Three years after facetiously chiding Holocaust films for their Oscar-guaranteeing schmaltz on the British TV show ‘Extras,’ Kate Winslet throws in her bid as the star of high-budget WWII-era drama ‘The Reader.’ Based on German author Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 novel, the film traces a late-1950s affair between former concentration camp guard Hanna Schmitz (Winslet) and teenager Michael Berg (David Kross), lulled with classic passages from ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Huck Finn’ for an old-fashioned gal’s titillating pleasure. Eight years later, law student Berg witnesses her courtroom defense, the tight-knit secrets of her bloodstained past unraveling and rekindling long-buried sentiments. Directed by Stephen Daldry, the film steers clear of time-worn Holocaust-narrative standards, probing the theme of pardon instead of guilt and opting for the heated throes of passion rather than those of corporal incineration ‘mdash; classic Winslet. In theaters Jan. 9.