AP / Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch steals the show from Reese Witherspoon and Jon Stewart in Telluride

Aug. 30, 2014, 12:38 PM EST

On an opening night that found the Telluride Film Festival hosting three Toronto-defying world premieres, Jon Stewart enjoyed newfound star power as an off-camera writer-director with the debut of "Rosewater," while Reese Witherspoon had some festivalgoers supposing that "Wild" could have her walking a red-carpet line to another Oscar nomination.

But the man who might have gotten the biggest boost on Friday wasn't there to enjoy his acclaim. Benedict Cumberbatch's ears should have surely been burning, as "The Imitation Game" opened at Telluride to the kind of near-universal kudos that nearly eclipsed the somewhat mixed reactions to the day's other bows.

See video from TheWrap: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley Race to Break Nazi Code in First 'Imitation Game' Trailer (Video)

"Imitation" director Morten Tyldum did turn up to usher in the film's first public screening, as did Harvey Weinstein. As Oscar bait, this "Game" has nearly everything going for it, combining a critical historical moment the cracking of the German Enigma code, which some say made the difference in the Allies winning WWII with a contemporary hot-button topic, as found in the eventual persecution of Cumberbatch's war hero character for the mere fact of being illegally homosexual.

Gritty and glossy at the same time, in the tradition of some of Weinstein's biggest successes, "Imitation" also has the virtue of being quite good. Weinstein may actually have an easier job than usual, at least when it comes to collecting nominations. Predicting whether Cumberbatch will earn one kind of counts as a "no s t, Sherlock" no-brainer.

Earlier in the day, "Wild" premiered up in the blue yonder at the mountaintop Chuck Jones Cinema, where it was warmly if not wildly received by an invitational patrons-only crowd. Among the well-wishers were Oprah Winfrey, who helped popularize Cheryl Strayed's source memoir by making it a book club selection.

Although reaction to the film among bloggers was as divided as the response for last year's ultimately unsuccessful opener, "Labor Day," "Wild" certainly stands a better chance of making an incursion into the awards picture via Winfrey's support and all the residual good will for Witherspoon. As the story of a woman who walks the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail in response to the death of her mother (played by Laura Dern in dozens of regularly-scheduled flashbacks), "Wild" is likely to divide critics into camps of those who respect it as a tale of spiritual self-enlightenment and those who wonder how it's even possible to trail-walk while doing that much navel-gazing.

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Cumberbatch steals the show