Margin Call

Submitted by transformerjay t3_127c7y5 in movies

So I finally got around to watching the movie Margin Call. It was an enjoyable movie and I liked how it was very neat and clean cut for the event that took place during it. The cast did well and the pacing was well installed into the film. With the amount of support I see for this film, and how it always gets compared to the Big Short (for obvious reasons) , I thought it was going to be fantastic. As good as it is, the Big Short still steals the show.

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Sekshual_Tyranosauce t1_jedl2sb wrote

Ill take Margin Call over Big Short. I just love the cast. And Jeremy Irons puts on an absolute clinic in dramatic acting. He does so much with a look, a moment of silence. The first scene he is in the board room is simply a brilliant piece of acting.

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KnotSoSalty t1_jedojqq wrote

Paul Bettany is incredible in Margin Call. The scene on the roof where he casually contemplates jumping is the best scene in a movie packed with great scenes.

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CAJ16 t1_jeeqg1d wrote

This is one of my favorite scenes in any movie. The conversation has very serious repercussions implications , is filled with tension, and simultaneously maintains levity.

Bettany consistently steals scenes in a movie with a very impressive cast.

Edit: a word

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g_st_lt t1_jefpzc6 wrote

He's fantastic. I wish he was in ten movies a year.

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ArgyleTheChauffeur t1_jee0tbt wrote

I loved the Stanley Tucci scene where he does the math for the bridge he built.

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MrCaul t1_jedq9x9 wrote

I've watched The Big Short once and that was enough for me.

I've watched Margin Call several times and will watch it again.

Other than the subject matter, I don't think they have much in common. Margin Call is a compressed intense story about a bunch of people trying to navigate something much bigger than them, it's not just about finances. The Big Short to me, seemed to be just about finances. Also, there are some people in it.

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PennStateInMD t1_jedyzau wrote

The Big Short was an ELI5 documentary. Margin Call is a great and often underappreciated film.

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PropJoe421 t1_jef0dqc wrote

Irons steals every scene he is in, maybe 3 scenes total?

Tuccis bridge monologue at the end, also fantastic.

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Bonzai-Xenith t1_jeelsri wrote

The Big Short is Margin Call made for kids.

The Big Short is still great. It just wants to aim for a larger segment. Margin Call aims for a more narrow segment.

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brandoug t1_jef64sw wrote

This post gets me jacked to the tits. --- Kids

Totally agree. Other than the Baum character dealing with his brother's suicide, TBS is pretty light-hearted while showing us such a serious topic. Great fun, but also great education.

Margin Call is great drama from beginning to end and I watch it a couple times a year since the dialogue is just so damn good.

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Competitive-Boat4592 t1_jee9xr1 wrote

Margin call won’t be many peoples cup of tea, that’s for sure. But i work in finance and I enjoyed it, it captured the sort of ‘nothingness’ that surrounds that world. It’s hard to explain, big short was more colorful, entertaining but margin call has more grim and down to earth. It’ll be very boring and uneventful for people uninterested in the events of 08. It kinda just, goes. That’s why I liked it.

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Other-Marketing-6167 t1_jeey2qt wrote

Absolutely love Margin Call. Over the years it’s slowly climbed up my list of most favourite movies. Really rewatchable and the dialogue is just exceptional.

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donsanedrin t1_jeg66iq wrote

There really is something to the dialogue in Margin Call, because its a movie in which I feel like serious shit is going down, and there's some "holy shit" moments, and the only time I usually feel like that in a non-action movie is when its written by somebody who is critically acclaimed.

But it definitely doesn't feel like Aaron Sorkin. It doesn't feel like Tony Gilroy in Michael Clayton (maybe a little).

Turns out the movie is written and directed by Chandor. Who also made A Most Violent Year, which is a sometimes uneven movie but it does have some heavy moments. And he also made All Is Lost, which doesn't really have dialogue, but its a solid movie.

And then he made Triple Frontier, which I never watched. But I don't get the impression that it was that smart of a movie.

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Other-Marketing-6167 t1_jegov7b wrote

I think it helped that Chandon was a stock broker on Wall Street while writing the flick (or was before he wrote it, can’t remember). It adds an authenticity to how they talk, like how every one of the bosses doesn’t understand the technical shit hahaha

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scherer326 t1_jefonk5 wrote

Any other movies similar to Margin Call worth watching (besides The Big Short). Margin Call was great IMO

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ntjm t1_jegs781 wrote

Too Big to Fail (2011) from HBO.

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transformerjay OP t1_jefqeck wrote

I liked Boiler Room. Glengarry Glen Ross comes to mind as well.

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scherer326 t1_jefrc1g wrote

Ha forgot about that one. Saw Boiler Room way back in the day, great movie . Early vin diesel, Ben affleck, etc

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transformerjay OP t1_jefvvy4 wrote

Back when Vin was trying to act still and not just play the tough guy.

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BrexitFool t1_jeef9bo wrote

Any notice how Paul Bettany’s accent changes throughout the movie.

Really enjoyed this movie. I’m a fan of Simon Baker and I was watching The Mentalist at the time I watched Margin Call. Really showed what a diverse actor he really is.

I wouldn’t bother comparing with Big Short though. Both amazing movies and both very different.

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dbcanuck t1_jef5rdv wrote

Margin Call could be a live play, its all about the characters and their interactions. The fact they build the drama around a real event and capture the culture of trading and corporate politics so well is the chef's kiss. It strongly resembles a David Mamet screenplay.

The Big Short is flashy, and it too has its moments. It leans into comedy hard, and there's a ton of wasted time and effort in my mind. Steve Carrell's accent wtf was that about? Christain Bale's scenes were too many and too affected, Brad Pitt could have been any actor, and the whole discovery of real estate in florida was tedious.

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transformerjay OP t1_jefa5jc wrote

I preferred how the Big Short showed how it was going to affect everyone compared to Margin Call just being about this one company getting out ahead of it. I wanted more after the event facts to appear on screen instead of the implication that we were all just digging graves out there. That being said, I still enjoyed Margin Call for the contained movie that it is.

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rimmed t1_jeg4123 wrote

Margin Call is better for showing what it would have been like in a bank. It also doesn’t show bankers as pantomime villains.

Big Short is a completely different movie. It’s a comedy from the perspective of cynics.

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getBusyChild t1_jef327v wrote

Margin Call is a bit better I think. Only question I have regarding the movie is that when the board realizes what is about to happen why didn't they start offloading the bad assets right then and there? It might have been early morning US time but not in Europe, and Asia. Plus they had traders right there to start doing it.

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