Humans and angels have a long and storied history together. It is a proven fact that messengers from God used to hang out on Earth all the time, usually to inform people of impending births or to strut their pretty selves around Sodom and Gomorrah just asking to be sodomized. And that's not all! Many angels still roam the earth, touching our lives in truly biblical ways. Example:

When I was a baby we were at a museum and my sisters unhooked my stroller without my mother know! As my mother was taking me down the steps I fell face first. So all of a sudden a black women appeared out of nowhere! She asked my mother if she needed help carrying me to the car... my mother said yes. They picked me up without a scratch!!!!! When my two sisters and my mother looked to thank her she disappeared nowhere to be found!... I have truly been touched by an angel!

But the greatest seraphic contribution to human life has been through our cinema. With Legion coming out this week—a movie in which angels kick the shit out of Dennis Quaid and dress like spider milkmen or something—not to mention the new Rock masterpiece Tooth Fairy, this seems like the perfect time to round up some of the most angelic movies of ALL TIME.

Angels in the Outfield (1951/1994)

Though there's a lot of human suffering to deal with on a daily basis, angels still find time to throw the old ball around. But even in the dugout, angels are always gentlemen; they don't go into all that salty talk when they lose. In the original Angels in the Outfield, celestial sports fans are pretty disappointed in the nasty attitude of unlucky Coach Guffy McGovern (Paul Douglas). Thanks to a few prayers, the angels of the Heavenly Choir Nine—the afterlife's famous team of baseball greats—help Douglas turn his team around as well as his attitude. In the film's most ironic moment, Hall-of-Famer and all-around-shit-stain Ty Cobb looks on as Douglas learns that a bad attitude in baseball gets you nowhere.

In 1994 the same thing happened, although this time it was Danny Glover who needed a lesson in coaching through caring. Angel technology had improved in the 40 years since the first movie, so instead of coyly dropping a feather here and there, the angels of 1994 fucking swoop into your face and make the ball their bitch. Ty Cobb was unavailable that year, though, as he was busy being played by Tommy Lee Jones.

City of Angels (1998)

If there's one thing angels love more than sports it's love itself. Don't get any ideas, though—we're talking strictly "love thy neighbor" love, not the other kind. An angel can't even indulge in some self-love (thanks a lot, Onan!). But what if you were a dead Nic Cage and you spent every day wandering around staring into Meg Ryan's sexy doctor eyes? Could you resist embracing her so tight you strangled her career?

Angels have never been mopier than in this Wings of Desire remake, which basically turns them into heavenly stalkers who just want a little bit of TLC. That and a good Goo Goo Dolls tune to jam out to.

Made in Heaven (1987)

Angels can't even fall in love with each other without a shitstorm of complications. When Timothy Hutton meets Kelly McGillis in the big, echoey English countryside that is heaven, they fall madly in love. But their eternal love is cut short when McGillis gets commissioned to be born on earth as a baby. Oh shit! Cue Debra Winger in an orange butch-cut who reincarnates Hutton, too, after he agrees to a total memory wipe. To sum up, the best deal you can get if you fall in love post mortem is a reincarnation gamble that you'll get back together with your soul mate... until you die again and become angels. The priesthood starts to look appealing, doesn't it?

For Heaven's Sake (1950)

If you're not boning each other, you have plenty of time to meddle. In For Heaven's Sake angels Clifton Webb and Edmund Gwenn spend the lion's share of their energy trying to get an earthly couple to conceive so their little cherub buddy can be born. So driven is he that Webb comes to earth disguised as a wealthy Texan caricature. Where the touch of humanity drove Nic Cage to mope, Webb turns to fighting, boozing and playing secular music on his harp. Thankfully, his heavenly duty is fulfilled when he knocks up Joan Bennett with a cherub baby. All in a day's work.

All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989)

Even dogs get in on the helping action. When dog, Charlie B. Barkin (Burt Reynolds), is run over with a car, he returns to earth where he's tasked with performing one good deed or burning in doggy hell. Thankfully, there's an adorable orphan on hand who needs attention and a couple of song and dance numbers. In the tradition of late eighties animated features, there are at least three or four nightmarish moments in All Dogs, most notably when Mr. B. Barkin and co. get devoured by a Ken Page's sewer-dwelling King Gator. Sing, Charlie! Sing for your life!

Heaven Sent (1994)

Juvenile delinquent Eddie Chandler (Vincent Kartheiser) dies while shoplifting, but he's lucky enough to meet his wise-cracking guardian angel, Howard (the handsomely named David Bowe). Howard brings him back to life to teach him that "having a heart of gold is worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox." Accompanied by his chimo-looking angelic buddy (who did the creepy milkman thing way before Legion!), Kartheiser becomes the nicest kid on rollerblades. No more stealing—just hanging out with my imaginary older man friend!

Very watchable, unembeddable trailer here.

Michael (1996)

Coasting on all that post-Pulp Fiction goodwill, John Travolta put his dignity on hold to play the Archangel Michael. Michael lives with an old lady until she dies and two reporters decide that God's right-hand-man needs a roadtrip to Chicago. On the way Michael tries to wrestle a bull, stuffs his fat face and basically does everything you would consider beneath the commander of God's army. In other words, Travolta plays himself.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

In this little-seen Frank Capra movie, Jimmy Stewart plays a businessman who has fallen on hard times come Christmas Eve. Contemplating suicide, Stewart's guardian angel, Henry Travers, stops him, reminding him of the family life-insurance plan he took out last year. After slaying his cherubic children ($5,000 a body!), Stewart's spirits ghoulishly lift. The film culminates into a town riot as Stewart leaves to cash his checks at Mr. Potter's bank only to find that a riot has erupted after Uncle Billy threw a trash can through Potter's window. In the aftermath, Stewart mourns Radio Rahim's death and the deaths of his children. He tattoos his arm with their names so he won't forget their fate, despite the short-term memory loss he suffers from.

What angel movies did I miss? What's your favorite?