Reassessing Benedict Cumberbatch
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 10:49PM 
One must admit when they were wrong. For the past decade, I've come to dismiss Benedict Cumberbatch as a limited and repetitive actor with very few exciting works. Someone who'd received undue acclaim, rising to fame in such meteoric fashion that it boggles the mind. In other words, I wasn't a fan of his take on Sherlock Holmes and quickly grew tired of his shtick as he graduated from TV stardom to a prestige movie juggernaut. Some performances made me rethink my distaste throughout the years, like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Parade's End, and, to a lesser extent, War Horse. But, of course, even a stopped watch is right twice a day, or so I told myself.
Well, it's 2021, and Benedict Cumberbatch is both on his way to an Oscar nomination and into my cinephile's heart. He gives three of the year's best performances in a slew of fascinating pictures that range from loony portraiture to a study in venomous masculinity…