The Ten Best Dance Sequences of 2018

Each day a new year in review list. Here's Dancin' Dan

If there was a common theme among the films of 2018 when it came to dance, it's the idea of losing yourself to the dance, of dancing as a trance-like state where either the viewer, the dancer, or both can shut everything else out and focus on this one thing. I think that's something we all could have definitely used in 2018, but it certainly wasn't all happiness and fun that was offered up for us to get lost in.

Before the countdown begins, though, a shout-out to three honorable mentions: Marina's disco fantasy in A Fantastic Woman (which was kind of last year but also kind of this year which makes listmaking INFURIATING), the climactic lighthouse sequence of Annihilation (which isn't technically a dance, but sure as hell feels like one), and this rightly cut but nonetheless adorable scene from A Simple Favor (Henry Golding has never been so adorable).

And now, let's get down and dirty...

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Eligible for Oscar

347 titles are eligible for Best Picture this year. More films than that are released each year theatrically but not every title bothers with paperwork or with playing one week in Los Angeles (to become eligibile)  The annual list always contains a few curiousities...

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The Lost Empire

What would Milo and Princess Kida make of Aquaman, do you think? 

Trip a Little Link Fantastic

Links and news bits collected for you

• And the Runner Up Is... I guest starred on this podcast episode about the 1978 Oscars: Coming Home vs. The Deer Hunter
• Cinematic Corner Sati has been counting down the days... or drooling down the days for Jason Momoa as Aquaman so here's her spoiler-filled review
• Variety what's behind the uptick in the US box office this past year?
• The Advocate counts down the 15 best LGBT tv shows of the year: Pose, One Day at a Time, and Schitts Creek more
• Vanity Fair Why you should root for Aquaman's box office success
• Vanity Fair Kevin Spacey's bizarre holiday video reprising his House of Cards character
• Deadline why did Welcome to Marwen bomb at the box office?
• Gay Body Blog [NSFW] counts down the best naked scenes of the past year or so. 
• /Film interesting thought experiment. Would Green Lantern (2011) have been well received had it premiered in 2006 or 2016 due to the changing nature of the superhero genre.

Today's Video
Behind the scenes of "Trip a Little Light Fantastic"

Do y'all think Mary Poppins Returns will manage two best song nominations? I think they're only going to get one but if this one gets nominated we'll get Lin-Manuel Miranda performing at the Oscars which would be sweet. 

Finally...
Redbox released their list of most rented titles of 2018. Apparently El Paso Texas is the busiest city for redbox rentals (who knew?) and Dwayne Johnson is the biggest overall draw. Ready for it? 

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
2. Rampage
3. Daddy's Home 2
4. Game Night
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

I mean where's A Fantastic Woman or We the Animals? I kid I kid. Americans just aren't adventurous in their movie tastes, whether they're going to the movies or watching them at home. In both scenarios they want big muscles, big explosions, big laughs, and big CGI beasties. That covers most of it.

YNMS: "Us"

by Chris Feil

Yesterday, Jordan Peele was our Santa Claus doling out cinematic gifts. First thing Christmas morning, the writer/director of the Oscar winning Get Out dropped the trailer to his follow-up to that mega-smash, the cryptically titled Us. And the internet promptly snapped - or snipped, given the film's scissor fascination.

Curiosity would naturally be at a fever pitch for what Peele has in store for us for his sophomore feature, and Us has smartly been quiet until now. The film centers around Lupita Nyong'o as Adelaide, a mother taking her family (including Winston Duke as her husband) on a beachside vacation only to be visited by a menacing family of their doppelgangers, The Tethered.

The trailer, which really plays like an extended teaser, gives us hints at the themes Peele is working with - family, trauma, self-reflection. And if Peele's promises that this film would be more firmly planted in horror elements hadn't convinced you, hold onto your butts...

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