Review of New York at the Movies

This documentary is essentially a paean to New York City rather than an attempt at a comprehensive overview of films based there, and is restricted to a rather limited grouping of movies and performers who appear repeatedly, thereby neglecting a raft of major works from both the silent era and modern cinema, resulting in a curiously inbred feeling amid the Gothamite encomia. After a brief introduction by Meryl Streep, we are in store for a formulaic series of talking trunks interspersed with filmic samples, moving and elsewise, Peter Bogdanovich offering the most interesting and informed comments relating to historical makers of cinema, while Sidney Lumet also contributes something of value, whereas such as Tim Robbins, Liza Minelli and starry eyed Nora Ephron are primarily steeped in urbanite proselytism. The initial portion of this visual anthology is the most impressive and the film should be seen by cineastes because of it, although Hollywood's sets are ironically more striking than is the intent, and an ongoing litany regarding the value of New York locations is, as a result, unconvincing, while the editing, although skillful, provides a tiresome glut of repetitious and unidentified stills where short and more variegated clips from a vast reservoir would have been more useful and stimulating.