Last night I had an argument with Max on the phone about whether Margin Call is a better movie than Wall Street. It reminded me of the days we spent sharing a small bedroom with our twin beds (AKA mattresses on the floor) only a few feet apart. We'd get into these discussions that morphed into arguments where I'd become apoplectic. Then Max, in an insidiously soothing voice would say, "You see, you've lost your cool. You're yelling. That means I win." Now of course we've matured since then, so last night there were no raised voices. But clearly, and especially since this is my blog, I was right: Margin Call is a far superior movie. I mean, how can you even defend a movie that has a young guy standing on his balcony, speaking to the Manhattan skyline: "Who am I?" Everybody in the theatre where I saw Wall Street laughed when Charlie Sheen said that. (Funny how nothing has changed; people are still laughing at Charlie Sheen--and not in a good way). So you see, my brother: I won, I won, I won.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Last night I had an argument with Max on the phone about whether Margin Call is a better movie than Wall Street. It reminded me of the days we spent sharing a small bedroom with our twin beds (AKA mattresses on the floor) only a few feet apart. We'd get into these discussions that morphed into arguments where I'd become apoplectic. Then Max, in an insidiously soothing voice would say, "You see, you've lost your cool. You're yelling. That means I win." Now of course we've matured since then, so last night there were no raised voices. But clearly, and especially since this is my blog, I was right: Margin Call is a far superior movie. I mean, how can you even defend a movie that has a young guy standing on his balcony, speaking to the Manhattan skyline: "Who am I?" Everybody in the theatre where I saw Wall Street laughed when Charlie Sheen said that. (Funny how nothing has changed; people are still laughing at Charlie Sheen--and not in a good way). So you see, my brother: I won, I won, I won.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Since you've woken me up I feel I need to inform your readers why I thought Margin Call, though a good movie, missed greatness. A senior manager like Spacey (don't remember character's name), who has a long and strong history with the CEO, would know that if the company were not to "be first", and ended up with liabilities greater than assets, it would be bankrupt and unable to pay their bonuses and would be so disruptive that everyone's assets would be at stake (the SEC, attorney generals, etc). We know, from later in the movie, that Spacey is concerned about money. So I don't believe, if the facts were what they were, that Spacey would have argued about how to treat their customers. His entire financial well-being was on the line. As we know, historically, Lehman was not able to "be first" and most Lehman managers came away with next to nothing. The rest of the movie is spot on, and the details are very good. But there wasn't enough detail, or backstory to make Spacey believable to me. You don't just develop a conscience the same day you have to pay the piper (keep in mind Spacey knew he was making money by pushing the risk envelop).
ReplyDeleteAlso, Margin Call didn't have Charlie Sheen in it. 'Nuf said!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete