Angelina Jolie stars as an aspiring supermodel, Gia Marie Carangi, in this 1998 made-for-TV HBO film. The movie follows as Carangi moves to the city from Philadelphia and immediately catches a big break. Unfortunately, the life she finds comes along with drug addiction, which leads her down a dark path that ends in her catching AIDS from shooting up Heroin. Much of the film reveals the real life of Gia who, at the height of her career during the 70s and 80s spiraled downwards from drug addiction. She tragically died from AIDS-related complications.
Angelina Jolie won a Golden Globe for her performance, as did supporting actress Faye Dunaway, who played the role of famed modeling agent, Wilhemina Cooper. The film also won the Emmy for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing in a Miniseries or Movie.
JFK (1991)
This 1991 political thriller is directed by Oliver Stone, and dives into the events leading up to the assassination of the former president, John F. Kennedy. The film stars Kevin Costner as New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who headed up the investigation against Lee Harvey Oswald. Amidst the investigation, Jim Garrison faces a surprising amount of government resistance, causing him to shut it down but reopen it later.
JFK was adapted from the 1988 book, On the Trail of the Assassins, written by Jim Garrison. Although it was seen as somewhat controversial is received critical acclaim and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. It was the sixth highest-grossing film of the year in 1991.
I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
This 1996 film is based on the life of the radical feminist writer, Valerie Solanas. Actress Lili Taylor portrays Solanas during the dark and troubling time in her life that led her to murdering Andy Warhol. The story goes that after Solanas felt rejected by Warhol, she then tried to get her book published by French publisher Maurice Girodias. After confusion over the rights, she felt compelled to kill Warhol after feeling that him and Giordas were conspiring against her.
After a mental health evaluation, Solanas was declared mentally unstable and transferred to the prison ward of Elmhurst Hospital. The film was first screened in 1996 at Cannes, opening up to mainly positive reviews, and holds a 75% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It holds the same score on fellow review site, Metacritic.
Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
Dennis Quaid plays the late Jerry Lee Lewis in this 1989 film about the music star’s rise to rock-and-roll fame – and his incestuous and highly controversial marriage to his cousin, played by Winona Ryder, – who was just 13 years old at the time of the nuptials (which took place in Mississippi.) Aside from his highly publicized and controversial marriage, Lewis was once dubbed the face of rock'n'roll and one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century.
Lewis actually rerecorded several of his songs from the 1950s for the film soundtrack including the title track, Great Balls of Fire. Ryder won an award for a best young artist starring a motion picture at the Young Artist Awards in 1990. It flopped at the box office, grossing just over $13 million worldwide.
Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)
Tom Hanks plays 1980s party boy Congressman Charlie Wilson in this 2007 biographical dramedy, also starring Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film was adapted from a novel titled: Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History, written by George Criley III in 2003. Charlie Wilson worked together with the CIA operative Gust Avrakotos in order to formulate Operation Cyclone, a program that was created to organize and support the Afghan jihadists during the Soviet-Afghan War
Although the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and five Golden Globe awards, including Best Motion Picture, it didn’t win for any of the categories. It was nominated for a number of other awards as well and holds an eighty-two percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes..