I’ve worked on the Street for a number of years, and enjoy movies that portray stuff on there.
Here are my list of favorite ones:
Wall Street- The one that started it all. Oliver Stone’s ode to his dad who was a broker during The Great Depression. This move captured the excesses of the 1980’s with Charlie Sheen playing a young broker trying to make his mark in any way he could and Michael Douglas’ Academy Award performance as the ultimate Master of the Universe whose iconic “Greed is Good” speech still resonates in today’s world.
Margin Call - A movie that takes a look at a fictitious power brokerage firm (ala Goldman Sachs) the night before the entire US economy melted down due to the sub prime mortgage crisis of 2008. It starts with an employee (Stanley Tucci)who is about to be laid off, hands a model he has been working on to one of the top quant guys (Zachary Quinto) who realizes that the firms exposure to sub prime mortgages could make the entire company collapse at any moment. Thus begins a call to his superior (Paul Bettany), who calls his superior (Kevin Spacey) and up to the CEO (Jeremy Irons) where in the middle of the night they realize everything is about to change forever. Brilliant performances with the aforementioned actors along with Simon Baker and Demi Moore as well.
Boiler Room - A small movie which deals with a “brokerage firm” located on Long Island that is basically selling junk to it’s clients. A young man (Giovanni Ribisi) looking to make it into the brokerage industry joins up and quickly learns the tricks of the trade. Great performances by him, Scott Caan, Vin Diesel, and a crazy funny cameo by Ben Affleck (just youtube his speech to the incoming trainees )
The Wolf of Wall Street - The real life events of what was fictionalized to a degree in Bolier Room.
**
Wall Street 2; Money Never Sleeps** : Stone returns, as does Michael Douglas to a changed world in 2008/2009. As Gordon Gekko states “I had said a long time ago Greed is Good, now it looks like Greed is legal” Not as sharp as the first movie, but still a good commentary on how high finance has screwed the economy.
Arbitrage: Richard Gere stars as a charismatic hedge fund operator who is cooking the books, unbeknownst to his family (think Bernie Madoff). This film plays more like a thriller as he is also having an affair and things start to eventually all blow up in his face.
These are some i could think of on top of my head.