Two more of mine have been named in the last four reveals. Charlie Kaufman has proven to be one of the most singular and, for my taste, amusing screenwriters. For someone who entered the business through television comedies (Chris Elliott's sitcom "Get a Life" and the short-lived "The Dana Carvey Show") his ascendance to screenwriting god is almost as surreal as one of his stories. He should have two more of his screenplays make the countdown but I am happy to see his directorial debut made it as well. Synecdoche, New York was my fourteenth pick. My fifteenth pick was Duncan Jones' Moon. I was already a slobbering fan of Sam Rockwell, since Box of Moonlight and Lawn Dogs, and along with the Charlie Kaufman-adapted Confessions of a Dangerous Mind this was the best example of Sam in full leading man mode. This was Duncan's directorial debut as well, and while Source Code was a promising follow up the big budget video game flick Warcraft was a head-scratcher. We'll see if the rest of his career starts to match the brilliance of this shining writer-director debut.
That makes eight of my choices, thus far.
HOLDEN’S BALLOT
1. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (#86)
2. Dancer in the Dark (#49)
14. Synecdoche, New York (#46)
15. Moon (#48)
16. Fantastic Mr. Fox (#70)
17. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (#92)
18. A Serious Man (#66)
20. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (#51)
__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra