Money woes here. Money woes there. Money woes everywhere. London is on fire due to rioting by an unruly youth that has no job prospects and the US has a credit rating the same as a Motel 6. These days even a green dollar seems blue. Hence I give you:
Tory’s Top Three Movies to Watch During the Financial Crisis.
1) BOILER ROOM
A skinny Giovanni Ribisi drops out of college only to become a fast-paced broker for a booming suburban investment firm. His colleagues form a frat group of hot men filled with adrenaline, high tech toys and too much money including a young Ben Affleck and Vin Diesel before he became fast and furious. These guys are slick and cocky, working hard and playing harder. Giovanni can’t believe his luck. That is until he discovers that it’s all a scam. All of it. Like a Bernie Madoff scandal, the firm’s trading system was built on nothing but thin air, made perfectly clear by the infamous shot of an empty office building filled with ringing telephones. Watch this movie to throw popcorn at the scummy Wall Street swindlers as well as checking out their cute tushes.
2) NETWORK
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Yes I know Howard Beale may not have been yelling his frustration towards Congress and their utter uselessness but it’s a movie about frustration and I think we all know how that feels. College kids in debt, folks who can’t find jobs and have run out of unemployment benefits, families facing foreclosure. Trust me, they are mad as hell and you just have to take a gander over at the riots in Greece and London to realize people aren’t taking it anymore.
3) MR SMITH GOES TO WASHNGTON
I could’ve done WALL STREET OR GLENGARY GLEN ROSS but what I think we really need during these dark and greedy times is a hero. A hero that is moral to the core and will not, under any circumstance, cave. Mr Smith, played with sweet genuinity by Jimmy Stewart, is that hero, a congressman so intent on counteracting a dirty bill, he stands, filibustering for hours with no break or no water, using only his scratchy, spent voice to stand up to a nation. Where was this voice during the subprime mortgage crisis? Where was this voice during the debt ceiling debacle? Netflix has it, Capitol Hill does not.
