Guide to upcoming movies

IT’S the season for major movie releases in Australian cinemas, including many with Jewish connections.Here are some of the major films that are being released in January.

The Book Thief

BASED on Australian author’s Markus Zusak’s international best-seller, The Book Thief is set around a young girl, Liesel (played by newcomer Sophie Nelisse) who is sent to live with a foster family in Germany during World War II. En route to meeting her foster parents (played by Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson), Liesel’s brother dies. Her love of reading is heightened when her foster parents take in a young Jewish boy named Max, whom they hide in the basement. Nursing a shared hatred of Hitler, Liesel and Max become close and Liesel begins stealing books intended for the book burnings set up by the Nazis.
Screens from January 9.

Grudge Match

ROBERT de Niro (Raging Bull) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) play two ageing boxers who step back into the ring for one final grudge match to settle an argument from the days when they were champions 30 years earlier. With plenty of Raging Bull and Rocky references, the film promises to be a nostalgia-fest as social media spreads the word about the big fight. Jewish actor Alan Arkin is also among the cast as veteran boxer Louis “Lightning” Conlon, who volunteers to train Stallone for the re-match.
Screens from January 16.

Her

SPIKE Jonze’s new sci-fi romance film Her stars Joaquin Phoenix as a shy writer mourning the end of a long relationship. When he hears about a new computer operating system designed to meet its user’s every whim, he purchases one, which he christens Samantha, and looks for love in the social media world of a futuristic Los Angeles. Soon he develops a relationship with the voice, which belongs to beautiful actress Scarlett Johansson, although she is never seen on screen. Amy Adams plays his real-life girlfriend.
Screens from January 16.

Inside Llewyn Davis

JOEL and Ethan Coen have returned to the cinematic scene with a bang with the quirky Inside Llewyn Davis, which follows a week in the life of a young folk singer in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1961. Apart from battling against the New York winter, he faces seemingly insurmountable struggles along the way. The acclaimed directors have joked that the film lacks a plot in the traditional sense, but critics have been impressed – it won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
Screens from January 16.

Wolf of Wall Street

THE Wolf of Wall Street is based on infamous Jewish Wall Street stockbroker Jordan Belfort, who spent almost two years in prison for manipulating the stock market through money laundering and securities fraud. Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, the film tracks Belfort’s rise from the Bronx to become the high-flying co-founder of a New York brokerage firm from which investors lost more than $200 million. The cast includes Jewish actors Jonah Hill, Jon Favreau and Rob Reiner.
Screens from January 23.

PHOTO of Geoffrey Rush and Sophie Nelisse in The Book Thief.