Gila!

source: Gila!

Good slick remake of a classic '50's b-movie, brings memories back in color. I recall all the kids there and the smell of popcorn, hoots and hollers, just a nice relaxing afternoon at the movies without supervision.

...and unfortunately, Jim Wynorski and the SyFy channel didn't know where it was... So this movie is set in the 1950's, which mean every character is a bad 1950's cliche. They got ahold of someone's vintage auto collection, as long as none of them appear to get wrecked, because you know anyone who owns one of these cars isn't going to wreck on for a SyFy movie. The weakest part is the Gila Monster itself. Unlike the 1950's movie, which used an ACTUAL Gila Monster, no Gila Monsters actually were used in this film. Instead, they use some of the *worst* CGI I've ever seen. It meets the same fate. As it's 1950's counterpart. Is there a reason for this movie. It's not funny enough to be a parody, and not lovingly referential enough to be a homage.

I have to admit I am a person that looks for horrid movies for humorous value and I was not disappointed in this film when I saw the creature right off at the beginning of the movie. But I also enjoy drinking syrup of ipecac on the rocks. This is an incredibly lame re-make of the 1959 film "The Giant Gila Monster". The original directed by Ray Kellogg. The special effects in the original included a real gila monster and miniature sets. This movie includes a CGI gila monster created by "Billy" on his PC in the next door neighbors basement. He is all of 9 years old. What is even more stupefying is that it took not one, not two, not three, but four writers to steal almost the same lines and slightly modify them. The most mysterious aspect of this film is why anyone would take credit for ANYTHING in it! We are all a bunch of plagiarist and are NOT afraid that you know it. The original was mistied on MST3K and is extremely enjoyable and quite memorable. Want to learn what "blocking" is in a movie? This is the example for you. One overwhelming reason to remake this movie was someone had access to vintage cars! It is perplexing that someone thought this movie was worth remaking. If you wish to inflict intense pain upon a person you dislike, force them to view this movie. It could be a life changing event! I do not think I need that ipecac!

I've been disappointed lately with all the movies I've watched and that includes much of my collection of 50's sci-fi movies, most of which are B-movies. Even with the nostalgia factor factored in I haven't enjoyed them like I used to. Historically, I love big monster movies, new and old. So I decided to watch this one hoping it wouldn't disappoint... and it didn't. The best thing about it was the soundtrack - classic 50's rock; no covers, all original artists. The movie is very low budget with the special effects about 20 years behind the times but they are serviceable. A plus for the ancient CGI in this movie is that sometimes it's used cleverly, I won't give any spoilers but the old maxim holds true here "it's not what you got but how you use it". The actors are hit and miss, some are competent and others marginal. The plot... your basic rebel teens help save a small town from an environmentally overgrown lizard. The dialog is surprisingly intelligent and clever and a much higher cut above low budget movies. The bottom line is if you like 50's sci-fi and big monster movies then give it a look.

Right, well truth be told, then I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations to the 2012 TV movie "Gila!". Wait, let me correct myself here; I was not harboring any expectations at all. So why watch the movie? Well, simply because I had the opportunity to do so and because I hadn't seen the movie before. So I opted to give writers William Dever, Steve Mitchell, Jim Nielsen and Paul Sinor the benefit of the doubt. The storyline in "Gila!" was fairly straight forward. I mean, you know you're not in for an evening of Shakespearian cinema when you sit down to watch a movie such as this. But in all fairness, then the storyline was actually fair enough for a movie such as this. Now, hold on, I am not saying that "Gila!" is a good movie. Because it most certainly wasn't a good movie. Nay, "Gila!" is one of those creature feature movies that is so bad that it is actually sort of oddly enjoyable to watch. I kept hanging around for the entire 91 minutes to watch what laughable effects was coming up next. The acting performances in the movie were a mixed bag of nuts. Some of the performances were adequate for a movie such as this, while others were somewhat cringeworthy to behold. The only familiar face on the screen here was Terence Knox, as I had seen him in the "Tour of Duty" series back when I was a teenager. Visually then "Gila!" is a horrible movie. Hard to comprehend how such laughably bad CGI effects made it to a movie, even back in 2012. The CGI in "Gila!" looks like something straight out of an early 1990s computer game. But it was these horrible CGI effects that actually kept me sticking around to finish watching the movie. If you enjoy creature features, then I wouldn't exactly recommend that you sit down to watch "Gila!", not unless you have a thing for really, really bad CGI effects. My rating of "Gila!" lands on a three out of ten stars.

My opinion if it matters. The 1959 original is better. The lizard on this one looks like a cartoon . Bad CG, although Don Sullivan makes a cameo ( yes he was chase Winston in the original) could've been better but the low budget shows . Playboy playmate Julie. McCullough has a small part, and. Keli Maroney from the 1986 chipping mall as a deputy.ok the 1950s setting works. The cars are cool.i think Jim Wynorski could've done better.

Aside from the vintage auto collection, this movie has nothing really going for it. Bad acting and a really bad CGI monster. If this is suppose to be a remake of the original 1959 movie, it doesnt hold a candle to the original. Find the original, sit back, eat some popcorn and enjoy. Try to forget about this flop.

A choo choo train and a big lizard or two or three and an exclamation point in the title. Some 35 year old teenagers and some really good special effects make for a great movie. They could not get Matt Damon or Justin Bieber so they went with what's his name and the guy from the movie about the thing. The monster is well done with CGI or whatever. Some great old rock and roll fifties hit songs and lots of very nice vintage cars. The steam locomotive looks legit but I do not know. In one scene there is a map of where the monster might be. It has a golf club called The Legends marked on the map. If you search that it is in Indiana. The story is very lame but it remains fun until the end when a last laugh awaits the audience. Looks like the budget was under one million so they did a good job giving us a potential cult flick for pennies. It usually costs much more to make something like this. It has a jeep but it needs an airplane and maybe a military officer and a cat.

This is a throwback to the old style of sci fi films with giant monsters. Much needed with the past 50 years being all about "Hate". While most movies of this time frame are written with "hate" and alienating the audience. The old sci fi movies had a sense of camaraderie instead of everyone thinking they had to be the last survivor on a life raft. This one takes us back to that era in a good way, and to its credit, does this as a "comedy" instead of a scary film. It's clearly written as a comedy, and when you write a comedy, you can get away with the cheesy lines. In fact, you want the cheesy lines. Lots of good things in this film, but I really can't reveal them without spoiling the film. A joy ride, with plenty of humor, plenty of drama, plenty of likable characters, plenty of love instead of hate. I would give it a 9 instead of 8 if not for the last clip which I thought was too over the top, but I understand why they did it, to keep with the cheese.