i was very excited for new york stories. i had seen moments of it on television when i was young and (as the perverted young boy i was) i only remembered the nude scene. that's not why i was excited though. i was excited to watch the woody allen segment because i looove woody allen! you see, new york stories as a 3 part anthology of unrelated stories directed by 3 prominent new yorkers. they being woody allen, martin scorsese and francis ford coppola (here listed as francis coppola). up first was life lessons directed by martin scorsese this is a fun yet sombre look at a troubled artist and his troubled muse and their abusive relationship. it was very well directed, with great editing and tons of great music. nick nolte was fabulous and rosanna arquette was gorgeous and quiet good herself. it's not the most original piece of work but it is very well done and tells a solid story in the 40 minutes it has allotted to it. a young steve buscemi has a small part too and he's his usual great self, albiet a younger one. yep, life lessons was a good start and a solid piece of filmmaking for this anthology and it got me on the mood for the rest. (my memory did serve me wrong as the nude scene i remembered was not a nude scene, rather it was arquette scantily dressed. still she was damn sexy like that.) 85/100 next up was life without zoe by francis coppola this was a real piece of shot. it was very stupid and really hit all the wrong nerves. the story was ridiculous to the point of stupidity. a 12 year old rich girl makes friends, witnesses a robbery, gets accosted by a homeless man, is with and without her parents. that's the story. to make matters worse the music is bad, the camerawork is weak, the editing generic. worst of all though is the acting. the adults fair fine but the kids (who are on the screen 90% of the time) are just excruciating bad. i almost had to skip this segment; any longer and i would of for sure. 48/100 and finally oedipus wrecks by woody allen this is a great, if simple, and hilarious piece of work in the typical allen fashion. it concerns woody who's overbearing mother gets in a box at a magic show, disappears and then reappears in the sky to make his life a living hell. mae questel is brilliant as the mother. julie kavner is great as the psychic. woody allen perfectly plays the part of the boy who just can't get away. it's a typical woody role but one he plays to perfection. look for a young larry david in the background. while the effects are a bit dated (and maybe were not that great in 1989) and it's not the most original piece by allen it's probably the most entertaining of the three stories here and by far the funniest. it's also the fourth time (if not more) that i have seen woody incorporate a magic show into his film (this might be the actual first time) and it has once again has the exact same feel as they do. it's the old school magician show from the early half of the twentieth century and this one was a dead ringer for wei ling soo from magic in the moonlight. 77/100 overall scorsese and allen have crafted fine pieces of work here. my favourite of course is allen's as it has the best replay value and it will make you laugh out loud. scorsese's is the most well made and is a good short film in it's own right and coppola's is utter garbage. i truly believe that coppola is pretty untalented. i believe robert evans was the talent behind the godfather films and made them what they were (case in point godfather iii) and he had a good team behind him on apocalypse now (case in point the redux version) and the only good movie he has made since then was dracula (which he almost ruined by casting keanu reeves as jonathan harker). yeah, i think he sucks and he brings down this movie quite a lot. altogether, as a whole, new york stories scores 70/100