Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

 Tanya and new characters in Sicily. Harper & Ethan, rough patch in marriage despite new wealth Daphne and Cameron, slick couple, Cameron a cad, Daphne at peace with it. Separated one night, C & E have hookers over.  C sleeps with them; E doesn't.  Harper finds condom pack . . . accuses E.  He denies. In revenge, she (probably) has sex with C.  In revenge, E probably has sex with Daphne. Tanya set up for murder by Greg, husband.  Gay guys in Sicily will show her a good time (sex with gigolo) and then kill her.  She ends up shooting all of them and then drowning when she tries to get off the boat. Portia, her assistant, is with her lover, a bad boy who probably was supposed to kill her but instead takes her to the airport and tells her to get away Family visiting ancestral home.  Dad is sex addict on outs with wife.  Son is Stanford grad, a bit of a dufus. Grandad cynical old guy with old guy values.  Two hookers set up the young ...

 Lots of padding.  Deborah Vance gets cancer and says she wants assisted suicide.  This comes after a triumphant performance at Central Park having been thwarted at Madison Square Garden. All's well that ends well. Jimmy & Kayla take over Dad's agency (he's a crook, stealing voices, and they more or less blackmail him to get the company. Ava's idea for her TV series is accepted. Marcus opens new casino in Las Vegas. Deborah decides on Chemo instead of suicide. Fun, but a weaker season.

 Kevin Branagh again, and again excellent.  Henry V battles the French (Agincourt), wins against tremendow odds, marries Katherine, King of France's daughter to ensure peace. He is no longer the drunken sot who hung out with Falstaff. Great scene where he threatens town with murder, rape, destruction if they don't surrender.  After the surrender, he demands his soldiers treat the city with respect. Odd ending, in a way.  Henry V dies soon after and the peace doesn't last.

 Tom Stoppard film version of play Two characters summoned.  They mill about as Hamlet is (sort of) performed.  They come in for their parts, wondering exactly what the whole thing is all about.  They aren't even sure which one of them is R and which is G.  Created by someone else for some purpose they only vaguely surmise. Scene of Gonzalo's death is fantastic.  Interesting if somewhat tedious as times.  I read this in college and had no clue.  Now I have a clue.

 White people behaving badly in Hawaii Mossbachers:  Sidney Sweeney daughter.  Rich mom, less successful dad, SS is traveling with college friend of color, younger brother just a miserable wreck. Friend of color talks Hawaiian  boyfriend into robbing M. family.  He's caught, she's miserable, dad & mom reconciled, back to happy white life in NY except their son doesn't get on plane but instead stays in Hawaii where he feels alive for once.  Rowing with natives around islands Tanya:  spread mother's ashes in Hawaii.  Drunk, a bit loony, hates her mother, needy.  She promises to help Belinda (person of color) open a holistic center, but then she finds a beau--man is sick, coughing, but friendly.  She bags out on Belinda and goes off to Aspen with her new friend Shane and Rachel, newlyweds. Shane doesn't get the room he wants, throws a series of fits.  Makes Armand,  gay manager, miserable. Armand--five years sober--not sober a...

 So far, watchable but not much else.  Maggie Q is the star.  Not her problem that Ballard has so little personality.  Her sole passion is righting a wrong in the LAPD.  She was assaulted (details vague as of episode 3) by Olivaras.  Her partner didn't stick up for her. Now she's in the basement working on cold cases.  Her partners don't provide much drama.  Black woman, ex-cop.  Intern, hispanic. Gay older white guy.  Younger white guy who is a bit of a doofus. Cases:  fraternity kid pushed off balcony:  solved, scorned girlfriend is murderer.  Frat had a "book" of all the female conquests.  She found it, confronted boyfriend who laughed in her face.  Whacked him on the head and pushed him off the balcony. Perlman's sister:  councilman supporting the unit, wants this murder solved first. Yulia Kravitz:  cleaned up in hotel where one murder occurred.  Ballard visits the motel, the woman tries to co...

 Bunuel . . . 2/3 finished.  So far, not much.  Catherine Deneuve is a frigid married woman, abused as a child. Unable to enjoy sex with her husband.  She becomes a daytime prostitute, meeting up with men with strange sexual predilections.  Not sure where this is going Finished, still not quite sure.  Throughout the film, "fantasy" sequences are interposed.  At the very end, there is a suggestion that the entire movie is actually a fantasy.  Glad I saw it, but not a masterpiece by any means.

 So far, not so good.  The show is heading toward a climactic performance at MSG for Deborah Vance, but they don't seem to have material to get there.  One entire episode opening a show honoring her ex & dead husband,  Frank Vance.  Another show turned over to Deborah and her daughter's ill-fated attempt to be part of the Amazing Race.  Still a third given over to brief affairs for Ada an D.snoozers.

 Diane Keaton as somewhat (though not all that much) repressed 20 something.  Affair with teacher, fantasies of sex as prostitute, jealousy of sexual freedom of sister Tuesday Weld.  Fast moving, which covers a lot of sins

Good story. Margaret's father, a cleric, stubbornly refuses to go along with his new superior. They move north to manufacturing town based on Manchester.  London ways v Manchester ways.  Education, refinement v. business and striving. Thornton runs the mill.  Hard man,  anti union, but with integrity as he sees it. Margaret dislikes his hard ways, but is drawn to him.   Strike.  Thornton confronts workers. M goes out on balcony and is hit by rock.  Hitting a woman puts the strikers into a weak position; they capitulate.  The man who threw the rock is ostracized and kills himself. Strike leader takes over his family. M. brother is a seaman wanted for mutiny.He sneaks back to see his mother before she dies. He's recognized, a fight, the other man dies. What a mess! 

 Four part miniseries.  Tom Hardy as Heathcliff.  Acting was great, some liberties taken with story, but the main feel came through strongly.  

 James Caan and Kathy Bates Caan is author of series, Misery, which he hates. His most recent novel kills her off, and he has just finished a "real" book for the first time.  He's heading home. Snowstorm, accident, crash. Bates "rescues" him. She LOVES the Misery series so loves him.  When she reads the latest installment, she's appalled. Misery dead! No.  When she next reads his new novel, she's even more appalled.  Profanity. Bates turns out to be a crazy mass murderer.  She keeps Caan in hiding, forces him to bring Misery back to life in a new novel, tortures, torments him.  (Broken legs in car crash) Enjoyable movie, directed by Rob Reiner

 2007 Fancy Daye comes back to her village to care for her dying father. Immediately three men fall in love with her.  Richest man in town; the parson; and Dick Dewey, laborer. Fancy is educated with aspirations.  All three men offer something.  Wealth, intellectual life and travel, and love. Fancy opts for love and marries the laborer, but the film does a great job of making this choice not so obviously correct.  The parson, were he not a prig of sorts, does offer her a fuller life. Well acted  . . . charming in the best way

 BBC version. First two hours were very good; third hour less so; last hour didn't work for me. Jane Eyre is taken in by cruel aunt who hates her.  Evil child. Sent away to a boarding school where she is mistreated.  Her one friend dies of flu? She is a good student in spite of it all, advertises for a job as governess, and is hired by Edward Rochester of Thornfield Hall.  He's gruff, older, etc., but love blooms.  Mysterious noises at night.  Fire at night in ER's bedroom.  Grace, servant, responsible. The crazy woman in the attic is too well known for any mystery to work, but they give it a try. Wife backstory.  He marries her in Jamaica, sultry beauty who turns out to be promiscuous. Back in England she goes crazy, attacking people, gets hidden away. ER wants to marry JE, almost does, but crazy wife's brother shows up and exposes the fact he has a living wife.  JE goes off for a year, inherits a ton, of money, hears her name called. Return...

 Strong ending.  Daughters read the screenplay.  Father, in alcoholic stupor, is frail and vulnerable in hospital  Daughter takes the main part.  Younger daughter's son is also in the movie. Final scene "looks" like a suicide . . . only when the word "cut" is shouted does the viewer realize it's actually a scene from the movie Dad has been wanting to make (though there are hints earlier).  About 20 minutes of cuts would have made this a very good film.

 Lots of fanfare about this movie, but it's a bore.  Film director (Norway) with two daughters whom he has neglected desires to make a final film in his own home, based on suicide of his mother.  He wants one daughter--most estranged--to take role of his mother.  She refuses.  He hires American actress, Elle Fanning, instead.  He is unhappy with her efforts; she senses it.  Daughter still refuses.  Mother was in resistance movement against Nazis . . . second daughter does research on her imprisonment and torture. Acting is solid . . . scenes just go on too long. Static as well in development.  

Lorna wins her case.  Security guard is the real murderer, some stuff about jamming Glock. Biofuel introduced into M. case.  One more episode.  decent, not great 

 Mickey with Maggie ex-wife take on Dana.  Dead body in M. trunk. M. threatened the guy.  Somehow a biodiesel deal is involved.  M. ex-girlfriend chef from another book testifies against him for vengeance.  Maggie shoots her down with letters vowing vengeance that she sent.  Former intern testifies against poor M too. She's shot down . . . no job, bitter, out to get him. Cisco serves subpoena on a guy who immediately is murdered . . . biodiesel again. 

 Dull, so far.  Mickey is up for murder (dead body in trunk) and has clearly been set up by somebody.  Instead of getting into the investigation, we have some interesting court battles and lots of less than funny comic interludes.  A little Lorna/Maggie interaction; Mickey meets Maggie's new boyfriend.  Hopefully it will improve

 Mickey in prison for murder. Dead body found in his trunk . . . set up?  Decent, not great start.