Given that it's summer and we could all use some lighter material these days, I am opting for a suggested movie list rather than a book list - and no, The Wolf of Wall Street will not be on it. Hoping there is at least one on here that you haven't seen and will enjoy as much as I did!

Boiler Room (Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgCLG4gCAvI

A 2000 American crime drama film written and directed by Ben Younger, the film was conceived when Younger interviewed for a job at brokerage firm Sterling Foster. Younger said, "I walked in and immediately realized, 'This is my movie.' I mean, you see these kids and know something is going on."

The film was nominated for several awards including the Black Reel Awards 2001, British Independent Film Awards 2000, Deauville Film Festival 2000. Winner. Jury Special Prize, Film Independent Spirit Awards 2000.

Gold (Matthew McConaughey, Bryce Dallas Howard)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdLXPv5NsA4

A 2016 American crime drama directed by Stephen Gaghan, the film is loosely based on the true story of the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia; however, for legal reasons and to enhance the appeal of the film, character names and story details were changed.

99 Homes (Andrew Garfield, Laura Dern)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh0piQN1_LY

A 2014 American drama directed by Ramin Bahrani, written by Bahrani and Amir Naderi. Set in Florida, during the Great Recession, the film follows single father Dennis Nash (Garfield) and his family as they are evicted from their home by businessman Rick Carver (Shannon), leading to Nash choosing to help Carver in evicting people out of their homes in exchange for his family's home. The film won Grand Prix at 2015 Deauville American Film Festival.

The Hummingbird Project (Jesse Eisenberg, Salma Hayek, Alexander Skarsgård)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_JcTg5mrEY

A 2018 thriller drama about high-frequency trading and ultra-low latency direct market access, written and directed by Kim Nguyen. The film opens as stockbroker Vincent Zaleski pitches Bryan Taylor on investing in a fiberoptic cable from Kansas electronic exchange to the New York Stock Exchange in order to front run orders in a new high-frequency trading operation. It had its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.

The Founder (Michael Keaton, Linda Cardellini)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3TDg_mUsA0

A 2016 American biographical drama directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Robert Siegel. The film portrays the story of Ray Kroc's creation of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain, which eventually involved forcing out the company's original founders to take control with conniving ruthlessness.

Deepwater Horizon (Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yASbM8M2vg

A 2016 American disaster film based on the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Peter Berg directed it from a screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand. It is adapted from "Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours", a December 25, 2010 article in The New York Times written by David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul.

Syriana (George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvTni7Nggi0

(Personal note - I couldn't stomach the torture scene in this one, so if you are sensitive to that prepare to fast forward)

A 2005 American political thriller written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer's 2003 memoir See No Evil. Syriana was shot in 200 locations in five continents, with large parts shot in the Middle East, Washington, D.C., and Africa. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gaghan described incidents (including planned regime changes in Venezuela) from personal meetings and interviews with the most powerful oil owners, owners of media houses, lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians which were included in the film.

Plot: U.S. energy giant Connex Oil is losing control of key oil fields in a Persian Gulf Kingdom ruled by the Al-Subaai family. The Emirate's foreign minister, Prince Nasir, has granted natural gas drilling rights to a Chinese company, greatly upsetting the U.S. oil industry and the U.S. government. To compensate for its decreased production capacity, Connex initiates a shady merger with Killen, a smaller oil company that recently won the drilling rights to Kazakhstan's Tengiz Field. If Connex-Killen were a country, it would rank as the world's twenty-third largest economy, and antitrust regulators at the DOJ have concerns.