Drake Bell & Josh Peck (Kid Stars!)
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Robert Downey Jr: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid
The first detailed and authoritative account of the life, career, stardom, and controversy of one of Hollywood’s most popular and gifted actors ”I’ve always felt like an outsider in this industry. Because I’m so insane I guess.” Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr.’s life isn’t a moviebut it could be. This biography is an insightful, devastating, scathing, and ultimately uplifting journey into the realms of Hollywood’s darkest excesses and successes. Downey now commands milli
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Drake and Josh book,
I really liked this book the pictures were awesome and big i would . They are my favorites .
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|Robert Downey Jr: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid,
I am not a kid but I am a student of Robert Downey Jr’s work. This book, for all the author’s sincere effort to be accurate and authentic, lacks heft. Granting that the book covers the first 45 years of Robert Downey Jr’s life, 250 pages hardly examines the harrowing experiences of this gifted actor. The book reads more as a show biz bio than a true biography. Where quotes occur, apart from occasional textual references, there is no documentation. There are no explanatory notes to provide depth. Seminal moments in the actor’s life are glossed over in a few sentences. For instance, the birth of his son. This was the point in his life where Robert ceased being only someone’s son (Junior) and became someone’s father. But the days and weeks surrounding this event, whether or not he was present when his son was born, what his reaction was, all are ignored. Equally, when he married producer Susan Levin he married into Jewish culture with all the responsibilities and obligations that go with it. Yet again nothing more is made of it than the fact they were married and went off to France. These and other critical moments are hardly addressed. One expects more of biography. There are some anecdotes and some fresh information, plenty of conjecture, but no real insights. The actor as a man never comes off the page. For newer fans who want an accurate overview of the life and career of Robert Downey Jr, this is a good place to start. But be aware: the book is informative, not enlightening.
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|“If it encourages one more person to buy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or Less Than Zero on DVD, it’s been worth it.” Ben Falk,
(I ticked the “kid” on person by way, Amazon won’t stop putting my full name and town up when I don’t!)
As stated from the start RDJ has not contributed to the book but a wealth of people have helping to provide a very revealing, frank and at times harrowing account of Robert’s life and career. It enlivens the facts with humorous anecdotes and a comfortable, personable writing style all the while maintaining a very balanced piece that doesn’t sway (as it so easily could have) into sensationalism, judgment, sycophancy or exaggeration. There are a lot of stories and quotes in here that I haven’t come across before and some detailed interviews with friends and celebrities. It’s not by any means a celebrity puff piece, there’s some real meat here that may be hard for some readers to stomach. I, myself, was quite disturbed by the chapters that dealt with Robert’s incarceration in depth but once you get passed that, you then you realise just how lucky he is to be alive and healthy, leaving you feeling even prouder and happier that those times are now behind him.
Not that there aren’t the occasional lighter moments on the way, like RDJ’s poetry:
“He chopped up the body like a gourmet magnifico
And put those pieces under the floorboard very specifico.”
Beautiful!
In summary the author has clearly researched his subject and is an obvious hardcore fan resulting in a biography that is respectful, entertaining, poignant, saddening, inspirational and ultimately ending in hope and a strong optimism for the future.
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|Best book out there about Robert Downey Jr,
Mostly because all the others are just plain awful, but this is a competent, nicely done biography and the author did a respectable amount of original research.
Robert Downey Jr has had a dramatic life, and you have to be real about that. Ben Falk tells the whole story–good and bad. He certainly doesn’t gloss over the ugly details, but he doesn’t sensationalize them either. If you don’t already know his entire life story, this is a great way to learn more about an interesting personality.
On the other hand, if you are a longtime, super obsessed fan, then yes, you will find a lot of stuff you already know. It starts very strong, really the best and most thorough account of his early life that I’ve ever found. Very enlightening and fills in a lot of holes from his childhood up through early 20s when he was ‘breaking into’ the entertainment industry. There are new insights and anecdotes throughout the book, but they become much less frequent once the story gets into the late 80s/early 90s. I think it’s worth a read, but this wasn’t written for people who already know his entire life story.
It’s hard to get unbiased reviews from Downey fans because many decided to hate this book before it came out, simply because it’s an “unauthorized” biography. That bizarre over-protective pre-judgment of the book is both unfair and misplaced.
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