PopGap #12: Peer Review, Part Two

For Part Two of my Peer Review project, I've selected 20 Flickchart users whose tastes align most closely to my own, and during December 2015 I'll be watching the top-ranked movies from their charts that I haven't already seen*. (Last month, I watched 20 movies from users with lower compatibility scores. For a more detailed explanation of my Peer Review selection methodology, click here.)

December's Watchlist

* denotes a re-watch

• Running on Empty (1988)
  Dir.: Sidney Lumet
  User: Myargonauts / Score: 270 / They rank it: #33
• Galaxy Quest (1999)
  Dir.: Dean Parisot
  Users: Brother+Reed | Score: 361 | They rank it: #39
  johnmason | Score: 1429 | They rank it: #20
• Mystery Train (1989) *
  Dir.: Jim Jarmusch
  User: benshoemaker / Score: 395 / They rank it: #15
• Army of Shadows (1969)
  Dir.: Jean-Pierre Melville
  User: Quirky / Score: 406 / They rank it: #7
• Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
  Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki
  User: DavidConrad / Score: 436 / They rank it: #11
• Holy Motors (2012)
  Dir.: Leos Carax
  User: LittleSocrates / Score: 453 / They rank it: #1
• Miracle (2004)
  Dir.: Gavin O'Connor
  User: Caesar / Score: 480 / They rank it: #30
• Forbidden Planet (1956)
  Dir.: Fred M. Wilcox
  User: Nononsense / Score: 496 / They rank it: #48
• Short Circuit (1986) *
  Dir.: John Badham
  User: butthorn / Score: 505 / They rank it: #7
• Princess Mononoke (1997)
  Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki
  Users: fishbiscuit | Score: 516 | They rank it: #7
  joemovies | Score: 559 | They rank it: #22
• Bound (1996)
  Dir.: The Wachowskis
  User: Vancetastic / Score: 520 / They rank it: #18
• White Heat (1949) *
  Dir.: Raoul Walsh
  User: DukeOfOmnium / Score: 529 / They rank it: #7
• La Strada (1954) *
  Dir.: Federico Fellini
  User: ubermusings / Score: 539 / They rank it: #19
• Muriel's Wedding (1994)
  Dir.: P.J. Hogan
  User: bookhouse88 / Score: 543 / They rank it: #11
• The Guard (2011)
  Dir.: John Michael McDonagh
  User: The1Cusack / Score: 544 / They rank it: #78
• The Weather Man (2005) *
  Dir.: Gore Verbinski
  User: SirStuckey / Score: 575 / They rank it: #10
• Seabiscuit (2003)
  Dir.: Gary Ross
  Users: sodacreekfilm | Score: 578 | They rank it: #22
  Kramerica124 | Score: 1105 | They rank it: #5
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) *
  Dir.: Peter Greenaway
  User: NicholasVargo / Score: 591 / They rank it: #11
• Buffalo '66 (1998)
  Dir.: Vincent Gallo
  User: topichtennis / Score: 596 / They rank it: #10
• Jacob's Ladder (1990) *
  Dir.: Adrian Lyne
  User: Zebula77 / Score: 597 / They rank it: #38

For a source group that I consider to have largely impressive and/or intriguing taste, there are, as expected, a few movies on December's docket that I've been meaning to see, most notably Running on Empty and Buffalo '66. There are also six movies that I've seen before but too long ago to recollect, such as La Strada, Mystery Train, and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. There are two animated movies from Hayao Miyazaki, and his work tends to run the gamut for me, from inspired to insufferable. I'm most concerned about facing another movie by the Wachowskis, Bound — at least this one isn't 14 hours long and set in a nonsense dimension — and suspect that I may struggle with Holy Motors, if it's as non-linear as I've been lead to believe. There are also a couple of worryingly fluffy items, like the sports dramas Seabiscuit and Miracle. the one movie of which I am completely ignorant is Army of Shadows, but I really enjoyed Jean-Pierre Melville's Le samourai a few months ago, so I'm eager to see what else he has to offer.