Rating: 
Summary: New York Stories
Review: A great Woody Allen movie that you need to see. The best part of this movie has to be Martin Scorsese's "Life Lessons". Nick Nolte and Rosanna Arquette are excellent together. Life without Zoe should not be in this movie. I had to fast-foward because I hated it so much. But the last one, which Woody Allen made is great. If you don't want a used copy of this movie, buy it from moviesunlimited.com. It's brand new and sealed.
Rating:
Summary: New York Stories
Review: A great Woody Allen movie that you need to see. The best part of this movie has to be Martin Scorsese's "Life Lessons". Nick Nolte and Rosanna Arquette are excellent together. Life without Zoe should not be in this movie. I had to fast-foward because I hated it so much. But the last one, which Woody Allen made is great. If you don't want a used copy of this movie, buy it from moviesunlimited.com. It's brand new and sealed.
Rating:
Summary: I skipped everything but Life Lessons.
Review: But that is an absolutely amazing film. I lived in that world for a very long time, and then got out. The film is dead ON in its presentation of the art world during that era, but what struck me most was the absolute dispassionate fairness with which the two main characters, a famous painter and his young "assistant," are presented.
Here are two people using each other, and at the same time dazzled by each other, each in a completely different way. We are given just a glimpse of the tenderness they must have shared early in their relationship when the dazzlement would have been enough to make them believe that what they felt was love.
The same story could have been told about any of the other NYC worlds where people tend to love mostly their own ambitions and only secondarily the idea of someone else. You get the feeling, watching Nolte, that he's on to himself, but doesn't have a choice. As really none of us does, when it comes to being what we are, and whom we love.
Rating:
Summary: I skipped everything but Life Lessons.
Review: But that is an absolutely amazing film. I lived in that world for a very long time, and then got out. The film is dead ON in its presentation of the art world during that era, but what struck me most was the absolute dispassionate fairness with which the two main characters, a famous painter and his young "assistant," are presented.
Here are two people using each other, and at the same time dazzled by each other, each in a completely different way. We are given just a glimpse of the tenderness they must have shared early in their relationship when the dazzlement would have been enough to make them believe that what they felt was love.
The same story could have been told about any of the other NYC worlds where people tend to love mostly their own ambitions and only secondarily the idea of someone else. You get the feeling, watching Nolte, that he's on to himself, but doesn't have a choice. As really none of us does, when it comes to being what we are, and whom we love.
Rating: 
Summary: Life Lessons, the only reason to buy this!
Review: Clearly, one of Scorsese's more powerful works, Life Lessons is the first story of the three in this movie. The other two... you can do without. But once you see Nick Nolte here as the obsessed painter Lionel Dobie, you'll not want to watch the other two again after you have seen them once. I keep watching this 45 minute segment over and over. Powerful... and cheap!
Rating: 
Summary: They are all good, but...
Review: I cast my vote Woody's way. I just love the interaction between the over-the-top characters, wonderfully portrayed by Allen, Julie Kavner, and yes, Mia is good too -- can't always say that...The real gem here is one of the final performances by Mae Questel, who once upon a time played "Betty Boop." Soon after this performance she began to decline due to Alzheimers. This is the zany, neurotic fun that made Allen's early comedies my favorite part of his opus. Once upon a time when I was a teacher, I used "Oedipus Wrecks" with my students as a "visual short story." I had them write the ending of the story before they saw it. We had great fun with it. Second I'd vote for Coppola's "Life Without Zoe" based, again, on the performances, especially Heather McComb's debut. She hasn't done much of note since, but I really enjoyed her here. Scorsese's "Life Lessons" felt flat to me, despite Nolte and Arquette, both of whom I usually really like. It seemed talky and more like some of Allen's later work. There is a germ of a good idea here -- sexual obsession versus art and getting on with one's life, but I felt the film just didn't deliver.
Rating:
Summary: They are all good, but...
Review: I cast my vote Woody's way. I just love the interaction between the over-the-top characters, wonderfully portrayed by Allen, Julie Kavner, and yes, Mia is good too -- can't always say that... The real gem here is one of the final performances by Mae Questel, who once upon a time played "Betty Boop." Soon after this performance she began to decline due to Alzheimers. This is the zany, neurotic fun that made Allen's early comedies my favorite part of his opus. Once upon a time when I was a teacher, I used "Oedipus Wrecks" with my students as a "visual short story." I had them write the ending of the story before they saw it. We had great fun with it. Second I'd vote for Coppola's "Life Without Zoe" based, again, on the performances, especially Heather McComb's debut. She hasn't done much of note since, but I really enjoyed her here. Scorsese's "Life Lessons" felt flat to me, despite Nolte and Arquette, both of whom I usually really like. It seemed talky and more like some of Allen's later work. There is a germ of a good idea here -- sexual obsession versus art and getting on with one's life, but I felt the film just didn't deliver.
Rating:
Summary: Scorsese Over All!
Review: I didn't think much of the Woody Allen segment (although he's one of my favorite filmmakers) and I hated the Coppola piece but I'm still giving this one 5 stars because of "Life Lessons" which in the first of three short films in this collection. No other movie that I can think of better illustrates the creative thought processes of the artist (Nick Nolte) or their sense of lonely isolation. He cannot live without women and even hilariously tells his young assistant, and I quote from memory, "I don't know anything about love? I was married and divorced four times before you were even born!" Nolte is tortured by his desires and his isolation but even lust will not allow him to compromise his artistic integrity. When Arquette pleads with him concerning whether she has any talent or not, Nolte refuses to lie to appease her. Instead he elects not to answer her question which infuriates her even more. Although he is downtrodden throughout much of the film the ending is a happy one. I own the VHS and have seen the 40 minutes of "Life Lessons" at least seven times over the years. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Scorsese Over All!
Review: I didn't think much of the Woody Allen segment (although he's one of my favorite filmmakers) and I hated the Coppola piece but I'm still giving this one 5 stars because of "Life Lessons" which in the first of three short films in this collection. No other movie that I can think of better illustrates the creative thought processes of the artist (Nick Nolte) or their sense of lonely isolation. He cannot live without women and even hilariously tells his young assistant, and I quote from memory, "I don't know anything about love? I was married and divorced four times before you were even born!" Nolte is tortured by his desires and his isolation but even lust will not allow him to compromise his artistic integrity. When Arquette pleads with him concerning whether she has any talent or not, Nolte refuses to lie to appease her. Instead he elects not to answer her question which infuriates her even more. Although he is downtrodden throughout much of the film the ending is a happy one. I own the VHS and have seen the 40 minutes of "Life Lessons" at least seven times over the years. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Life With Zoe is good too
Review: I just wrote because I didn't see any appriciation of Life Without Zoe mentioned...I loved the piece - it was innocent and precocious in an endearing way - the girl plays at being an adult like many adolescent girls...Zoe is still learning how to be an adult and she's excessive in some ways...I think Coppola lovingly depicts her character...it had a lot of charm...I wonder if other reviews expected a different tone from Coppola...I also really liked Life Lessons ...Oedipus Wrecks was entertaining but wasn't one of Woody Allen's stronger pieces...and im a big Woody Allen enthusiast.
Incidently Woody Allen uses adolescent girl charaters similar to Zoe often: including in the movies Everyone Says I Love You and Crimes and Misdomeanors
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