Now I'm not a fan of Ritchie, but a project of his becomes as exciting as The Hobbit by Guillermo del Toro when compared to the level of excitement produced by Madonna's debut as a filmmaker. (Okay, exactly nothing that Guy Ritchie ever did could make me as excited as seeing The Hobbit by Guillermo del Toro ... but still!) Word of mouth regarding Filth has been, at best, tolerable. It tells the story of three roommates in London, all chasing their dreams: a Ukrainian gigolo dreams of being a rock star, a stripper dream of ballet and a pharmacist dreams of saving poor children.

After the cold welcome the film received at the Berlin Film Festival at the beginning of the year, it is clear Madonna's name will be Filth and Wisdom's most likely selling point . And the Material Mom is probably popular enough to fill a few theater's worth of fans eager to discover what she is worth as a director. Because the movie, distributed by IFC, is scheduled to open in a single theater on Oct. 17 (at the New York IFC Film Center of course), it could pack strong PTA numbers. (I know, I know: Go tell that to the peeps who are stuck with Elite Squad.)

With the release on Oct. 24 of such arthouse films as Synecdoche, New York, I've Loved You So Long and, of course, Clint Eastwood's Changeling, the window for Filth and Wisdom to capitalize on its very limited potential is narrow. With such a small release, the film may grab 3 or 4 PTA points, but box-office potential is nonexistent, and, given the bad word of mouth, the User Rating shouldn't go higher than 6. Even at $8 in Ultimate leagues, and $2 in Box-office, the better part of wisdom would be to ignore this Filth.

To wash the taste of Madonna out of your mouths, I'm ending the column with another prestigious name: Barry Levinson. The man from Baltimore has quite a career behind him, and he keeps on working steadily. Although some might say, reasonably, that Levinson has had ups and downs along the way, he has brought worldwide audiences true classics of American cinema (Good Morning Vietnam, Rain Man), gems of lesser stature (Diner, Liberty Heights) and a few other interesting pieces of film.

Levinson has already made fun of Hollywood in some of his past works (most notably in the lively political satire Wag the Dog), but this time, his new film is all about poking fun at The Biz: What Just Happened? chronicles a couple of weeks in the life of Ben, a Hollywood producer on the decline facing many traps and troubles while attempting to put together his latest project. Just in case you thought Levinson was a bit washed up in American cinema, take a look at the cast he assembled: In the lead, Robert De Niro, seconded by such great players as Stanley Tucci, Catherine Keener and John Turturro. And around them, as themselves? Bruce Willis and Sean Penn. I don't know about you, but, for me, the idea of those great actors together onscreen has me already planning to buy tickets.

The film is an adaptation of Art Linson's book (in fact he wrote the adaptation himself), about his own experiences as a producer in Hollywood (his career to date has resulted in such films as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Untouchables, Heat and Fight Club). After making its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, What Just Happened? failed to find a distributor. It went to Cannes in May, to be the closing night film, and once more failed to interest a U.S. distributor. (Once again, art imitates life, since the film-within-a-film in WHJ? experiences similar problems.) After flopping in France, WJH? had already gathered a collection of lukewarm reviews. It almost seemed that this satire of Hollywood would never be allowed a life on the silver screen ... but Magnolia Pictures finally picked it.

Currently, WJH? is scheduled to open in three cinemas in New York City on Oct. 17, before expanding on Oct. 31. Three cinemas for a Barry Levinson movie starring De Niro, Willis, Penn, Turturro, Tucci, Keener? Well, there is space for a nice PTA score, possibly the No. 1 spot if reviews are better than the ones the film got at Sundance. Again, the strong releases of Oct. 24 may prevent Levinson's latest from showing its legs. The User Rating will be great though, above 7 for sure, given the current 8.6 with more than 400 votes. And the box-office could quietly score a few million dollars, more than $6 million or $7 million, even, if the expansion is nicely handled. Still, for $12 in Ultimate, WJH? is not cheap.

Writing Madonna's and Guy Ritchie's names and works in back-to-back columns? Isn't that strange and wonderful? No you are right, it is not. Well at least I had three good directors to tackle these past couple of week. And next week's column, about the weekend of Oct. 24, will dazzle even jaded arthouse watchers. We'll have a supernatural thriller entitled Passengers, a beautiful French melo known Stateside as I've Loved You So Long, and two hot properties from American titans of film, Charlie Kaufman and Clint Eastwood. Talk to you then!

Indie Jones does not have The Immaculate Collection on his playlist. Could you tell? Defend Warren Beatty's old girlfriend's cinematic honor to danceswiththearthouse@gmail.com. But maybe only if you're prepared to be ruthlessly mocked.