Tonight's "Medium," an episode called "Psych" (which pretty much gives away the ending, if you ask me), was not one of its betters ones...or at least that's how I felt. But aside from the plot holes you could drive a truck through, I found one particular part, a cat death scene, especially unnecessary and garish. It echoed a scene from an earlier episode this year in which a dog died in an equally gruesome manner.

Lately (as it did way back in the first season before it found its footing) "Medium" often seems to be going for shock value instead of something integral to the plot...both the dog and cat killings were just nasty weird, like a puppet show gone horribly wrong...I always find "Medium" at its best when it goes for sweet (but not sugary) and quirky with a real, gripping mystery to sink our teeth into...take "Dear Dad," for example. While that dealt with sensitive material (i.e. date rape) it handled it in a thoughtful manner.

 

I've always wanted to see "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone". According to TCM's website the movie's airing next week on their cable channel. Yay!

Meanwhile here's what one reviewer has to say about the film:

Vivien Leigh, so stirringly memorable as Blanche in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, stars in this 1961 adaptation of Williams's only novella, giving a nuanced, slightly neurotic performance that is haunting and all the more tragic by its being one of the actress's last performances before her sad death at age 53. Leigh plays Karen Stone, a 50-ish theater actress whose comeback vehicle never gets off the ground; en route to Rome for a brief escape, she's devastated by the sudden death of her beloved husband. She decides to stay in Rome, and there, her loneliness takes root against the spectacular backdrop of the city. Lotte Lenya plays a viperous contessa who pimps young men to older rich ladies, and introduces the handsome Paolo (played with dissolute perfection--though his Italian accent is shaky--by Warren Beatty) to Mrs. Stone. Leigh's performance is unnervingly raw, though one wonders why a woman with a long, happy marriage and at least one very real friend (played by Coral Browne) should be doomed to such relentless loneliness--surely she and her hubby had some pals back in New York? But with Williams, you simply must go along for the ride, and the journey through the emotional dark spaces of Mrs. Stone's life is gripping. The location shots of the glorious, decaying beauty of Rome are fabulous, as are the costumes. Extras include a featurette, Mrs. Stone: Looking for Love in All the Dark Corners. --A.T. Hurley

It wasn’t always called "The Wedding Album," but over the years, Duran Duran’s self-titled 1993 album has taken on the name to avoid being confused with their 1981 debut (also self-titled). Whatever you want to call it,  you may be surprised (if you’re just a casual Duran Duran fan or have never heard of them at all) to discover that it’s one of the group’s deepest and most emotionally appealing collection of songs.

The incredibly sultry and downright despondent "Come Undone" emerges halfway through as the stand-out track that, along with "Ordinary World," makes you feel pretty good about feeling so sad. And the hypnotic sounds of "Love Voodoo" and "UMF"will have you hitting replay as you dance along to your CD player.

As a longtime Duran Duran fan, I have always loved the more well-known albums "Rio" and "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" (what devoted DD fan could ever deny loving "The Reflex" or "Union of the Snake"?) But as a lover of great music that is timeless and not limited to just the 80s, I can’t help but praise the melancholy madness of  this particular wedding.

It's been a while since I've seen a really good horror movie and the ones I have seen are so bad and just plain disgusting that I think I've been turned off the genre forever...The rise of  "torture porn" (and maybe it's just me who thinks this, but hopefully not) has not been a good thing. The poster for one of the "Saw" movies is probably the least threatening-looking and tamest of the lot...the ones for both "Hostel" films being SO bad they can't even be posted here without possibly traumatizing an innocent reader.

Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer the illusion of  scary, not the scary itself...gore has quickly become a replacement for what should be atmospheric and implied scares.  Last year I tried to watch both "Hostel" flicks...and couldn't make it through either. The premise alone (Americans traveling to a small town in Eastern Europe where they pay for the "opportunity" to brutalize and kill kidnapped tourists) is a morally difficult one to grasp, even for those of who have long been a fan of the genre (horror, that is, not torture.)

I turned the second off at least halfway through, but not before the damage had been done...a scene with two women, one enjoying killing the other one in almost orgasmic delight (basking in her blood), made me so sick i thought i was going to vomit. There was a point in my life when I could handle some of  the "Saw" movies, but I've since grown tired of them and am not in that "dark" place anymore where I need a shocking jolt to distract me from life's problems.

For truly great cinema thrills, you can't beat something like "The Others" or "The Turn of  The Screw." I think I'm officially through with the hardcore stuff (unless, of course, there are zombies involved.)

Consider yourself very lucky if you’ve never fallen like Bud and Deanie in Splendor in the Grass — a fairly well-known, but often underrated Natalie Wood film that speaks volumes about how dangerous emotions can be. I haven’t seen the film in a long time, but it doesn’t matter because I could share (if you so desired) frame by frame just exactly what happens. Let me tell you, the movie might be pretty, but it’s not always romantic…it’s such a huge storm of feelings that I can only handle it every few years.

The title is taken from a line in a William Wordsworth poem, and it appropriately underscores how often innocence and sexuality are at odds, yet similar in their euphoria.

In one startling, heartbreaking scene, Deanie’s character (Wood) is taking a bath and has already started to show signs of being affected by her feelings for Bud (Warren Beatty). Her mother — with good intentions, even if they are smothering — is concerned about her daughter’s "purity." Deanie, suddenly covering herself and standing up in the tub, shouts "No, Mom! I’m not spoiled. I’m not spoiled, Mom!" It’s a scene years ahead of its time in its depiction of the messiness of first love — shocking in its bluntness, almost tragic in its vulnerability.

Few films have left such a mark on me, but Splendor in the Grass is particularly special because of its resonating power over the years. Anyone who has loved just a little too much in her (or his) life can probably understand how the wrong kind of love can put you in the hospital…as happens with Deanie. (Did I mention how outstanding Natalie Wood is here??)

As with any classic, its age doesn’t matter. Love changes in form over the years, but its effects can be equally smashing or uplifting. We want to feel passionately. To go through life without any interests or enthusiasm is awful…but sometimes how strongly we feel about someone zaps everything else out of us. The cost of loving someone else is sometimes detrimental to our own well-being.

Splendor in the Grass dealt with sex and sexuality in an honest and sincere way that current films would not be able to…and it recognized that teenagers and young adults have the power to love and want things they may not be capable of handling so early in their lives.