The Big Short

A dramatized satire about the Housing Market Crash of 2007 and the ensuing economic collapse of 2008. Now has a works page.

Edit: Also has a book, which I need to read some time.

edited 5th Jan '16 4:44:03 PM by IndirectActiveTransport

Best horror movie of 2015, IMO.

EDIT: Seriously, this movie really left me unsettled.

edited 6th Jan '16 10:53:49 AM by nervmeister

I like how it takes the piss out of the myth of rich bankers, Wall Street in general, being smart and talented, as well as the failure of The Wall Street Journal. Now we just need one for executives and we'll be good...then again, as much as the people chewed out, say, the auto industry bailout, I think the bank bailout was worse.

I had friends I respected who built houses, I've even taken part in the building of a house, but it's a market I had grown to despise by at least 2001. I knew a lot of "neighborhoods" were being created that no one really lived in, I saw people living in buildings for a couple weeks before disappearing but the connection to bank mortgages was never picked up on until someone explained it to me after the fact and, not being a financial expert, this movie really exposed a whole lot I didn't know or even know to think of.

They'll be doing a hindsight movie about student loans next, I'll bet.

edited 13th Jan '16 9:11:45 PM by nervmeister

But you know, aren't most college students supposed to be smart? If not foresight to avoid a mess smart then at least got scholarships so I really don't need these smart? How many really got swamped in student loans?

Nope. You can find lots of dumb 'bricks' over there (speaking from personal experience - I said some really stupid shit back then, especially in the first year of college), just as much as on the regular streets. Even if they sugarcoat it with "eloquent" vocabulary.

edited 16th Jan '16 2:22:10 PM by Quag15

They were probably of the "no guts, no glory" mindset.

Coming out of the film three days ago, and forgive me for not reading the book, but who exactly are the ones in the film supposed to stand for the real life people from the book (i.e, whom Mark Baum is standing in for, etc.)?

Here is a slideshow that tells who played who and which real life person they lined up with.

And don't worry, only the first page is particularly wordy, all the rest get right to the information you are looking for.

A little late to the thread. But, as much as I enjoyed the style of the movie.

I actually found Margin Call to be a better movie and the characters to be a little more deep. The Big Short felt a little procedural to me, even for docudramas. I compare it to Pirates of Silicon Valley which also had characters to reached a little farther.

Really like Mark Baum's character tho, I found the character anguish in these (normally very corporately dry) situations to be surprisingly effective. But all the other characters are.... eh?

Conversely I found almost all of the cast of Margin Call to be more compelling. And I think it's a tad better written too. It's a shame that The Big Short is nominated for best picture and Margin Call is largely ignored (only a best screenplay nom)

The Big Short did not clean up at the awards, if that's any consolation. I think it won in one category.

But I do agree that there were better put together films equally worthy of nomination that were largely ignored for reasons no one seems to have.

edited 26th Mar '16 6:17:34 PM by IndirectActiveTransport

Oh, I have no angst about The Big Short getting any awards recognition. I liked it, I just thought Margin Call was better with it's characters, which I definitely seriously recommend by the way if you're in the mood for a good money drama.

A movie like this about college debt is probably in the cards right about now tho :P