Kevin Nickelson

One's enjoyment of  The Face of Fu Manchu depends on how highly one regards Saturday afternoon serials or at least the formula which made up those multi-chapter adventures. I am an unabashed fan of those old reel-to-reel cliffhangers: the cut-and-dried characters, the huge doses of action, and the simplified good-versus-evil plots. There's no significant subtext, characters in shades of gray, or convoluted writing to get in the way. The Face of Fu Manchu is perfect homage to those B-level time-fillers: stream-lined, stripped-down, "Boys' Life" derring-do at its best.(read more...)

There is a word that is being bandied about more in the film community these days: re-imagining. Re-imagine a film and you hold on to the original idea but deck it out with just enough new elements to reel in new fans. Or more simply, a producer, out of fresh ideas, dusts off an old tried-and-true formula, tweaking things just enough to fool viewers into thinking they’re seeing something different. This is like a used car dealer who pours all the money they have into fixing the exterior an old classic while leaving the cracking vinyl seats alone and still trying to sell it as “like new”. Godzilla 1985 is a rebuilt version of that classic car, replete with cool, dark green paint and new spinning wheel rims. There’s an improved look to this film. Too bad the interior is still the same old and worn material.
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