Although an actor, he slims down dialogue, enjoying his neatly ironed narration.
But plans to formally crush the Brotherhood – portrayed universally as "terrorists" in the official media – appear to spell an end to even slim hopes for political dialogue that might defuse the crisis.
But the trailer, below, suggests that Allen has again made the sort of spare, dialogue-slim, action-driven drama that marks his later years — such as "Cassandra's Dream," a new DVD release reviewed in the current issue.
"It's more of a quick overview of the creation, rise and fall of the Runaways, with slim character development, no extended dialogue scenes, and a whole lot of rock'n'roll.
"Eddie Coyle," a slim novel written almost entirely in dialogue, has long stirred passionate responses.
On one issue however the analysts remain united - the chances of any kind of meaningful dialogue with the rebels in the foreseeable future are slim.
In this slim, provocative novel, which is presented as the transcript of a taped dialogue between two men in a hotel room, Baker's distressed protagonist lays out a case for assassinating the president.
As Tynan perceptively wrote, "Coward took the fat off English comic dialogue; he was the Turkish bath in which it slimmed".
"There are no esoteric psychiatrist dialogues, dead preachments or leaden footnotes on the living pages of this book," Iceberg Slim wrote in the introduction to his 1969 book, "Mama Black Widow".
Not only is there zero chance of a national dialogue, the probability that anything useful will happen in the re-authorization of NCLB is pretty slim, unless it happens very early this year.
