Author Topic: The Big Short movie  (Read 28133 times)

Hadilly

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 483
The Big Short movie
« on: January 09, 2016, 05:41:00 PM »
Did a search but didn't see another thread about this movie.

Based on the book by Michael Lewis, The Big Short follows a small group of folks who profited from the 2008 meltdown. It is funny, well acted, and terrifying. The depth of greed, complicity, and idiocy exhibited is pretty amazing. It was well worth my $8 at a matinee this morning. I particularly liked the scenes where the investors do their due diligence and conclude that, yes, a crash is coming. The explanation of how CDOs work is great.

If you like financial disaster porn, then this is the movie for you! I give it my mustachian thumbs up.

Anyone else see it? Like it? Hate it?

I will say, the previews were really weird, making me wonder about what kind of demographic group they thought they would be reaching (maybe a very religious viewer into magic, wrestling, and Roman history).

Edited to fix grammar
« Last Edit: January 09, 2016, 05:42:38 PM by Hadilly »

JimLahey

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 128
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2016, 11:18:01 PM »
Watched it earlier this evening. Glad they took the time to explain things in layman's terms. Helped me understand exactly what occurred. It's kind of a less filthy version of The Wolf of Wall Street. I liked  Bradd Pitt's role and how he had to explain the effects of them making bank off the crash.

Adventine

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2423
  • Location: Memphis, USA
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2016, 06:37:42 AM »
Watched it just yesterday. Really good movie. I didn't realize Steve Carell could be great in a dramatic role.

Hadilly

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 483
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2016, 07:12:31 AM »
Yes! I loved Steve Carell's character, but didn't recognize him as the actor. It is a pretty excellent cast.

Watching that movie, in conjunction with the current "Everybody seems wealthy" thread,  makes me thinks a lot about the dangerously alluring side of consumerism and the willingness of large groups of people to buy into a compelling narrative, in this case, "housing is rock solid." I feel worried for all the people who can make their debt payments but  saving nothing.

MidWestLove

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 316
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2016, 12:33:01 PM »
watched it and enjoyed it (and I work in financial services) - not a typical consumer CGI junk with paper think "characters" acting some Disney quality plot predictable far in advance. at time a bit preachy but on the right side. finance items explained correctly (swaps and other derivatives).  if you have not seen it yet, give it a chance - worth it.

OutlierinMA

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 29
  • Age: 54
  • Location: Fitchburg, MA
  • FIRED!
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2016, 07:18:53 AM »
I just saw this yesterday with my sister and we both really enjoyed it. It was very informative with great layman explanations for what exactly happened, but very entertaining at the same time. Well done! I also loved the way they kept showing the disastrous end result of all of this financial fraud on ordinary people - the renter whose landlord was not paying the mortgage, for example. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone.

EscapeVelocity2020

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4815
  • Age: 50
  • Location: Houston
    • EscapeVelocity2020
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2016, 07:38:45 AM »
Another fan.  I especially enjoyed the scene where they visit the Standard and Poors rating agency.  "We have to give them triple A or they'll just go down the street to Moodys". 

elaine amj

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5548
  • Location: Ontario
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2016, 09:12:44 AM »
I had not even considered watching this film and now I'm intrigued.

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2016, 12:06:53 PM »
Another insight into the 2008 meltdown is the book "Collosal failure of common sense" written by an insider at Lehman Brothers.  Explains some parts. 

Reynold

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 353
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2016, 09:45:48 AM »
(1) Some people clearly anticipated this crash YEARS in advance. Were they just lucky or were the signs that obvious? What ELSE are we missing?

I got a clue to the oncoming crash when I visited Las Vegas for my FIL's 80th birthday party.  There were miles of streets with thousands of brand new McMansions all around us, and I said "There is no way there are enough people moving here with high enough incomes for all these."  I suspect there were a few other people who saw something similar as the crash was approaching, but not many, I think, who had access to enough information to conclude that there would be a nation-wide crash, vs. just in a few "overbuilt" markets.   That hadn't really happened before, nor had defaults on mortgages ever exceeded 5% or so, which kept the CDOs high rated.  Finally, there wasn't really a way to bet on a crash without constructing entirely new financial vehicles to do so, like John Paulson did.  The only option most of us would have is to sell our house and move to a rental for a few years, hoping to buy it back after a crash, which is a lot of work. 

Drifterrider

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1118
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #10 on: January 12, 2016, 11:56:20 AM »
I'll have to wait until it hits my library.

Koogie

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 217
  • Location: Toronto-ish
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #11 on: January 12, 2016, 12:03:48 PM »
I saw it "on the internet" as they say.. nudge, nudge

Great movie.   Good acting and well plotted.     Better even than Margin Call, which sorta covers the same events.

El Marinero

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 135
  • Location: East Bay
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #12 on: January 12, 2016, 02:37:40 PM »
I thought it was just about as good as you could make a movie about finance. 

I especially liked the exposition about the securities in question that was given by Margot Robbie with the aid of champagne and a bubble bath. 

Seriously, I'd recommend it to just about anyone.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2016, 02:43:06 PM by El Marinero »

Drifterrider

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1118
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #13 on: January 13, 2016, 11:31:48 AM »
I saw it "on the internet" as they say.. nudge, nudge

Great movie.   Good acting and well plotted.     Better even than Margin Call, which sorta covers the same events.

I don't know how to "see it on the internet" :)

I have no children thus no savvy teenagers to make things work.

pachnik

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1894
  • Age: 59
  • Location: Vancouver, BC
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2016, 11:35:54 AM »
A good friend of mine who is a retired stockbroker went to see it and really enjoyed it.  My husband and I are going to see it this weekend.  I can't believe I didn't see any hype about this movie considering it has Brad Pitt, Steve Carell etc in it. 

Optimiser

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 771
  • Age: 41
  • Location: PNW
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #15 on: January 14, 2016, 01:03:29 PM »
My wife and I really enjoyed it. They do a great job of making it easy to understand, funny and dramatic.

Trudie

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2106
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #16 on: February 07, 2016, 06:49:09 PM »
Loved it.  A complicated, bummer of a topic was handled expertly.

The whole thing made me grateful for my uncomplicated, low-profile, nose-to-the-grindstone Mustachian existence.  It is scary how much money people sink into investments they don't understand.  But it also confirmed for me why investing in low-cost and index funds is a good strategy.

I loved Brad Pitt's character and the scene where he exalts his homegrown vegetables and having your own seed bank.  I thought, "That's the person I want to be someday.  Rich enough, and growing my own food."

Adventine

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2423
  • Location: Memphis, USA
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #17 on: February 07, 2016, 07:28:02 PM »
^Agreed! Brad Pitt's character was the closet Mustachian. He retired from Wall Street as soon as he made "enough," and settled into a much less stressful life tending a farm with his family.

doggyfizzle

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 380
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #18 on: February 11, 2016, 01:25:17 PM »
(2) The executives got away with it. Their is little incentive for them to reign in their greed in the future because they know they'll get to keep all their bonuses and not suffer any consequences.

The same can be said about all the homeowners who took out mortgages they either had no intention of paying back or only had the expectation to hold the mortgage for a short period of time because their house was "for sure going up in price."  The greed worked both ways: banks were overly eager to lend money, and consumers were overly eager to take on debt because they "perceived" easy returns.  It is unfortunate that the narrative about lack of punishment doesn't incorporate the various government and bank programs rolled out to "help" underwater homeowners totaled billions of dollars; money that was not made available to responsible consumers or the lack of mortgage recourse for banks that were saddled with assets (homes) with plummeting values (2007-2010) and homeowners who we able to walk away scot free.

Tens of thousands of bank employees (and high-level managers) lost their jobs through the financial crisis, and banks and former bank managers (Angelo Mozillio et al) have paid out hundreds of billions of dollars in fines and settlements to various government entities.  Proving criminal intent by upper management (I have heard from various attorney friends so take my anecdote with a grain of salt) would not be favorable from an odds of conviction standpoint (the government would actually have more to lose trying a case against a major bank executive and losing), so fines for wrongdoing with some homeowner reprieve program thrown in for good measure seemed to be there preferred method of punishment.  There is also the argument that the lending behavior at the banks was highly unethical, but not necessarily illegal.

MandalayVA

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1569
  • Location: Orlando FL
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #19 on: February 11, 2016, 01:28:04 PM »
The book was awesome--let's face it, Michael Lewis doesn't write bad books--so I imagine the movie is decent.

Lyssa

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 483
  • Location: Germany
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #20 on: February 15, 2016, 09:39:44 AM »
Saw it last week and think it's great. The Big Short and Margin Call provide the best explanation of the financial crisis to lay people that I have seen or read. Out of the two, The Big Short is both more informative and more entertaining.

It also struck me as very mustachian. Not only because of Brad Pitt's character but the whole 'outsiders gaming the system' narrative. The protagonists are not heroes and no white knights, just more inquisitive and independent than the rest of the trade.

The only thing I did not like was Steve Carells' characters story about his brothers suicide. It struck me as too clichéd and moralistic. I subsequently learned that the man it was based on had not lost his brother through suicide but his little child through an accident and hence, was in a place where he thought that 'everything could happen, to everybody, at any time'. That is a much more convincing narrative how somebody without Michael Burry's single-mindedness and biologically determined independence (Asperger's syndrom) could have stood there and declared: I am right on this one and it's the rest of the world that has went completely nuts. But that's the only weakness of the whole movie.

Missy B

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 607
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #21 on: February 19, 2016, 06:10:45 PM »
Loved it. Telling everyone I know to see it. Put the book on hold at the library.

RosieTR

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 394
  • Location: Northern CO
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #22 on: February 19, 2016, 09:52:56 PM »
The book has been out for some time, and is worth reading if you have to wait for the movie to be available at library/Netflix/etc.

I couldn't remember if the Brad Pitt character actually lived in Boulder...didn't think so because I probably would have noticed that when I read the book. But it was interesting the different characters and the way it was all explained. I don't think the movie went into the "thin file" people as much-kind of touched on it with the stripper person. When people talk on and on about how this was due in large part to the "irresponsible homebuyers" I have to say that that is a very small percentage of the problem. Most of the homebuyers who walked away "scot free," as some have suggested, in reality wound up with a much reduced standard of living, especially compared with the high-level bankers who went with a golden parachute or never lost their jobs at all. Then there were people like the renters in the movie, who were paying their rent on time but in a house with an owner who was losing it. Those are the people to feel bad for-the people who weren't getting caught up but got possibly screwed the most.

We lived through the housing crisis in Phoenix-purchasing a house there in mid-2008, thinking that it was "close to the bottom". Not out to make a quick (or any) profit, just not move multiple times and have to worry about keeping our 3 pets in a rental situation. We did wind up selling at a loss in 2014, and paid it, because we were lucky and employed and frugal. But if we could get hosed, with some experience, a bunch of resources, and common sense, it really didn't surprise me at all how many people got suckered. One example: our mortgage broker sent us a letter in about Dec 2008, to the effect of "get $30-40,000 more equity out of your house!" not, of course, mentioning *at interest* nor that our equity had already sunk nearly completely under what we'd put down on the house. He could NOT understand why we were not interested. He was *exactly* like the brokers in the movie. I won't lie-part of me hopes he's broke and lives in a shitty trailer somewhere. He was low on the totem pole as far as the folks in the financial sector who orchestrated this whole thing go, but he was definitely doing as little, and as crappy, work as he could possibly get away with in order to ride the gravy train.

vern

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 592
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #23 on: February 20, 2016, 11:44:58 AM »
Watched it just yesterday. Really good movie. I didn't realize Steve Carell could be great in a dramatic role.

Adventine, check out Foxcatcher for another great Steve Carell drama.

Adventine

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2423
  • Location: Memphis, USA
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #24 on: February 20, 2016, 03:47:43 PM »
^ Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check it out.

arebelspy

  • Administrator
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *****
  • Posts: 28444
  • Age: -997
  • Location: Seattle, WA
The Big Short movie
« Reply #25 on: February 20, 2016, 05:04:54 PM »
Am I the only one who didn't care for it?

Quite dull. Nothing new, if you weren't under a rock the last few years.

So many good actors (normally really like Brad Pitt, Steve Carroll, and Christian Bale), and yet it was so bad.  Slow paced, not funny, stiff acting, very little plot.

Should have gone with my instincts halfway though and turned it off.

I'm shocked reading this thread. Apparently a lot of you really liked it.  Wow.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

iris lily

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5672
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #26 on: February 20, 2016, 05:10:28 PM »
This is a black comedy, and we enjoyed it.

To put it into perspective, the guy who made this film also made The Landlord, you know, that viral video on You Tube with his friend Will Farrell and his tiny daighter who played the mean bitch.
I cant think of his name at the moment and am too lazy to google it.

Adventine

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2423
  • Location: Memphis, USA
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #27 on: February 20, 2016, 05:15:12 PM »
Am I the only one who didn't care for it?

Quite dull. Nothing new, if you weren't under a rock the last few years.

So many good actors (normally really like Brad Pitt, Steve Carroll, and Christian Bale), and yet it was so bad.  Slow paced, not funny, stiff acting, very little plot.

Should have gone with my instincts halfway though and turned it off.

I'm shocked reading this thread. Apparently a lot of you really liked it.  Wow.

Hmmm, what would you consider a good movie about the US financial system, then?

arebelspy

  • Administrator
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *****
  • Posts: 28444
  • Age: -997
  • Location: Seattle, WA
The Big Short movie
« Reply #28 on: February 20, 2016, 05:21:38 PM »
Hmmm, what would you consider a good movie about the US financial system, then?

Not sure if I know one off the top of my head.

Not that one can't exist, but I'm not good at self-generating things like that.

Why do you assume there is one though?


EDIT: Like, are you looking for entertainment? Or to learn about the US financial system? Or what?  This movie didn't teach about the US financial system. It taught about one very narrow, niche thing that happened. It was accurate, but not novel.  If you want to learn, there's some good YouTube documentaries that are much better.  If you're looking to be entertained, likewise, there are much better movies. What criteria are you placing value on?
« Last Edit: February 20, 2016, 05:34:24 PM by arebelspy »
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Adventine

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2423
  • Location: Memphis, USA
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #29 on: February 20, 2016, 05:33:14 PM »
Well, I thought you were comparing The Big Short to a better movie about the same subject. But I guess the film just fell short of your movie standards in general?

slackmax

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1411
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #30 on: February 22, 2016, 06:48:54 PM »
Saw it. Liked it. But the documentary film  "Inside Job" is far better at exposing all the reeking scumbags, at high and low level jobs,  who  caused the housing collapse and profited from it, and who got away with it.  The "unpunished scumbag"  syndrome is one reason that people are "feeling the Bern". I wouldn't vote for the Bern or for Hill, but I can understand people's hatred for Wall Street and it's minions who gouge and swindle without penalty.     

MidWestLove

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 316
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #31 on: March 06, 2016, 08:58:27 PM »
"Hmmm, what would you consider a good movie about the US financial system, then?"

Margin Call is pretty good too , in a different way - shows how corporation thinks (of cause it does not think by itself, it is a legal function, but people inside of it trained to think).

Another interesting part for me for Margin Call was also a very effective demonstration how efficient and ruthlessly efficient modern corporate world is. modern 'western corporations' win because it simply runs better than any other form of organizing resources and labor , bar none. from the moment analyst discovered the issue until the time it went through the very heavy levels of management, through legal review, risk review, validation, solutioning, board of direction review and authorization, down to the actual plan and execution , all within less than a single night.

this is light years ahead and beyond anything  say other big organizations (i.e. governments) can execute.. 

Tawcan

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 27
  • Location: Vancouver, Canada
    • Tawcan
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #32 on: March 07, 2016, 04:54:49 PM »
Really enjoyed the movie and didn't realize there's a book as well. My wife was saying it was kinda hard to follow all the financial terms but I was fascinated with everything that they explained in the movie. 

Reynold

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 353
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #33 on: March 08, 2016, 08:16:55 AM »
When people talk on and on about how this was due in large part to the "irresponsible homebuyers" I have to say that that is a very small percentage of the problem. Most of the homebuyers who walked away "scot free," as some have suggested, in reality wound up with a much reduced standard of living, especially compared with the high-level bankers who went with a golden parachute or never lost their jobs at all. Then there were people like the renters in the movie, who were paying their rent on time but in a house with an owner who was losing it.

Remember there were also the government folks encouraging, if not outright forcing, banks to make increasingly risky loans.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/28/franks_fingerprints_are_all_over_the_financial_fiasco/

So it might be a little hypocritical for the government to charge bank executives with criminal acts for obeying mandates from their regulators.  Bad judgement, yes, perhaps even penalties, but criminality? 

2Birds1Stone

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7916
  • Age: 1
  • Location: Earth
  • K Thnx Bye
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #34 on: March 08, 2016, 09:09:41 AM »
Saw this in the theater and really enjoyed it as well!

steveo

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1928
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #35 on: March 09, 2016, 12:35:35 AM »
I recently watched this and I thought it was great.

infogoon

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 838
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #36 on: March 09, 2016, 07:56:06 AM »
I've put the book on my to-read list. I've somehow never read anything by Michael Lewis despite hearing about him for a while and even watching another movie based on his books ("The Blind Side").

_Boomerang_ is another excellent book of his; I especially enjoy his description of going for a bike ride with Arnold Schwarzenegger and discussing California's economy.

JZinCO

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 705
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #37 on: March 09, 2016, 08:17:32 AM »
I enjoyed the movie.

(1) Some people clearly anticipated this crash YEARS in advance. Were they just lucky or were the signs that obvious? What ELSE are we missing?

I got a clue to the oncoming crash when I visited Las Vegas for my FIL's 80th birthday party.  There were miles of streets with thousands of brand new McMansions all around us, and I said "There is no way there are enough people moving here with high enough incomes for all these."  I suspect there were a few other people who saw something similar as the crash was approaching, but not many, I think, who had access to enough information to conclude that there would be a nation-wide crash, vs. just in a few "overbuilt" markets.   That hadn't really happened before, nor had defaults on mortgages ever exceeded 5% or so, which kept the CDOs high rated.  Finally, there wasn't really a way to bet on a crash without constructing entirely new financial vehicles to do so, like John Paulson did.  The only option most of us would have is to sell our house and move to a rental for a few years, hoping to buy it back after a crash, which is a lot of work.
One thing that I note is that there are always people seeing something awry. Even when it is not. What is that quote I always hear different versions of? Economists have accurately predicted >X of the last X recessions/crashes? The *only* thing I could see wrong with this is that investors which are naturally pessimistic will see this movie as confirmation bias and will inappropriately respond to the next hunch they get. This will be to their detriment.

In other words, this movie is a product of survival bias. There are at least 100x more guys who wrongly predict the next bubble and end up losing their investors' shirts.
In a way this could be me! They old saying is that in 1999 taxi drivers on wall street were sharing the hottest tech stock tips. In the Big Short the stripper was buying tons of homes. Using this thermometer I have concluded that I do not want to own a house in my market. For example, I have a coworker whose 200K house appreciated by 45K and they are selling to buy a more expensive house only to expect the same to continue. I have had heated discussions with many coworkers who hold the opinion that homes are a great investment. 'Look at the past 5 years!' they say. Ugh, when graduate students in my office make ~30K stipends and are speculating in real estate I know something is wrong.
edit: When I say homes as an investment I mean they are relying on rising property values, but rental income.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2016, 08:19:51 AM by JZinCO »

MustardTiger

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 179
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #38 on: March 17, 2016, 09:41:07 AM »
I watched it on the last day of 2015 and thought it was one of the best films of the year.

What struck me:

(1) Some people clearly anticipated this crash YEARS in advance. Were they just lucky or were the signs that obvious? What ELSE are we missing?

(2) The executives got away with it. Their is little incentive for them to reign in their greed in the future because they know they'll get to keep all their bonuses and not suffer any consequences.

I've put the book on my to-read list. I've somehow never read anything by Michael Lewis despite hearing about him for a while and even watching another movie based on his books ("The Blind Side").

The book is quite good, but "The Blind Side" is great.  It is different from the movie in that it alternated between the Michael Oher story and an evolution of offensive football strategy.

iris lily

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5672
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #39 on: March 17, 2016, 02:13:59 PM »
Hmmm, what would you consider a good movie about the US financial system, then?

Not sure if I know one off the top of my head.

Not that one can't exist, but I'm not good at self-generating things like that.

Why do you assume there is one though?


EDIT: Like, are you looking for entertainment? Or to learn about the US financial system? Or what?  This movie didn't teach about the US financial system. It taught about one very narrow, niche thing that happened. It was accurate, but not novel.  If you want to learn, there's some good YouTube documentaries that are much better.  If you're looking to be entertained, likewise, there are much better movies. What criteria are you placing value on?

Im not the person you are addressing, but I found this film entertaining..

OF course it isn't educational, it is a Hollywood film. From Hollywood. That's in the LaLa land of entertainment.

It is fine for dramatically illustrating a few simple points of that last financial meltdown. Just a few, and very very simple ones, presented in a palatable way.

I think you are throwing cold water on the enthusiasm of many here for no reason by being pendantic. Relax, teach, even though I enjoyed this film, I'm not going to present it to my 10th grade econ class as the basis for a quiz about the complex relationships of Wall Street, investors, government regulation, and the real estate market. Not gonna do it. Dont have an econ class, anyway.

forummm

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7374
  • Senior Mustachian
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #40 on: March 21, 2016, 01:17:13 PM »
I liked the book better. But the film does a good job of boiling the complicated stuff down so that it's understandable. I think the book actually does that too though.

For those who see the movie, the part at the end about the guy only investing in water now is not actually true. He has a number of areas of investing, and water is one of them.

mrpercentage

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1235
  • Location: PHX, AZ
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #41 on: March 21, 2016, 07:01:07 PM »
OF course it isn't educational, it is a Hollywood film. From Hollywood. That's in the LaLa land of entertainment.


Not true. Some of life's greatest truths are captured by Hollywood. They do have one handicap-- they have to entertain.

I thought the film was good. I think it is a good reminder of exactly how screwed we all were. Our memory is short and a reminder of what happened is good for most. Home owning is viewed as an investment by many. As a person (a fault of my own ignorance) that was one of the many that got seriously screwed and is still underwater I think it is important. I have lived here 9 years and I might break even after I finish putting about $15,000 into it this year. Maybe I can squeeze $10,000 out of it if the housing holds up-- maybe. Worst investment ever. Lesson learned and reinforced several years in a row. I will probably just live here until its paid off.

For the record, I wanted to live here maybe 3 years build up a little equity to move to somewhere I really wanted to live and make it more affordable. That was my intention. I was a first time ignorant buyer who swallowed the non-sense that I didn't need to put much down and that I would be able to leave in a couple years with money.

Repairs for "investment"
new dishwasher
new washing machine
new refrigerator
new water heater
new gate to back yard-- electric company broke to read the meter
new toilet
garage ceiling repair x2
new garage door opener and two repairs-- it derailed "sprung" once
several cracking drywall repairs
new kitchen floor-- installed by me
new carpet
removing wallpaper everywhere
two pluming repairs
a new front door
this year:
all new windows-- the ones from 1971 suck
stucco-- the wood paneling is rotting
paint
grass/sprinklers
ac-- my furnace took a dump this winter and its the original
I need to replace the bathroom fans they stopped working about 5 years ago.
I also need to replace another squeaky whirlybird
and my back patio door will eventually need to be replaced. It has been repaired and it opens to the outside.
I forgot to mention I replace a ceiling fan that was humming really loud and a ceiling florescent light fixture and that the kitchens will probably need to be replaced because it kills bulbs and I have already replaced the balast(kick starter/ whatever you call it.)
You get the idea

Im actually at peace with it now and do love my neighborhood but I will not sugar coat the reality. Maybe it could save somebody the hardship.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2016, 07:11:09 PM by mrpercentage »

mrpercentage

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1235
  • Location: PHX, AZ
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #42 on: March 21, 2016, 07:31:12 PM »
As proof--You can see the new window and yard. Next is stucco. If you look to the right you can see my neighbor already had this done. He is in the broadcasting business but I will not put him on the spot. You may have seen him on TV though. And of course that is my dog.


BlueHouse

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4136
  • Location: WDC
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #43 on: May 11, 2016, 01:07:18 PM »
Finally saw this film last night.  By nature, I am a worrier, but I ended up completely depressed and scared.  Everytime a banker or investor doubted the characters' beliefs that the housing market would tank, they just kept saying "The market always goes up".  Isn't this the same answer that we get when we ask "why index?"  And when the economy tanks, we will tank with it.  I'm realizing now just how lucky I was not to have lost my job or my house in that crises.  It's pretty likely that if I didn't have family that convinced me to move back in 2001 after the dot com crisis , I would still be in a shit-town with crap job prospects and when the housing crises hit, I may have had serious trouble then.     

I thought War Games had it right ....the only way to win is to not play.  Now I feel like I just want to get a portion of my money out of the game.

If someone can make me happy that I'm following the right path, please try.  Otherwise, I am again overly worried about my future. 

Heywood57

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 104
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #44 on: May 11, 2016, 01:26:43 PM »
The book was great, the movie was unwatchable.

The constant pan, zoom, extreme closeup, pan, zoom, extreme closeup was awful.






comp@26

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 8
  • Age: 34
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #45 on: May 11, 2016, 01:40:48 PM »
Who realized that the real Michael Burry was in the movie?

robartsd

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3342
  • Location: Sacramento, CA
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #46 on: May 11, 2016, 02:24:20 PM »
I liked the Mortgage Professor's take on the film. Basically, his view is that the bankers were all doing what the government signaled for them to do.

BTDretire

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3074
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #47 on: May 23, 2016, 01:58:16 PM »
(2) The executives got away with it. Their is little incentive for them to reign in their greed in the future because they know they'll get to keep all their bonuses and not suffer any consequences.

The same can be said about all the homeowners who took out mortgages they either had no intention of paying back or only had the expectation to hold the mortgage for a short period of time because their house was "for sure going up in price."  The greed worked both ways: banks were overly eager to lend money, and consumers were overly eager to take on debt because they "perceived" easy returns.  It is unfortunate that the narrative about lack of punishment doesn't incorporate the various government and bank programs rolled out to "help" underwater homeowners totaled billions of dollars; money that was not made available to responsible consumers or the lack of mortgage recourse for banks that were saddled with assets (homes) with plummeting values (2007-2010) and homeowners who we able to walk away scot free.

Yep, kinda sucked, I lost about $120,000 (46%) on my home, but I had to pay the bill
to bail out those that went underwater. The difference, they didn't save to buy their home and got a mortgage, I paid cash, I didn't get bailed out. Do the right thing, get screwed.

lostamonkey

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 450
  • Location: Canada
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #48 on: May 23, 2016, 02:38:59 PM »
Finally saw this film last night.  By nature, I am a worrier, but I ended up completely depressed and scared.  Everytime a banker or investor doubted the characters' beliefs that the housing market would tank, they just kept saying "The market always goes up".  Isn't this the same answer that we get when we ask "why index?"  And when the economy tanks, we will tank with it.  I'm realizing now just how lucky I was not to have lost my job or my house in that crises.  It's pretty likely that if I didn't have family that convinced me to move back in 2001 after the dot com crisis , I would still be in a shit-town with crap job prospects and when the housing crises hit, I may have had serious trouble then.     

I thought War Games had it right ....the only way to win is to not play.  Now I feel like I just want to get a portion of my money out of the game.

If someone can make me happy that I'm following the right path, please try.  Otherwise, I am again overly worried about my future.

Real estate and the stock market both go up over the long run. They both also produce income. The stock market produces dividends and the real estate market market produces tenant and imputed rents. The bankers pre-crisis convinced people that real estate had no downside risk in the short run and that it was okay to leverage 20x without sufficient income. If you leverage that much in the stock market and lose everything, I don't think many people would feel bad for you.

Drifterrider

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1118
Re: The Big Short movie
« Reply #49 on: May 25, 2016, 08:17:10 AM »
The best part of that movie was that I got it from the library.  Got the book there too.