Madonna and movies have never been a good combo. And judging by her debut as a director and screenwriter (with Dan Cadan), I have to say her record is clean. An irredeemably dull tale of three types — hey, they're hardly fleshed-out characters — sharing a flat in London, Filth and Wisdom is distressingly short of either. Give Madonna this, she does have an eye for faces: Eugene Hutz, the Ukrainian frontman of the gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello, rocks a handlebar mustache as A.K., a kinky bondage provider for tired businessmen. Invading A.K.'s living space are pole dancer Holly (Holly Weston) and pharmacy assistant Juliette (Vicky McClure), who dreams of helping starving children in Africa. I dreamt of the movie ending. Hutz's music drowns out a lot of dialogue. Speaking for film lovers everywhere, I'm grateful.

“Let My Love Open the Door”

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."