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Check out these Updates from Armchair Commentary for August 6, 2010.

Best Modern Movie Dance Scenes August 6, 2010 Step Up 3D opens this weekend. I am not sure what the 3-D element will add, but I will say despite the hunkiness of Channing Tatum in the original Step Up, I much preferred Brianna Evigan's street dancing in Step Up 2: The Streets (Incidentally, I also like to say "The STREETS" part of the title whilst throwing my hands up in the air). Between the Step Up movies, So You think You Can Dance, America's Best Dance Crew, etc., it's easy to see why this is a genre that manages to find an audience (and for new actors, it's probably a whole lot more fun to film than all those slasher movies). I've compiled a list of memorable dance scenes in modern movies. The reason I didn't do an all time was because it's just unfair to compare the movies on the list to anything performed by Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse--you get the idea. Although that would be an awesome list for my colleague David Horiuchi to compile.)  Plus, some of these scenes aren't about skill (Mark Ruffalo nods head in agreement). So here we go: 13 Going on 30: "Thriller" Jennifer Garner drags Mark Ruffalo to help spice up a company party. Only she's really 13 and thinks "Thriller" is a cool song to do. Turns out, she's right. (Note Andy Serkis' moonwalk at the end) Scent of a Woman: The Tango Before Gabrielle Anwar was the sexy star of Burn Notice, she was known as That Girl Al Pacino Tangoed With. Footloose: Warehouse dance A lot of people like the finale at the dance. I for one, prefer the exuberant solo Kevin Bacon did in the warehouse, with all the running and leaping and using your shirt as a prop. Pulp Fiction: "You Never Can Tell" Probably the most iconic image from the film is Uma Thurman's black bob and John Travolta--in a welcome back (excuse the pun) to stardom--entering a twist contest. Any movie that adds John Travolta dancing is a win. (It even improved Michael. Not by much, but still.) Napoleon Dynamite: "Canned Heat" Jon Heder's big solo dance was done to Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat," a song also used for the final number in that ballet film Center Stage that I watch every time it re-plays on Oxygen. Billy Elliot: Backyard angry dance A nice companion to the Kevin Bacon Footloose dance, if you ask me. You Got Served: Opening number The finale battle is really nifty as well, but I remember this awesome opening, in which one guy slides across the room... on his head. (at the 3:29 mark) Chicago: "Cell Block Tango" The most impressive number to me is actually the whole "They Both Reached For the Gun" marionette number. But by dance standards, this is the best one. Dirty Dancing: "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" Kevin Ortega's choreography, Patrick Swayze's charm, Jennifer Grey's lift (she did it!). And all the group dancing. Nobody puts Baby in a corner! Saturday Night Fever: "You Should Be Dancing" I take John Travolta dancing solo over a partner any day. She's All That: "The Rockafeller Skank" (Prom scene) I really love it when the entire senior class knows the same routine. Flashdance: "She's a Maniac" It's a pretty nifty scene, although all those VH-1 interviews they did with the dance double (the breakdancing was done by a man?!) sort of watered down my enthusiasm. Shall We Dance?: Competition rumba Mr. Aoki is determined to not lose his wavy wig through the rumba, even when it ends up backwards on his head. He basically steals the movie. (Dance starts at 4:44) Honorable mentions: Strictly Ballroom, competition dance Rize, clown vs. krump competition True Lies, Arnold & Tia Carrere tango Step Up 2 The Streets, Final dance in the rain Stomp the Yard, finale Mad Hot Ballroom Can't Buy Me Love, African anteater dance A Knight's Tale, dance to "Golden Years" Moulin Rouge, El Tango de Roxanne Bride and Prejudice, wedding dance What movies would you include? --Ellen

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