New York Stories

The Nick Nolte piece about a Soho artist's quixotic fixations with young girls is the best of the three films here. Nice Scorcese rock soundtrack, as usual. The Coppola bit is cartoon-like and not very interesting, though visually arresting. Woody's schtick about the over bearing Jewish mother is quite funny, but short and thin. The directors all try to outdo each other with fancy camera work. Great looks at late 80s NYC.

The middle segment in this trilogy, written by the director Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter, is--pretty clearly--a thinly disguised portrait of, that's right, the director and his daughter (and wife). The daughter is spoiled rotten and shows that off in just about every scene. Don Novello as her protector/butler puts in some good acting chops, and there's a nifty bit for Chris Elliot as an upscale crook, but otherwise this isn't much.

The high points are the first and last segments. As a passionate obsessive ego-maniacal artist, Nick Nolte--in Martin Scorsese's Life Lessons--is absolutely perfect. He dominates this piece, as well he should, frenziedly painting his huge canvases while soaking in 70s rock--especially Procol Harum, Cream, and Bob Dylan. Rosanna Arquette, as his sexy assistant, provides the complementary tension he needs to give this intense piece its powerful momentum. This is a superior short film, one of the best in the last 20 years.

Woody Allen's closing piece, Oedipus Wrecks, is a spiffy closer in which the viewer gets to see Larry David (of Curb Your Enthusiasm) circa 1989, and in which the protagonist's (Woody) mother winds up as a floating head in the Manhattan skyline. Don't ask. Just see it. It's a real hoot.

This is worth owning for the Scorsese and the Allen pieces; the Coppola is froth, but at least it goes down easy.

I'll be up front about my interest in "New York Stories", I only bought it to see the Woody Allen portion. I watched the entire movie and I found the first episode, "Life's Lessons", to be a compelling tale about an obsessive artist. His relationship with his former girlfriend is the focus of the story. The intensity of this segment is its' strength and the ending serves to mock the intensity. The second segment is a light piece about a rich juvenile girl in Manhatten (all of the stories are centered on Manhatten). I wasn't drawn into this story but I did come away with a glimpse of how the $ther half lives.

For me, the highlight was the third story written by, directed by, and starring Woody Allen. It is the ode to the Jewish mother and it is hilarious as much as it is heartwarming. The stereotypes are enlarged to mamouth proportions (literally, at times). There were so many scenes that had me laughing out loud but, for me, the best was the one where the people in the traffic jam all get out the pictures of their children. The beauty of this segment was that it was told in just the right amount of time. It would have been overdone as a full-length movie or even as an 80 minute movie. The format enabled three talented directors to tell a short story on film and the economy of time allowed for a better overall product.

This is one of Woody Allens best , I know it's a short subject but it is hysterical. The other two stories are very good too. I finally bought it I don't know what took me so long. It's Great!

The anthology of three short films that take place in New York City was made by three great American directors, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Francis Ford Coppola.

"Life Lessons" directed by Martin Scorsese, literally took my breath away - it made me want to rewatch all Scorsese's films (with the one exception, GONY, though). What a magnificent work - visually it is as powerful as the painting Nolte's Lionel was painting. Combining in one short film Procul Harum's "A whiter shade of pale" and Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" from "Turandot" was a stroke of genius. This film is an ode to the power of talent; it is about greatness and curse of the gift, not about love to the woman. The best scene of the film and I'd say one of the best ever made about the Artist's work is Nolte triumphantly painting his masterpiece - his love, desire, lust, cries, whispers, tears, and humiliations magically transform with every stroke of his brush into the immortal, triumphant, brilliant work of art. By the time the painting is finished, he would need a new source of inspiration and self-torture, and the cycle will repeat over again. Devilishly clever portrait of an Artist as Not a Young Man. 9.5/10 (4.5/5)

I loved Woody Allen's "Oedipus Wrecks" and I think it is very funny and touching. Looks like Allen has met mothers or grandmothers like Mrs. Millstein in real life and his little gem is his love-hate letter to them. In the end, mom always knows what is best for her little boy. Mae Questel and Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson) were wonderful. Woody's face after his mom "disappears" and the scene when he practically makes love to the chicken drumstick are pure delight; also the commentary that New York is used to everything and readily accepts the crazy situation - it is so true. One of the best Allen's films I've seen lately - I am very glad that I finally saw it.

Larry David ("Seinfeld", "Curb Your Enthusiasm") plays the Theater Manager. It made me think if Estelle Costanza created by David and Mrs. Millstein (Woody's omnipresent mother) have a lot in common in making the lives of their sons miserable and smothering them with their merciless love? 9/10 (4/5)

Coppola's "Life Without Zoë" was much weaker than Scorsese's and Allan's stories and paled in comparison - this episode "from the lives of the reach and beautiful" was pretty and cute but you can skip it. 5/10 (2.5/5)