The Sacrifice - 1986 - 3½ Stars

Actors:  Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood
Director:  Andrei Tarkovsky

Note:  Vague spoilers ahead

It's been quite some time since I watched a Tarkovsky film, and indeed there are not many left for me to see for the first time.  The thing I forgot about Tarkovsky is that one has to be prepared to be clueless for part of the film, and indeed I was both confused and bored for the middle third of the film.  What follows is one of the most captivating and audacious endings to a film I've seen in quite some time.  You get your usual Tarkovsky features here - philosophical conversations, lots of mirrors, lots of shots of flowing water - and like many a Tarkovsky it will probably make less sense as the film ends, but oh how I'd like to be in some 1980s coffee shop discussing what this film means after having seen it in a theater.  I really should rate this one twice - 2½ stars for the first 2 hours, and then a big 5 stars for the finish.

Destiny Turns On The Radio - 1995 - 2 Stars

Actors:  Dylan McDermott, Nancy Travis
Director:  Jack Baran

I normally don't review movies I watch for goofs.  I wouldn't know about this movie if I hadn't heard David Cross tell a story onstage about working with Jim Belushi.  That anecdote wasn't very interesting, but when I found out that Destiny is the last name of a character called Johnny Destiny and that he is played by Quentin Tarantino this moved into must-see territory - how could this movie be anything but a disaster?

It turns out that this movie is actually not terrible.  It's certainly not good - it's like a bad version of Wild At Heart, with McDermott doing an ill-concealed impression of Nicolas Cage.  So it's easy to see why this movie is totally forgotten - it's a mash-up of better movies and its craziness isn't totally batshit.  If you like to see a naked and electrified Quentin Tarantino emerging from a hotel pool, this movie is for you.