Reviews of Margin Call 2011
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Made me empathize with the villains.
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In a way, this really isn't treading any new water, but for some reason it all sounds and feels so completely fresh. J.C. Chandor is a voice in the making. Especially after reading some reviews out of Cannes for All Is Lost.
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Pretty hard to follow when you have little knowledge of the financial world!
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I like the subject, so maybe that's why this worked for me, but I think it works on many levels, the exploration of how people justify this sort of action to themselves and how the mob mentality sort of takes over and gives you permission to do things, even though you know what you are doing is going to screw other people over.
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Margin Call is one of those movies that - seemingly unnecessarily - contains a handful of well-known actors. Finding one of these movies is always a treat, as I find these well-known faces often encourage me to watch even the most boring or convoluted movie. I knew that Kevin Spacey was a member of the cast (that is why I chose it to watch before bed) but I found myself consistently surprised by who else I found. Oh, Zachary Quinto's…
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An insider perspective of the coming financial crisis that doesn't actually provide a great deal of additional insight that a well written article would. The first half of the film is a series of the same explanation of what is going on as someone then swears and contacts their boss to have everything happen all over again which is just about as boring as it sounds. Once it gets the explanations finally out the of way it gets much better…
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Boy did I like this movie. It's slow, broody and the subject matter is pretty dry but the cast and constant movement of the script makes it an excellent story to get absorbed into. Zach Quinto is a stand performer amongst some Hollywood heavyweights. First time I've really been sold on the guy and think after this pitch perfect performance he has a chance of making the step to leading man given the right role. This might not be for everyone, but I loved the journey
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A movie for tax day.
Airborne disease, nuclear threats, hurricanes, terrorists… I am more frightened by the fragility of our economies, and how frivolous the rest of the world is to some people of power at financial institutions.
This is a world where everyone has a background in engineering. These are MIT graduates, math geniuses with degrees and doctorates that have nothing to do with day trading. They are just the wealthy ones who decided to sell their souls out,…
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The Legal counsellor guy is so lovable.
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Quite an interesting perspective on the global economic meltdown, you can imagine thousands of boardroom meetings like this in the real world. For a drama about the financial market, it was still quite tense. I did end up feeling quite sorry for a lot of the characters, the film did a good job avoiding making any of them pantomime villains. Acting was good across the board (especially Bettany, and also pleased that Tucci got a bit more of a run…
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I enjoyed the 'insiders' perspective of this film, which focuses on a small cast of characters who stand in the eye of the storm that will become the global financial crisis. It is testament to the strength the characters (particularly Paul Bettany and Jeremy Irons' performances) that the film remains interesting despite taking place almost entirely in boardrooms and offices with spoken dialogue.
However the dialogue is a bit of a letdown. I can't help but feel that the director… -
