Ill take Margin Call over Big Short. I just love the cast. And Jeremy Irons puts on an absolute clinic in dramatic acting. He does so much with a look, a moment of silence. The first scene he is in the board room is simply a brilliant piece of acting.

Paul Bettany is incredible in Margin Call. The scene on the roof where he casually contemplates jumping is the best scene in a movie packed with great scenes.

I've watched The Big Short once and that was enough for me.

I've watched Margin Call several times and will watch it again.

Other than the subject matter, I don't think they have much in common. Margin Call is a compressed intense story about a bunch of people trying to navigate something much bigger than them, it's not just about finances. The Big Short to me, seemed to be just about finances. Also, there are some people in it.

The Big Short was an ELI5 documentary. Margin Call is a great and often underappreciated film.

I loved the Stanley Tucci scene where he does the math for the bridge he built.

Margin call won’t be many peoples cup of tea, that’s for sure. But i work in finance and I enjoyed it, it captured the sort of ‘nothingness’ that surrounds that world. It’s hard to explain, big short was more colorful, entertaining but margin call has more grim and down to earth. It’ll be very boring and uneventful for people uninterested in the events of 08. It kinda just, goes. That’s why I liked it.

Any notice how Paul Bettany’s accent changes throughout the movie.

Really enjoyed this movie. I’m a fan of Simon Baker and I was watching The Mentalist at the time I watched Margin Call. Really showed what a diverse actor he really is.

I wouldn’t bother comparing with Big Short though. Both amazing movies and both very different.

The Big Short is Margin Call made for kids.

The Big Short is still great. It just wants to aim for a larger segment. Margin Call aims for a more narrow segment.

This is one of my favorite scenes in any movie. The conversation has very serious repercussions implications , is filled with tension, and simultaneously maintains levity.

Bettany consistently steals scenes in a movie with a very impressive cast.

Edit: a word

Absolutely love Margin Call. Over the years it’s slowly climbed up my list of most favourite movies. Really rewatchable and the dialogue is just exceptional.

Irons steals every scene he is in, maybe 3 scenes total?

Tuccis bridge monologue at the end, also fantastic.

Margin Call is a bit better I think. Only question I have regarding the movie is that when the board realizes what is about to happen why didn't they start offloading the bad assets right then and there? It might have been early morning US time but not in Europe, and Asia. Plus they had traders right there to start doing it.

Margin Call could be a live play, its all about the characters and their interactions. The fact they build the drama around a real event and capture the culture of trading and corporate politics so well is the chef's kiss. It strongly resembles a David Mamet screenplay.

The Big Short is flashy, and it too has its moments. It leans into comedy hard, and there's a ton of wasted time and effort in my mind. Steve Carrell's accent wtf was that about? Christain Bale's scenes were too many and too affected, Brad Pitt could have been any actor, and the whole discovery of real estate in florida was tedious.

This post gets me jacked to the tits. --- Kids

Totally agree. Other than the Baum character dealing with his brother's suicide, TBS is pretty light-hearted while showing us such a serious topic. Great fun, but also great education.

Margin Call is great drama from beginning to end and I watch it a couple times a year since the dialogue is just so damn good.

I preferred how the Big Short showed how it was going to affect everyone compared to Margin Call just being about this one company getting out ahead of it. I wanted more after the event facts to appear on screen instead of the implication that we were all just digging graves out there. That being said, I still enjoyed Margin Call for the contained movie that it is.

Fuck! What time is it?

Any other movies similar to Margin Call worth watching (besides The Big Short). Margin Call was great IMO

He's fantastic. I wish he was in ten movies a year.

I liked Boiler Room. Glengarry Glen Ross comes to mind as well.

Ha forgot about that one. Saw Boiler Room way back in the day, great movie . Early vin diesel, Ben affleck, etc

Back when Vin was trying to act still and not just play the tough guy.

"2:30"

"Fuck me. FUCK me."

Margin Call is better for showing what it would have been like in a bank. It also doesn’t show bankers as pantomime villains.

Big Short is a completely different movie. It’s a comedy from the perspective of cynics.

There really is something to the dialogue in Margin Call, because its a movie in which I feel like serious shit is going down, and there's some "holy shit" moments, and the only time I usually feel like that in a non-action movie is when its written by somebody who is critically acclaimed.

But it definitely doesn't feel like Aaron Sorkin. It doesn't feel like Tony Gilroy in Michael Clayton (maybe a little).

Turns out the movie is written and directed by Chandor. Who also made A Most Violent Year, which is a sometimes uneven movie but it does have some heavy moments. And he also made All Is Lost, which doesn't really have dialogue, but its a solid movie.

And then he made Triple Frontier, which I never watched. But I don't get the impression that it was that smart of a movie.

I think it helped that Chandon was a stock broker on Wall Street while writing the flick (or was before he wrote it, can’t remember). It adds an authenticity to how they talk, like how every one of the bosses doesn’t understand the technical shit hahaha

Too Big to Fail (2011) from HBO.