is a 2000 American psychological horror-thriller film directed by Mary Harron, based on Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 novel of the same name. The film stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a wealthy and good-looking young man who is also a serial killer and a cannibal.
The film takes place in the 1980s in New York City and centers around Bateman, a Wall Street investment banker who is consumed by materialism and a desire to be the best and most successful in everything he does. He begins to develop a dangerous obsession with killing people, which he justifies as a way to assert his power and superiority. As he sinks deeper into psychosis, his actions become increasingly disturbing and he struggles to keep his crimes a secret from those around him.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising Bale’s performance and Harron’s direction. It was nominated for several awards, including an Independent Spirit Award for Best Director for Harron. The film also generated a lot of controversy due to its graphic violence and depiction of sex and drug use.
In addition to Christian Bale, the film also features Willem Dafoe, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, and Chloe Sevigny.
“Glengarry Glen Ross” is a 1992 American drama film directed by James Foley and based on David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1984 play of the same name. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, and Kevin Spacey.
The film takes place in the world of high-pressure real estate sales, where a group of down-on-their-luck salesmen are struggling to make ends meet. The salesmen are competing for leads, which are the key to making sales and earning commissions. They will do whatever it takes to get ahead, including lying, cheating, and stealing. The film explores the cutthroat tactics and desperate measures that the salesmen resort to in order to succeed in their ruthless and cutthroat profession.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the performances of the cast and Mamet’s writing. It was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Baldwin.
The film was shot in sequence, the script was not given to the actors until the day of filming. This is a common technique used by David Mamet to keep the cast in the right mindset, and to make the performance more spontaneous.
“There Will Be Blood” is a 2007 American epic psychological drama film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and written by Anderson, based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!” The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, a ruthless oil prospector in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The film tells the story of Plainview’s rise from a solitary prospector to a wealthy oil tycoon. Along the way, he will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, including manipulating and exploiting those around him. His pursuit of wealth and power leads him into a moral and psychological downward spiral, as he becomes increasingly isolated and paranoid.
The film received widespread critical acclaim, with Day-Lewis’s performance being highly praised, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Day-Lewis won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Plainview, making him the first actor to win three Academy Awards in the lead actor category.
The film is known for its minimalist style, with most of the dialogue taking place in voice-over, and the use of long shots of the landscape, which are used to create a sense of isolation and emptiness. The film’s score, composed by Jonny Greenwood, also received widespread acclaim and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
“Boiler Room” is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Ben Younger and starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, and Ben Affleck. The film is about a college dropout named Seth Davis, who gets a job as a stockbroker at a firm that is engaged in insider trading and securities fraud.
The film is set in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and follows Seth as he becomes embroiled in the high-pressure and cutthroat world of stockbroking. Despite the illegal and unethical practices of the firm, Seth is seduced by the money and the lifestyle that comes with it. As he becomes more deeply involved in the firm’s activities, he struggles to reconcile his own moral values with the ruthless tactics of his colleagues.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising Ribisi’s performance and Younger’s direction. It was nominated for several awards, including an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
The film is loosely based on the real-life experience of Ben Younger, who worked as a broker at a similar firm during the 1990s. The term “boiler room” refers to a type of high-pressure sales operation that is characterized by its use of aggressive tactics and high-pressure sales pitches to sell securities or other financial products to investors.
“Margin Call” is a 2011 American independent drama film directed and written by J.C. Chandor. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, and Demi Moore.
The film takes place during a 24-hour period at a large investment bank in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. The story centers around a group of high-level executives and employees who are informed that the bank is on the brink of collapse due to the discovery of a massive amount of toxic assets on the balance sheet. The film explores the complex financial dealings that led to the crisis, as well as the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by the characters as they struggle to save the bank from ruin.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the performances of the cast and Chandor’s writing and direction. It was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The film was praised for its accurate and detailed portrayal of the financial industry and the events leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. It was also noted for showing the human side of the crisis and the personal and ethical dilemmas faced by the characters.
I’ll write up another post soon about movies about the 2008 GFC (“Global Financial Crisis”) but these flicks should provide you with some entertainment!!