Cidade dos Anjos

The photography will blow you away. The scenes concocted and shot are breathtaking. It's almost better not to know this when you enter the cinema. And this movie should work far better in the cinema than on the small TV format at home.

As for the story, it concentrates on one small aspect of the original - and, according to about half the viewers, pulls a "dirty trick" on them, altogether unfair.

I left the movie house cursing the director and promising to punch his teeth in if I saw him. The ending, IMHO, was gratuitous sermonizing, and not at all what the majority of moviegoers came to see.

Overall, this is a nice love story that I enjoyed the first time I saw it but decreasingly so with future viewings. After three, it was enough, but that's two more than I usually watch of Meg Ryan films.

Since it's Hollywood, you know there is going to be misguided theology, in this case the subject is angels and heaven. None of the "sermons" in here are Biblical, believe me. it's really more of a love story than anything else. Plus, it's an interesting story with good visuals.

Nicholas Cage plays a likable guy. There are actually a few good messages about God and angels - mainly that they exist - and another good message being that all of us should appreciate more what we have here on earth, starting with our senses (smell, taste, touch, etc.)

Anyway, if you like a good romance story, you should like this movie.

I just watched this movie again for about the 3rd time. People say the movie is depressing, unoriginal, and boring. I'll bend on the depressing part, but the other 2 are completely un-true.

Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan give pretty good performances, nothing oscar-worthy, but it's not the acting that makes this movie great. It's beautiful. Pure heaven to the eyes and ears. While you see the wonderful scenes, and backgrounds, with wonderful color and beautiful art direction, and hear the perefectly performed and selected score in the background (with contributions from U2, Sarah McLachlan, and the surprise hit "Iris" from the Goo Goo Dolls) it doesn't really matter what kind of acting is happening. The screenplay is pretty good, but somewhat lacking, which is why I give it an 8.25 on a scale from 1-10. Its a love story, yes, and can get cheesy at points, but none the less, it's still worth seeing once or twice.

I do think this film is underrated. For one thing, it has beautiful cinematography that just adds to the appeal of the film. Another thing I liked was the very thoughtful soundtrack, that title song is very haunting, and we just know it is going to be very sad. Some of the film is genuinely moving, and the evidence is in the chemistry of the two stars Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage. Cage gives a very moving performance as Seth, a very unusual representation of an angel, and Ryan is very charming as always as Maggie. Of the minor roles, Dennis Franz is a scene stealer, bringing some energy into a rather slow-moving story. The script was very touching, though sometimes cheesy, and there are some overly sentimental scenes like the ending, that gets a bit hard to stomach. Though, in conclusion, a lovely looking, moving and well performed film. 7/10 Bethany Cox.

A very different look at the world of angels and their interaction with human beings. If this were a story about the devil, IMDB would have plenty of comments so I am not surprised to read so many negative ones.

I don't believe that angels wear black, but I do believe in the premise of this movie: "sometimes things are true whether you believe in them or not."

Meg Ryan, a very unlikely choice, was thoroughly believable as an obsessive-compulsive doctor who never sleeps. When she loses a patient for the first time, she cries bitterly and cannot understand how it could have happened--all witnessed by Nicolas Cage as Seth, an angel who was sent to escort her patient to heaven. Cage allows himself to be seen by Ryan in a hospital corridor and sweetly asks, "Are you in despair?" This entire conversation sweeps the women in the audience into their evolving relationship. Yes, I guess this is definitely a woman's movie.

Others in lesser roles were quite good. Dennis Franz nails the part of a former angel who has "fallen to earth." (I do not watch his television show so this was the first time I have seen him act--I was impressed.) Andre Braugher, formerly of Homicide (a show I did watch), was terrific as Seth's closest angel friend, although he had very few lines, as usual Braugher was effective. His smile at the end of the movie stays with you.