Reviewing and rating anthology movies is hard. It's especially difficult when the anthology in question, New York Stories, doesn't really have any connecting threads or anything. It's just three separate stories about three different types of New Yorkers. So to rate it, I'm gonna write a short review about each of the stories, give my rating for each story, and just average it out.
Life Lessons - 3/5 (Martin Scorsese)
This was the best story in the whole anthology. And what's sad is, even though it is the best, it still just didn't do much for me. This was Scorsese's contribution to the anthology. And right from the get go, you can tell that it's his. But even though you can tell that it's Scorsese, and I usually really like Scorsese, I just thought his contribution wasn't all that interesting. I thought Nick Nolte's character was kind of a creep, and was keeping that poor woman trapped there. I know she had free will and could technically leave whenever she wanted, but the way he talked to her, it just made it unsettling.
Life Without Zoë - 1.5/5 (Francis Ford Coppola)
This was, without a doubt, the worst part of the movie. It's ~40 minutes long, but it feels so much longer. The story is incredibly thin and slight, the characters not the least bit interesting, and it just was overall, not an enjoyable watch. Also, the movie ends with the main character, who is a 12 year old girl, having her mother be her closest friend, but the segment never really explains how or why they came to that conclusion. The entire segment just doesn't really serve a purpose and nothing holds together.
Oedipus Wrecks - 2.5/5 (Woody Allen)
This was a step up from the disaster that was Life Without Zoë, but it's still not nearly as good as the first segment. It's going well, and then about halfway through, it makes a sharp turn and it just doesn't sit right. The moment the movie turns is when Allen's mother appears in the sky and all of New York can see her. It just doesn't work, and the rest of the movie struggles to maintain a balance between odd and funny, often veering towards the odd rather than the funny.
Reviewing and rating anthology movies is hard. It's especially difficult when the anthology in question, New York Stories, doesn't really have any connecting threads or anything. It's just three separate stories about three different types of New Yorkers. So to rate it, I'm gonna write a short review about each of the stories, give my rating for each story, and just average it out.
Life Lessons - 3/5 (Martin Scorsese)
This was the best story in the whole anthology. And what's sad is, even though it is the best, it still just didn't do much for me. This was Scorsese's contribution to the anthology. And right from the get go, you can tell that it's his. But even though you can tell that it's Scorsese, and I usually really like Scorsese, I just thought his contribution wasn't all that interesting. I thought Nick Nolte's character was kind of a creep, and was keeping that poor woman trapped there. I know she had free will and could technically leave whenever she wanted, but the way he talked to her, it just made it unsettling.
Life Without Zoë - 1.5/5 (Francis Ford Coppola)
This was, without a doubt, the worst part of the movie. It's ~40 minutes long, but it feels so much longer. The story is incredibly thin and slight, the characters not the least bit interesting, and it just was overall, not an enjoyable watch. Also, the movie ends with the main character, who is a 12 year old girl, having her mother be her closest friend, but the segment never really explains how or why they came to that conclusion. The entire segment just doesn't really serve a purpose and nothing holds together.
Oedipus Wrecks - 2.5/5 (Woody Allen)
This was a step up from the disaster that was Life Without Zoë, but it's still not nearly as good as the first segment. It's going well, and then about halfway through, it makes a sharp turn and it just doesn't sit right. The moment the movie turns is when Allen's mother appears in the sky and all of New York can see her. It just doesn't work, and the rest of the movie struggles to maintain a balance between odd and funny, often veering towards the odd rather than the funny.
