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Top theatrical and Blu-ray/ DVD release of 2012

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Ranjan Pruthee’s top theatrical picks of 2012 Django Unchained Tarantino’s latest effort is maddening and bloody violent, yet he manages to inject moments of comedy and laughter into it, making the violence almost a secondary aspect. He pays homage to multiple genres, but at the same time carves out his own identity as an astute filmmaker, rediscovering himself in many ways. Lincoln Steven Spielberg’s film is a educational in every aspect, covering political challenges of passing the 13th amendment through the Senate and House that abolished slavery in all forms. Under Spielberg’s masterful direction, Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a superb performance that is worthy of an Oscar nomination.  Life of Pi With his past experience in adapting books for the screen, “Life of Pi” was a perfect project for Ang Lee, who retains Martel’s grandiose vision through the use of striking images and outstanding performances from the lead actors. As an allegorical tale of a young boy who
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Django Unchained

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Ever since writer-director Quentin Tarantino shot to fame with “Reservoir Dogs” (1992) and “Pulp Fiction” (1993), fans have eagerly awaited his films. The reason Tarantino stands out from the rest is because of his talent to continuously push the boundaries of the film medium in his own distinctive way. Considering his two decades of filmmaking experience, it is not difficult to anticipate what Tarantino might have in store for his audience in his latest film, 2012’s “Django Unchained.”  From the opening shot, it is obvious Tarantino has reinvented himself yet again. This time around, he dabbles with the spaghetti-Western action flick, and the results are superb. “Django Unchained” mixes satire, comedy, action, drama, and violence with the most important of Tarantino’s filmmaking characteristics, his handiness to introduce “unexpected” elements into the narrative. Set in the pre-Civil War era, the film’s opening, warm-looking shot representing a barren mountainous
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Life of Pi

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Toward its memorable climax, Pi Patel (Irfan Khan), the lead protagonist and narrator of director Ang Lee’s 2012 film “Life of Pi,” explains the meaning of his journey at sea by saying, “Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story.” A sixteen-year old Pi (Suraj Sharma) and a 500-pound tiger named Richard Parker end up being on the same lifeboat, after a rough sea sinks the ship Pi was traveling on with his family, killing almost everyone on board. One can initially perceive the picture as the tale of a young man surviving and taming a tiger. But Pi’s momentous journey is more than a survival story. Based on author Yan Martel’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, “Life of Pi” is a profound story of one man’s survival that centers on asking philosophical and religious questions about the value of things in life.    At the start, we get a detailed narration about Pi’s childhood and family, learning that his family owned a
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2016: Obama's America

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As the 2012 Presidential race gathered steam, we saw political candidates and political pundits working overtime to acquire vital gains in votes. That is obvious given the nature of the closely-fought election. But we also had filmmakers and authors working within their respective media to produce materials that were bound to influence voters. At one point, in 2012 year alone, there were six anti-Obama books in the Amazon’s top-100 best-sellers list. To name a few books: Paul Kengor’s “The Communist,” Dinesh D’Souza’s “Obama's America: Unmaking the American Dream” and “The Roots of Obama's Rage” on which this film is based, then Mark Levin’s “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America,” David Limbaugh's “The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic,” and Edward Klein's "The Amateur." On the funny side, one has to give credit to our President; his name brings money to big publishing houses and keeps writers busy all year around. It
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Mad Men: Season Five

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“Because even though success is a reality, its effects are temporary. You get hungry, even though you’ve just eaten.” – Don Draper, “Mad Men,” Season Five Late in season five of the enthralling “Mad Men” series, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) passionately discusses an account with a client. His eyes show hunger for getting the new business, and he maintains eye contact with the client. He is sitting with an upright posture indicative of his confidence, conviction, and exemplary smooth-talking skills that have made him a force in the advertising world. He presents his arguments by defining how much market share makes a company successful, after all. Is 50% market share good enough? Or should the company go after 80% of the share? But the crux of Draper’s argument in this episode (“Commissions and Fees”) is when people in the advertising world have an unflinching professional appetite for creating a difference in a company’s market share, the company should not be satis
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