110 The Solari Report / 2018 Annual Wrap Up / Part Two In the Loop (2009) https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQrqMkCuHqA A political satire about a group of skeptical American and British operatives attempting to prevent a war between two countries. An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. 2012 (2009) https://www.imdb.com/videoembed/vi3444113945 Another helping of a disaster scenario from Independence Day director Roland Em- merich. The scenario: shifting poles cause massive floods. The chosen few: government leaders, the world’s billionaires, military brass from superpower countries, and some service workers. They will get spots on modern arks while the world perishes. There is a great scene of some Saudi princes, Russian oligarchs, and the Queen of England with her corgis all boarding the ship to- gether. The rich and mighty will always be saved. Margin Call (2011) https://www.youtube.com/embed/uj4QrAcwVi0 The official description—“the story follows key people at an investment bank, over a 24-hour period, during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis”—could not be duller, but Margin Call actually offers fascinating insight into the Lehman Brothers collapse and the 2008 bank wipeout. Too Big to Fail (2011) https://www.youtube.com/embed/-g2gdYhjlsM This HBO movie chronicles the 2008 financial meltdown, with Treasury Secretary Henry Paul- son as the focus of the story. The Ides of March (2011) https://www.youtube.com/embed/y494hUO-aw8 An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. This star-studded political drama featured George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) https://www.imdb.com/videoembed/vi2312218649 A tour-de-force satirical tale of the rise and fall of a penny stockbroker who rises to the top of the Wall Street food chain. An explosive cocktail of corruption, drugs, and sex, portrayed fearlessly by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, and Matthew McConaughey. The Big Short (2015) https://www.youtube.com/embed/vgqG3ITMv1Q Scenes from the movie: https://www.youtube.com/embed/EqjrWefjkUk A group of investors bet against the U.S. mortgage market two years before the crash. Direc- tor Adam McKay (who in 2018 made the brilliant Dick Cheney exposé Vice—see below) uses comedy, direct-to-audience explainers by Margot Robbie and Selena Gomez, and a plethora of stars—from Brad Pitt to Ryan Gosling—to explain to the American public the great real estate scam of 2008.