Jonathan Glazer’s (Under the Skin) breath-stopping Cannes award-winner, THE ZONE OF INTEREST, is a hypnotic and strikingly original film that dismantles human darkness in the face of evil.

The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.

Starring Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel & Ralph Herforth, The Zone of Interest will be released in Aussie cinemas February 22!
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The pair will take part in a special Q&A panel at Oz Comic-Con Sydney held at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, on Saturday September 29, followed by the first Australian screening of the J.J. Abrams produced film.

Fans should follow Paramount Pictures Australia and Oz Comic-Con’s Facebook pages to find more details on the event and how to attend!

As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.

Staring Gary Oldman, Kristen Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane, Ronald Pickup and Ben Mendelsohn, Darkest Hour is in Cinemas January 11 2018!

In this context, he build tension in a masterful way. The film features very little dialogue and Hans Zimmer’s score is a major player in the film’s tone and emotional impact. The tension is fierce and relentless and never loosens its grip throughout the 106 minute running time.

The horror of war is never far from view but it isn’t presented in an overly graphic or bloody way. This approach adds even more to the film’s impact because it doesn’t distance the viewer with the off putting gore and carnage that becomes most war film’s stock and trade.

There are moments of great intensity in both film score and sound effects volume with the howl of planes diving and the discharge of armaments. There is also the beauty and inspiration shown deeply in moments of human resolve. This work vividly validates Nolan’s place among the all time greats.

Rob Hudson
www.dunkirkmovie.com

Dunkirk tells the story of the amazing evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada, and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France, between May 26- June 04, 1940, during Battle of France in World War II.

“Dunkirk” opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in.

Nolan directed “Dunkirk” from his own original screenplay, utilizing a mixture of IMAX® and 65mm film to bring the story to the screen.

“Dunkirk” features a prestigious cast, including Tom Hardy (“The Revenant,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Inception”), Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” “Wolf Hall”), Kenneth Branagh (“My Week with Marilyn,” “Hamlet,” “Henry V”) and Cillian Murphy (“Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy), as well as newcomer Fionn Whitehead. The ensemble cast also includes Aneurin Barnard, Harry Styles, James D’Arcy, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan and Tom Glynn-Carney.

The film is being produced by Nolan and Emma Thomas (“Interstellar,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy). Jake Myers (“The Revenant,” “Interstellar,” “Jack Reacher”) is serving as executive producer.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema (“Interstellar,” “Spectre,” “The Fighter”), production designer Nathan Crowley (“Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy), editor Lee Smith (“The Dark Knight” Trilogy, “Elysium”), costume designer Jeffrey Kurland (“Inception,” “Bullets Over Broadway”), and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson (“Mad Max: Fury Road”).
www.dunkirkmovie.com

It had a high profile cast (for its time) in Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, Jeremy Northam and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who would, later on become much more famous as a pivotal character in an obscenely popular medieval TV show. There’s a problem with Enigma, however and it’s the fact the filmmakers substituted the real-life homosexual mathematician, Alan Turing, for a fictional heterosexual mathematician named Thomas Jericho and indeed the story centres around his very heterosexual love affair. This incredible sleight against a significant historical figure is, in retrospect, offensive to say the least let alone the disappointment in reducing a highly intriguing historical event to a spy-chasing romance.

The Imitation Game seeks to correct this ‘reimagining’ and essentially succeeds in this goal. Sure, there is much licence taking for the purposes of spicing up the script (which is a little frustrating given the intrigue of the truth) but it hits the important notes and we emerge at the other end with the commensurate admiration and sympathy that Turing deserves.

Turing’s homosexuality is dealt with deftly. Critically, Turing kept his illicit sexuality secret and so does the film for a good deal of the proceedings, appropriately revealing it as it becomes critical to the story. It is never permitted to overshadow the significance of Turing’s mathematical genius yet it doesn’t resile from the personal cost of the injustice that his sexuality invites even if this chapter of the story is a little prone to melodrama.

The film remains compelling throughout, touching upon the important issues such as the official withholding of intelligence at the expense of innocent lives. Though these events are at times presented non-factually, the gravity of the issues are rightly felt nonetheless.

Ever since his turn in the Sherlock television programme, Benedict Cumberbatch has become a viewers’ darling and his excellent performance here will not endanger that status. Likewise, Keira Knightley is excellent as is Charles Dance and Mark Strong. Matthew Goode does what he can in a rather thankless role as fellow mathematician, Hugh Alexander.

The Imitation Game is not entirely authentic but it hits the right tone and canvases the appropriate issues and historical landmarks admirably in a compelling presentation.
Stuart Jamieson
www.theimitationgamemovie.com