MARGIN CALL starring zachary quinto kevin spacey jeremy irons demi moore stanley tucci

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jQoScJFNj0

so this is (arguably) excessively kind to its subjects, and gets heavy-handed, but i still enjoyed it a lot anyway--kind of shooting for a contemporary glengarry glen ross thing, which it doesnt really achieve, but succeeds as a sort of thriller.

really its saved by the acting, spacey in particular really kills it, quinto is great as a nerd in an expensive suit, even the gossip girl kid is good. strikes me as culturally/atmospherically realistic, though the mechanics of the plot are (i assume) gussied up. you probably have to be into that sort of mamet "masculine men at work" thing i think.

you can rent this on youtube btw

also a little weird: the "bad guy" (i mean theyre all bad guys, but the "worst guy") is named "jared cohen." no one else has a jewish name.

cant remember which thread it was in which we were discussing this film anyway this piece makes some good points http://theamericanscene.com/2011/11/09/no-margin-for-error

haha it was on the sandboxxx

this and Drive might have been the only good movies i saw in 2011

(nb i only saw like 7 the whole year and still haven't gotten around to moneyball, the artist, tree of life, take shelter etc)

only one of those was good neway

that was a p good article i think esp the parts that affirmed stuff i posted abt this movie

good film

I liked it quite a bit

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html

paul bettany actually uses the word "muppets" in this film iirc?

Both Quinto and his pair of eyelashes are out.

my review: Oscars 2012: Let Anticipation Commence

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/why-i-am-leaving-the-empire%252c-by-darth-vader-201203145007/

"margin call" may be the two scariest words that have ever been spoken to me.... well except for "i'm late"....

Watched this tonight because it was the next film in the Netflix queue after Haywire and I didn't feel like getting up. I really wasn't in the mood for it going in, but it hit the right buttons!

l'm pleased. In general, it did very well. However, l was disappointed in the Margin.

Finally saw this, definitely delivered. Really appreciated how it avoided opportunities for melodrama (no violence, suicide, overt crime). Also didn’t remember the cast list once it started, so when new characters arrived it was a surprise. Haven’t seen any other Chandor film, but now am curious.

Been meaning to revisit this one for a long time. I’m a big fan of one he did a few years later, A Most Violent Year.

It holds up -- saw it again a couple months ago. Irons was ham-on-rye though.

some really weird "Margin Call" discourse happening on here I wonder what Chandor is... oh lmao, that sucks man pic.twitter.com/arzTR9hOL5

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) June 4, 2022

Irons was ham-on-rye though

When your character arrives dramatically by helicopter in the middle of the night then stays onscreen for less than 10 minutes, there's a natural temptation to play it up to match that introduction.

I remember a review of that film saying that Irons's line about "explain it to me like I'm a child or a golden retriever" was an obvious bit of audience exposition stuff, but then Chandor said no, that's what those guys are genuinely like. They have no idea about the algorithms and the software. That was a large part of the problem.

Similarly, I did love his line "It wasn't brains that got me here, I can assure you of that."

this is a great scene!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=366DExfdQWM

i enjoyed this and am now watching too big to fail its a vibe here on stephens night

For a movie with a lot of people staring at computer screens, sitting in office chairs, and talking on phones, I thought it managed to encapsulate the genesis of the financial crisis in a way that would keep an audience's attention without too much distortion of history for the sake of drama.

one of the exemplars of halogencore, as coined by max: https://boxd.it/5uvHw

link saved!

enjoying william hurt here, not sure ive ever seen him look as boiled down as this

Irons delivering that "it wasn't brains that got me here..." line while menacingly flipping that paper with his thumbs always kills me...so good.

I remember a review of that film saying that Irons's line about "explain it to me like I'm a child or a golden retriever" was an obvious bit of audience exposition stuff, but then Chandor said no, that's what those guys are genuinely like. They have no idea about the algorithms and the software. That was a large part of the problem.

― trishyb, 11 July 2022 18:44 (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

id read it differently tbh

quinto character the most direct intimate with the issue but even then (and imo a nice touch) he is bad at explaining the urgency and the issue (which to this point has been hinted at in dialogue snatches from characters already aware of the risks)

the top man has asked a few ppl to explain what is happening, and they have all hedged or started to point out either that they arent to blame or that the options on the table aren't palatable, and i dont think its a moral judgement on irons' character at all that he cuts to the chase like this with the source guy, who is *still* even after this direction too in love with detail and lingo and not quite ready for the level of directness sought.

irons' character sets out his job quite clearly- he has an ear out for when the music starts to slow or stops, and he has already decided that is where things are at. its the middle layers that are still trying to play games of career/rep salvage, irons is absolutely miles ahead in that he knows from the off that its a game of asset stripping for one day only and just needs that fully confirmed by the numbers guy

This is on Amazon; just rewatched it. Really love this movie.