It is, both surprisingly and most enjoyably, Robert Downey jnr's year. He gave Iron Man a jazzy insouciance to offset the blockbuster dictates and within weeks he'll be turning heads as an Australian method actor gone too far in the comedy Tropic Thunder. Twenty years after he was repeatedly called the actor of his generation and 10 years after he was repeatedly called "the accused", his particular skills - a tortured lightness, a self-awareness that verges on the self-destructive, a face that registers every slight - have found an admirable purpose. One of the reasons he's so appreciated now is that he's survived so many bad films. Is there a great actor who's had so many failures? The Pick-Up Artist, where Downey jnr plays the fast-talking alter ego of indie filmmaker James Toback, is one of three titles Showtime Greats is showing tonight - 1985's Weird Science gave him a supporting role in a teen comedy while 1987's Less Than Zero was a bowdlerised version of a starkly accomplished novel.