Fantasy: 264

City of Angels (1998), an American romantic fantasy film directed by Brad Silberling, follows the story of Seth, an angel living in Los Angeles. Seth and his fellow angels have the important duty of protecting humans in subtle ways. One of Seth’s main tasks is to guide those near death to the afterlife. In order to better understand human beings, Seth and Cassiel often ask people about their favorite things in life during these encounters. However, as angels do not possess human senses, they struggle to comprehend human behavior. While waiting to guide a man undergoing heart surgery to the other world, Seth is ...

Peyton Reed directed and Ryan Rowe wrote The Love Bug (1997), an American adventure comedy movie. The protagonist, Jim Douglas, narrates the tale of his trusty companion Herbie, a Volkswagen Beetle, and their escapades. Fast forward to the present, and we find Herbie in the possession of Simon Moore III, an arrogant race car driver and dealer who mistreats him. During a race, Simon insults Herbie as a ‘piece of junk’, which triggers the car’s rebellion and results in them finishing last. After this incident, Simon dumps Herbie in a junkyard. Meanwhile, ...

A film called A Life Less Ordinary (1997) is categorized as a British romantic black comedy. In this movie, angels from Heaven have the duty of ensuring that humans on Earth find true love. One particular angel, known as the ‘Captain’ and named Gabriel, becomes disgruntled when reviewing the performance of angel partners O’Reilly and Jackson. He notices that all of their recent cases have resulted in either divorce or misery for the couple involved. To shake things up, Gabriel suggests a new approach: if their next assigned pair fails to fall and remain in love (which he admits is a challenging task), O’Reilly and Jackson must remain on Earth ...

The American Christmas comedy-drama film, The Preacher’s Wife (1996), directed by Penny Marshall, tells the story of Reverend Henry Biggs and his struggles as the pastor of a small African American Baptist church in a poverty-stricken area of New York City. With declining membership, financial issues, and constant demands from his parishioners, Henry is feeling overwhelmed. To make matters worse, real estate developer Joe Hamilton is pressuring him to sell the church’s property for luxury condos. As a result, Henry has become neglectful towards his wife Julia and their son Jeremiah. Julia fears that their ...

The animated short film, The Chicken from Outer Space (1996), follows the journey of Courage, a timid pink dog, as he attempts to thwart an alien chicken’s plot to take over Earth. It gained recognition with its nomination for Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards and was also featured on Cartoon Network’s What a Cartoon! from 1995 to 1997. As a bonus treat, it was included as an episode after the end credits of the home video release of Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost.

The American comedy fantasy film, Michael (1996), was directed by Nora Ephron. The National Mirror is a tabloid publication known for its coverage of unexplainable phenomena. Upon receiving a story tip about a woman coexisting with an angel in Iowa, editor Vartan Malt selects three staff members to investigate: Frank Quinlan, Huey Driscoll (photographer and owner of the Mirror star Sparky the Wonder Dog), and Dorothy Winters (hired to replace Driscoll). During their visit to the small town’s boarding house of Pansy Milbank, they meet Michael – a winged and cookie-scented being with a surprising fondness for ...

The supernatural comedy horror film, The Frighteners (1996), was directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with Fran Walsh. In 1990, Debra Bannister dies in a car accident, causing her husband Frank to abandon his architecture career and leave their unfinished dream house. Struck with the ability to see ghosts after the accident, Frank befriends three: Cyrus, a street gangster from the 1970s; Stuart, a nerd from the 1950s; and The Judge, an Old West gunslinger. These ghosts help Frank in his business of exorcising haunted houses for a fee. Unfortunately, many locals view ...

Joe Johnston’s film, Jumanji (1995), tells the story of a boy named Alan Parrish living in Brantford, New Hampshire with his parents, Sam and Carol. When he is chased by bullies one day, Alan seeks refuge in Sam’s shoe factory where he comes across a new prototype made by their friend Carl Bentley. Unfortunately, Alan accidentally damages the shoe and although Carl takes the blame, he is fired from his job. As if that wasn’t enough trouble for one day, the bullies also steal Alan’s bicycle. Desperate to get it back, Alan follows the sound of tribal drumbeats to a nearby construction site where he ...

Director Martha Coolidge brought us the enchanting American fantasy drama film, Three Wishes (1995). Tom Holman, a devoted family man, is struggling with financial difficulties that have caused him to become emotionally distant from his loved ones. During a car ride with his wife and daughters, they almost hit a man walking into a cemetery. This triggers a flashback of a similar encounter from Tom’s past. Flashing back to 1955, we meet Jean Holman, a single mother raising her sons Tom and Gunny on her own. After their father went missing in action during the Korean War, Jean has been tasked with providing for her ...

The Stand (1994), an American post-apocalyptic television miniseries based on Stephen King’s 1978 novel of the same name, features King himself as a minor character and also includes his teleplay. In the series, on June 13 at a top-secret government laboratory in Northern California, a weaponized version of influenza named Project Blue accidentally escapes. This causes U.S. Army soldier Charlie Campion, along with his wife and daughter, to flee and unknowingly spread the virus across the country. On June 17, Campion crashes near Stu Redman and his friends at an ...

Heart and Souls (1993) is an American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Ron Underwood. Set in San Francisco in 1959, four individuals board the same night trolleybus. Penny, a single mother, regrets leaving her three children at home to work the night shift. Harrison, a wannabe singer, has backed out of an important audition due to stage fright. Meanwhile, Julia leaves her job as a waitress to visit her boyfriend John, who had proposed to her but was rejected. Milo, a small-time thief, also joins them after failing to retrieve valuable stamps that he had swindled off a young boy. The trolleybus driver is Hal, who ...

Groundhog Day (1993), an American rom-com directed by Harold Ramis with a screenplay by him and Danny Rubin, follows television weatherman Phil Connors as he covers the Groundhog Day celebrations in Punxsutawney. Despite his negative attitude towards the assignment and the small town and its inhabitants, Phil is joined by producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry. The next day, February 2nd, Phil wakes up to Sonny & Cher’s ‘I Got You Babe’ on the radio at Cherry Street Inn. He gives a lackluster report on Punxsutawney Phil and the festivities before ...

Faraway, So Close! (1993) is a German fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. It follows the story of Cassiel and Raphaella, two angels who observe the bustling life of reunited Berlin. As divine beings, they have the ability to hear the thoughts of those around them and offer comfort to a dying man. Cassiel has been shadowing his friend Damiel, a former angel who now lives as a human. Damiel runs a pizza parlor named Casa dell’angelo (Angel’s House) and is married to Marion, a trapeze artist he met during his time as an angel. The couple has a young daughter named Doria and Cassiel is intrigued by their new ...

Cool World (1992) is a movie by Ralph Bakshi and written by Michael Grais and Mark Victor. World War II veteran Frank Harris returns to his mother in 1945 Las Vegas, but sadly she dies after their motorcycle ride ends in an accident. From there, Frank is transported to a cartoon-like alternate universe known as the ‘Cool World’, where he starts over as a detective for the local police force. Almost five decades later, underground cartoonist Jack Deebs is released from prison after serving ten years for killing a ...

Hook (1991), a fantasy film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by James V. Hart and Malia Scotch Marmo, follows the story of American-raised British lawyer Peter Banning. Due to his workaholic nature, Peter’s relationships with his wife Moira and their children, Jack and Maggie, have become strained. When he fails to keep a promise to Jack, Peter decides to take his family to London to visit Moira’s grandmother, Wendy Darling. While attending a charity dinner in Wendy’s honor at the Great Ormond ...

Heart Condition (1990) is an American comedy film featuring a star-studded cast including Bob Hoskins, Denzel Washington, and Chloe Webb. Washington plays Napoleon Stone, a persuasive lawyer, while Hoskins takes on the role of Jack Moony, a police officer. These two rivals are both determined to bring down the drug rate in their community and team up to solve the murder of Stone’s mysterious killers. Moony, known for his ...

Directed by Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands (1990) is an American gothic romantic fantasy film. On a snowy night, an elderly woman shares a bedtime tale with her granddaughter about a young man named Edward, who possesses scissors for hands. Peg Boggs, a door-to-door Avon saleswoman, visits the eerie Gothic mansion where Edward resides. Created by an old inventor, Edward is an ageless humanoid who was homeschooled until the inventor’s untimely death from a heart attack. Left unfinished without hands, Peg discovers Edward and offers to bring him to her home upon realizing he poses no threat. At the Boggs household, ...

Ghost (1990) is a supernatural romance film directed by Jerry Zucker and written by Bruce Joel Rubin. Banker Sam Wheat and his girlfriend Molly Jensen move into a Manhattan loft with the help of Sam’s colleague Carl Bruner. One night, they are attacked by a mugger on the street. Despite Sam’s attempt to protect her, he returns to find himself dead and unable to communicate with Molly or anyone else in the living world. While stuck as a ghost, Sam is constantly frustrated by his inability to interact with his surroundings and other spirits he encounters. One ...

Field of Dreams (1989) is an American sports fantasy drama film written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, based on Canadian novelist W. P. Kinsella’s novel Shoeless Joe. Ray Kinsella resides with his wife, Annie, and daughter, Karin, on their corn farm in Dyersville, Iowa. Struggling with his strained relationship with his deceased father John, a devoted baseball enthusiast, Ray is afraid of not accomplishing anything meaningful in his life. One evening while strolling through the cornfield, he hears a voice whispering, ‘If you build it, he will ...

The American romantic comedy film, Chances Are (1989), directed by Emile Ardolino follows the story of young district attorney Louie Jeffries. In 1964, Louie is tragically killed in a car accident but miraculously finds himself reborn and able to enter heaven’s gates. Fast forward to 1987, where we find Louie’s widow Corinne still mourning his loss and unaware of the unrequited love from his best friend Phillip Train. Phillip has lovingly raised Louie’s daughter Miranda as his own. Miranda, now a Yale University student, meets Alex Finch during her studies. As graduation approaches for Alex, he sets ...