From Gekko to Belfort: 5 favorite finance movies, ranked

Michael Douglas as insider-trading kingpin Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street."

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

• "The Social Reckoning" is out today, and it's part of a flood of tech-focused business films.
• You know what's better than tech? Finance and markets movies. See below for my top five of all time.
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In case you live under a rock (or, even worse, don't read Business Insider) there's a new Facebook movie called "The Social Reckoning" out today.

It's not getting the best reviews, but I don't care. The first Facebook movie is an all-time great. Plus I want to see "Succession" favorite Jeremy Strong do his best Mark Zuckerberg impression for two hours. That alone is worth the price of admission.

It's part of a recent run of business movies centered on Silicon Valley. But I prefer business films of finance variety — the ones about traders, bankers, dealmakers, and the occasionally fraudulent pursuit of getting rich.

So, after years of rewatching the classics — plus plenty I would never recommend — here are my five favorite finance movies. Check out the list below, then send any disagreements to jciolli@businessinsider.com.

1. Boiler Room (2000)

Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi in the 2000 movie "Boiler Room."

Getty Images

"Boiler Room" is not the best finance movie ever made. But it is the most fun.

Its penny-stock pump-and-dump schemes are so flagrantly illegal that suspension of disbelief is required. But that's beside the point. This film is a vehicle for an absurdly entertaining early-2000s cast playing Long Island brokers gone wild.

Vin Diesel delivers a perfect sales pitch to rapturous applause. Ben Affleck gets two electric motivational monologues, including the immortal observation that people who call money evil simply do not have any. Giovanni Ribisi anchors the movie as an ambitious poker-room hustler turned broker, while Jamie Kennedy steals scenes from what feels like a completely different movie.

The crew also ventures into Manhattan to beat up rival brokers and celebrate fraudulent IPOs — a reminder that subtlety was never on the menu.

Offensive? Often. Electric? Absolutely. A perfect 10.

2. The Big Short (2015)

Steve Carell, in character as Mark Baum, making a typically disgusted face on the set of "The Big Short."

Alo Ceballos/GC Images

Steve Carell wears a face throughout "The Big Short" that makes for a terrific reaction meme. Did someone say something questionable or out-of-pocket? Hit 'em with a Big Short Carell: pure confusion mixed with outright disdain.

Based on Steve Eisman, Baum slowly realizes that toxic mortgages are a ticking time bomb through encounters with overeager real-estate agents, exotic dancers buying second homes, and conference-hall shysters.

Christian Bale's Michael Burry air-drums to metal while combing through reams of mortgages, then gets punished for seeing the iceberg before everyone else. Ryan Gosling narrates with maximum swagger. Brad Pitt and a pre-"Succession" Jeremy Strong pop up, too.

Adam McKay somehow makes the financial crisis funny, furious, technical, and incredibly watchable. Watch it, then deploy the Carell face accordingly.

3. Wall Street (1987)

Director Oliver Stone (R) sitting with actor Charlie Sheen on the set of "Wall Street."

Mario Ruiz/Getty Images

The granddaddy still absolutely holds up.

Michael Douglas' Gordon Gekko — a slick-haired, cold-blooded embodiment of Wall Street greed — is an all-time movie villain whose every line is quotable. "Ever wonder why fund managers can't beat the S&P 500? Cause they're sheep, and sheep get slaughtered," is a personal favorite of mine.

Young Charlie Sheen is excellent as Bud Fox, the ambitious trader pulled into Gekko's insider-trading orbit. The plot — Gekko's plan to raid an airline's pension fund — can be a little far-fetched, but the mechanics of trading, corporate control, and takeover tactics remain remarkably clear and credible. That accessibility helps explain its enduring Wall Street appeal.

The period details are fun, too: landlines on the floor, brick-sized cell phones, loose-leaf paper everywhere. Gekko even has a treadmill in his office.

Oh, and one last thing … the next time you're hanging out with someone in finance, casually drop the line "Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel" and watch them go nuts. You can thank me later.

4. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio attends the "The Wolf Of Wall Street" premiere.

Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic

This has to be Martin Scorsese's most rewatchable film, which is really saying something. If I come across it on a movie channel, I have to finish. It draws me in every time.

That's because it's arguably the fastest-paced three hours in movie history. It spans years, tracking Leonardo DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort character from humble beginnings to penny-stock-hustling multimillionaire. To say hilarity ensues would be an understatement.

Jonah Hill — fitted with a comically large set of fake teeth — is outstanding as Belfort's money-hungry right-hand man, Donnie Azoff. Margot Robbie is Belfort's scene-stealing wife, who grows increasingly tired of his many antics, like crashing his white Lamborghini on quaaludes on the way home from the country club.

Belfort is despicable, hilarious, and impossible to look away from. Deep down, you know his gambit won't last, and the authorities are closing in on him throughout the movie. But it's still a blast to watch him fly too close to the sun.

5. Margin Call (2011)

Actors Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, Director J.C. Chandor, actors Simon Baker and Stanley Tucci attend the Margin Call premiere.

George Pimentel/Getty Images

"Margin Call" turns a Lehman-like bank collapse into an unnervingly quiet all-nighter.

While the release of the movie coincided with the Occupy Wall Street movement, its ultimate point wasn't that corporate overlords must be held accountable. The tone was more one of ambivalence and cynical resignation that big banks will always be bailed out.

Zachary Quinto is the real star, despite surprisingly low billing, as the analyst who discovers the firm's catastrophic risk. Kevin Spacey becomes the movie's uneasy conscience. Demi Moore and Stanley Tucci do plenty with limited screen time.

Then Jeremy Irons arrives as the all-knowing CEO and immediately steals the film in less than 10 minutes of screen time.

"Please, speak as you might to a young child or a golden retriever. It wasn't brains that got me here, I can assure you that," he says to Quinto's nervous young analyst, immediately taking control of the boardroom.

It's essential Wall Street viewing — smart, bleak, and impeccably acted — a touch too solemn to match "Boiler Room."

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