|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
City of Angels | Year: 1998 Directed: - Brad Silberling Actors/Actresses: - Nicolas Cage - Meg Ryan - Dennis Franz - Andre Braugher This movie will make you think ... about your mortality. City of Angels was released by Warner Studios in 1998. Run time is 110 minutes. Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan are the principal actors. Co-stars include Dennis Franz and Andre Braugher. <BR>Directed by Brad Silberling<BR>Genre - Drama Set in Los Angles, in the opening scene an angel, Seth (Nicholas Cage) escorts a dying girl from the emergency room where she just passed away. Net, we cut to an unusual site: two men, clothed entirely in black sitting comfortably atop a freeway exit sign over a busy interstate highway overlooking the city. No matter how you look at it, City of Angels will make you think about how angels might exist with us in our world. We soon see that angels are everywhere - walking on rooftops, standing on the "Hollywood" sign, even in an airport control tower. Seth finds himself escorting a dying heart patient from a cardiac surgery suite. He stares intently into the eyes of the young surgeon, Doctor Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan) as she struggles to revive her dying patient. We learn a little more about angels: they can see us, and each other, but only a dying and delirious human can see them unless the angel wants a person to see them. Later Seth follows Doctor Rice as she walks through a children's ward in the hospital. Rice seems to be walking aimlessly as she struggles to cope with the loss of her patient. We see an angel in every room with the sick children. Later that evening, Seth meets Doctor Rice in the hallway of the hospital after visiting hours as she is "making mounds." He talks about the death of her patient. He tells her that her patient "... is living. Just not the way you think." About this time, you may observe that the angels do not blink. They look at our world and the people in it with a steady gaze, almost a stare. As we watch Seth gaze intently at Doctor Rice, you understand he is falling in love. During a night of fitful sleep, Doctor Rice awakens and opens a book on her nightstand. We see the title of the book: Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast." After reading the book, the next day she is in a good mood. She thanks a boyfriend for the book. He denies giving it to her, asking "where'd you get it?"<BR>Rice goes to the public library and asks if she can find out who checked the book out. She again meets Seth and they leave together. They visit a grocery store and stop to eat. As Rice eats a pear, Seth asks her what a pear tastes like. She asks him if he doesn't know already. He answers, "I don't know what a pear tastes like to you." Seth soon meets a patient under Doctor Rice's care (Dennis Franz) who turns out to be a former angel. He tells Seth how he can become human: you just choose to fall to earth. We also learn that angels all gather at sunrise and sunset on a beach. Seth struggles, but finally chooses to become human so he can be with Doctor Rice. It is a difficult transition and he suffers the indignities of a person new to the big city. It is both a funny and sad commentary on humanity to watch him try to find Doctor Rice, and be beaten and robbed of his shoes on the street. Seth and Doctor Rice do finally get together at her cabin on Lake Tahoe. Their time together is very, very short. I won't spoil the ending for you. But the outcome is certain to bring a tear to your eye (or at least a lump to your throat). City of Angles isn't just a "chick flick." The music is outstanding (In the Arms of An Angel, for one) and I really ended the movie in a thoughtful state of mind. In my opinion, City of Angels is a well-acted, interesting story. The ending may make you consider just how short life really is. Weak, unmotivated, and boring... "City of Angels" has a lot of cool ideas. It has a great style of direction about it. It's biggest problem is that it falls under the standard movie cliches for love stories. A shame, because the first two acts are very good. Nicolas Cage is an angel. He walks the Earth unnoticed and unseen by humans. It is suggested that in death, one can see or feel the angels, which is an interesting concept indeed. Meg Ryan is a doctor who is a little lovesick. Cage follows her around one day and becomes increasingly interested in her. Finally, she sees him and the two begin to fall in love. So far, the movie is interesting, original, and very well-acted. Then it comes to a point where Cage must make a choice. He must either stay an angel or become human and live with Meg. It doesn't take a genius to predict what happens. The movie loses itself in utter predictability and uses recycled story elements from so many other romance movies. I realize I'm a guy and that I probably shouldn't like this movie anyway, but I believe in giving movies a fair chance. I like the first two acts of this movie a lot. I like the concept, I like the characters, and I like the acting. The third act is just so contrived and desparate I wanted to shout in anger at the screen during its climax. I didn't hate this film. I just hated the outcome. Would I recommend it? No. But I don't doubt that there are people that liked it. The Ultimate Love Story This is not a remake of Wim Wenders German classic but rather a Hollywood update of the movie. Seth (Cage) meets Maggie (Ryan) much earlier than than in the original, and a romantic aspect is set up from this point. Yearning for a real life, Angel Seth takes the ultimate plunge to be with his love, for any one who hasnt seen the movie i wont tell you the ending. Well shot by 2nd time Director Brad Siberling(Casper) brilliant acting by the whole cast and a music soundtrack and score that compliments like no other film, no romantic in the world can shrug off this movie. If you havent yet seen it you have to do yourself a favour and make sure you do. The DVD copy of this movie contains excellent special features and is more than compliments this great movie.A must see. Buy City Of Angels at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on City Of Angels Search with the Priority Search Engine on City Of Angels This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
