Margin Call

[baumer]

Review Discuss and Have Fun!

[CoolioD1]

Took a subject I don't care at all about and made it totally fascinating. Amazing cast, all on the top of their game. Top notch screenplay as well.

[rockNrollaDIM]

Yeah, I enjoyed this. Cast was excellent, and a really strong outing for a first time director. I like when a film can cover only a small period of time, a little more than a day in this case, and still make a totally compelling story. I have my own opinions of these guys (Wall St. scummmmm!) but I can appreciate that the movie wasn't totally judgmental... it doesn't change my opinion that their actions- all of theirs- were deplorable. But it shows you that in that situation, with that business culture, they were kind of on a sinking ship.... and they chose the survival option. It's just too bad that it was at the expense of the majority of the rest of the world's population.Oh and I thought that Paul Bettany and Jeremy Irons were really fantastic.8.0/10

[4815162342]

Incredible ensemble with a sharp screenplay and tight, tense pacing. Brilliant 2011 outing.

[TheMovieman]

Eh, the first half was good and then it just got redundent (how many times did somebody ask where Eric Dale was?) to the point where I got kind of bored. The only redeeming factors is the ensemble cast and a few sharp lines of dialogue, otherwise I felt it was forgettable.

3/5, C+

[acsc1312]

A sharp drama with style. Screenplay was good, acting was satisfactory, and the selling sequence was well done. It kind of ended abruptly, though.A-

[mattmav45]

I'll get the negatives out of the way first.............perhaps a bit uninvolving, lacking depth, and suffers a little bit from redundancy in the second half.

Good cast, and it was interesting watching the interplay between the characters as everything started to unfold. It works best as a study on capitalism and I think Spacey character summed it up best with the line, "I'll keep working not because that was a good speech, but because I need the money." Interesting that even those with somewhat higher morals and ideals in the film (Spacey) still didn't care enough to get out in the end. Pretty scary cycle.

B

[ladyevenstar22]

finally watched this....pretty good but it kinda ended abruptly ...i wasnt expecting this but as i read a few reviews here and mind you i had no idea what the film was about beforehand it makes sense if the film was only focusing on that day before all mayhem publicly broke out

 

loved the acting by all the cast, i know what the movie is about and yeah pretty much agree they are the scum of the earth  but i had never bothered to see things from their perspective , and why should i , i'm part of the regular people who don't know anything about that game and wouldnt know how to begin playing it , its a cutthroat business , cold calculating and unfeeling yikes

 

can you imagine being someone like jeremy irons character, practically behaving like a god above it all , he had some really good quotes that left me pensive , we mere mortals see how morally wrong it is, but he only sees the patterns he functions on another level feelings don't ever compute in his equation 

" So you think we might have put a few people out of business today. That its all for naught. You've been doing that everyday for almost forty years Sam. And if this is all for naught then so is everything out there. Its just money; its made up. Pieces of paper with pictures on it so we don't have to kill each other just to get something to eat. It's not wrong. And it's certainly no different today than its ever been. 1637, 1797, 1819, 37, 57, 84, 1901, 07, 29, 1937, 1974, 1987-Jesus, didn't that fuck up me up good-92, 97, 2000 and whatever we want to call this. It's all just the same thing over and over; we can't help ourselves. And you and I can't control it, or stop it, or even slow it. Or even ever-so-slightly alter it. We just react. And we make a lot money if we get it right. And we get left by the side of the side of the road if we get it wrong. And there have always been and there always will be the same percentage of winners and losers. Happy foxes and sad sacks. Fat cats and starving dogs in this world. Yeah, there may be more of us today than there's ever been. But the percentages-they stay exactly the same."

 

that quote is something else...how do you sleep at night? is that how that percentage of rich people stay rich ? i guess its easier not to care about money when you have more than you could ever spend and so why would you care about regular joes

 

and to think the gvt bailed out these people , maybe they should bailed out regular people instead....ahhh the way of the world....

 

also this quote by bethany's character will emerson:

 

"Listen, if you really wanna do this with your life you have to believe you're necessary and you are. People wanna live like this in their cars and big fuckin' houses they can't even pay for, then you're necessary. The only reason that they all get to continue living like kings is cause we got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off and then the whole world gets really fuckin' fair really fuckin' quickly and nobody actually wants that. They say they do but they don't. They want what we have to give them but they also wanna, you know, play innocent and pretend they have no idea where it came from. Well, thats more hypocrisy than I'm willing to swallow, so fuck em. Fuck normal people. You know, the funny thing is, tomorrow if all of this goes tits up they're gonna crucify us for being too reckless but if we're wrong, and everything gets back on track? Well then, the same people are gonna laugh till they piss their pants cause we're gonna all look like the biggest pussies God ever let through the door.

 

 

i was so very happy to see zachary quinto in this , like i said i had no idea what the film was about but it was in my oscar 2012 hopefuls list consisting of films that got nominated and films that were talked about during awards season

Edited April 24, 2013 by ladyevenstar22

[Lordmandeep]

What happened is a lot of banks unloaded a lot of stuff (mortgage back security mostly) which was pretty valued as being worthless and some of the firms saved themselves...

 

However they crashed the entire market and that would happen whenever you have someone having a fire sale, As the market burned it bankrupted other firms crashing the market more and leading to the financial crisis. 

 

 

It was nuts the next day some of the firms just realized that the stuff they had was worthless...

 

Likely goes down as one of the biggest failings of capitalism. 

[riczhang]

1987, didn't that fuck me up good. So true, probably the largest one since the depression, excluding the late 2000s one. Bad memories for some people. 

[riczhang]

What happened is a lot of banks unloaded a lot of stuff (mortgage back security mostly) which was pretty valued as being worthless and some of the firms saved themselves...

 

However they crashed the entire market and that would happen whenever you have someone having a fire sale, As the market burned it bankrupted other firms crashing the market more and leading to the financial crisis. 

 

 

It was nuts the next day some of the firms just realized that the stuff they had was worthless...

 

Likely goes down as one of the biggest failings of capitalism. 

 

MBS weren't worthless per se. 

[ladyevenstar22]

i've always wondered about this though why americans in this instance (as i know their not the only country citizens who do this) live beyond their means just because they can?

 

its like on that show the big loser where a challenge was to eat as much cupcakes as you could and win a pass for the week weigh-in or resist the temptation and work out hard and hope you lost enough weight to stay in the game another week on your own merit and sweat, basically reaching your goal the hard way which isnt a sure thing or the easy way which might seem a sure thing in the now but not the long run!

 

i always tell my nephews its the same basics no matter the situation you're in

[Lordmandeep]

People live outside their means because real wages have not grown and with low interest rates for over decade plus, people have easily able to afford a level of debt. Look at my self I am new graduate, if I wanted to I could go way in debt because the banks give me the ability to do so. 

 

The smart people during this time lowered their debt and payed it off, yes financially it does not make sense to pay off debt in a low interest environment... However whatever payments you make will go more to actually paying the balance down.

 

The point is if your debt payments worry you in this interest rate environment, your debt level is way way to high. 

 

 

Of course all MBS were not worthless but in the film they were selling off worthless securities to people in a fire storm sale. 

[Goffe]

the stellar cast almost makes me like this movie, almost. Some of the dialogue had me cringing hard. 55/100

Edited August 23, 2015 by Goffe

[Avatree]

funny this got brought to the top of this subforum, I literally just watched this (great) film last night as Goffe posted that comment ^