The Imitation Game. 2014.

Saw this yesterday at the Bam and they must be expecting big crowds because they moved it into the big spacious theatre, giving the boot to "Birdman." I liked it, but its a little stogy and predictable with not much surprise or excitement in its narrative. We all pretty much now know all about Alan Turing and his remarkable work during World War II breaking the German's Enigma machine thus helping big time for the allies to win the war, and what did Alan get for all his great work and his genius? why he got persecuted and condemned for being gay, treated with oestrogen injections, It was either this chemical method of castration or going to jail, and he finally wound up dead, either by accident or suicide, the jury is still out on this. The film covers all of this and for most of the time its engrossing. Now this of course is mainly (no mostly) due to the marvelous Benedict Cumberbatch our most unlikely movie star who gives a superb performance as Turing. The production is beautifully done with digital high notes depicting war torn London and a good bunch of supporting performances including one by Keira Knightley who usually leaves me cold. The film of course belongs to Cumberbatch who you can't take your eyes off of when he's on screen, which happily is for most of the films running time. As of now he is my choice for the best performance by an actor for 2014.