I saw this Friday afternoon with wife and kids. It was a fun two hours eating popcorn, whispering jokes, and generally having a good time. I can see how egghead critics would hate this movie: their standards are far higher than ours.

In our real world, this movie was a fun mix of the cheesy and the interesting. The medics abandoning his dead girlfriend to go help someone live was a bit I had not seen in a film, even if it was a little deus ex machina, allowing Cage to be alone with her to moon sadly for the camera. And the angels were less angels of doom than good guy aliens pretending to be scary. And the plane crash scene freaked my kids out. But my Jewish wife didn't get the prodigal son bit at the end, or the other Christian references I grew up with. So it goes.

My daughter wants to live in NYC when she grows up. Having lived there for years myself, the disaster scenes in the subway cheered me a little. My brat will think twice before going into the subway again! Yes, it was that sort of movie, not great art but interesting in a couple ways. I can think of worse ways to pass a few hours.

Halper, hold on to that one.."the Walmart of actors." I think that cuts right. Cheapo shit..recycle..regurgitate..straight to video...do it again...same all over again once more..why bother?

Nicolas Cage? He has a great job making schlock, which people like to watch instead of going to Europe during these hard times. Cannot say the same for you snobbish critics who never wrote a movie nor acted in one (that your would still have ajob). I do not go to movies for a life changing experience. I suspend belief, escape for 2 hours and continue where I left off. A ride, a trip if you like. That is all there is to it. Mister Cage, please, keep making shlock and ignore these people.

"Have you ever hear of Pythagoras?"

How patronizing, of course we've heard of Pythagoras. He was a cult leader who used numbers the way Scientologists use electricity.

The theorem named after him was well known and not at all his "discovery." And his cult was so freakish they actually killed one of their brethren who had proved the existence of irrational numbers.

I like your website, it's a real testament to pseudo-scientific hucksterism.

And don't think you've ruffled my feathers. I'm not a bird, and I've detested Pythagoras and his sort for years. Your claptrap posting just gave me an opportunity to say so.

I'm know going to "ruffle feathers" here however we're blessed to live in a country in which we can speak freely. I'll probably rent this movie as it appears to be overly-embellished; however, I can attest to numbers as I work with them up close and personally. Numbers are which our Earth is entirely based upon and everything is ultimately linked to Sacred Geometry. Have you ever hear of Pythagoras? He was a master Numerologist and studied within the Egyptian Mystery Schools. Look in Wikipedia for further information. Our very lives are based upon numbers too. Our world is undergoing great transformation from this point forward and we will never go back to the old ways of doing things. Real transformation will begin on 12/21/2012 (1-2+2+1+2+0+1+2 = 11) when the Mayan Calendar ends and we end a 26,000 year cycle. Plenty of chaos will be going on this year as we are in an "11" World Year (2+0+0+9 = 11). Can you see a connection here? Nothing's ever a coincidence or happens by chance as our Universe is organized chaos. Change is just part of Universe's program and we either go with it or get left behind.

I think they are, or have, taken over.

Ever see Battlefield Earth?

A Gotham-based friend of mine once noted that de Niro gets away with a lot of bad flicks because he's the unofficial "King of New York"--much like Anna Wintour used to get a pass because she was its unofficial queen. But, as my friend so aptly observed, there _are_ limits...:)

matchstick men. that was pretty decent.

That's the only reason I can think of for him to be constantly and exclusively starring in these big budget stinkers. I guess all of those high level Sea Org training sessions must get really expensive over time.

The concept of film as an art medium has been completely and utterly lost to Cage. He is the WalMart of actors now.

It's too bad, as noted above he has been in some very good movies in the past. I fear if I see Knowing, I'll join the old Nicholas Cage and drink myself to death in Las Vegas.

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS!

I don't know what people expect from films. Clearly they expected a lot from this one. It would seem that a bar was set that was wholly unknown to the makers which is rather unfair. As to the religiosity of the film, I saw the film today and found none, well, except that the main character was estranged from his father, a preacher. That's it. The film was more anti-religious than anything. I think the problem is that the film did not have the standard happy ending that Americans demand from disaster films, and judging from the previous comments, I would guess that most commenters have not seen the film because otherwise they would know that this is less a cousin of "Left Behind" than of "Contact" or "Close Encounters". I found the script servicable, the plot forward moving if a bit ponderous, and it was artistically done, with some really great set pieces. I wonder, is Nicolas Cage the new Keanu Reeves, in that any film he appears in is considered "bad" just because he is in it? I agree that this is not Shakespearian, was it expected to be? Yes, I get the whole Metatron/Rapture allegories that others are implying, but I didn't see it. Sometimes, an alien is just an alien. In fact, I would infer from the logic that drives this film that it is relgion that is the metaphor, but that's a different post.