HBO Originals - Gia, The Rat Pack, Gotti, A Bright Shining Lie, Truman, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and RKO 281 (1998)

There's a reason why Cindy Crawford was dubbed "Baby Gia" when she first hit the modeling scene. Indeed, Crawford, now the world's best-known supermodel, greatly resembled model Gia Carangi, who went from high school to the cover of British Vogue in less than two years. Carangi appeared on many more covers of Vogue (French, British, Italian, and American) and Cosmopolitan before dying of complications from AIDs (she was an IV heroin user) in 1986. Now most people recognize Carangi's name from this powerful HBO film that stars Golden Globe-winner Angelina Jolie, who comes by her talent honestly. Jolie is the daughter of veteran actor Jon Voight, and her own training as a model serves her well--she has the moves. Throughout, she's heartbreaking--as no doubt the real Carangi was--effective, and stunning.

With good source material (Stephen Fried's A Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia), Jolie's stunning performance, and strong directing by Michael Cristofer, the movie goes beyond the merely sensational. The script was cowritten by Cristofer and novelist Jay McInerney, whose Bright Lights, Big City covers similar territory. As a cautionary tale, Gia works. But to watch Jolie in her character's tragic self-destruction is utterly compelling. --N.F. Mendoza Amazon.com

GIA

Dvd in great condition on arrival, Came before the expected delivery date as promised, And as i say in every review, I will definately be shopping with amazon again! October 26, 2008

Gia-Maudlin Melodrama

Essentially this is a movie about one of many models chewed up and spit out by the fashion industry. With all the reviews written about the plot I'll skip to the review.

The intro to this 1998 HBO TV movie says that Gia Carangi "In the early eighties...became a legend in the fashion industry."

In real life, she is barely a footnote in the fashion industry. Michale Gross, in his 1995 book "Model," the most exhaustive and exhausting of all books on the fashion industry dismisses her as "a bisexual drug abuser who had a short but visible career."

As you can quickly tell from the sole opening credit (Angelina Jolie, of course) this movie is an Angelina Jolie vehicle. The problem is that this vehicle sputters throughout due to overwrought dialogue and acting which ties nicely back into the overwrought intro.

With her post-lip, pre-nose job plastic surgery Angelina Jolie looks remarkably similar to Katie Holmes at certain angles.

This type of movie-making reminds one of the old gangster movies of the '30's and '40's. It purports to be a warning of the dangers of its subject while maximally exploiting it; in this case with nudity instead of guns.

The two hour length of the movie is more tortuous than Angelina's death scenes.

Two stars, one for each attractive boob, real or not. September 27, 2008

Realistic portrayal of America's first Supermodel

This movie is not for the faint-hearted. No happy endings here. Just alot of edgy,powerful acting. It is the story of a young girl from Philadelphia who makes it big as a model in NYC and the viewer gets to see her evey step of teh way.

Angelina Joile is fabulous in her portrayal of Gia Carangi-a supermodel from the late 1970s-early 1980s era-whose rise to the top of the modeling world is almost as fast as her descent into drug addiction which ultimately was her undoing.

But what makes this HBO movie so realistic was that Joile actually becomes Carangi. And by the end of the movie you cant help but feel emphathy for the character even though her actions are ultimately self-destructive.

If you like sex this movie has it. If you like drama its got that too. But most of all it has strong acting and an early role that eventually paved the way for Joile's climb to superstar status. September 19, 2008

the real Gia was not portrayed well

Anjolina Jolie did a wonderful job with this role however the writers took a lot of liberties with Gia's life. Everyone makes her mom seem like the bad guy but Gia's issues ran deeper than the lack of her mother's love like the writers want the public to believe. Gia was most likely bipolar which little was done for or known about in the 80's. Gia was a truly beautiful woman but I would wager that she thought and felt as though she were a man. Today we have a label for what I think she was and that is Transgendered. If she were born in the 80's, she would most likely be alive today with medication and a better understanding of who she really is. September 5, 2008

Gia

Although a very sad story, this was a really intense, and interesting movie. Angelina lives up to her best performances, as usual. August 23, 2008

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