Robert Downey Jr.

I'm not quite sure what happened, but this year I wound up having a very Robert Downey Jr. Christmas. Somehow the planets and stars perfectly aligned and a bunch of Robert Downey Jr. movies all lumped together in my Netflix queue. Over the past three weeks I have watched five Robert Downey Jr. movies, which is strange because on my celebrity-obsession scale old Rob is only about a 6 (on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being an internet stalker).

But I am a fan of the RDJ. He's a phenomenal actor and, let's face it, he just keeps getting better-looking with age. (Parenthetical prayer: Pleeeeease don't let him get all Mickey Rourke with nasty, unnessecary plastic surgery, rendering him terrifying to school children and elderly immigrant women.) I'm super psyched he's cut back on the nose candy so he can give more of himself to the world. That unpleasantness is better left behind us.

So, because I like to think that I leave my two readers with at least some useful information, I'll list the RDJ movies I watched as well as a brief opinion. Because what's a recommendations blog without an opinion? Or any blog for that matter... Anywho, let's get started.

Iron Man -- Seriously fawesome. The only fault? Not a fan of Tony Stark's finely trimmed mustache/goatee combo.
Good Night, and Good Luck -- Let's keep this positive... I'll say it's great if you need something to help you fall asleep.
Chances Are -- A good movie if you can suspend reality and get into the 80s cheese mode. It even did the freeze-frame ending of the main character smiling at the end before the credits roll. I waited for the classic ending and it did not disappoint. Also, when has Mary Stuart Masterson not been completely adorable?
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang -- Hi-larious! This movie has what might be my favorite line of all time: "West-coast girls are crazy... It's like someone took America by the East Coast and shook it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on." Seriously, his delivery of that line is perfect, and he even does the shaking motion (like he's shaking dust off a big rug) with his hands. Brilliant AND hysterically funny. Look out if you're delicate, though--it's rated R.
A Scanner Darkly -- I still don't know what that movie was about. I learned more from the synopsis that came on the Netflix sleeve than I gleened from the whole movie.

What's weird about this whole Robert Downey Jr.-fest is that I didn't even know he was in Good Night, and Gook Luck or A Scanner Darkly until he popped up on the screen. His unexpected presence was a delightful surprise seeing as those two movies were both boring and completely impossible to understand, respectively.

As long as we're talking about Robert Downey Jr., I have to throw a mention out for Tropic Thunder. FU-NNY. If you didn't know, in that movie RDJ plays a white guy playing a black guy (he underwent very controversial surgery to make the change). I kept forgetting it was even him since it neither looks nor sounds like him. Again, if you're not delicate, this is a thoroughly hilarious movie that will probably make you wet your pants just a little.

Ah, Robert Downey Jr. You've given me so much and asked for so little. How can I ever repay you?