6 Binge Worthy Wall Street Movies
Pandemic got you down? Hate your boss and need to commiserate. It’s time to fire up Netflix and watch one of these epic Wall Street movies. Educational? Maybe. Entertaining and somewhat Cringy, Absolutely.
The Big Short (2015)
The Big Short is a 2015 Oscar-winning film adaptation of author Michael Lewis’s best-selling book of the same name. The movie, directed by Adam McKay, focuses on the lives of several American financial professionals who predicted and profited from the build-up and subsequent collapse of the housing market in 2007 and 2008.
Michael Burry (Christian Bale), the manager of hedge fund Scion Capital. The year is 2005, and Burry begins to suspect the booming U.S. housing market is virtually an asset bubble inflated by high-risk loans. Burry creates a new sort of financial instrument, called a credit default swap, which would allow him to short the housing market—that is, sell positions, on the assumption that housing prices will drop.
When banks and creditors argue that the housing market is stable—and prices in fact do keep on surging—his clients grow angry and fearful as Burry continues his short plays. When they demand their money back, he places a moratorium on withdrawals from the fund, angering his clients even more.
Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room (2005)
Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room explores the fall of the Enron Corporation, arguably the most shocking example of modern corporate corruption. Enron is linked with several illegal schemes, including instigating the California energy crisis as a way to drive up utility prices at the expense of the average American. In a hyper-competitive environment, Enron traders resort to all kinds of underhanded dealings in order to make money at any cost and keep their high-paying jobs.
Boiler Room (2000)
A college dropout, attempting to live up to his father’s high standards, gets a job as a broker for a suburban investment firm which puts him on the fast track to success. But the job might not be as legitimate as it first appeared to be.
It stars Giovanni Ribisi as Seth Davis, a college dropout who is both intelligent and industrious. He wants nothing more than his father’s approval, but can’t find a way to get it no matter how hard he tries. In his latest attempt to win his father over, Seth gets a job at an off-Wall Street investment firm called J. T. Marlin, a company known for taking young men and turning them into millionaire brokers. Joining Ribisi are Nicky Katt, Vin Diesel, Jamie Kennedy, Nia Long, Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott, and Ben Affleck.
This film is basically “The Wolf of Wall Street” 13 years before “The Wolf of Wall Street” was made.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 American epic biographical black comedy crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Terence Winter, based on the 2007 memoir of the same name by Jordan Belfort. It recounts Belfort’s perspective on his career as a stockbroker in New York City and how his firm, Stratton Oakmont, engaged in rampant corruption and fraud on Wall Street, which ultimately led to his downfall. Leonardo DiCaprio, who was also a producer on the film, stars as Belfort, with Jonah Hill as his business partner and friend, Donnie Azoff, Margot Robbie as his wife, Naomi Lapaglia, and Kyle Chandler as FBI agent Patrick Denham, who tries to bring Belfort down.
Wall Street (1987)
Wall Street is a 1987 American drama film, directed and co-written by Oliver Stone, which stars Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah and Martin Sheen. The film tells the story of Bud Fox (C. Sheen), a young stockbroker who becomes involved with Gordon Gekko (Douglas), a wealthy, unscrupulous corporate raider.
Trading Places (1983)
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis. . Eddie Murphy plays Billy Ray Valentine, the con man who makes his first appearance as a blind, legless veteran. Dan Aykroyd is Louis Winthorpe III, the stuck-up commodities broker. And, in a masterstroke of casting, those aging veterans Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche are cast as the Duke brothers, incalculably rich men who make little wagers involving human lives.
