tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post5270046588070367134..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: "Boiler Room"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-31582963249356780702009-03-14T16:10:00.001-07:002009-03-14T16:10:00.001-07:00Vin Diesel is always sold as "Italian," and someho...<I>Vin Diesel is always sold as "Italian," and somehow audiences believe that. I just don't see it. His hair would be darker and thicker (look at eyebrows) for one thing. <BR/><BR/>He looks half Jewish and half (lighter) Black to me.</I><BR/>Got it in one. Vin Diesel’s mom is Black and his father is Italian. His hair texture is as much a give away as that of Wentworth Miller and the rumored Black man Shia Leboef. Doesn’t Shia look a lot like Sabrina Le Beauf from the Cosby Show?<BR/><BR/>Darwin’s stufflist<I>Mildly booksmart but deadly streetwise, ALWAYS thinking about how to play the angles for more money</I> <BR/>My dear, this is any highest level drug dealer to a T. Think Stringer Bell(the Wire). People underestimate how important it is to be slick or cunning if one wants to be successful on the floor. High IQs with little people skills work in the back rooms while the bright but not genius folks, work on the <I>floor</I> making more money and enjoying all the spoils of life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-7477476498019493782009-03-13T19:38:00.000-07:002009-03-13T19:38:00.000-07:00From Chas. Murray's '2009 Irving Kristol Lecture' ...From <A HREF="http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.29531/pub_detail.asp" REL="nofollow">Chas. Murray's '2009 Irving Kristol Lecture'</A> @ the AEI's annual dinner:<BR/><BR/>"When I began to work on this lecture a few months ago, I was feeling abashed because I knew I couldn't talk about either of the topics that were of the gravest national importance. ... Regarding the economic crisis, I am not an economist. In fact, I am so naive about economics that I continue to think that we have a financial meltdown because the federal government, in its infinite wisdom, has for the last two administrations aggressively pushed policies that made it possible for clever people to get rich by lending money to people who were unlikely to pay it back."<BR/><BR/>Ha!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-46564142930026979732009-03-13T07:49:00.000-07:002009-03-13T07:49:00.000-07:00One movie I can think of that dealt with business ...One movie I can think of that dealt with business was "Goodfellas" - it was perhaps unique among crime stories in actually dealing with the business of organized crime.<BR/><BR/>It actually showed how the mafia made money (by stealing stuff and shaking people down) rather than just being a vehicle for operatic soap-opera (like the Godfather).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-18035555683276407652009-03-12T15:42:00.000-07:002009-03-12T15:42:00.000-07:00Dicaprio is the best in the business. Didn't anyon...<I>Dicaprio is the best in the business. Didn't anyone see him in Revolutionary Road- tour de force...</I><BR/><BR/>I did see him - and I enjoyed the movie. It's one of the few films I've seen in the past year that I was still thinking about a week afterwards. And, he was good in it, but...<BR/><BR/>I just don't understand why this guy is regarded as such a superlative thespian. He always plays more or less the same guy: the talented, passionate loner. It's a more angst-ridden version of the guy Tom Cruise has played for the past 25 years.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-49173441719227952422009-03-12T11:40:00.000-07:002009-03-12T11:40:00.000-07:00Not quite sure how "In Good Company" got made, rea...Not quite sure how "In Good Company" got made, really. It's over arching theme really is contrary to the Hollywood leftist worldview. (Maybe Quaid is closet conservative or something?)<BR/><BR/>Anyway, the move does take a dim view of the powerfully dislocating and destructive aspects of pure capitalism (but that is mostly in the background and, as the proverbial Gen-X'er who came of age in the post baby boomer paradise, I am not unsympathetic to that argument). <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, the protagonist, Quaid's character, is a pure middle class (and middle aged) white guy in middle management. And despite not being an old asian or black man, is potrayed as having knowlegde and wisdom that his young protege does not (which is a pretty anti-progressive message no matter how you slice it). <BR/><BR/>Morover, Quaid's character's life has been about sacrificing to provide for his family, and create a warm, meaningful, and bountiful life for them. Top it off, he's also proud of the business he helped build. When things get tough, he doubles down and doesn't give up, and go work at Burger King. <BR/><BR/>"In Good Company" is the mirror opposite of "American Beauty", which is the Hollywoodland vision of the hellish squaresville existence of the rapdily vanishing white middle class. <BR/><BR/>As an added bonus, Topher Grace isn't even annoying! Also, Scatlett Johannsen played Quaid's daughter (double bonus!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-49614684446858757332009-03-12T00:41:00.000-07:002009-03-12T00:41:00.000-07:00but there aren't many about the mechanics of busin...<I>but there aren't many about the mechanics of businesses, especially about honest businesses. </I><BR/><BR/>"Disclosure" (Mike Douglas, Demi Moore) works as an about-business movie.<BR/><BR/>It's meant to be a thriller about sexual harrassment so the business side isn't overwrought. <BR/><BR/>Even the villainous Donald Sutherland is believable as a money hungry CEO, but honestly so, trying to finagle the best outcome out of a hairy predicament, even if he has to mess with a few lives to do it, and just what <I>is</I> Michael Douglas so indignant about anyway. <BR/><BR/>The only character I was a bit iffy about was Demi Moore's attorney during the arbitration session, who was just a bit <I>too</I> slick, but it worked wonderfully in building up the tension.<BR/><BR/>Michael Crichton combined scientific and technological literacy with a promising willingness to transgress taboos, which made for some interesting reading/viewing. I wish we'd seen more "Disclosure" and "State of Fear" (which was just a vehicle to cram as much enviro-sanity as he could) and less "Prey" (hugely interesting subject matter ("emergence")/inane storyline) and "Sphere" (completely inane).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81672675275793509962009-03-12T00:18:00.000-07:002009-03-12T00:18:00.000-07:00Boiler Room is a salesman movie not a "business mo...Boiler Room is a salesman movie not a "business movie". It seems to me that the salesman film genre is well populated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-34377333170797504422009-03-11T23:58:00.000-07:002009-03-11T23:58:00.000-07:00I much preferred "Boiler Room" to Stone's "Wall St...<I> I much preferred "Boiler Room" to Stone's "Wall Street" - I found the latter far too histrionic and cartoonish - the general traits of Stone's bombastic style of movie-making. For example, that scene with Michael Douglas on the beach talking to Charlie Sheen on the phone about the grandeur of his vision - it's as bad and cheesy as Balzac. </I><BR/><BR/>I enjoyed Wall St (enjoyed it -- heh, I was downright inspired by it). But I agree that Stone's main point was to bash the Michael Douglas character (the delightfully named Gordon Gekko). <BR/><BR/>I can't remember the scene you're talking about but a mentor taking aside his protege and filling his mind with his vision for the future doesn't strike me as lame. <BR/><BR/>It was the over-the-top ruthlessness of Gekko that I didn't buy. Maybe corporate-raider big wigs really wore their emotions on their sleeves and were so open about their indifference to economic upheaval in the greed-is-good 80s but my suspicion is that fear side of greed-and-fear would have had them playing cover-your-ass by coating their machinations thick with euphemisms even in private.<BR/><BR/>Other than that, the movie did a good job of portraying the forces sending America hurtling down the road to self-destruction.<BR/><BR/><I>But it's the only movie I've seen that accurately portrays how young salesman are trained. The only problem here is that the movie suggests that this is unique to "boiler rooms," but the very same high pressure sales techniques and the same training would be found at any mainstream brokerage house with a respectable name like Merril Lynch of Smith Barney.</I><BR/><BR/>I actually sat my "team" down to watch it, pausing it periodically to elaborate on how the film demonstrates what I had been hoping to get across to them. It's Hollywood, so they don't (can't -- boring) get all the details right. But what it does get oh so very right is how self-deluded salesmen are and how scarily capable they are of believing their own lies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-68422718544124765592009-03-11T21:12:00.000-07:002009-03-11T21:12:00.000-07:00Dicaprio is the best in the business. Didn't anyon...Dicaprio is the best in the business. Didn't anyone see him in Revolutionary Road- tour de force...mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15560748812217517307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-23444045132084259142009-03-11T18:59:00.000-07:002009-03-11T18:59:00.000-07:00I hate self-referential movie shit; art about art;...<I>I hate self-referential movie shit; art about art; the book/movie/musical about the struggling artist striving to express himself. As Tom Lehrer once said, 'if you can't express yourself, then shut up!'</I><BR/><BR/>I wasn't thinking so much about the "struggling artist" story as those ridiculously lame satires of itself that Hollywood is always turning out. They think they're being bold and self-critical, but their satire is so ludicrous and so unrelated to reality that it's basically toothless. You know the ones I mean: movie producers who wantonly murder people and get away scot free, mafia goons who blunder into filmmaking and turn out to be brilliant writer-directors, that kind of crap.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-39442424190957949672009-03-11T18:02:00.000-07:002009-03-11T18:02:00.000-07:00Sailer, If you thought that Leo-one-note would hav...Sailer, <BR/><BR/>If you thought that Leo-one-note would have been an improvement over Ribisi, you just dropped a couple of notches. <BR/><BR/>I've known guys who ran bookie operations out of their dorm rooms and the casinos out of their houses (like Ribisi's BR character). Eventually, they'd end up in a lucrative, legitimate sales gig and were millionaires before 30. All of them were a whole lot more Ribisi than DiCaprio. Mildly booksmart but deadly streetwise, ALWAYS thinking about how to play the angles for more money. <BR/><BR/>The scene where Ribisi gives the NYT telemarketer a sales lesson over Saturday breakfast was great. Leo couldn't have done it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-9404292333048216642009-03-11T16:44:00.000-07:002009-03-11T16:44:00.000-07:00Hollywood doesn't portray businessmen based on any...Hollywood doesn't portray businessmen based on any kind of reality but it does portray businessmen based on cripto-Marxist stereotypes.<BR/><BR/>During the Internet bubble I found myself managing a team of software developers. At that time the "Matrix" appeared in the theaters. Early in the film Neo is late for work and is chewed out for being late by his up-tight businessman boss. The coders worked in a modern office highrise. Every coder wore a suit in the movie.<BR/><BR/>I think Neo was twenty minutes late. This was a hoot for me. I had a tardy employee too - instead of arriving at eight he never came to work before ten. My boss the CTO wouldn't let me discipline him but he did make this guy promise to get to work by at least nine. The next day he showed up at three in the afternoon.<BR/><BR/>I had another coder who came to work on time but slept all day on a sofa. My boss claimed this guy worked at night. I did eventually fire both these guys (and my boss too). <BR/><BR/>This particular Internet startup was a little extreme but not all that different from a lot of Bay Area software startups where I managed coders. I've never seen a Hollywood movie begin to capture the reality of business. For example, I've never seen a coder who wore a tie much less a suit.albertosaurushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13209465319904999278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-14138734278765558382009-03-11T15:30:00.000-07:002009-03-11T15:30:00.000-07:00In contrast to Boiler Room, Wall Street doesn't re...In contrast to Boiler Room, Wall Street doesn't really get into an accurate portrayal of high pressure cold calling, but the story is way better, and Michael Douglas truly deserved the Oscar he won for best actor.<BR/><BR/>Wall Street isn't really about Wall Street, but rather a young man torn between two fathers: his blue collar dad from Queens, and the rich father he wished he had in Gordon Gekko.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-33392201802832467932009-03-11T15:24:00.000-07:002009-03-11T15:24:00.000-07:00Boiler Room: the story sucked. But it's the only m...Boiler Room: the story sucked. But it's the only movie I've seen that accurately portrays how young salesman are trained. The only problem here is that the movie suggests that this is unique to "boiler rooms," but the very same high pressure sales techniques and the same training would be found at any mainstream brokerage house with a respectable name like Merril Lynch of Smith Barney.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-82336492731030916012009-03-11T15:17:00.000-07:002009-03-11T15:17:00.000-07:00Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for a five-me...<I>Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for a five-member majority, pointed to the potential burdens on mortgage lending if there were "duplicative state examination, supervision, and regulation...</I><BR/><BR/>Ha! Even when that bitch writes a pro-business opinion she's wrong!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-53603803377990466562009-03-11T14:26:00.000-07:002009-03-11T14:26:00.000-07:00One little-known, but very good, business movie is...One little-known, but very good, business movie is 2004's In Good Company, starring Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace. It has a fairly predicable vaguely-leftist negative slant on the corporate world, but the characters have a great deal of humanity.<BR/><BR/>One interesting aspect of In Good Company is that it is one of the few films to address the issue of inter-generational relations between Generation X and Baby Boomers. Topher Grace, who like is 25 or something, winds up becoming Dennis Quiad's boss after a series of mergers. <BR/><BR/>Most Hollywood productions would have the representatives of the two generations "learn from each other" -- Quaid would be the voice of experience and wisdom, Grace would be energetic and tech-savy, etc. But the movie doesn't portray the characters in that way at all. Grace kid is mostly clueless, he doesn't know squat about sales or publishing, and most of what he does know -- the latest corporate fads -- are ridiculed as BS. He just sort of imitates the "dynamic" and "entrepreneurial" style of the older tycoon executives. At one point he gives this PowerPoint presentation that is hysterical because it is so true to life; he does nothing but spout corporate buzzwords. <BR/><BR/>Dennis Quaid has to teach Grace everything, he sort of takes the kid under his wing and shows him the basics, but even then there is no way to teach all of the lessons learned from 20 years of experience. While Grace does become a better salesman and executive but he is still nowhere near as good as Quaid. Most Hollywood movies would not be so respectful of experience and wisdom, especially not in a business setting. <BR/><BR/>However, Grace is wise beyond his years when it comes to the harsh realities of life. He knows what it means to fire people, and get fired, and he understands the emotional and psychological pressures of the corporate world perfectly. He's not on a power trip, and he knows exactly how other people feel about him and relate to him. This allows him to manage Quaid perfectly. This is also surprisingly accurate -- most Gen-X'ers are used to being laid off, many have crushing burdens of student loan debt, etc., so they have a far more realistic view of how the world actually works than the Boomers had at the same age. Again, it is surprising to see this kind of accuracy in a Hollywood movie.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-22816794860186196132009-03-11T09:01:00.000-07:002009-03-11T09:01:00.000-07:00'the conflicted college dropout who can't decide w...'the conflicted college dropout who can't decide whether he wants the money or his soul back' <BR/><BR/>There's a word missing here. It's the J-word!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-83435823991335892782009-03-11T07:00:00.000-07:002009-03-11T07:00:00.000-07:00Now, Ameriquest, where "Boiler Room" served as a t...<I>Now, Ameriquest, where "Boiler Room" served as a training manual in salesmanship, was owned by Roland Arnall, whom Bush appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands</I><BR/><BR/>Yeah, Bush did that with a real estate mogul here in Utah, <A HREF="http://tpj.org/pioneers/john_price.html" REL="nofollow">John Price</A>, who was appointed ambassador to some banana republic shortly after getting sued for fraud. Sailed right through.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-39911149125883594352009-03-11T06:56:00.000-07:002009-03-11T06:56:00.000-07:00The next structural obstacle I would like to addre...<I>The next structural obstacle I would like to address is predatory mania...</I><BR/><BR/>Freudian slip?<BR/><BR/><I>Hollywood LOVES to make movies about the movie business, but...</I><BR/><BR/>I hate self-referential movie shit; art about art; the book/movie/musical about the struggling artist striving to express himself. As Tom Lehrer once said, 'if you can't express yourself, then shut up!'<BR/><BR/>But Ribisi was good. Way more believeable than the pretty boy DiCaprio.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-12232692708056428602009-03-11T06:05:00.000-07:002009-03-11T06:05:00.000-07:00Countrywide's 'Man from Tan' Mozilo: A clear examp...Countrywide's 'Man from Tan' Mozilo: A clear example of this counter-productive phenomenon is the state of Georgia. The anti-predatory lending measure that became law in Georgia last October is so complex, and the consequences of a violation – intended or otherwise – are so severe, that lenders and the secondary market have been forced to stop making or buying so-called highcost loans.<BR/><BR/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR/> <BR/> A number of states passed laws restricting the bad mortgage lending practices.<BR/>The national lenders like Countrywide, WaMu, Wachovia,<BR/>all of whom are now bankrupt, bailed out, taken over...successfully battled the restrictions all the way to overturning in the Supreme Court.<BR/><BR/>"The nation's highest court sided with the Bush Administration, ruling in April 2007 that the OCC had exclusive authority over Wachovia Mortgage. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for a five-member majority, pointed to the potential burdens on mortgage lending if there were "duplicative state examination, supervision, and regulation." In a dissenting opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens said that it is "especially troubling that the court so blithely preempts Michigan laws designed to protect consumers." <BR/><BR/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR/><BR/>Efforts in Georgia to rein in unwise lending provoked a particularly fierce federal reaction. In 2002 the state passed a law that imposed "assignee liability" on the mortgage-finance process. Understanding the significance of this requires a little background. <BR/><BR/>One of the forces that accelerated the proliferation of dangerous home loans was the Wall Street business of buying up millions of mortgages, bundling them into bonds, and selling the securities to pension funds and other investors. Securitization, which grew to a $7 trillion industry, meant the lenders could pass along the risk of default to a huge universe of investors. Many of those investors, in turn, relied uncritically on reassurances from fee-collecting investment banks and ratings agencies that mortgage-backed securities were high-quality. When many of the reassurances proved hollow, the securitization market collapsed this year. <BR/><BR/>Assignee liability would radically reshape that market by making everyone involved potentially responsible when things go bad. Investment banks that created mortgage-backed securities and investors who bought them would be liable for financial damage if mortgages turned out to be fraudulent. The financial industry opposed assignee liability, maintaining that it would cripple the market for asset-backed securities. Major ratings agencies later agreed that allowing unlimited damages would be disruptive. The agencies threatened to stop evaluating many bonds tied to mortgages covered by the Georgia law. <BR/><BR/> Comment: You can see why Mozilo fiercely opposed these state laws. They would have held Countrywide and others responsible for their lending practices.<BR/><BR/> The entire article is a good read. It details the involvement of the powerful agencies (OTS, OCC), the administration,<BR/>the housing advocacy groups. Sad enough in this debacle is the governmental enabling, the promoting, the greenlighting, the lax oversight and looking the other way. More sad is when the bad lending was being restricted and increasingly outlawed at some state levels, government at the highest levels pursued and succeeded in making good lending practices illegal wherever it arose and bad lending required<BR/>and enforced nationwide. <BR/><BR/> Both sides of the aisle, both ends of the mall, spilling from the judiciary...skeletons stacked to the ceiling in every room on every level.<BR/>There will be no pursuit<BR/>of the institutional role <BR/>played because that involves self-investigation. Just whitewashing(ton), diversion and distraction.<BR/>That leaves it to the Fourth Estate to tell the story in a way all can see and hear, but which can't seem to find a bone to pick from a governmental mass grave of skeletons stretching from DC to California. <BR/><BR/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR/><BR/>They Warned Us About the Mortgage Crisis<BR/><BR/>State whistleblowers tried to curtail greedy lending—and were thwarted by the Bush Administration and the financial industry <BR/><BR/>BusinessWeek In Depth October 9, 2008<BR/><BR/>http://tinyurl.com/5xxludAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-52749080261684729462009-03-11T05:54:00.000-07:002009-03-11T05:54:00.000-07:00Vin Diesel is always sold as "Italian," and someho...Vin Diesel is always sold as "Italian," and somehow audiences believe that. I just don't see it. His hair would be darker and thicker (look at eyebrows) for one thing. <BR/><BR/>He looks half Jewish and half (lighter) Black to me. <BR/><BR/>Not that it's any of my business, but I have a pet peeve about inaccurate type casting in movies, and Hollywood does it all the time. It makes the whole story unbelievable for me and ruins the entertainment if it's really excessive. European and Asian companies have been putting out better movies lately (Taken, for one), where the script and casting actually match reality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-73409926567898190062009-03-11T05:33:00.000-07:002009-03-11T05:33:00.000-07:00So I watched "Boiler Room" a few weeks ago (finall...So I watched "Boiler Room" a few weeks ago (finally) and a few months ago I saw "Wall Street" along with "Glengary Glen Ross".<BR/><BR/>I actually much preferred Boiler Room to the both of them. But I have a minute attention span, so this shouldn't be surprising.<BR/><BR/>But my question is, what other movie would fit into the relevant category? I need to update my NetFlix list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-77926803068763710212009-03-11T04:58:00.000-07:002009-03-11T04:58:00.000-07:00I much preferred "Boiler Room" to Stone's "Wall St...I much preferred "Boiler Room" to Stone's "Wall Street" - I found the latter far too histrionic and cartoonish - the general traits of Stone's bombastic style of movie-making. For example, that scene with Michael Douglas on the beach talking to Charlie Sheen on the phone about the grandeur of his vision - it's as bad and cheesy as Balzac. <BR/><BR/>Boiler Room had its flaws, but it's far more convincing than "Wall Street", and serves much better as an instructional guide to the seedier side of today's business world. The characters were great as well. <BR/><BR/>Steve, you are right about Diesel being a nuanced and subtle actor - such a pity that the one guy who had the potential to depict tough guys with depth and sensitivity ended up wasting the peak years of his career with generic, macho-man vehicles, better suiting roided-up former pro-wrestlers (see "A Man Apart", which I believe he specificlly chose). <BR/><BR/>The strangest thing about Vin Diesel is that he plays uber-masculine types, but has an extremely weak chin. <BR/><BR/>"Most businesses are too specialized to film well, but real estate is especially strangely overlooked considering how near universal interest in the subject is."<BR/><BR/>I though "American Beauty" to be a shallow and self-satisfied vanity piece, but Warren Beatty's wife did a great job of depicting the frustrations of a failed suburban real-estate agent. I've been watching "The Real Housewives of Orange Couty" - suburban real-estate seems the job of choice amongst idle and frustrated trophy wives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-55961195365806530592009-03-11T04:15:00.000-07:002009-03-11T04:15:00.000-07:00My question is why does Hollywood make so few movi...<I>My question is why does Hollywood make so few movies about business and/or business men?</I><BR/><BR/>Hollywood LOVES to make movies about the movie business, but these movie-movies almost always feel phony, full of cartoonish ogres and over-the-top, unconvincing satire. They're such hacks they can't even write believably about what they know. <BR/><BR/>WIth the possible of exception of real estate, I doubt they know anything about how most businesses really work. Since they have so much trouble making convincing movies about movie-making, how likely is it that they'd make convincing movies about businesses they know nothing about?<BR/><BR/>So, the details of a business are kept vague and businessmen are used as mere tokens to indicate Greedy Bad Guy or Stiff Conformist Drone in the usual dreary PC dramas and thrillers that flow non-stop from the Dream Factory.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-14231543237106262872009-03-11T03:43:00.000-07:002009-03-11T03:43:00.000-07:00Lots of businessmen are cast as murderers, supersp...Lots of businessmen are cast as murderers, superspies' and superheroes' archnemesises (archnemeses?), and so forth, but there aren't many about the mechanics of businesses, especially about honest businesses. <BR/><BR/>Most businesses are too specialized to film well, but real estate is especially strangely overlooked considering how near universal interest in the subject is. Certainly, everybody in Hollywood is obsessed with buying and selling houses. Heck, Cher pretty much gave up her movie career after winning the Oscar in 1987 to concentrate on buying and selling luxury fixer-uppers.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.com