City of Angels

Rating:
Summary: City of Angels is a Must-See for Anyone Who has Loved.
Review: The City of Angels movie makes you think, and wonder, and rejoice, and believe that if so many people in the world believe in religion, in an afterlife - if the concept is so pervasive, that maybe there is some truth to it.
This movie came out right after my grandfather died, and as an over-thirty, experienced person who had watched him suffer through this wasted time brought on by age, I expected to be happy he was released when he died, but I was not.
Maybe it was the fact that the nurse gave this 85 year old man who had not had solid food in a year a huge Potassium pill and left after he said that no, he didn't want any water, just to watch him code four minutes later. Maybe I just wasn't ready for him to be gone less than 12 hours after I'd taken him to the hospital. Maybe I just wasn't ready to be done loving him and changing his diapers and fighting with Grandma to not treat him like he had a choice. Maybe it was just that he was the most important man I've ever known. But I wasn't ready then, not at all, and this movie helped.
It made me remember why we're here, to love, even when we know it will end in hurt.
It made me allow myself to hope I'll see him again one day.
It made me accept that quality of life is not something that I should take for granted.
But most of all, this movie let me think Gramps might still be around, looking over my shoulder, encouraging me to watch the traffic go by, appreciate my daughters teen years, get past Grandma's senile dementia, because he loved her even for all that she is.
See the movie if you haven't, buy it for when you need to see it if you have. You won't regret it - everyone hits that point/realization about life, and death.
As for comparing it to any other movie - don't bother.

Rating:
Summary: It's better than Sleepless in Seattle
Review: But that's not saying much. Sorry, but I can't HELP but compare it to the Wim Wenders products and this is SO Hollyweed it hurts. While watching the flick, myself and a friend of mine (yes, a chick who thought it was goofy too) figured out the ending LONG before it happened because we could just TELL it was going to be some carefully-calculated-to-pluck-the-heart-strings-in-that-shallow-hollyweed-way type of movie. Meg Ryan is capable of acting, as is Nicolas Cage, but both were pretty uninspiring in this. She just didn't seem very doctor-like, and he didn't seem very angel-like (kept picturing him in 'Leaving Las Vegas') in this. The story's fault as much as anything. The WHOLE mood of the flick is so somber, but fakely so. I just didn't develop any empathy for the characters.

And yes, I am someone who can be moved by a movie... this fake Hollyweed stuff just doesn't accomplish much though...

Do yourself a favor and check out the Wim Wenders flicks. Weird at times, but so much more engrossing than this emotionally empty schlock (I know it SEEMED emotionally charged, but that portrayed/acted-out emotion has to be believable in order to actually convey anything).

BUT, if you liked "Sleepless in Seattle" you'll likely be misty-eyed over this tragic tear-jerker that takes a deep (as deep as Hollyweed usually gets anyway) and moving (I wanted to move off the couch and go to bed) look at the mystery of life, love, and loss...

The soundtrack is decent though...

Rating:
Summary: One of the best modern romance films, one of Meg's greatest.
Review: This film is soooo good. It makes you look at life in a whole other perspective. The performances in this film are phenomenal. Nicholas Cage, Meg Ryan, that dude from NYPD Blue, and the whole rest of the cast played fantastic roles. The story is both gripping and moving, and the script is awesome. The way the movie changes you is very spiritual. The cinematography, though subtle, is good. The score and the soundtrack is one of the most mournfull I have ever heard. Everything about this movie is surreal. See it. I highly reccomend this movie.