This series pulls info, in the form of quotations and paraphrases, from both Wikipedia and the movie database IMBD.
The list will run thusly:
1934 AD: Death Takes a Holiday
1942 AD: I Married an Angel
1945 AD: The Horn Blows at Midnight
1969 AD: The Littlest Angel
1984-1989 AD: Highway to Heaven
1987 AD: Wings of Desire / Der Himmel Uber Berlin (The Heavens over Berlin)
1987 AD: Date with an Angel
1993 AD: Faraway, So Close! / Weiter Ferne, So Nah!
1994-2003 AD: Touched by an Angel
1995-1996 AD: Neon Genesis Evangelion
1996 AD: Michael
1998 AD: City of Angels
1998 AD: Meet Joe Black
1998-2010 AD (in various incarnations): Haibane Renmei
1999 AD: Dogma
2000 AD: Little Nicky
2005 AD-ongonig: Supernatural
2005 AD: Constantine
2007 AD: Gabriel
2007 AD: Ghost Rider and 2012 AD: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
2009 AD: A Heavenly Vintage (original title: The Vintner’s Luck)
2010 AD: Legion
2011 AD: Lynx (aka Axe in the US)
2012 AD: I am Gabriel
2016 AD: Fallen
1934 AD: Death Takes a Holiday
In this case death spends years wondering why people fear him, takes on human form for three days (corollary to Jesus being in the grave three days?) and resides with Duke Lambert with whose daughter, Grazia (grace), he falls in love as she is not afraid of him.
Grazia already has a lover named Corrado who begs that death leave her be. Thus, death must decide whether or not to seek his own happiness or sacrifice it so that Grazia may live.
1942 AD: I Married an Angel
Adapted from a Hungarian play titled Angyalt Vettem Felesegul, it is a story about “a wealthy banker who, disillusioned with women, decides that the only mate for him would be an angel. An angel soon arrives, and he marries her, but finds out that her perfection and guilelessness is inconvenient” as “she is free of the human failings that permit people to tolerate each other.” Yet, he and “his now Earthier angel live happily ever after.”
1945 AD: The Horn Blows at Midnight
Athanael is a trumpet player on the radio show sponsored by Paradise Coffee the motto of which is “It’s Heavenly.” He falls asleep and dreams he is a, junior grade, angel who plays trumpet in the heavenly orchestra.
His heavenly girlfriend, Elizabeth, is the assistant of the deputy chief of the Department of Small Planet Management. Athanael is given the task of destroying planet 339001 aka Earth by blowing the “Last Trumpet.” However, he misses the deadline due to getting sidetracked by keeping someone from committing suicide at the hotel where he has been stationed. Elizabeth persuades her boss to give him a second chance and travels to Earth.
Two fallen angels, Osidro and Doremus, want to continue their “pleasantly hedonistic life” and hire a criminal to steal the instrument; which he does.
Athanael chases the thief to the roof where they struggle and Athanael falls off the building, only to wake up from his dream.
1969 AD: The Littlest Angel
A, biblical era, shepherd boy named Michael dies and goes to heaven on his eighth birthday and does not fully understand his surroundings. A guardian angel is tasked with showing him the joys of heaven and helping him find his place in the hereafter.
The issue is that the story is about Michael becoming an angel, learning to fly, etc. which is un-biblical. On the other hand, he wants to go home to get his treasure box, is allowed to do so and arrives back in Heaven just in time for the birth of Jesus and decides to give the baby Jesus his treasure box.
1984-1989 AD: Highway to Heaven
A TV series about an angel who ends up on Earth “on probation” and who, along with his human companion, is given assignments by “The Boss” (God). The probationary period is meant to have the angel do enough good works to earn his wings and, presumably, ascend to heaven. The human sometimes attempts to prevent this from happening due to his not wanting their close relationship to end.
1987 AD: Wings of Desire / Der Himmel Uber Berlin (The Heavens over Berlin)
One of the angels who preside over Berlin chooses to become human so as to experience human physical experiences. Angels are visible only to children and can hear human thoughts. Two of them are Damiel and Cassiel. This second name is also used for the main angel in the TV show Supernatural as Castiel—see here for more—wherein angels are spirit beings who possess the bodies of willing humans (in other words the Supernatural definition of angels is the biblical definition of demons). In the movies Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell too, the archangel Michael possesses the body of a human.
Damiel is the one who chooses to become human; essentially falling in order to engage in Genesis 6 activities as he falls in love with a woman (a trapeze artist) named Marion whom he meets at a bar wherein music is being played by, get this, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Another character is Peter Falk who is, currently, a film maker. Yet, he too was once an angel (aka is a fallen angel who became human) who grow tired of merely observing but never experiencing.
1987 AD: Date with an Angel
The movie’s tagline is “Jim is about to marry a princess… but he’s in love with an angel.” Jim Sanders is an executive at a cosmetics company which may be interesting in the light of 1 Enoch / Ethiopic Enoch which states, in Book of Watchers chapter 8, that the fallen angel aka watcher Azazel “taught men to make…bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.”
Jim is about to marry his boss’ daughter, Patty Winston but suffers from a brain tumor from which he might die. An angel is sent to take his soul to heaven and “Jim sees a bright light illuminating from his apartment’s swimming pool—and discovers the angel knocked unconscious after her wings were clipped by a satellite.”
He helps repair her wings and she returns to heaven. Patty thinks that he is having an affair with the angel and, in a drunken rampage, goes after him with a shotgun. He suffers a reaction from the brain tumor which causes him to collapse to the ground. Thus, the angel returns to save him, “driving Patty and her father away, never to return.”
Jim ends up in the hospital and the angels again returns as her task is to take him when he died. But she heals him and falls, becoming a human being.
1993 AD: Faraway, So Close! / Weiter Ferne, So Nah!
In this sequel to Wings of Desire we find Cassiel with a new angel partner, Raphaella. Cassiel has been following Damiel who now owns a pizza joint called Casa dell’angelo / Angel’s House and who has married Marion (Genesis 6) with whom he had a daughter (also named Marion).
Now it is Cassiel who longs for human experiences and thus falls/becomes human. In an interesting bit of symbolism, his only possession is his angel’s armor which he loses after having been tricked into gambling. He is also tricked into drinking alcohol and becomes addicted to be point of robbing a store at gun point.
At one point Peter Falk and Cassiel destroy “pornography copying machines” which is interesting as pornography, essentially, represents why the fell in the first place.
Emit Flesti, the one how had tricked Cassiel, reveals himself to be Time (who has a word written on his forehead) and reveals that his purpose was to make Cassiel understand he does not belong in the human world. Cassiel ends up getting murdered but, no big deal, as Damiel hears a ring in his ear and concludes that Cassiel is near. Thus, an angel fell but was redeemed.
1994-2003 AD: Touched by an Angel
A TV series about angel named Monica and Tess, her supervisor. The angel’s task is to bring guidance and messages from God to various people. Monica was recently promoted from “search and rescue” having stated in the choir then annunciations; she is now in “case work.” Also making appearances is Andrew, the angel of death yes, there is also an, Adam who is an angel of death with subsequent appearances with various angels of death.
The series ends with Monica is up for promotion to supervisor, pending the outcome of a difficult case in which she must defend a certain Zack and which has satan as the persecutor—the case ends in conviction. Zack was innocent, but found guilty, of causing a boiler explosion that killed many children.
The town folk had closure and thus, “finally start living again…begin going back to church, welcomed by the pastor they had once abandoned.” Yet, the innocent Zack remains incarcerated and receives a visit from Monica who reveals her angelic nature to him and promises that she will become his guardian angel—this would mean forgoing future assignments and the promotion. Long finale short: the next day he is missing from his cell, the town folk do not bother looking for him and the real culprit is found.
As it turns out Zack was God in disguise, Monica passed the test simply by defending him and is thus, promoted.
1995-1996 AD: Neon Genesis Evangelion
An anime Japanese media franchise that “features an apocalyptic mecha action story, which revolves around the efforts by the paramilitary organization NERV to fight hostile beings called Angels, using giant humanoids called Evangelions that are piloted by select teenagers.”
1996 AD: Michael
The Archangel Michael comes to Earth on an angelic vacation and ends up residing in a boarding house. He has wings (which biblical angels do not) and is a “a boozing, smoking, slob” who “tends to use a large number of non-angelic phrases, does not care much for personal hygiene, and smells like cookies.”
Michael is driven to Chicago (as he refuses to fly—via his wings or airplane) since this is his last vacation ever and wants to party. However, it is slowly revealed that Michael was actually on a mission two help two people find love. When one of them is hit by a truck and killed, Michael resurrects him but in going so he uses up his allotment of miracles and begins to weaken to the point of disappearing. He eventually returns to Earth and gets the two to fall in love. After Frank and Dorothy go their separate ways, Michael returns one more time (this time with Pansy in tow) and successfully gets Frank and Dorothy back together for good.
1998 AD: City of Angels
Another, this time American, sequel (“very loose remake”) to Wings of Desire wherein the angel Seth plays the role of Damiel and is paired up with Cassiel. Seth’s main responsibility is to appear to those who are close to death and guide them to the next life.
Seth falls in love with Maggie Rice (a surgeon) to whom he becomes visible. The feeling is somewhat mutual even though Maggie is already involved with one of her colleagues, Jordan Ferris.
Nathaniel Messinger is a patient who can sense the presence of angels and reveals that he was once an angel who become human through the process he refers to as “falling”; a concept to which he introduces Seth.
As it turns out, Maggie gets hit by a truck and dies which leads to Seth saying, “I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss of her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it. Just one.”
1998 AD: Meet Joe Black
A “loosely based” sequel of Death Takes a Holiday wherein William Parrish begins to hear mysterious voices which he tries, but fails, to ignore. His youngest daughter Susan meets a young man and it is love at first sight—although, she is already involved with someone. However, he is hit by multiple cars and is badly injured.
Parrish is preparing a speech in order to execute a business merger and when Susan asks him for the succinct version, he stated, “Stay open. Who knows? Lightning could strike!” Interestingly, Jesus stated, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Even more interestingly, death arrives at Parrish’s home in the body of the young man, explaining that the speech has piqued his interest. He offers the deal that as long as Parrish will be his guide, as he refers to Parrish as possessing “competence, experience, and wisdom,” he will not have to die.
Death takes on the name Joe Black.
Susan falls deeply in love with Joe Black (black death) and he becomes attracted to her and wants to take her to be with him. Yet, death comes to understand that his love for Susan means he must forego his desire to take Susan with him and allow her to live her life.
Meanwhile, in order to help Parrish with his business, he pretends to be (ready for this?) an IRS agent.
Death ends up escorting Parrish away at his death and the young man returns to life as himself (not as death) and he and Susan take it from there.
1998-2010 AD (via various incarnations): Haibane Renmei
Technically Haibane renmei, Une fille qui a des ailes grises which literally means Charcoal Feather Federation, a girl who has grey wings. A comic derived anime franchise in which follows Rakka, a newly hatched Haibane which refers to a being that resembles an angel. Healthy Haibane wings are charcoal grey rather than white, and are too small to be functional. It is stated that “with wings and halos Haibane resemble the angels of traditional Christianity (with the series’ creator stating that the resemblance is purely aesthetic). Well, angels with wings and halos may be traditional Christian art but within the Bible no angel is 1) female, no angel 2) has a halo and no angel 3) has wings (Cherubim and Seraphim have wings but they are a different category of being than angels).
1999 AD: Dogma
Two fallen angels, Loki and Bartleby, find a way to get back into Heaven after being cast out by God (via a loophole in Catholic dogma) due to an inebriated Loki, with Bartleby’s encouragement, resigned as the Angel of Death (Note that Loki is a god of Norse mythology). A movie poster reads, “Get ‘touched’ by an angel.”
The movie is really about the paradox created by this return as, “existence is founded on the principle that God is infallible, their success would prove God wrong and thus undo all creation.”
This movie created a lot of controversy (for example, there is a character named Rufus who is said to be the thirteenth apostle who was left out of the Bible for being black) and yet, the premise takes solid aim at the Catholic concept of indulgences—a scam whereby Catholicism trades works for forgiveness, salvation or just time off of Purgatory—about which you can learn more by reading here or viewing video here—the works can consist of everything from, you guessed it, donating money to that which the fallen angles decide to do. They come upon a Catholic church celebrating its centennial anniversary with a plenary indulgence. This means that the church is trading forgiveness of sins for the work of passing through the doors of that church—this is the kind of real life stuff that the Catholic church has done for centuries.
Metatron makes an appearance; within Jewish folklore/tradition he is God’s scribe (and also makes an appearance in the TV show Supernatural wherein his name’s resemblance with the robotic Megatron is noted—see here).
Loki becomes human, having had his wings have been torn off by Bartleby, and Bartleby then becomes human when his wings are shot off with a submachine gun.
To make a long plot short; God, played by a woman, had been comatose on Earth after having been beat up during one of her occasional jaunts to Earth to play seek ball. She resurrects one of the female human characters who has been killed along the way and conceives a child inside her.
2000 AD: Little Nicky
Having been the Prince of Darkness for 10,000 years, satan attempts to decide which of his three sons will succeed him. His favorite is Nicky who is taunted by his brothers Adrian and Cassius who claim that his mother is a goat and torment him by controlling his body with their minds.
Eventually, satan decides to keep the throne for himself noting that his sons are not ready as they must learn to keep the balance between good and evil. Enraged; Adrian and Cassius go to Earth to create a new Hell by possessing religious and political leaders. They also seal the gates of hell so that no more souls can enter and which also causes satan’s body to begin decomposing.
Thus, Nicky is sent to Earth to stop them. The relevant angelic portion of the plot pertains to Nicky waking up in heaven after having sacrificed himself and finally meets his mother who is not a goat but an angel. She tells him that he can defeat his brothers with the Inner Light he inherited from her.
2005 AD-ongonig: Supernatural
A TV series premised upon the “good guys” engaging in occult practices in order to fight the occult forces of evil—whilst blaspheming God.
You can read about this show in the article Theology at the Movies and on Television, part 2 of 2 and Megatron & Metatron (& Supernatural & Star Wars & Voltron).
The relevant portion of the show is that within the show angels possess the human bodies of willing persons in order to perform certain tasks on Earth.
The May 15, 2013 AD episode ended with angels falling out of heaven, much as did satan of whom Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18).
However, in the show the angels fell not due to being case out by God but due to being cast out by Metatron; God’s scribe. Within the show, there is constant infighting and killing amongst the supposedly un-fallen angels.
2005 AD: Constantine
The movie focuses on John Constantine who is human and so we will just touch upon the plot with regards to the angelic. Constantine has the ability to perceive and communicate with half-angels and half-demons in their true form. Neither true angels nor demons can manifest on Earth but they are allowed to possess and influence humans. Both sides also use half-breeds to peddle influence for their cause.
As this movie is also based on Catholic false doctrines; Constantine is a cynic who seeks salvation by works (exorcising demons, etc.) as he is condemned to hell by Catholic doctrine for having committed suicide, from which he was brought back at a hospital.
For some reason the angel Gabriel is said to be a half-breed; he/she/it (as the character is meant to be androgynous) actually preaches a pretty good gospel to Constantine, urging him that he will not be saved by works but by, or via, faith (the Bible specifies that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works—see Ephesians 2:8-9).
Yet, Gabriel also has a plan to help bring about the anti-Christ so as to, essentially, get is over with and have God reconcile all things, in a manner of speaking, “Gabriel laments God’s favoritism towards humans and believes that bringing Hell to Earth will enable those who survive to become truly worthy of God’s love through repentance and faith.”
This movie plays upon a common, and very confused and false, concept of using the occult to fight the occult as Constantine employs Catholic rituals, talismans, sigils tattooed on his arms, etc.
Interestingly, the movie plays off of Nazi occultism, the Spear of Destiny, etc. It has one character assuring Constantine that since she is Catholic she known the crucifixion story and knows that Jesus did not die of crucifixion but of a spear thrust to His side (the Spear of Destiny). Well, in reality, Jesus died of crucifixion (by choosing to give up His life) and the spear thrust proved that He was already dead.
In the end, lucifer burns Gabriel’s wings off and Gabriel becomes human.
He was upset because Gabriel was conspiring with lucifer’s son Mammon, the anti-Christ as Mammon sought to create his own kingdom on Earth. Interestingly, the Bible states that we cannot serve two masters and specifies that we cannot serve God and Mammon which is a term that means wealthy, riches, money, etc. (Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13). The term is also used in referring to “the mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9, 11).
2007 AD: Gabriel
Set in Purgatory (another Catholic false doctrine about which you can reading here or view video here) where the archangel Gabriel fights to rid purgatory of fallen angels and save the souls of its inhabitants. Even as per Catholic doctrine this is fallacious as Purgatory is for the saved who spend time there (from a few years to millennium) before entering heaven.
The premise is that heaven and hell have fought over the souls in Purgatory via seven warriors: archangels from heaven, fallen angels from hell who take human form in order to enter Purgatory which is portrayed as a “dark, seedy city.” Hell’s fallen angels currently have the upper hand and Gabriel is the last of heaven’s seven and seeks to know what happened to the other six. Thus, he goes not the angel Michael’s apartment but it is abandoned.
Some infighting amongst the fallen angles has Sammael murdering Baliel and sending Molloch after Gabriel. In the Bible Molloch (also Moloch or Molech) is an idol to which Pagan sacrifice human children.
Another angle, Uriel is found disheveled and an alcoholic. Another angel, an un-biblically female one, called Amitiel changed her name to Jade after she was defeated by Sammael who stripped of her wings and forced to work as a prostitute (and is a drug user). Overall, the archangels have all assumed human form and have become subject to human desires and feelings and if they die in purgatory their souls will also die
There is also a fallen angel named Lilith which is interesting as Lilith has a long and sorted folkloric/mythical history which ranges from her being a demoness figure who takes children to being Adam’s first wife—learn more about this creature here.
The angel Amitiel and Gabriel end up fornicating. Also, as can be common with such movies, the angel Sammael tells Gabriel that he despises being an angel as they were created entirely to serve others and sees Purgatory as a chance to take control of his own destiny. This is the basic lucifer turned satan story—except, in the end, satan will rule nothing as he is not the king of hell but a victim of it. Sammael asks Gabriel to join him, an offer that is refused and Gabriel realizes that Sammael is actually the Archangel Michael. The two fight and both end up with impales chests but Michael uses the last of his strength to heal Gabriel’s wound, then dies.
Light returns to Purgatory and Gabriel, kneeling before Michael’s dead body, shouts the following at God, “Is It This That You Wanted? Is It This You Wanted?” He resolves to find out why all this happened and throws himself off of a building stating, “Forgive me… I hope I see you again.” Interestingly, there is a post-credits scene in the movie theater version which is not in the DVD version. It has Gabriel (wearing different clothing, minus angel wing tattoo and with brown eyes—which denotes that he is not an angel) joining Amitiel and smiling.
2007 AD: Ghost Rider and 2012 AD: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Long story short; the Devil, who in the story is called Mephistopheles (read up on this character’s long history in many stories here) appoints his bounty hunter of the damned, the Ghost Rider, to retrieve a contract for a thousand corrupt souls. This would result in Mephisto having the power to bring hell to Earth and so the Rider refuses to give him the contract.
Years later Mephisto’s son, Blackheart, appoints another bounty hunter. Blackheart is in the company of three fallen angels: Gressil, Abigor and Wallow who are said to be demons who, after being exiled from heaven by Saint Michael, hid themselves in the elements on Earth. In reality, demons appear to not be fallen angels but the offspring of angels and humans as per Genesis 6. They appear to be the disembodied souls of the Nephilim.
The new bounty hunter, Jonny Blaze, finds the lost contract of San Venganza (Saint Vengence), kills Wallow and gives the contract to Blackheart. At that time he is transformed into the Ghost Rider who is “the twisted incarnation of the Angel of Justice Zarathos after being captured and tortured to madness while in Hell, he exorcises Johnny of the spirit and becomes human again.”
The star of this series is Nicholas Cage who all but admits to allowing himself to become possessed—see Nicolas Cage occult “Nouveau Shamanic” acting method.
2009 AD: A Heavenly Vintage (original title: The Vintner’s Luck)
Set in 1815 AD, we find that peasant winemaker, Sobran Jodeau falls in love with Celeste and also wants his own vineyard. An angel appears him and encourages him to marry Celeste (as in celestial?) and meet with the angel again in a year. A year later he reports that they are married and expecting a child. The angel encourages him to peruse his winemaking goals but his crop fails.
Eventually, he teams up with the, beautiful niece who took over the vineyard where he used to work and the two have an affair. On top of it when Sobran meets the angel again there appears to be an attraction but the angel “creates a schism” all goes afoul and eventually betters until, in the end, “The secrets of Sobran’s heavenly vintage are revealed.”
2010 AD: Legion
The Archangel Michael falls to Earth in Los Angeles (which, of course, means The Angels), cuts off his wings. He states that God has lost faith in mankind and is sending angels to destroy the humanity. However, that is a baby who is destined to be the savior. His original mission was to kil the baby but rebelled and fell.
Thus, he and travels for a diner called, get this, Paradise Falls. Within the diner there are demonic manifestations and bloody carnage ensues.
Some attempt to get the injured to the hospital but find themselves accosted by a swarm of flies. Michael arrives at the diner and arms the patrons whilst the entire sky plunges into blackness. Hundreds of possessed people attack the diner. The next day a patron is found crucified behind the diner and covered with huge boils another is driven insane. That night the possessed attack again and gain entrance by fooling a sympathetic patron into allowing a child into the diner but the child we possessed.
When the baby is born trumpets sound, which are a signal of the approaching Archangel Gabriel who tells the group to escape along with the enigmatic words, “find the prophets, learn to read the instructions.” Gabriel stabs Michael through the chest.
As it turns out Michael had mysterious drawings/tattoos on his body and similar ones appear on the body of an escaped patron. It is realized that these are the aforementioned instructions. Gabriel is about to kill the baby and escaped patrons but Michael appears from Heaven telling Gabriel that “he (Michael) did what God needed, not what God wanted, thus giving humanity another chance, and also gives the impression with everything that happened so far was part of God’s plan to test His angels.” Gabriel leaves in shame.
2011 AD: Lynx (aka Axe in the US)
Lynx / Axe is the name of a deodorant-like body spray. A commercial was produced for the product wherein numerous female angels fall to Earth in order to alluringly approach a young man who has put on the product as they are so very attracted to him now that the forsook heaven. The ad states, “Even angels will fall.”
Or, perhaps, as David Kiefaber has humorously noted, “They could be falling through the holes that aerosols burn in the ozone layer.” He also notes, “exclusively casting [female] supermodels as the angels is a pretty bold leap. It’s commonly understood that angels are androgynous, so right away they’re straying from convention.” Well, at least biblically, angels are not androgynous but are males who are described as “men” as that is how they appear.
One of their varieties is called “Axe Apollo” and was advertised as, “Leave a Man. Come Back a Hero.” While this was meant to be a reference to space travel the fact is that Revelation ch. 9 notes that “a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth” was given “the key of the bottomless pit.” When he opened it “smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts” and these (not your average insect locusts) “have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon” and Apollyon is aka Apollo.
2012 AD: I am Gabriel
A town called Promise has been devastated by environmental and economy problems. A couple finds a boy walking along a road in the middle of nowhere and pick him up hoping to help him. The townsfolk do not know whether he is an answer to prayer, a runaway, a false prophet, etc. while the boy claims that he is there to help.
Miracles ensue and, in the end, the boy reveals his true angelic identity.
2016 AD: Fallen
A young girl finds herself in a reform school after therapy since she was blamed for the death of a young boy. At the school she finds herself drawn to a fellow student, unaware that he is an angel, and has loved her for thousands of years.