DVD Collectors Online

Gia, a review by goodguy

Gia (1998) Written by: Jay McInerney & Michael Cristofer Directed by: Michael Cristofer Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mercedes Ruehl, Faye Dunaway DVD: R2-DE Warner/HBO (2008) My rating:

IMDb summary: Fact-based story of top fashion model Gia Marie Carangi follows her life from a rebel working in her father's diner at age 17 to her death in 1986 at age 26 from AIDS, one of the first women in America whose death was attributed to the disease. In between, she followed a downward spiral of drug abuse and failed relationships.

Wow. I've seen this many years ago and I didn't remember it was that bad. The movie tells Gia's story as a sort-of cautionary tale, interspersing a series of vignettes with fake interview snippets. A very dated "stylish" look, sex scenes in Playboy softcore manner, and a heavy-handed but insubstantial approach of the subject make this a thoroughly boring affair. As a punk girl turned supermodel, Jolie is fun to watch in the early parts, but that's about it.

Overall, a nice reminder that HBO once was just another crappy cable outlet and that the channel's foray into high quality TV didn't start before around 2000.

On the other hand, I might be entirely wrong - a look at the award wins and nominations on IMDb is mind-boggling.

DVD Notes

There are two versions of this movie, an R-rated one and an Unrated one with slightly extended sex scenes. The new German DVD contains the latter, and it's rated FSK-12. The same UK DVD is rated 18.


(From goodguy's Watch Log on June 15th, 2009)

Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a review by Antares

Darby O'Gill and the Little People





Year: 1959
Film Studio: Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Walt Disney Productions
Genre: Family, Comedy, Classic, Fantasy
Length: 91 Min.

Director
Robert Stevenson (1905)

Writing
Lawrence Edward Watkin (1901)...Written By
H. T. Kavanagh (1876)..."Darby O'gill" Stories

Cinematographer
Winton C. Hoch (1905)

Music
Oliver Wallace (1887)...Composer

Stars
Albert Sharpe (1885) as Darby O'Gill
Janet Munro (1934) as Katie O'Gill
Sean Connery (1930) as Michael McBride
Jimmy O'Dea (1899) as King Brian
Kieron Moore (1924) as Pony Sugrue
Estelle Winwood (1882) as Sheelah Sugrue
Walter Fitzgerald (1896) as Lord Fitzpatrick
Denis O'Dea (1905) as Father Murphy

Review101 Dalmatians, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Bambi are just a few of the animated film projects released by Disney to both critical and box office success, and upon which most of the fond remembrances of childhood are based. As equally important were the live action features that were being filmed at around the same time. The Absent Minded Professor, The Shaggy Dog and Song of the South were also profitable at the box office, yet seemed to have faded into the background as the years have passed. Another film which has slid somewhat into obscurity is Darby O'Gill and the Little Peoplethree years before the shaken, not stirred martiniRatings Criterion

(From Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) on February 12th, 2010)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Inspector Gadget: The Gadget Files (1983/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 110 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

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Inspector Gadget
1.01 Winter Olympics

This is a series I loved to watch as a kid. This is a typical episode. Not much of a series which can be enjoyed as an adult but I guess as a kid it doesn't bother that this is a one-joke premise.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 3rd, 2012)