New York Stories (1989)

New York Stories (PG)

"Big Apple Stories"

It's a movie about NY in 3 parts by 3 different directors, so deserve to be reviewed seperately:

Life Lessons - Martin Scorsese directs one of his finest films as Nick Nolte growls and roars as Lionel Dolbey, a larger than life modern artist driving himself and his assistant crazy with his desires and need to express himself on large canvases and piles of oil paint. Look for early cameo work by Buscemi, but the camera is the real star here, zooming, irising, slowing down and isolating to the LOUD rock and roll soundtrack, its the best photography in any of Scorsese's work, and that's saying something. 5/5.

 Life with Zoe - Get the fast forward button ready... Francis Coppola's piece is an indulgent look into a spoiled lifestyle seen through the eyes of an upperclass childhood (written unsurprisingly enough by his daughter, Sofia). Tries to be dream/fairytale like, instead comes across as bratty and privileged. Probably didn't mean to come across as snotty as it does, but its an unfortunate sour note and the main reason the film as a whole isn't as acclaimed as it could have been. 0/5

 Oedipus Wrecks - Woody Allen at his best is a comedy scriptwriter, and the ideas here are very funny. He plays himself, a man under the constant scrutiny and humiliation of his overbearing Jewish mother who disapproves of his every decision. There are several humorous to laugh out loud moments, culminating in a great visual gag that is so absurd that it works, Woody was always a big idea man, and the paranoid fantasy of how far this mother will go to maternally bend him to her intended lifestyle really has a delightful Kafka-esque torture to it, cartoony as it is. 4/5

As a whole film?  7 Leave Zoe at home Francis' out of 10 (GOOD)