Elementary, My Dear Sherlock Holmes(es) - Part 2

Continuing from the previous post, I will still talk about Sherlock Holmes. But this time is more specific -- I'm gonna talk about these recent Sherlock Holmes adaptations:
1. Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, films directed by Guy Ritchie
2. Sherlock, aired by BBC
3. Elementary, aired by CBS

Seperti yang sudah saya jelaskan sebelumnya, saya nggak bermaksud untuk membandingkan adaptasi-adaptasi ini satu sama lain. Saya di sini hanya sebatas mengoceh dan mengeluarkan pendapat, juga sekalian fangirling hehe. Saya suka semua adaptasi Sherlock Holmes, mulai dari jamannya Jeremy Brett di serial Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994), Nicholas Rowe di Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), sampai sekarang yang paling baru adalah Jonny Lee Miller di Elementary (2012, ongoing). Ada yang lebih baru lagi, yaitu serial Sherlock Holmes versi Rusia (diperankan Igor Petrenko), tapi belum tayang, mungkin sekitar musim gugur tahun ini.

Yuk ah, langsung aja kita bahas :D

PERHATIAN! Bagi kalian yang belum pernah menonton salah satu dari tiga adaptasi Sherlock Holmes yang sudah disebutkan di atas dan ada keinginan untuk menontonnya nanti, saya sarankan jangan baca posting ini. SPOILER ALERT! (Kecuali kalau kalian suka spoiler...)

WARNING! For those who haven't seen one of three Sherlock Holmes adaptations that I mentioned above and planning to watch them later, I suggest you to leave this post. SPOILER ALERT! (Except if you love spoiler...)

Beuh. Gaya banget pakai bilingual.

Okay. Ready, set, go!

Elementary, My Dear Sherlock Holmes(es) - Part 1

I've been wanting to blog about this since a long time ago. So, what is this post about?
Sesuai dengan judulnya, saya akan membahas tentang detektif paling keren sejagad raya alam semesta tata surya (apasih -_-)... SHERLOCK HOLMES!
 

Ya, saya cinta mentok sama detektif yang satu ini. Sayang banget dia itu cuma tokoh fiksi karangan Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Kabarnya, dalam mendeskripsikan karakter Holmes, Opa Doyle terinspirasi oleh beberapa orang yang ia kenal, seperti Joseph Bell--seorang dosen kedokteran yang suka mengambil kesimpulan akhir dari pengamatannya terhadap hal-hal kecil--dan Henry Littlejohn--seorang dokter bedah yang pernah bekerja dalam kasus kriminal. Nah, Opa Doyle menggabungkan kedua karakteristik dari dua orang itu dan... bam! Jadilah Sherlock Holmes :D

Sherlock Holmes menyebut dirinya sebagai seorang consulting detective di London. Apa itu consulting detective? Detektif yang dikonsultasikan atau dimintai bantuan dalam suatu kasus ketika kasus itu sangat sulit dipecahkan atau sudah berada di luar batas kemampuan polisi atau detektif lain. Holmes sering memecahkan kasus dengan analisis dan deduksinya yang luar biasa keren. Dalam petualangannya, Holmes ditemani oleh partner-nya Dr. John Watson yang tinggal bersamanya di 221B Baker Street, London. Holmes punya kakak, Mycroft Holmes, seorang pejabat pemerintahan.

Nah, itu tadi cuma segelintir tentang Sherlock Holmes. Kalau mau tahu lebih banyak, mari baca novelnya (sebagian besar menggunakan sudut pandang Dr. Watson) :D
Kita bahas tentang judul posting ini sebentar ya... Sebenarnya, kalimat itu berbunyi "Elementary, my dear Watson", sebuah catchphrase terkenal yang sering banget muncul kalau kita lagi bahas Sherlock Holmes. Tapi... Ada tapinya lho. Catchphrase ini nggak pernah benar-benar diungkapkan oleh Holmes. Cari deh tuh di semua novelnya, nggak ada kata-kata seperti ini. Memang sih, Holmes pernah bilang "elementary" dan memanggil Watson dengan "my dear Watson", tapi ini cuma spekulasi dari fans-nya aja walaupun sudah melanglangbuana.

Sherlock Holmes illustration by Sidney Paget (source)

Kecintaan saya pada detektif bermula dari komik Detektif Conan. Siapa coba yang nggak tahu Conan? Conan Edogawa garis miring Shinichi Kudo loh ya, bukan Conan the Barbarian. Jadi, waktu masih kelas 1 SD dulu di Pontianak, saya nonton animenya DC. Terus pas ke toko buku ada komiknya, saya beli deh tuh (ya, saya sudah jadi pecinta komik sejak kecil, thanks to my Mom :D) tapi komik Conan pertama yang saya beli itu nomor 9 karena nggak ada yang nomor 1. Akhirnya sama Mama dibeliin deh tuh 1-8, ngeborong gitu. Dan begitulah, saya terus beli Conan, mengoleksinya, sampai sekarang udah kuliah semester dua masih belum selesai komiknya. Buat Aoyama-sensei, pokoknya ending komik ini harus mantap tap tap, biar yang long time fan kayak saya bisa terharu biru bacanya dan nggak merasa 'percuma' udah koleksi banyak. Sejak baca Conan, saya jadi suka banget sama hal-hal berbau detektif. Bahkan, saya pengen ikut-ikutan jadi detektif.

Lho katanya mau bahas Sherlock Holmes, kok jadi melenceng ke Conan?
Eits, jangan salah. Di kehidupan saya, ngomongin Sherlock Holmes tanpa menyinggung Conan itu namanya pengkhianatan. Komik Conan-lah yang mengenalkan saya pada tokoh detektif legendaris itu. Di abad modern seperti ini, saya tahu dari mana lagi coba tentang Sherlock Holmes yang terkenal banget di tahun 1800-an? Dulu saya cuma demen sama komik, mana pernah nyentuh novel, apalagi novel 'berat'. Wajarlah, namanya juga anak kecil, senengnya kan lihat gambar. Tapi tokoh Conan a.k.a Shinichi di sini sangat amat mengidolakan tokoh detektif lain bernama Sherlock Holmes. Karena nama Holmes (dan Hercule Poirot juga) lumayan sering disebut di komik itu, saya search deh di Google. Bla, bla, bla, udah dapat banyak tuh informasi tentang Holmes, tapi masih belum tergerak untuk baca novelnya. Novel pertama yang saya baca adalah Laskar Pelangi-nya Andrea Hirata, itu pun karena dibeliin Papa. Setelah Laskar Pelangi, saya malah mulai menjamah teenlit, instead of reading Sherlock Holmes stories karena saya yakin ceritanya berat banget.

Dan dua tahun kemudian, tahun pertama saya di SMA, muncul film Sherlock Holmes yang disutradarai Guy Ritchie. Saya yang sudah lama 'melupakan' Holmes, langsung super duper happy pas tahu tentang film ini. Saya langsung mikir "Tau aja nih Hollywood kalau saya males baca novelnya." Apalagi, yang jadi Sherlock Holmes itu si Tony Stark a.k.a Iron Man! How could I miss this movie? Hahaha. Akhirnya cussss deh nonton sama temen-temen. Reaksi saya? "SUMPAH KEREN BANGET AAAA SHERLOCK HOLMES I LOVE YOUUU!" Ya tapi saya nggak teriak-teriak kayak gitu di bioskop, aje gile -_- itu suara hati saya yang lega karena akhirnya bisa menyaksikan seperti apa Sherlock Holmes yang diidolakan Shinichi Kudo itu tanpa harus baca novelnya, sekaligus awal mula kegilaan saya terhadap detektif yang satu ini.

The many faces of Sherlock Holmes. Jonny Lee Miller belum masuk sini karena masih baru :)

Orang-orang yang lahir tahun 1900-an mungkin jarang atau bahkan tidak pernah mendengar nama Sherlock Holmes sebelumnya, kecuali para penggila novel detektif atau misteri. Padahal banyak adaptasi Sherlock Holmes, mulai dari serial TV sampai film, tapi kemunculan film Guy Ritchie inilah yang membuat orang-orang tahu tentang Sherlock Holmes. Thank you Guy Ritchie, thank you Robert Downey, Jr., thank you cast and crew! Setelah film ini muncul, novel-novel Sherlock Holmes pun dicetak ulang dengan cover baru, dan akhirnya saya beli novelnya! Hahaha. Semakin tua ternyata saya semakin suka sama yang berat-berat begini, mulai dari novel sampai film. Yay me!

Selain itu, muncul juga berbagai adaptasi Sherlock Holmes yang lain, banyak banget deh, tapi yang paling berpengaruh ke saya (juga mungkin sebagian besar orang di dunia ini, ceileeehhh) adalah serial TV BBC berjudul Sherlock, tapi latarnya jaman modern. Sherlock Holmes di sini diperankan oleh Benedict Cumberbatch. Sekitar dua tahun setelah kemunculan Sherlock, ada juga serial TV tentang Sherlock Holmes berjudul Elementary, dibintangi Jonny Lee Miller sebagai Sherlock Holmes. Sama seperti Sherlock, Elementary berlatar jaman modern, tapi di Amerika, bukan di Inggris. Ya iyalah, yang buat kan Amerika :D

Jadi, inti posting ini apa?
Oh iya, posting ini akan dibagi ke beberapa part (mudah-mudahan cuma 2 ya). Part 1 ini cuma prolog, introducing, opening, atau apalah itu istilahnya, terhadap Sherlock Holmes. Atau lebih tepatnya, kenapa saya bisa sampai tergila-gila dengan Sherlock Holmes. Maunya biar jadi paragraf sebab-akibat gitu, tapi ini aja sudah panjang, jadi saya pisah deh.
Intinya, saya mau bahas, cerita-cerita, dan mengeluarkan pendapat saya terhadap tiga adaptasi Sherlock Holmes yang paling baru/yang saya ikuti/yang saya sudah sebut di atas -- dua film Sherlock Holmes-nya Guy Ritchie, Sherlock-nya BBC, dan Elementary-nya CBS. Tidak, saya tidak membandingkan ketiga adaptasi ini. I love all of them, how can I compare them? Saya cuma mau ngoceh aja tentang mereka. Oke? Oke.

To be continued to Part 2~

Pics were taken from Google.

Movie Marathon: Robert Downey, Jr.

This is my second movie marathon (after Matt Damon's) in which I did innocently and calmly between so many final projects that were attacking me like a tsunami. In fact, this was the longest movie marathon I've ever had because of those projects, not to mention any other tasks that needed attention. Yep, so many distractions compared to when I did Matt Damon movie marathon, because most of the tasks must be done individually. Last semester, the biggest final project was done in group.

But, lucky for you, Mr. Robert Downey, Jr.... Once I started a movie marathon, then the show must go on! (Or the marathon must go on whatsoever.)

Robert John Downey, Jr. is one of my favorite actors of all time. Excuse me for saying that on every movie marathon post, I hope you don't run away after reading that certain sentence :p A little explanation why I should write it like that... I have like 15 all time favorite actors. Or more--I lose count. Because it's so many, I write 'one of''. I have my own reason why I do these movie marathons--to dedicate (?) myself as a huge fan. Yeah, maybe I will have 11 or more movie marathons according to the amount of my favorite actors, why not.

Let's get back to RDJ! I'm sure you guys know who is this handsome man, who doesn't? Raise your hand if you don't. Maybe all this time you live in a cave or stranded in a deserted island or kidnapped by aliens. Yes, he's the Tony Stark or Iron Man. Thanks to Iron Man, all people in the world, including me, knew who he was. But, do you know him before Iron Man? Maybe yes, maybe not. So, allow me to tell you more about our favorite man :)

RDJ's father, Robert Downey, Sr., is an actor and director. RDJ's first film debut was when he was 5 years old in the movie Pound, directed by RDS. If you want to see him in the movie, just search on YouTube, you'll find one. He was also one of the cast members of Saturday Night Live season 11 (1985-1986) but was fired along with most of the cast after the season ended because it received poor ratings. Then he went to play some movies (not gonna mention them here, just find on IMDb), one of them was Chaplin, where he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Post-Oscar nomination, RDJ's career started to get into troubles because of drug charges. He was arrested multiple times and had to get a drug treatment during late 1990s and early 2000s. The arrests were costing him several movie & TV roles. See? Even the seemingly perfect man like RDJ had troubles in his career. If you like him so much but end up hating him because of this thing... well, you don't deserve to be called 'fan'. RDJ was struggling so hard to leave drugs and marijuana, and now, look at him. He's such a hero.
Well, although those problems seemed to break his career down, it actually didn't. He came back, people, he came back! He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a mini-series or television film for his performance in Ally McBeal. That's not enough? He got that Tony Stark/Iron Man role which made him so famous until now. He was nominated for another Oscar, this time was Best Supporting Actor for Tropic Thunder. Then he was cast as Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie film. And other great things that I can't mention one by one.
Oh, oh. RDJ is also a singer. He sang for several movie soundtracks and released a music album called The Futurist in 2004. His great songs and amazing voice accompanied me to study hard last year, and yeah, I finally passed the university exam :D
He has 2 sons, Indio (from his marriage to Deborah Falconer) and Exton (from his present wife Susan Downey)--and they are so adorable. Seeing Indio is like seeing the younger version of RDJ.
Okay, that's some story about Robert Downey, Jr. that you might don't know because you don't care :)

So, what makes you decided to do Robert Downey, Jr. movie marathon?
Actually, this is my second RDJ movie marathon. The first one was last year, but the movies I was watching were not that many, and I didn't write about it because it just happened haha. I decided to do RDJ marathon part 2 on his 48th birthday (April 4th 2013), but again, my time was eaten by the tasks. Then, near the end of April, Iron Man 3 came to theaters... So I watched it, then I continued with the other movies, and voila! It became Robert Downey, Jr. marathon :)
If we count the time, this movie marathon took one... two... three... four--exactly four weeks, or a month. It started on April 26th (the day I watched Iron Man 3) and ended on May 26th. The marathon was interrupted by two non-RDJ movies, Hummingbird and Star Trek Into Darkness though :p

Here's the list of his movies, according to the time I watched them:
1. Iron Man 3
2. Iron Man 2
3. A Scanner Darkly
4. Chances Are
5. Johnny Be Good
6. Heart and Souls
7. Chaplin
8. Natural Born Killers
9. Air America
10. Home for the Holidays
11. Black and White
12. In Dreams
13. U.S. Marshals
14. Wonder Boys
15. Good Night, and Good Luck.
16. The Singing Detective
17. Iron Man 3 (yes, I watched it 2 times--and this time I got to watch the post-credit scene, yay! :p)
18. Gothika
19. Charlie Bartlett
20. Love and Distrust
21. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
22. Due Date
23. Tropic Thunder
24. The Soloist
25. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
26. Zodiac
27. Iron Man
28. Sherlock Holmes
29. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
30. Marvel's The Avengers

After watching all of them, do you have any specific movies that you've been into?
All of them. Hahaha, no kidding. I'll always remember his movies, even the ones that are not so famous. But, for the sake of the readers (like you have even one, Wid -_-), I'll just list the ones that I really like. Okay? Deal? Deal.

The first... I guess you know. Yes, Marvel's The Avengers! One of my favorite movies ever. Six superheroes plus one handsome villain? Priceless, baby, priceless. RDJ reprised his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man. This movie was the end of Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One, so you got Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, plus Hawkeye and Black Widow here, fighting Loki, Thor's brother. There are so much to talk about, and this is just not enough. Best movie ever... for me :D

The second, of course Iron Man, from the first until the third. The first Iron Man was the first RDJ movie I've seen. Let's just say that if I didn't see this movie, I might didn't know who Robert Downey, Jr. was until his name was all over the internet. I first watched it with my brother, we got the front seats. You know, the seats that were right in front of the screen. Can you imagine how hurt my neck was? Fortunately, the film was much more amazing that I imagined. I didn't even care that I sat on the front seat because RDJ was so amazing to play the rich playboy Tony Stark who was forced to build an armored suit in a life-threatening incident. After that, he used his skill to expand the suit, became Iron Man, and fought against evil.

The third, Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Nothing was better than hearing that RDJ was going to star as my favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes. After seeing the movie that followed the adventure of consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey, Jr.) and his partner Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) to fight a nemesis who used black magic, my love for Sherlock Holmes was getting bigger. Yes, Downey, Jr. is an American, but he could portray the British detective perfectly.

The fourth, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I can say that this movie is the second RDJ movie I've seen. I first watched it on HBO, saying "Oh, my God! That's Tony Stark acting so clumsy and funny! Hey, bro, it's Tony Stark! He's still handsome without the beard!" Hahaha. RDJ played Harry Lockhart, a thief who was disguised as an actor after escaping from police. His adventure didn't end just like that. A mystery of two seemingly different murder cases brought Harry to teamed up with Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), a private eye, and Harmony Lane (Michelle Monaghan), Harry's childhood friend and struggling actress. This movie is so funny and clever. The dialogs weren't so cheesy. There were some parts that didn't show funniness directly, but I could laugh over it. Not just comedy, you would also wonder about the murder mystery. Plus, the acting of three main actors were just great, especially RDJ's enjoyable performance.

The fifth is Zodiac. Oh, yes, you're right, I love story about serial killers, always do. Even my friends think that I'm kind of a psychopath because of this weird interest. Anyway, you do know Zodiac killer right? This killer was so famous back in 1960s and 1970s, but until now, the crime remains unsolved. This film told the story of a serial killer who call himself Zodiac, who taunted police and newspaper publisher with his letters and cryptic messages. A cartoonist, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a reporter Paul Avery (Downey, Jr.) became friends because they shared Zodiac killer as their interests. There was also Mark Ruffalo as Dave Toschi, a police inspector. Three amazing actors (and other great actors) in one movie about the famous serial killer? How could you miss it? :)

The sixth is A Guide of Recognizing Your Saints. Downey, Jr., Shia LaBeouf, and Channing Tatum in one film? Who can deny that? Hahaha. The movie based on a memoir of Dito Montiel, a musician and director about his childhood in the toughest part of New York. RDJ here played the older Dito Montiel, while LaBeouf played the younger version and Tatum played his childhood friend, Antonio. I wrote a not-so review about this movie here, please click to read more :)

The seventh is Chaplin. Yes, this is the movie about the life of Charlie Chaplin. I think you all know him. The movie, despite being criticized for the way it's describing some aspects of Chaplin's life, RDJ's performance was both critically and universally acclaimed. This led him to get a nomination for Best Actor in Academy Awards. This movie becomes one of my favorites because of RDJ's amazing performance. Watch it if you have enough time, because it's a bit longer than usual movie.

The eight, Tropic Thunder. I love seeing actors who choose various characters, not only ordinary and 'safe' character. I think, in this movie, RDJ was brave enough to take the part. I mean, he had to darken his skin for the character of Kirk Lazarus, a five-time-Oscar-winning actor. Well, in this movie Lazarus was a blonde man with blue eyes, but he had surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the black character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris in a movie called Tropic Thunder. There were also Ben Stiller and Jack Black as fellow actors Tugg Speedman and Jeff Portnoy, respectively. Full of action and comedy!

The ninth is Charlie Bartlett. Anton Yelchin and RDJ! Wow, just wow. Charlie Bartlett (Yelchin) was a wealthy teenager who was dumped by several private schools, and ended up in a public school run by an alcoholic principal Nathan Gardner (Downey, Jr.). Charlie teamed up with a school bully to help fellow students about their problems, usually using some prescription drugs that he got from his own psychologists, in order to become popular.

The tenth is Due Date. RDJ played an architect (love it! :D) Peter Highman who had to come home in time to accompany his wife (Michelle Monaghan) who was due to give birth to their first child. But, something came in his way and he had to be in a crazy journey with an actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis). This movie is so funny! I couldn't imagine if I was Peter and was trapped with someone drastically dysfunctional like Ethan when I had to be home immediately. Crazy!

Ah, I want to write about 29 RDJ movies I watched, but the post is too long already. Well, the ones that I don't write above weren't meant to be disliked by me. If I could write them all, I would :)
I am downloading Ally McBeal season 4 where RDJ guest-starred as Larry Paul, the main character's love interest during the season. I was also looking for Saturday Night Live season 11 where he was a cast member, or an SNL episode where he was hosting, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the internet :( I really hoped I could watch them though.
Oh, just FYI, RDJ is still not confirmed whether he will return as Tony Stark/Iron Man for further Marvel movies or not, although several sources said that he is in talk to return to 2 sequels of Marvel's The Avengers. Don't be sad, guys... RDJ is not only Tony Stark. He's a great actor and I'm sure he knows what's best for him. He has another upcoming movies that you don't want to miss :)

I know very little about acting. I'm just an incredibly gifted faker.

-Robert Downey, Jr.

See you in the next movie marathon post! (Candidates: Jeremy Renner, Tom Cruise, Shia LaBeouf, Anton Yelchin -- which one should I choose?)

Pics were taken from Google, then were made into a collage by me.