Heaven Can Wait

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At the beginning of the film, Joe Pendleton was the backup quarterback for the football team the Rams. He was very skilled at that sport and it lead him to start the next game.

His luck had changed one afternoon and he never played in the next game. Joe had been in an accident and was killed before the big game. When he was waiting to go to his finial destination, he had found out that he was not suppose to die yet. He could not return to his own body because it had been cremated. He and Mr. Jordan, the person who took his body to early, started looking for a new body. Joe settled for Leo Farnsworth’s body. Farnsworth was a very wealthy man but had a bad image.

While in his body he experienced events that were bizarre. On many occasions his wife and her lover which was his secretary, tried to kill him. When Joe was in Farnsworth’s body he built a relationship with Betty Logan. Betty was a teacher who had a problem with the company Farnsworth works for. Joe’s goal in this movie was to find a body that was athletic enough to play for the Rams again.
The movie is based on fantasy and has a little bit of comedy. The chemistry in the film between the actors gave a original feeling instead of it just seeming like a remake. Farnsworth character was the big corporate guy who did not care about other people’s feelings. His wife was adulterous and planned to kill him along with his secretary. Betty Warren was the teacher who tried to protect her town.

All of these characters played a major role in the movie and added humor to the story line.

Cast

  • Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton/Leo Farnsworth/Tom Jarrett
  • Julie Christie as Betty Logan
  • James Mason as Mr. Jordan
  • Jack Warden as Max Corkle
  • Charles Grodin as Tony Abbott
  • Dyan Cannon as Julia Farnsworth
  • Buck Henry as The Escort
  • Vincent Gardenia as Detective Lieutenant Krim
  • Joseph Maher as Sisk
  • Hamilton Camp as Bentley

Heaven Can Wait

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Heaven Can Wait is a sweet story about a mischievous man (Don Ameche) whose death prompts him to arrive at the gates of hell. Although the man is enthusiastic about his admittance and his supposedly doomed life, the receptionist is not so sure. Thus ensues the tale of his life. It begins with plenty of trouble, but basically good deeds done on his part and ends in happiness with his beautiful wife (Gene Tierney).

This story is simple but highly enjoyable. The acting is subtle but effective and the actors are all likable, even the imperfect characters. This is a perfect example of a quality family film of yesteryear filled with humor and feeling.

The Prophecy II

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After watching the movie “The Prophecy” for the first time a few years after it was initially released, I was able to go and watch “The Prophecy 2″ directly after it. At first I didn’t like this movie as much, the tone was different, albeit much darker than the first one, and the idea of an angel falling for a human had already been done in “The City of Angels” with Nic Cage and Meg Ryan. Plus, I thought the idea was un-Biblical. However, after rewatching the film, and realizing the first film wasn’t exactly Biblical, and that there was some slight Biblical basis for the mating of a human and an angel (see the word Nephilim), I was able to watch the film and enjoy it much more.

The film starts out building on the original film “The Prophecy” right away, as Gabriel (played excellently again by Christopher Walken) is cast out of Hell by Lucifer (not Viggo Mortensen this time around). So now Gabriel sets out to find another way to seal the Gates of Heaven from humans which means he must stop one of the good angels from mating with a human woman (Jennifer Beals) before it’s too late.

The universe of `The Prophecy’ films expands further in this one as during the course of the movie Gabriel encounters many new angels, including the Archangel Michael (Eric Roberts making a cameo), and a reinterpretation of a modern day Eden for fallen angels that are loyal to God to dwell in while fighting the war.

A great sequel to one of the best religious/sci-fi thrillers made. Top-notch acting and great storytelling makes this movie worth watching and sets up the 3rd film very nicely. Also, as a side note watch for an appearance by a not-so well known Brittany Murphy playing a goth chick who is forced into helping Gabriel.

Cast

  • Christopher Walken as Gabriel
  • Russell Wong as Danyael
  • Jennifer Beals as Valerie Rosales
  • Brittany Murphy as Isabelle “Izzy”
  • Eric Roberts as Michael
  • Glenn Danzig as Samayel
  • Steve Hytner as Joseph
  • Bruce Abbott as Thomas Daggett
  • J.G. Hertzler as Father William
  • Michael Raimi as Danyael Jr.

City of Angels

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CITY OF ANGELS is an interesting movie that opened my mind a bit and was easy to get into. The story surrounds Maggie (Meg Ryan) who loses a patient, and an angel named Seth (Nicolas Cage) comes to comfort her.

What he doesn’t expect is to fall in love with her. Maggie too, is smitten with him, but is frustrated by their distance, and that she truly doesn’t know him. The more she learns about him, the more she pushes away from him. Seth realizes he has a choice, between living as a human or staying immortal. When he does take the plunge, he finds her and their love story begins.

Ryan and Cage convincingly play soulmates, but by the time they find each other and can be together, is very short lived, and near the end of the movie. It made the movie all that more sad, but I think the underlying theme is that time is so precious and shouldn’t be taken for granted. The movie was very well made, I was slightly disapointed that their happiness together was very short lived. Ultimately, it was well worth watching and I would reccomend it.

A Life Less Ordinary

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The thing to remember when watching  A Life Less Ordinary, is that the movie is supposed to be surreal–it’s kind of like a dream. The violence, if taken seriously, ruins the whole piece. But when that violence, along with just about everything else about the movie, is viewed as something outside of reality, everything comes together to form some real entertainment.

Nothing that happens in this movie could really happen the way it does; and that’s the point. I’m convinced that the reason most of the critics trashed this movie is they didn’t quite get the surrealism involved here. Notice that even the setting of the movie is removed from anything overly familiar.

The action doesn’t start in New York City and move to upstate New York. It all takes place in Utah. The audience is not bombarded with familiar products. I have no idea what kind of gas the characters put in their car–we are not shown a looming sign at the gas station with a big name gas company emblazoned on it. When Robert (Ewan McGregor) unpacks groceries there are no soda cans or potato chip bags positioned just right so that the audience can read them. Even when we are given a specifics about place, they are generic. “Al’s Bar,” for example. All of these things help create this surreal, dream-like feel to the movie.

Don’t listen to the critics. In fact, never listen to the critics. Make up your own mind. In my opinion, this is a great movie. But don’t listen to me either. Just see it.

The Preacher’s Wife

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Every day I hear, “They just don’t make family movies any more”. Well, they are wrong. Yes, they are few and far between, but they do still make them and I, personally, appreciate those who write, produce, direct and perform in these movies; especially in a time when even the ratings on movies don’t truly define the content of the movie as they once did.

Remake or no, this is a wonderful family movie–it inspires, teaches, uplifts and entertains with quality performaces of all involved.

Cast

  • Denzel Washington     Dudley
  • Whitney Houston     Julia Biggs
  • Courtney B. Vance     Reverend Henry Biggs
  • Gregory Hines     Joe Hamilton
  • Jenifer Lewis     Margueritte Coleman
  • Loretta Devine     Beverly
  • Justin Pierre Edmund     Jeremiah Biggs
  • Lionel Richie     Bristole
  • Paul Bates     Saul Jefferys
  • Lex Monson     Osbert
  • Darvel Davis, Jr.     Hakim

Michael

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When a couple of staff writers for a tabloid news-rag get a tip about an angel living in small town motel, they set off to see if they can scrape a story out of it. They are accompanied by a woman their editor tells them is an expert on angels. The truth is that none of them know anything about angels but nobody expects that to be a problem because none of them expect to meet an angel.

What they meet does not meet their expectations either. They see a guy who is a beer guzzling lazy slob. The only angelic thing about him is that he does have a large pair of wings. As far as anyone can tell, they are genuine. That means, angel or not, there is a scoop to be had for the tabloid. All they have to do is get the winged man safely back to HQ for photos.

As they make their way across the country, some very odd things happen. One would almost call them miracles. In time, the reporters begin to believe that they are traveling with a real angel.

They are and the angel has something on his agenda besides posing for a few pictures. In fact he has several things on his agenda and nothing is going to stop him from getting them done. That will not stop him from have as good a time as possible along the way, however. And wings seem to really be chick magnets.

This is a fun comedy. It is much better than my low expectations led me to believe it would be. It was fun and inlightening.

Cast

  • John Travolta – Michael
  • Andie MacDowell – Dorothy Winters
  • William Hurt – Frank Quinlan
  • Bob Hoskins – Vartan Malt
  • Robert Pastorelli – Huey Driscoll
  • Jean Stapleton – Pansy Milbank
  • Teri Garr – Judge Esther Newberg
  • Wallace Langham – Bruce Craddock
  • Joey Lauren Adams – Anita, Brown’s Waitress

The Prophecy

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Heaven’s been closed for the past two thousand years because of a war between the angels, with Christopher Walken’s Archangel Gabriel leading those eager to do away with the talking monkeys who have supplanted them in God’s affections, and now the War in Heaven has spilled out onto Earth. These angels aren’t the benign, mournfully watchful figures of Wings of Desire or City of Angels, let alone the make-a-wish do-gooders of Touched by an Angel. These are God’s hitmen, creatures that spend their whole existence praising God with one wing dipped in blood. They don’t grant wishes, they don’t make things better and you really, REALLY wouldn’t want to see one.

But, experienced as they are in laying waste to whole nations, they lack man’s capacity for true evil and need to find the darkest human soul to show them the way to win. Viggo Mortensen’s Lucifer isn’t too keen on the situation, fearing a victory for Gabriel’s side will result in Heaven becoming another Hell – and two Hells is one Hell too many for him. Stuck in the middle is Elias Koteas’ priest-turned-cop, who lost his faith not because Heaven showed him too little but because it showed him too much.

The similarities to writer-director Gregory Widen’s Highlander screenplay are apparent, although this boasts a much lower budget but infinitely superior direction, a good visual sense and some great locations. Much of the film’s strength is in its ideas and its dialogue: the plotting is at times perfunctory, Virginia Madsen’s schoolteacher takes little convincing of the Angelic threat and Walken probably has a little TOO much fun as Gabe, whether letting schoolchildren blow his horn or gleefully explaining “I’m an angel.I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why.” The ending too is more than a little awkward. But the good points outweigh the bad.

Angels in the Outfield

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Two foster children, Roger and JP, go to the Angels ballgame. The Angels are losing, but Roger sees an angel behind the ball-players who have the best plays. He eventually convinces the manager to put certain players into the game. His choices seem to be the players who have not proven themselves all year. The ball game announcer mocks the decisions but is amazed as they perform the most unusual outstanding maneuvers which turns the luck of the team into winners. Knox, the manager, is finally convinced that Roger sees something and reluctantly follows his suggestions which keeps the Angels on a winning streak.

Both Roger and JP are foster-children of Maggie. Soon after one of the children in the foster home has been adopted, Roger goes for a custody hearing. There he discovers his own dad does not want him. Roger is given to the state of California for custody. Roger’s hearing takes place on the day of a crucial game. He can not make it and without his help the Angels lose. Nonetheless, the Angels made it to the World Series. Knox is worried since he lost the previous game whether or not his team can win. It turns out Roger meets the head angel-in-the-outfield who lets him in on a secret, Mel Clark, the pitcher has cancer and only 6 months left to live, however he does not know it yet. It turns out that the Angels playing in the World Series are not permitted to receive help from the angels-in-the-outfield. The ball players must win this one on their own power …

Needless to say, one can guess the ending … However, the plot thickens, as the announcer of the ball game suspects some trick in the Angels winning streak. He tells the newspapers that the manager believes their winning streak is due to divine intervention, in the form of angels. Due to this revelation, the owner of the team wants to fire the manager. Just when Knox intends to announce his resignation at a news conference, there is an unexpected turn of events. The ball players stick together and each stands up declaring, if the manager leaves so will they. The team goes on to win the World Series and the foster children reeive a big surprise, too. They are adopted by an unlikely “father”. This story will touch the heart of children and adults alike. It is a “feel good” story filled with poignant moments and heart-warming results.

Cast

  • Danny Glover as George Knox
  • Brenda Fricker as Maggie Nelson
  • Tony Danza as Mel Clark
  • Christopher Lloyd as Al the Boss Angel
  • Ben Johnson as Hank Murphy
  • Jay O. Sanders as Ranch Wilder
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Roger Bomman
  • Milton Davis Jr. as J.P.
  • Taylor Negron as David Montagne
  • Tony Longo as Triscuitt Messmer
  • Neal McDonough as Whitt Bass
  • Stoney Jackson as Ray Mitchell
  • Adrien Brody as Danny Hemmerling
  • Tim Conlon as Wally
  • Albert Garcia as Pablo Garcia
  • Matthew McConaughey as Ben Williams
  • Dermot Mulroney as Mr. Bomman (Roger’s Dad)
  • Robert Clohessy as Frank Gates

Faraway, So Close!

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“Faraway, So Close” is a sequel to a perfect movie so perfect that perhaps should have been left untainted by a sequel, however, it still captures the magical feel of “Wings of Desire”, but this time with a pop-thriller feel.

It cruises along the border of body and mind, and follows the two intellectual angels that have been tackled with the dillema of reality versus eternity.

The film is lengthy and at times moves slow, but offers many interesting and thoughtfull moments, and it generally provokes many thoughts long after the movie’s end. A must for Wenders fans. Since a sequel has already been made to WoD, perhaps master director Wenders can cook yet another chapter in the story, but one that captures the essence of Wings of Desire.