Episode 0036: The Robert Downey, Jr. Show
In this episode of The Secret Lair podcast, the Overlords get together to discuss a couple of recent movies starring Robert Downey, Jr. Note that both Overlords were in their new powered armor suits while recording this episode, which completely explains the tin-can quality of the audio in the recording. Really.
Discussion: Iron Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes
- Iron Man is Overlord Johnson’s OMG Best Superhero Movie EVAR, so the sequel had a lot to live up to.
- Holy analogy, Iron Man! Iron Man 2 : Iron Man :: The Dark Knight : Batman Begins
- Hey, Black Widow: Vere is your aksent, comrade?
- Overlord Miller would have preferred Nick Fury: Agent of M.E.N.A.C.E.
- Justin Hammer was a good California millionaire.
- Overlord Miller felt that Whiplash was a little shoe-horned into the story.
- Overlord Johnson thought Whiplash was pretty cool, but his demise was weak.
- Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau and new-Rhodey (Don Cheadle) had a lot more to do this time around.
- Howard Stark is Walt Disney.
- Overlord Miller seems to think that Robert Downey Jr. will be relegated to a cameo in the upcoming Avengers movie; Overlord Johnson disagrees.
- War Machine was pretty darn cool.
- The new Iron Man armor was pretty cool, too. Let’s avoid the West Coast Avengers version (AKA Silver Centurion), though, okay?
- How about that Iron Baby?
- We take a slight tangent to discuss:
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor.
- Chris Evans as Captain America.
- Jake Wyler is another Chris Evans role (Not Another Teen Movie).
- Do not do this with Captain America’s shield. Ever again.
- Overlord Miller is looking forward to the Green Lantern movie, but we have some concerns about how the power of the ring will be realized on-screen.
- And finally we get to Sherlock Holmes, which Overlord Johnson felt was a bit reminiscent of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
- Overlord Miller was relieved, as it could have been much, much worse.
- Holmes’ fighting strategy brought to mind Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.
- Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) appears in the very first of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, “A Scandal in Bohemia.”
- Was the movie too “steampunk-y”? What have we got against steampunk, anyway?
- Madam Overlord Johnson felt the plot lacked any sort of mystery.
- Who will portray Moriarty in the sequel? Perhaps one of Overlord Miller’s man-crushes.
- And now we’re on a Doctor Who tangent. That’s the royal “we”, where Overlord Miller is the royalty and Overlord Johnson is a bloody peasant.
- Are we really talking about a porn parody of the old Batman television series? Apparently so, but we say “cultural touchstone,” so it’s okay. There’s a fully-clothed trailer for Batman XXX: A Porn Parody on YouTube, of all places.
- Finally, Overlord Johnson isn’t quite ready to declare steampunk a complete failure as a genre of fiction just yet; he very much enjoyed Gail Carriger’s Soulless, a review of which can be found on this very site.
Lairkeeping
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:56 — 47.6MB)
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Tags: Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
Episode 0048: The Great Old Pumpkin
[...] Episode 0036 of The Secret Lair, we discuss Iron Man 2, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, and a few other assorted bits and [...]
Because I didn’t have my headphones at the time, I had to cram my iPhone deep into my ear’s canal in order to understand this particular podcast. Fortunately the content was worth the pains.
If Stark is relegated to a cameo in the Avengers movie, they are misusing a great asset. Tony Stark is a flawed man – an egotistical alcoholic – which might rightly give Fury pause about adding him to the Avengers roster, but:
(1) Flawed characters are interesting, so long as they aren’t annoying. Iron Man 2 dealt with Tony getting drunk and, shall we say, making mistakes. His towering ego almost got him killed in Monaco. If the creative team behind the Avengers movie don’t want his shortcomings to be dominant features in the film, let Stark learn from his mistakes. It would be better to allow the character to develop rather than put him in the corner.
(2) Robert Downey Jr. is the perfect actor for the role of Stark. His performance is so smooth he doesn’t even seem to be acting – it’s just a natural fit. Great matches have happened a few times in the super-hero movies of more recent years (Hugh Jackman/Wolverine, Patrick Stewart/Professor X, Sam Jackson/Nick Fury), although imperfect fits are more common (see Daredevil. Or don’t. Really, it’s not necessary.). When a great combination occurs, hold onto it! Make good use of it!
In summary, I wasn’t a big Iron Man fan before, but both movies are really enjoyable and I’d hate to see a good thing get wasted.
I think it’s fair to compare Sherlock Holmes with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because there are sufficient similarities to draw upon. It would NOT be fair, though, to equate them. I might want to give TLoEG another viewing some day to refresh my memory (and I’m sure I can find it used for $5 or less without difficulty), but I remember experiencing much less pleasure and many more head-shaking moments when seeing it compared to Sherlock Holmes.
@Miscellaneous G — We’re glad you soldiered on despite the volume issue; it means the conditioning has taken root. I’m with you on the whole matter of RDJ’s role in the Avengers movie: I think he needs to be front and center, both as Tony Stark and Iron Man. I can’t imagine why anyone in their right mind would attempt to marginalize either the actor or the character(s) he plays.