Woody Allen Documentary

I have always been a fan of Woody Allen's work despite his lifestyle choices.  As a creative writing grad, I simply commend him for being such a prolific screenwriter and director.  During his career, he has written, starred in and directed a numerous amount of movies, with such big hits as Annie Hall, Manhattan, and his most recent movie, Midnight in Paris. 

Until recently, I hadn't really thought about Allen and his body of work.  I owned Annie Hall and could recall a handful of others, but there was no collective memory of what his work embodied.  An avid moviegoer, I usually see each new movie that comes out at my local theater.  However, the quality of movies coming out of Hollywood a few years ago really went downhill and so I decided to take that time to go back and watch movies I'd missed along the way, especially those that are highly regarded.  Included in those were a few Woody Allen flicks which then set off this domino effect for my boyfriend and I - we set out to watch every movie Woody Allen had either directed or written.  Some were not so great, but others were hilarious.  As always, the same neurotic, self-loathing, anxiety-driven character was there struggling with their existence in the world.

Woody Allen is a true comedian and writer whose prolific work has truly earned his place in pop culture and movie history.  And lucky for us fans, PBS is airing a documentary on their "American Masters" segment titled Woody Allen: A Documentary.  Part two airs tonight.  Will you be watching?

Here are 5 of Allen's movies you should watch besides the obvious:

1. Manhattan Murder Mystery
2. Play It Again Sam
3. Take the Money and Run
4. Melinda and Melinda
5. Whatever Works

And here's an article in Vogue regarding PBS's documentary on Woody Allen.

{Photos via here & here}

TV Rewind: Felicity

It's been almost a decade since I last watched Felicity, and so much has happened since then that all I can really remember about the show is that everyone went berserk in Hollywood when she chopped off her hair.  In fact, I remember them saying it was the reason for the show's demise and since then studios have written into actors' contracts that they must first consult the shows' producers if they're going to make such a dramatic change in their physical appearance.  The only other thing I remember is that she could never decide between two guys.  I think I was Team Ben then (that smile!).

Since it's now available on Netflix, I decided to re-watch it from the beginning, and Wow, I don't remember it being so heavy this early.  I'm almost done with the first season, but so far we've dealt with excessive gambling, cheating (I definitely didn't remember Jennifer Garner was in it.  And Taraji P. Henson totally makes a camoe!), date rape, plagiarism and alcoholism.  And if you want, you could probably include stalking as well because Felicity would definitely qualify as Ben's stalker today.

I am enjoying it though and look forward to remembering where this goes.  The only other surprising thing is that I did not remember J.J. Abrams being a co-creator of the show. (What do I remember?!  Oh yeah, see the first paragraph again.)  It's weird to think of someone who's created Lost, Cloverfield, and Fringe could have created Felicity.  It just doesn't seem to go together in my head, but then again, it kind of does since Kate could never make up her mind between Sawyer and Jack....

Cast Reunion Photos

Entertainment Weekly recently did a photo shoot reuniting casts from some of our favorite TV shows and movies.  The magazine goes on sale October 15th, but here are a few sneak peeks.

 The photos of the Carol Burnett Show are absolutely hilarious, and of course I had to include the pictures of the Gilmore Girls & Home Improvement casts here.  I absolutely loved those two shows.  I'm actually thinking of digging out my Jonathan Taylor Thomas poster from Teen Beat magazine because I am definitely still crushing on him.  And isn't the Pretty in Pink photo adorable?!

{all photos copyright of Entertainment Weekly}

Brave New Voices

I just watched Brave New Voices on HBO and it was seriously amazing.  Seriously.  Amazing.  In case you aren't familiar with it, Brave New Voices is an international youth poetry slam festival put together by Youth Speaks, Inc.  It is an incredibly empowering event and gives a new voice to a generation that seeks social change.  In fact, they demand it.  They tell stories from the margins.  They bare their souls.  I am in complete awe of them.

If you get a chance to watch it on HBO, do it.  You will be amazed.

Fall Runway Fashion

 

*****

I am absolutely loving some of the fabulous things coming off of the runway, and these three collections are totally accessible.  Seriously brilliant work by these designers.  What do you think?

Hope everyone's having a great Wednesday! 

PS.  Top Chef's Just Desserts just started tonight on Bravo and Wow, these desserts look amazing.  I kind of feel scared and a little intimidated by them.  Can't wait to see more...

Also, Kevin won Top Chef - yay & congrats! 

  
(Runway Photos via Elle, Top Chef photo via Bravo )

Parenthood Returns & the Fall 2010 Lineup

Fall TV is back and last night, Parenthood began it's second season.  I'm so thrilled too because I am a huge Lauren Graham fan (I was addicted to Gilmore Girls & thought the show was ridiculously witty & charming) and Peter Krause fan (was also addicted to the first few seasons of Six Feet Under - I will never forget when Claire took a foot from a corpse and put it in Gabriel's locker - hilarious).

Sadly, I missed the show last night but just finished watching it online.  If you missed it, you can find it here.  For those who did see it, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  I love their family dynamics and it was really sweet  to see how Maddie came through for her little brother, Max.  The best part, though, was when their father would tell their mom, "I hear you and I see you" after getting all worked up.  I loved that!  Therapy is really working out for him.

Family dynamics aside, did you notice how they alluded to the recession?  I'm guessing we are going to see a lot of shows this season interjecting the recession into their episodes.  Just today I was reading bios of the new cast of The Apprentice and all of them have been affected by the recession in one way or another.  According to WSJ, Trump apparently starts off tomorrow's first episode of the season discussing the recession.  We shall see how this affects other shows in the coming weeks.....Maybe Michael will be laid off from the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company since this is his last season on the Office...

Ps. I can't wait for the Top Chef finale tonight on Bravo...I really hope Angelo doesn't win.  Is that bad?

Other shows returning/premiering this Fall:

Thursday, Sept. 16th - 

     It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX) - 9pm

     The Apprentice (NBC) - 9pm

Sunday, Sept. 19th - 

     Boardwalk Empire (HBO) premiers - 7pm

Tuesday, Sept. 21st - 

     Glee (Fox) - 7pm

     The Biggest Loser (NBC) - 7pm

     Running Wilde (Fox) premiers - 8:30pm

Wednesday, Sept. 22nd - 

     Hells Kitchen (Fox)- 7pm

     Modern Family (ABC) - 8pm

Thursday, Sept. 23rd - 

     Community (NBC) - 7pm

     30 Rock (NBC) - 7:30pm

     Grey's Anatomy (ABC) - 8pm

     The Office (NBC) - 8pm

Sunday, Sept. 26th - 

     The Amazing Race (CBS) - 7:30pm

     Dexter (Showtime) - 8pm

     Bored to Death (HBO) - 9pm

For a complete list of shows and when they're starting, click here.