KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
So it is that time of year, the few weeks at the end of the year when everybody has a list - best of, worst of, least, most - all that stuff. This week on the show, we have our own lists of highly specific superlatives. And to get it started, we have invited our good friend Linda Holmes, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast and editor of the Monkey See blog. Hello.
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Hi, Kelly.
MCEVERS: OK, so you have not one but three highly specific superlatives for us...
HOLMES: That's right.
MCEVERS: ...From the movie and theater world.
HOLMES: That's right.
MCEVERS: Let's start with your favorite trend in props, and that is arm casts. Can you explain that (laughter)?
HOLMES: Yes. So normally it takes three to make a trend.
MCEVERS: Right.
HOLMES: But I'm calling an early trend, and that is arm casts. So there is a cast on the arm of the lead character in the Broadway musical "Dear Evan Hansen," which won a bunch of Tonys this year - and also on the arm of Saoirse Ronan in Greta Gerwig's film "Lady Bird."
MCEVERS: Right.
HOLMES: And in both cases, they are on teenagers. And in both cases, they speak a lot to a metaphorical pain along with the actual cause of the injury, which is relevant to the story in both cases - and so arm casts. If you're sitting right now thinking, I'm trying to figure out what my movie needs, it needs somebody with a cast on their arm...
MCEVERS: Right now.
HOLMES: ...Ideally a teenager - a very angsty teenager.
MCEVERS: Right - who's vulnerable, right, OK.
HOLMES: Yeah.
MCEVERS: Good. For the next super-specific superlative, I just want to start with a cut of tape.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GET OUT")
LAKEITH STANFIELD: (As Andrew Logan King) Get out.
DANIEL KALUUYA: (As Chris Washington) Sorry, man.
STANFIELD: (As Andrew Logan King) Get out. Get out.
KALUUYA: (As Chris Washington) Chill. Chill.
MCEVERS: OK, what is it we're hearing?
HOLMES: We are hearing my choice for the best piece of movie dialogue in which the character says the name of the movie, which is from the movie "Get Out"...
MCEVERS: Yes.
HOLMES: ...Which is why that guy keeps saying, get out. Now, as you know if you've been to the movies very many times, when a character says the name of the movie, that can be a really funk moment - when you go to a movie and it's called, like, "Jill Fell In Love" (ph) and then some character says, you know what happened this week that was really wonderful...
MCEVERS: Oh.
HOLMES: ...Jill fell in love and you have that terrible moment. But in "Get Out," it actually is a really powerful, important moment in the story. It speaks to the horror of what's happening in the film, and it gets at kind of Jordan Peele, the director-writer's, larger idea of a meta-commentary on horror films and how people watch horror films, which is, you watch the people on the screen, and you keep saying, get out; get out; get out.
MCEVERS: Right. OK, finally (laughter) and possibly most importantly, we're going to leave our listeners with your choice for best coats.
HOLMES: That's right, coats - best coats were on Charlize Theron in the film "Atomic Blonde." It is more stylish at times than it is clever. And one of the things that is most stylish about it is Charlize Theron. It is set in 1989 in Berlin, and the whole thing looks like kind of a German music video of the time.
MCEVERS: (Laughter) Yes.
HOLMES: And she wears these fabulous coats. There is a white coat. There is a black coat. There are other coats. She is the best-attired spy you'll never see in your life. Shout out to Cindy Evans, the costume designer for "Atomic Blonde."
MCEVERS: Anything you'll be looking for in 2018, any superlatives?
HOLMES: Well, I will be looking for more coats - also boots - great boots in "Atomic Blonde," but I like boots in a movie. That could happen. And following arm casts, I'm thinking maybe next year - neck braces.
MCEVERS: (Laughter) Linda Holmes, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour and writer-editor of the Monkey See blog on npr.org, thank you.
HOLMES: Thank you, Kelly.
(SOUNDBITE OF ULRIKA SPACEK SONG, "MIMI PRETEND") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
