I recommend this graphic novel to everyone:

Irwin Schiff (father of Peter Schiff) - How An Economy Grows and Why It Doesn't
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8009736/Ir...-Why-It-Doesnt


"A talent in too short supply today is the ability to take the complex and make it understandable to all. Listening to university professors and presidential advisors drone on about economics for generations has turned it into the dismal science most Americans tune out today, and we are all the poorer for it.

Schiff has taken a lifetime's experience and observation and distilled it into a comic book that can be read in an hour or so, but the lessons learned are immeasurable. It will teach you about investment, savings, capital and inflation, faster and with greater enjoyment than all the texbooks and position papers stretching from here to Jupiter and back. It will also arm you mentally for all future encounters with politicians or government spokesmen when they try to "explain" why America's economy is in such a bad way, and why we keep paying more and more for less and less.

Schiff has done a great public service in giving us a cheap and painless way to learn the basics of how an economy grows and why it doesn't. The pain will come in trying to reverse generations of misguided and uninformed economic policy."
http://www.amazon.com/review/RJZNCF9...cm_cr_rdp_perm

First I saw Wall-E and I was blown away by the humor, the visuals, the story and the wow-moments during certain scenes and revelations. Then I saw Ratatouille (also from Pixar) and the same thing happened again!

I rated both of these 5 stars on movielens. This site tracks your ratings and picks movies for you based on collaborative filtering.

Here are all my ratings so far:
http://movielens.org/publishServer?f...ems=100&page=1

Been a while since I posted a movie-review. This one was worth mentioning.

The story revolves around a young guy in Korea who breaks into houses and stays there for a short period of time. Not to steal, not to break things, but as a way of life. He encounters a young woman and their lives become joined.

The movie is serene, tender, dramatic. The story develops interestingly and shows what real intimacy is.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423866/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373760/

The setting is 1942 in Brazil and the image-quality looks like it was made 30 years ago, yet it was made in 2005!

The story is about a young German man (Johann) who escaped from Germany during the buildup to the war and is trying to have a life as an aspirin-salesman. He meets Ranulpho on the road and he becomes his assistent. As they travel the countryside we get to know both of them better and better, as well as the realities of the poor parts of Brazil.

This is a very good movie that shows you the psychology of the harshness of war (even when it's far away), of starting a new life, friendship, pain and never giving up.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/

I didn't finish this movie, I watched maybe a third and then I got sick of it. I started skipping ahead and then just closed it.

The setting is around 1870 or so. And the story is about some magicians in fierce rivalry trying to make it big. But it's just not believable. Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson are serious actors, but it also featured Hugh Jackman (from X-men) and Michael Caine. But I couldn't take it as something serious, neither the rivalvy, their personal lives, them as characters, or much of anything.

At the end of the day this movie isn't about anything and tries to keep you interested with a mix of good and semi-good actors and some stagework and whatnot, but it fails entirely if you ask me. If you're going to use Bale and Johansson, their roles should be deep, interesting, philosophical, psychological, etc and so on. Not some fluffy children-esque movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/

SPOILERS

This is a well-made movie. Good actors, the plot keeps you on your toes. I especially liked DiCaprio (have I ever not?).

However..

..if you think just for a little bit about what's happening then you realize the story is just ridiculous. What is the artist trying to tell you? All I can see is a retarded police, retarded criminals, and everybody ends up dead; so you'd have to be retarded as well to be anywhere near either of these two groups (or hire them for anything). The movie also shows quite nicely how the maffia and the police are one and the same because they have no problems whatsoever to blend in with the other one.

No, all this reminds me of is the horrible undercover stuff that happens in real life, the complete failure of the police and courts to protect anyone in a safe way, and their endless support of criminals by creating profitable black markets.

The only plus I found in this movie was how Billy (DiCaprio) and Madolyn (Vera Farmiga) got along. There was some real honesty between them, and real trust that followed that. She was also really nice to look at, so I guess that helps as well .

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/

Didn't really know what to expect with this one. I saw on imdb it had to do with some 'post-apocalyptic' thing, which reminded me of War of the Worlds that I saw not too long ago. And this made me pretty interested to see what kind of mythological setting this one would be.

When the movie starts you pretty quickly get a feeling for the kind of movie it's going to be, although I had no idea where the plot would be going and there were a lot of questions about what had happened and stuff.

I think the movie kept me really intensified and the slow pace revelations essentially are the plot.

I'm not a fan of thriller for the sake of thriller. Also, I found the story lacking of mythological undercurrent (what are the metaphors and how can we relate, etc) and I thought the story was also pretty unrealistic, if that's what they were going for.

But the 'moral' of the story did appear to come out when they talked about being a light in the darkness and keep going for goodness despite evil. In that sense, it was a pretty strong statement because of how the story rolls out, i.e. the fate of humanity at stake and fighting with your life for it.. But then the question is: what is the metaphor? In our own lives, today, what is the evil that threatens humanity, or maybe our own humanity? I have some ideas, but it remains unknown what the artist is pointing to. Perhaps it's not about the danger but about the power of human adaptation and survival skills in extreme circumstances.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111693/

What appears to start out as a romantic comedy turns into a very serious drama about relationships, the family, problems, alcohol, children, and so on. I think these issues are very important and I think this movie cracked open a bunch of them in a way that teaches us about psychology and human interaction.

There were some things in the movie that were out of place and unrealistic, but I applaud this project very much and I was pleasently surprised to see these actors (Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia) take it on.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454921/

Showing what rock bottom is like brings a refreshing perspective on your own life. Will Smith did a great job in this movie. It's also good to see some people who aren't stuck-up, shallow and delusional; because some people just can't afford that.

Will Smith once said the following (from his imdb page):
"Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want to impress people they don't like."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113117/

I watched this one yesterday. Meg Ryan steals my heart in all of her movies; this one no exception. The movie had a good joie de vie ('joy of life'). If anything, this movie showed me to follow my bliss and to do that which makes me feel alive (as Campbell would put it).