Generalissimo
03-16-2007, 01:39 PM
Here are my favourites:
Startup.com
Possibly the most relevant, about a site called GovWorks.com that got originally about $20 million in investment (then far more than this I think) while making basically absolutly no real money. It's mission was for users to be able to pay parking fines, taxes, etc online, as well as do things like find minutes to town meetings and such. By the end it hardly had any town councils signed up to the service and when the dot com crash happened, nose dived.
Wall Street
An all time favourite of mine and many others in this business (I know Kyle is a big fan of this movie). A young stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) keeps trying to get in with the big players and one day gets lucky with a man called Gordon Gecko, who embodies the image of a 'greed is good' capitalist - but the chance Sheen gets means using insider information, and ultimately brings him in conflict with his father (played by Martin Sheen).
Boiler Room
Often called the Wall Street for the dot com generation, it is similar in that it deals with the stockmarket - the difference is rather than insider information being used by a seemingly legit businessman, it is a company founded on selling stocks in fraudulent companies - although the stockbroker employees who get rich don't know this. The main character had started an illegal casino in his house while at college and was bringing in reasonable money from it, before being approached by two young professionals in sports cars from this company, but ultimately ends in him helping the government stop the fraud.
Glengarry, Glen, Ross
A bit different to the three previous films in that, although it deals with business, it deals with it more from an ordinary employees point of view than a young go-getter. It's about real estate, where the workers are given leads that are bought, but one day the company decided to improve productivity by doing a contest (1st prize a cadalac, 2nd stake knives, 3rd - you're fired), which leads several of the employees to conspire to steal the leads. An interesting twist at the end. Probably not as entertaining or relevant as the previous films, but well worth watching and a good comment on how not to treat your employees if you want loyalty.
Startup.com
Possibly the most relevant, about a site called GovWorks.com that got originally about $20 million in investment (then far more than this I think) while making basically absolutly no real money. It's mission was for users to be able to pay parking fines, taxes, etc online, as well as do things like find minutes to town meetings and such. By the end it hardly had any town councils signed up to the service and when the dot com crash happened, nose dived.
Wall Street
An all time favourite of mine and many others in this business (I know Kyle is a big fan of this movie). A young stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) keeps trying to get in with the big players and one day gets lucky with a man called Gordon Gecko, who embodies the image of a 'greed is good' capitalist - but the chance Sheen gets means using insider information, and ultimately brings him in conflict with his father (played by Martin Sheen).
Boiler Room
Often called the Wall Street for the dot com generation, it is similar in that it deals with the stockmarket - the difference is rather than insider information being used by a seemingly legit businessman, it is a company founded on selling stocks in fraudulent companies - although the stockbroker employees who get rich don't know this. The main character had started an illegal casino in his house while at college and was bringing in reasonable money from it, before being approached by two young professionals in sports cars from this company, but ultimately ends in him helping the government stop the fraud.
Glengarry, Glen, Ross
A bit different to the three previous films in that, although it deals with business, it deals with it more from an ordinary employees point of view than a young go-getter. It's about real estate, where the workers are given leads that are bought, but one day the company decided to improve productivity by doing a contest (1st prize a cadalac, 2nd stake knives, 3rd - you're fired), which leads several of the employees to conspire to steal the leads. An interesting twist at the end. Probably not as entertaining or relevant as the previous films, but well worth watching and a good comment on how not to treat your employees if you want loyalty.