Review of New York, I Love You (2008) by Joe A — 11 Jan 2011

Wow, what a disappointment. Paris, Je T'aime was so so good, I expected this to be somewhat decent. There was nothing wrong with the acting, you got some great actors, but where it fail is in it's direction and writing. There was no diversity or creativity, it was pretty much the same style over and over again, despite having different directors, every short had a twist, with the exception of the last. I also didn't like the way they transitioned between shorts, I would have prefer they keep movies separated, it's wasn't like the extra scenes added anything to the shorts, but I did like the concept at the end which relates to the transition, but I can't say much without spoiling it.

At the end, I think I only liked 3 of the shorts. in Paris it was the opposite I didn't like 3 of them.

Cuz they don't have titles i'll make up my own.

-Pick pocket - 2.5 stars.

Dir. Jiang Wen.

Star. Andy Garcia, Rachel Bison, Hayden Christensen.

Absolutely did not get the ending.

-Wedding - 2 stars.

Dir. Mira Nair.

Star Natalie Portman, Irrfan Khan.

This was the worse of all the movies and Nair was one of the directors from Paris, Je T'aime so I would have assume it would have been good, but it wasn't, it was bad, and she used the same subject as Paris. Huge Disappointment. and again, I didn't get the ending.

-Music Scorer - 3.5 stars.

Dir. Shunji Iwai.

Star. Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci.

Simple story about a struggling artist. now this is NY to me. I needed a bit more back story to figure out Blooms character, but I like the story nonetheless.

-writer/hooker - 2.5 stars.

Dir. Yvan Attal.

Star. Ethan Hawke, Maggie Q.

Too chatty for no good reason, it just didn't make sense from the start and seem completely force.

-husband/wife - 4 stars.

Dir. Yvan Attal.

Star. Chris Cooper, Robin Wright Penn.

I really like this one, it seemed smart and honest, don't mind that by the time you get to see this, you realize there's a twist and you've already figured it out.

-Prom - 3 stars.

Dir. Brett Ratner.

Star. James caan, Anton Ylechin, Olivia Thirlby, Blake Lively.

Shoot me now, my favorite short was the one directed by Brett Ratner. I think it's the twist I like the most. story was so so and direction was subpar.

-One night stand - 3.5 stars.

Dir. Allen Hughes.

Star. Bradley Cooper, Drea De Matteo.

This one was hott, and was also one of my favorite. the inner monologue of these characters is something i'm sure most...some of us have had.

-Hotel matron - 3 stars.

Dir. Shekhar Kapur.

Star. Shia LaBeouf, John Hurt, Julie Christie.

Plain and simple. too artsy for me, I got it, but not my style.

-The Dancer and the girl - 3 stars.

Dir. Natalie Portman.

Star. Taylor Geare, Carlos Acosta, Jacinda Barrett.

I like the story, but the acting was terrible, and the cinematography even worst. Love her acting, but director maybe she is not. and I didn't catch it at the end. was the little girl calling him daddy? she needs to explain that.

-The Painter - 2.5 stars.

Dir. Fatih Akin.

Star. Ugur Yucel, Shu Qi, Burt Young.

Weird and creepy, and direction was also weird and sloppy.

-The Old Couple - 3.5 stars.

Dir. Joshua Marston.

Star. Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman.

Simple and cute story about an old couple. and this one didn't have a twist which made it even better after all those other twisty.

-Videostalker - 3.5 stars.

Dir Randy Balsmeyer.

Star. Emilie Ohana.

This really wasn't a short, but the transitioning frames for each movie and the end. I would have like to have seen this as a short tho and not seen 1min and 30 sec clips of it throughout the movie.