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  It's a Wonderful Life
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, et al.
Rated: Unrated
Also available in VHS

George Bailey grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement.

  The Bishop's Wife
Starring: Cary Grant, Loretta Young, et al.
Rated: NR
Also available in VHS

Dudley is an angel sent down by the prayers of a new bishop. The bishop is trying to build a new cathedral, and he's so entrenched in his fundraising that he's watching his own marriage crumble around him. Loretta Young is devoted, moist-eyed, and basically a great date for the tempted Dudley. They drink in the afternoon, go skating at night, and make impulse buys. The skating sequence beats mightily on one's suspension of disbelief, but the rest of the film is an absolute joy.

  Beaches
Starring: Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, et al.
Rated:

This 1988 drama is about a 30-year friendship between two women, one wealthy  and the other seeking her fortune in show business, is well written and nicely textured in its contrast between the characters' separate destinies. When Hershey becomes ill with cancer, the film takes a predictably sentimental course, yet Marshall brings out the best in both actresses and catches some very fine drama.

  City of Angels
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan, et al.
Rated:
Also available in VHS

Meg Ryan stars as Dr. Maggie Rice, a heart surgeon who is grieving over a lost patient when an angel named Seth appears to comfort her. She can see him despite the "rule" that angels are invisible, and Seth's love for Maggie forces him to choose between angelic immortality and a normal human existence on earth with her. Cage and Ryan give fine performances as lovers convinced they are soul mates. This earnest love story struck a chord with audiences and proved to be one of the surprise hits of 1998.

  My Girl
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, et al.
Rated:
Also available in VHS

A doomed Macaulay Culkin becomes the object of affection for a little girl, estranged from her widowed father. This somewhat daring premise has various emotional buffers to keep young viewers from going into shock from Culkin's demise, but the film is also not shut off from real feelings. And while the story remains safely predictable, at the end of the day it is still a bittersweet experience. Anna Chlumsky is unusually sophisticated in her understanding of her character and situation.

  Heaven Can Wait
Starring: Warren Beatty, James Mason, et al.
Rated:
Also available in VHS

A gung-ho and merciful angel pulls Joe Pendleton, a football star, out of his body before his time, forcing the higher powers to come up with a substitute host. Joe settles on a vicious multimillionaire whose wife and partner are trying to kill him.