The Big Short

[Eli]

This was good. Good and infuriating. It has a very Oceans-11-style caper feel to it but with the caveat that if the guys you're rooting for win, bad things will happen. Since it's based on true events, you already know that those bad things happen.

Anyway, it's really well acted, enjoyably fast paced (so fast that they sometimes cut away from a scene before a character finishes the last word of a sentence) and does a good job explaining complicated concepts by amusingly using cameos from random celebrities.

[InternetApex]

This was good. Good and infuriating. It has a very Oceans-11-style caper feel to it but with the caveat that if the guys you're rooting for win, bad things will happen. Since it's based on true events, you already know that those bad things happen.

Anyway, it's really well acted, enjoyably fast paced (so fast that they sometimes cut away from a scene before a character finishes the last word of a sentence) and does a good job explaining complicated concepts by amusingly using cameos from random celebrities.

... such as a famous actress nude in a bubble bath. I enjoyed this entire film, even though it did sort of portray the protagonists as "heroes" who were on a mission to uncover destroy Wall Street. It wasn't really like that, even in the book (that I haven't finished. How do people finish books?)

[Slaky]

This was good. Good and infuriating. It has a very Oceans-11-style caper feel to it but with the caveat that if the guys you're rooting for win, bad things will happen. Since it's based on true events, you already know that those bad things happen.

Anyway, it's really well acted, enjoyably fast paced (so fast that they sometimes cut away from a scene before a character finishes the last word of a sentence) and does a good job explaining complicated concepts by amusingly using cameos from random celebrities.

... such as a famous actress nude in a bubble bath. I enjoyed this entire film, even though it did sort of portray the protagonists as "heroes" who were on a mission to uncover destroy Wall Street. It wasn't really like that, even in the book (that I haven't finished. How do people finish books?)

Who's the naked actress. That's the only part of this I read

[Eli]

This was good. Good and infuriating. It has a very Oceans-11-style caper feel to it but with the caveat that if the guys you're rooting for win, bad things will happen. Since it's based on true events, you already know that those bad things happen.

Anyway, it's really well acted, enjoyably fast paced (so fast that they sometimes cut away from a scene before a character finishes the last word of a sentence) and does a good job explaining complicated concepts by amusingly using cameos from random celebrities.

... such as a famous actress nude in a bubble bath. I enjoyed this entire film, even though it did sort of portray the protagonists as "heroes" who were on a mission to uncover destroy Wall Street. It wasn't really like that, even in the book (that I haven't finished. How do people finish books?)

Who's the naked actress. That's the only part of this I read

Margot Robbie. She's covered by bubbles, for whatever that's worth.

[InternetApex]

This was good. Good and infuriating. It has a very Oceans-11-style caper feel to it but with the caveat that if the guys you're rooting for win, bad things will happen. Since it's based on true events, you already know that those bad things happen.

Anyway, it's really well acted, enjoyably fast paced (so fast that they sometimes cut away from a scene before a character finishes the last word of a sentence) and does a good job explaining complicated concepts by amusingly using cameos from random celebrities.

... such as a famous actress nude in a bubble bath. I enjoyed this entire film, even though it did sort of portray the protagonists as "heroes" who were on a mission to uncover destroy Wall Street. It wasn't really like that, even in the book (that I haven't finished. How do people finish books?)

Who's the naked actress. That's the only part of this I read

Margot Robbie. She's covered by bubbles, for whatever that's worth.

Right. This isn't Wolf of Wall Street.

[Powdered Toast Man]

I saw The Big Short last night. I thought it was very entertaining for something that should infuriate. It did infuriate me quite a good bit. But I have no idea what a lot of the lingo meant or how that all worked. Even with the dumbed down, talk to me like I'm 5 parts with the lady in the bathtub or Anthony Bordain or Selena Gomez and that really smart dude.

When Burry wrote "+489%" on the whiteboard and walked out, I gathered that meant he made a fuck ton of money but he wasn't very happy about it because of what it meant for the American economy and people. Same for Mark Baum? And the two young guys working with Rickert? They all made out like kings, right? But they know at what expense and it kind of sucks.

Did I misread all of that?

[Eli]

I saw The Big Short last night. I thought it was very entertaining for something that should infuriate. It did infuriate me quite a good bit. But I have no idea what a lot of the lingo meant or how that all worked. Even with the dumbed down, talk to me like I'm 5 parts with the lady in the bathtub or Anthony Bordain or Selena Gomez and that really smart dude.

When Burry wrote "+489%" on the whiteboard and walked out, I gathered that meant he made a fuck ton of money but he wasn't very happy about it because of what it meant for the American economy and people. Same for Mark Baum? And the two young guys working with Rickert? They all made out like kings, right? But they know at what expense and it kind of sucks.

Did I misread all of that?

No, that was pretty much it. I think Burry also wasn't happy about it because he was exhausted from people not believing him, so writing the +489% was just validation of the entire painful process.

[J Rod]

Watched this last weekend with the wife.  After some infuriating attempts to explain what shorting the market means ("So these guys are assholes? They're the ones who destroyed the economy?"..."No, they're just making bets that the value of certain investments will drop, which will make them money."..."I don't get it.")...she finally fell asleep and I was able to enjoy it.

I thought it was well done and entertaining, albeit with an angle they were obviously trying to perpetuate (...example, Baum's last line, "I'm afraid they're going to blame the poor and immigrants."...with the narrator confirming this...although I've only heard 'big banks' be blamed).  Avoiding a diatribe on the causes of the collapse and responsible parties ("big banks", government, lenders, appraisers, borrowers, ratings agencies, etc.) - I'll just say that I think they all hold some level of responsibility, some more than others.

Oh, and when Baum's team went to Florida to investigate the housing bubble first hand, I will say that they nailed it with the portrayal of sub-prime salesmen (the 2 guys talking about owning boats, earning $10K/loan, being a bartender 3 months prior...) - totally true to form, especially for Florida. And their brief explanation of SISA/NINA mortgage applications were frighteningly true. For awhile there a LOT of subprime mortgage applications were evaluated on FICO scores alone.

[PenFoe]

Watched this last weekend with the wife.  After some infuriating attempts to explain what shorting the market means ("So these guys are assholes? They're the ones who destroyed the economy?"..."No, they're just making bets that the value of certain investments will drop, which will make them money."..."I don't get it.")...she finally fell asleep and I was able to enjoy it.

I thought it was well done and entertaining, albeit with an angle they were obviously trying to perpetuate (...example, Baum's last line, "I'm afraid they're going to blame the poor and immigrants."...with the narrator confirming this...although I've only heard 'big banks' be blamed).  Avoiding a diatribe on the causes of the collapse and responsible parties ("big banks", government, lenders, appraisers, borrowers, ratings agencies, etc.) - I'll just say that I think they all hold some level of responsibility, some more than others.

Oh, and when Baum's team went to Florida to investigate the housing bubble first hand, I will say that they nailed it with the portrayal of sub-prime salesmen (the 2 guys talking about owning boats, earning $10K/loan, being a bartender 3 months prior...) - totally true to form, especially for Florida. And their brief explanation of SISA/NINA mortgage applications were frighteningly true. For awhile there a LOT of subprime mortgage applications were evaluated on FICO scores alone.

This was totally true in Arizona as well, minus the boats.