#i think that's how i superbed drummer duel also

[puppys-rhythm-heaven]

the real reason ds is harder on emu vs. actual hardware isn't cuz of lag or anything, it's because on emulator you can't aggressively hit the touch screen with the side of your stylus in order to do the quick taps in moai doo-wop/the sixteenth notes in shoot-'em-up 2- /j

[jasonfry]

Winter rolls along! No baseball! That means catching up with more classic movies everybody’s seen but me!

The Sugarland Express (1974)

This is Steven Spielberg’s first big-screen feature (1971′s Duel was made for TV), and it’s amazing to think it arrived just a year before Jaws, which would change American movies forever.

It’s impossible to watch The Sugarland Express without analyzing it in terms of Spielberg style, which is too bad, because it can be enjoyed perfectly well if you don’t know who the director is. Yes, there are some trademark long takes and inventive camerawork -- the most famous bit is a tricky 360-degree shot inside the getaway car that’s particularly impressive because it’s so easy not to notice -- but this is also a great character movie. 

Goldie Hawn’s Lou Jean is simultaneously conniving and childlike, ruthless and clueless, and Hawn brings a frantic intensity to the part. Her husband Clovis is doomed the moment Lou Jean puts her half-assed plan in motion, and William Atherton (of Die Hard fame) does a superb job with an understated role, in which Clovis’s real tragedy is how timidly he navigates the constrained possibilities of his life. They’re joined by Michael Sacks as a kidnapped state trooper, and the three make for a compelling ensemble -- people who understand each other and grasp that their circumstances could easily have been switched around by a chance here or there.  

The movie’s ambitious and thoroughly modern -- it’s a chase movie and a marital comedy and a slice of social commentary, and it switches lanes with skill and self-confidence. Maybe it doesn’t quite stick the landing -- there’s a little too much movie blood and the sun-soaked last shot feels like a stylistic departure -- but the ending is gripping even though it unfolds the only way it could, and that’s a hard trick to pull off.

Extra credit because even a relatively uninformed movie fan like me will have a blast moving both forward and backward from The Sugarland Express -- it wouldn’t exist without Bonnie & Clyde, but Raising Arizona wouldn’t exist without it, to identify just two beads on an intriguing string.

Rio Bravo (1959)

Westerns are my comfort food -- give me the right proportions of dusty streets and swinging doors and cacti against sunsets and I’ll overlook a fair number of cinematic/narrative sins. And Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo whips up the classic ingredients with the nonchalant skill of a veteran short-order cook in a beloved diner -- a tumbleweed even rolls into one of the leads in the first reel, as if to say, “What? It’s a western!”

Rio Bravo is usually framed as a rebuke to High Noon and 3:10 to Yuma, which Hawks and John Wayne despised because those movies dared to depart from the western tropes of flinty-eyed, self-reliant sheriffs and frontier folk banding together. The film Hawks and Wayne made in response is rock-ribbed in its values, unfolds at a languorous pace, and is often mawkish. (It also jerks to a halt for back-to-back duets with Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, while Wayne stands there and smiles.) It shouldn’t work -- and, to be clear, I don’t think it’s nearly as interesting as the movies it’s arguing with -- but it does.

For one thing, there’s immense skill brought to the storytelling and filmmaking. There’s a self-confidence behind that languor that draws you in, and while the characters are hoary stock figures, their interactions rarely if ever ring false. The actors are solid, too: Martin is a lot better than you might guess as Dude, the deputy with an alcohol problem; Nelson holds his own as a young gunslinger who doesn’t want to get involved but of course eventually does; Walter Brennan has a grand time bouncing off Martin and Wayne in their shared scenes; Angie Dickinson brings some shade and nuance to the role of a gambler’s widow trying to extricate herself from a checkered past; and the bit players are all threatening, comedic, hapless and helpful in the proportions you expect and want.

But unsurprisingly, Wayne is the secret weapon -- the story treatment for Rio Bravo didn’t bother giving his character a name, just calling him “John Wayne.” Imitations of Wayne focus on the swagger and the tough-guy talk but miss that his performances turn on the moments when his characters’ weaknesses undermine their strengths. Wayne’s Sheriff John T. Chance is gentle with Dude’s struggles, knowing well-chosen nudges are the best way to keep his troubled deputy on the right path, and he’s utterly at sea navigating his feelings for Feathers, Dickinson’s character. The Wayne-Dickinson pairing is yet another of those May-December romances that movies of the era were always foisting on actresses, but Wayne wisely leans into the problem, letting Chance be tongue-tied and awkward as the more confident Feathers steers him through uncharted emotional terrain.

Wayne became more cranky and reactionary as he aged, but he never lost the insight that strength is only interesting if paired with weakness. That dynamic sells Chance and Rio Bravo wonderfully. And hey, the Martin-Nelson duets are actually pretty good. 

Hawks and Wayne would essentially remake Rio Bravo two more times, first as El Dorado and then as Rio Lobo, and while I’ll tell you now that I don’t feel the need to see either one, jump ahead a couple of years to a late night where I think, “a western would be fun right now,” and I’ll probably wind up watching one of them. Because I bet they’ll work.

That Thing You Do! (1996)

The story of a one-hit wonder band, written and directed by Tom Hanks. The cast is terrific, particularly the luminous Liv Tyler; the title song (written by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne) is not only good but also pitch-perfect for its era; and the giddy whoosh of the Wonders’ sudden rise to fame carries the movie along effortlessly for quite a while.

There are only two problems -- but unfortunately, they’re pretty big ones. 

First of all, the movie jumps the track completely in its last 20 minutes or so. Tyler’s big speech to her self-obsessed boyfriend feels completely out of character; Tom Everett Scott’s drummer hangs around the most accommodating studio in music history and has a miraculous chance meeting with the jazz musician he idolizes; the hotel’s magical concierge uses the same gag twice and then breaks the fourth wall ... and all of this happens in such rapid succession that I thought I’d hit my head. The movie’s humming along pleasantly enough and then WHAM! everything stops making sense and it never regains its footing.

Second, after a couple of hours it’s already fading from memory, leaving behind the title song, the fun of life on the road and Tyler. I think that’s because while That Thing You Do! is invariably pleasant, it’s also utterly bloodless. 

Nothing is played for any stakes. Giovanni Ribsi breaks his arm and loses his spot in the band to Scott, but never seems bothered that he missed out on his friends’ rocket ride. The Wonders’ first manager excuses himself with nary a peep once Hanks arrives to take over. The veteran bands on tour with the Wonders brush the newcomers off at first, but pretty soon they’re all friends. The Wonders’ bassist is infatuated with a Black singer, which would have raised eyebrows in 1964, but the relationship barely makes a ripple. Despite ample warnings that it’s coming, the conflict in the band is mild at worst. Even the love triangle involving Tyler is resolved simply and with no particular fuss -- the Wonders’ lead singer breaks up with her, the drummer takes up with her, and all is well. 

The movie presents an attractive surface -- despite all of the above, when I heard there was an extended cut I thought, “I’d hang around with these characters for 40 more minutes” -- but there’s absolutely nothing underneath it. Given the talent on both sides of the camera and the obvious care with which it was made, that’s a shame.

[tikara]

Hey, Tika! (am i allowed to call you that? i dont know..) ive returned with more gifts!

So, recently, i did some snoopin’ around in some youtube tutorials and found out how to make custom textures for RH Fever (and pretty much any GameCube/Wii game but most of those deal with nastily restrictive 3D models) and as a sort of practice, i decided to texture edit Air Rally to feature your “ever-so-iconic” purple mew in the place of Baxter, based on that comic that I drew and sent to you a month ago (which by the way im really glad you liked so much!!)

sorry that it’s not very elaborate/interesting since all i did was change one character and a couple of title and results screens (which I kind of gave up on anyway [See: superb results screen]) but i hope you still think it’s fine! (3:03 is obviously the best part)

anyway, like i said before, I still think your art’s awesome, and i cant wait to see more from you!

erm, how about another Rhythm Heaven fact to end this off: in the credits of Fever, the Wrestler has no shading on him whatsoever and it looks really weird. call it an artistic style, since most other characters had flat colors, but that’s how they appeared in their games, while the Wrestler is one of the only characters who had, and should have shading (p.s. you should totally start wearing a red ascot tie, i think it suits you!) also stupid question but is there anyway i can talk to you more? or is that delving into the territory of being a little too creepy..?

AAAAAAAAA I’m so so sorry I’m getting to this so late but THIS IS SO CUTE!! oh my goodness this is just both incredible and also surreal to see I adore this to pieces. Anything that involves any sort of in-game editing and modding, even simple file and texture swapping, always impresses me since it’s something I only understand the bare basics of game modding that doesn’t involve code. And just seeing my goofy little persona in a RH game is just. aaaaAAA I don’t have any words I just love it <3 <3

Also are you kidding those Results screens are PERFECT!!! That “This is fine” image is adorable and even the rushed Superb screen is great because I genuinely love the Red/Green Mew sprite. And seeing TIka as it is just. So funny lmao. And yes, 3:02 is absolutely the best part (And of COURSE it happens at 3:02 phfahahah)

huh yeah regarding the wrestler having no shading in the credits that is actually kinda weird. It’s also just weird not seeing him sweating so much haha. And now  I counter with more RH facts! There’s actually quite a bit of unused data and art assets in all of the games! Some unused assets include animations for the Chorus Kids, Fan Club Monkeys, and what appears to be a ref in Drummer Duel in RH DS, an unused Cheer Readers book spread in Remix 9 in Fever, and in Megamix there are whole unused sprites for the tiny Fillbot robots, as well as what appears to be a completely unused game involving the Toss Kids! You can see all the unused assets over on the site “The Cutting Room Floor”.

Thank you so much again Odd I just cannot get over how cute and perfect this is ;w; As for further communication I’m actually not the most talkative person out there, but PM me if you’d like to swap Discords or stick with Tumblr’s chat thing or something!

I hope this little silly thing makes up for not answering for a while cause I wanted to make you something in return for doing such cool things for me~ Thank you again!!! <3

(Full size!)

[puppys-rhythm-heaven]

you ever just do something that you know for a fact will get you killed?

looks at the tier list i made yesterday where i put monkey watch in faves and ringside in just ok

cuz same.