Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

 I didn't see this when it came out, so new to me.  DeNiro is excellent.  Jodie Foster as 13 year-old prostitute would not be allowed (for good reasons) to do the part today.  Cybil Shepherd in the movie for a little glamor.  Highlight DeNiro's mental collapse.  Weak ending, DeNiro a hero for killing Foster's pimp.  Her loving parents take her back to their home.  (Why did she run away?)

 Not nearly as good as the book.  Cillian Murphy sees abused girl at laundry convent in Ireland.  He rescues her, risking his status in the neighborhood and the education of his younger daughters (the nuns will not take them into their school).  His wife is a shrew, but his own experience as an orphan drives him to do the right thing.  3.5

 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/207300960-creation-lake" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Creation Lake" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1707672124l/207300960._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/207300960-creation-lake">Creation Lake</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/164139.Rachel_Kushner">Rachel Kushner</a><br/> My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6948455482">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /> Definitely worth reading, though some editing (especially of Bruno's thoughts on the world) would have helped. "Sadie Smith" is embedded by a shadowy group into a radical commune. She is to spy on them. Kushner's characters are great; her insights terrific; her use of language awe-i...

 PBS performance during pandemic.  No live audience, filmed in a warehouse.  Entire play was good, but the standout was Jessie Buckley as Juliet.  Great performance.

Read this because Phillip Roth and Robert Gottlieb both called it her "masterpiece." Written when she was in her 80's. Opening was terrific, and most of the material in Ireland was excellent. The plot involves a Serbian mass murderer appearing under a false identity in a small Irish village. What unfolds includes grisly (and I'm not squeamish) events described in excruciating detail. <br /><br />The confidence man is found out; our heroine (Fidelma) has had an affair with him and she too is found out. Plot involves her coping with her disgrace.<br /><br />Derby Girls far superior for this reader <

Janine thinks her second graders can succeed at egg drop.  They build contraptions to land their eggs, but all the eggs crack. Tears.  She tries to tell them that they tried and that's good enough and they didn't fail.  Tears.  Shortcomings of "no one fails" methodology humorously exposed.