Yep, this time is Benedict Cumberbatch's turn! But before that, I want to apologize to myself because I've said in previous movie marathon post that I would either choose one of these actors: Jeremy Renner, Tom Cruise, Shia LaBeouf, Anton Yelchin -- but apparently I didn't do it. I just had the mood for the charming Cumberbatch. Let's find out why I chose him.
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, simply known as Benedict Cumberbatch (simply?! It's like one of the longest two-words names lol) is, of course, one of my favorite actors of all time. You may or may not know him. If I wrote this post on, let's say, two or three years ago, you might not know him. But it's freaking 2013 now. Who doesn't watch -- at least know -- Sherlock, the BBC mini-series, or Star Trek Into Darkness? Oh, please.
Benny came from an entertainer family. Both of his parents (Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham) are actors. Maybe that's why he decided to become an actor -- a GOOD one! Because of his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock, he was nominated for Best Actor in BAFTA TV Award, Golden Globe Award, and Primetime Emmy Award. His performance in Parade's End also earned him a nomination in Emmy. And so many other awards that he won or just to be nominated. It was good, right? Brilliant!
Well, since he is British, his accent is just WOW! In addition, his unique and handsome face got him SO many fans, who called themselves "Cumberbitches". I love him, I love him sooooo much, but I wouldn't call myself a "bitch" though -_- And in several interviews or talk shows, he showed an objection over that name. He called his fans "Cumbercollective" instead. Ah, I don't care about the name. What matters is that we, his fans, are here supporting him forever. *tsaaahhh*
So, what makes you decided to do Benedict Cumberbatch movie marathon?
Same like RDJ's, this was my second BC movie marathon. The first one was last year, right after I saw him on Sherlock (see my blog post about it here) and I got this starstruck, so I was looking for some of his movies. I was crazy, crayzaaaaayy, about him that time (I still am though haha), because he portrayed my favorite fictional character very well, and he is so handsome! Any objection about this? Hahaha you better not. Other reason is I watched him in various talk shows (Jimmy Fallon, Graham Norton, Alan Carr: Chatty Man) and I was like "Oh, man, I need to watch all his movies again". Well, I did the movie marathon finally, but not all of them, just the ones I could find. Plus, because Benny is also a TV actor, I watched several TV series that he had appeared in.
In fact, this was the shortest movie marathon I've ever had. If we count only the movies, I finished them in only 3 days! Hahaha. It was weekend, from Saturday to Monday, non-stop watching Benedict Cumberbatch. But, the TV series marathon is still going on right now -- I currently watch Parade's End, and I will watch Sherlock some time before the premiere of series 3 hehe.
Here's the list of his movies, according to the time I watched them:
1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2. Hawking
3. Small Island
4. The Whistleblower
5. Atonement
6. Van Gogh: Painted with Words
7. The Other Boleyn Girl
8. Third Star
9. War Horse
10. Starter For 10
11. Wreckers
12. Marple: Murder Is Easy
13. Stuart: A Life Backwards
14. Star Trek Into Darkness
15. Inseparable (short film)
16. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
And this is the list of his TV/mini-series that I watched:
1. To the Ends of the Earth
2. Fortysomething (playing Hugh Laurie's son. I repeat, HUGH LAURIE!)
3. The Last Enemy
4. Parade's End
5. Sherlock
PLUS, I also watched the stage production of Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle, in which he played two alternating roles of Victor Frankenstein and The Creature, opposite Jonny Lee Miller, with whom he also shares the iconic role of Sherlock Holmes (Miller plays Holmes in Elementary).
After watching all of them, do you have any specific movies that you've been into?
Yes, of course. Benny is a GREAT actor, and every role he has portrayed is pretty much memorable. Well, I will only list the movies, not the TV series because hey, it's actually a movie marathon! And since I only watched 16 movies of his, I could short-review all of them (?) or maybe just a few. Let's just start.
The first, well this one is my favorite character of his after Sherlock Holmes, it's Star Trek Into Darkness! You don't need to explain much about the movie because it got me at "Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain". Plus, it's the sequel of the freaking Star Trek! It's got Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, AND Simon Pegg. Awesome, huh?! Just put Benny's name between theirs and it's million times more awesome! So, Benny's villain in this movie is known under the name of John Harrison, a renegade Starfleet officer who was apparently having his own hidden agenda after bombing a secret Section 31 installation in London. The Enterprise crews were ordered to catch and kill him, not knowing his true intention. Sounds convincing, huh? Yes! And I love the handsome villains like Loki and Sylar (hey, he's in this movie too, lol!). The movie is even better, guys. If you haven't watched it yet, well, shame on you!
The second is Third Star. Most of you guys probably don't know this movie. That's okay, I'll review it for you and make you want to check this movie hehe. Benny played James, a young man terminally ill with cancer. He knew that he wouldn't live any longer, so he set a last hiking trip to his favorite place on Earth, Barafundle Bay, with his three closest friends. Yep, it's a simple drama, but I've got to tell you guys, I couldn't stop crying when watching this. Sure this was not a truly tearjerker drama, but it hit me hard, really hard. I don't know, maybe because I have best friends, we get along really well like James and his friends, but this movie proved that even best friends could be teared apart by a simple behavior or statement. Really, this movie is very recommended. If you don't like a "quiet" drama, then don't watch this. This movie didn't use much music/score, but like I said, it still could make me cry. Also, I love movies about guys' friendship more than girls'.
The third is Stuart: A Life Backwards, a TV movie -- which you probably never heard before. Ok, for the heads up, this movie had Benedict Cumberbatch AND Tom Hardy as its lead actors. It was enough to convince me to watch it, even though I had no idea what this movie was about until I saw it. So, it was based on a biography of a writer and charity worker Alexander Masters, played by Benny in this movie, about his friend Stuart Shorter (Hardy), a homeless alcoholic. They met and struck up an unlikely friendship as Alexander learned and wrote about Stuart's complicated life, violent past, and traumatic childhood, in backwards.
The fourth is Hawking. Again, this is a TV movie based on Stephen Hawking's life when he was first diagnosed with motor neuron disease at the age 21. In spite of that, Stephen Hawking (Benedict Cumberbatch) still tried to live his life as the PhD student at Cambridge University and was in the middle of his research of "beginning of time". You know, Benny is very good at portraying this kind of roles. He looked like he was really sick, and it kind of broke my heart. I wasn't sure if it caused by Benny, the good actor, or Stephen Hawking, the real-life figure who actually has this rare illness. Anyway, this was the breakout role for Benny I think. He was nominated for BAFTA TV Award. And he was only 28 at that time.
The fifth is Marple: Murder Is Easy. This one was actually an episode of a TV series, but let's just consider it as a movie because Benny only appeared for one episode. So, before Sherlock Holmes, he had portrayed another detective, Luke Fitzwilliam. In this movie, Luke was working together with Miss Marple -- yep, it's that famous character by Agatha Christie -- to investigate seemingly accidental deaths that occurred in a village of Wychwood. Since I enjoy any detective stories, I love this one, even though it didn't satisfy me. Still, Benny looked super handsome in this :p
The sixth is War Horse. Of course you know this one -- an Oscar-nominated movie by an Oscar-winning director, Steven Spielberg. He's one of my favorite directors, so I can't miss this one. War Horse told the story of Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) and his beloved horse, Joey. Well, I could say that the main character of this movie was the horse itself, as it was traveling around the England after it was sold to a young cavalry officer Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston -- yes it's THAT Hiddleston, guys!!!). Like Tom's, Benny's role in this movie was small, but important. He played Major Jamie Stewart, the commander of the cavalry. Great movie, made me cry too. Also, who can resist Irvine, Cumberbatch, AND Hiddleston (they are my favorite British guys!) in one movie?
I think that's it. Don't worry, those were just the movies that I wanted to short-review, but I will still at least tell you each of memorable characters played by Benny from his movies (sorry, can't tell you all of them).
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Peter Guillam, a partner of Gary Oldman's character, George Smiley.
Atonement - Paul Marshall, a creep (find out why I said this by watching the movie, guys...)
Van Gogh: Painted with Words - Vincent Van Gogh -- you must know him, come on.
Starter for 10 - Patrick Watts, a strict, ambitious leader of University Challenge team, which looked like he could have an exciting battle of brains with The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper.
Wreckers - David, an ordinary husband whose secrets slowly uncovered as his brother, Nick, came and ignited a sibling rivalry.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Necromancer, a mysterious figure. Benny provided a performance capture, and a voice for latter movies.
Wow, it's a long post despite a very small amount of movies that I watched haha. Anyway, what's next for our Cumberbatch? You can catch him as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate (it was already out in US, and I haven't watched it because it didn't come out in my country), critically-acclaimed 12 Years a Slave, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (only voice and performance capture), and star-studded August: Osage County. And Benny has already signed for a few movies in the future, so I guess we have to wait patiently!
"I've been very lucky at what's happened in my career to date, but
playing something as far from me as possible is an ambition of mine --
anything from a mutated baddy in a comic book action thriller, to a
detective."
- Benedict Cumberbatch
See you in the next movie marathon post!
(Well, this time I won't give any candidates haha. I will do any actors' movie marathon according to my mood :p)
Pics were taken from Google, then were made into a collage by me.