DVD Verdict reviews: KING SOLOMON'S MINES, WIMBLEDON, and more!

Today, DVD Verdict posted reviews of BRUM: SNOW THIEVES AND OTHER
STORIES, CAB CALLOWAY SWINGING AT HIS BEST, CASTLE KEEP: FULL SCREEN
EDITION, DOPPELGANGER (2003), FROSTBITE, KING SOLOMON'S MINES, OH GOD!
BOOK II, PAULY SHORE IS DEAD, SEASON OF THE HUNTED, SWITCHKILLER,
WIMBLEDON, THE WIMBLEDON COLLECTION: THE 2004 OFFICIAL FILM, YAKUZA
DEMON, and ZHOU YU'S TRAIN:


BRUM: SNOW THIEVES AND OTHER STORIES (reviewed by Lacey Worrell, overall
score 55/100):
"Brum's hometown of Big Town rivals Murder She Wrote's Cabot Cove for
the most disproportionate number of criminal residents per capita, as
something illegal appears to be happening all the time."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/brumsnowthieves.php

CAB CALLOWAY SWINGING AT HIS BEST (reviewed by Neil Dorsett, overall
score 70/100):
"Ce the numbers are coming in from feature movies such as Hi De Ho and
Jitterbug Party, they are in most cases not really live performances but
lip syncs to prerecorded numbers, with full cinema technique at work
including close-ups at significant points in the song and a fake
audience."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/callowaybest.php

CASTLE KEEP: FULL SCREEN EDITION (reviewed by Mitchell Hattaway, overall
score 60/100):
"By shortchanging the characters and their stories, Pollack also drains
the film's climax of its emotional potential. When the shooting starts,
and people start dying, there's no impact. There's an anti-war statement
at the heart of the story, but there's no weight to that statement
because we have nothing invested in the characters."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/castlekeepfull.php

DOPPELGANGER (2003) (reviewed by Joel Pearce, overall score 72/100):
"Much like the main character, Doppelganger has two sides. The first is
a slow-paced but effective horror film, which is taken over in the
second half by a silly and scattered action thriller."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/doppelganger2003.php

FROSTBITE (reviewed by David Johnson, overall score 40/100):
"Despite the fleeting, minimal nudity, calling Frostbite a porno is not
as disingenuous as calling it a comedy. Heck, calling it a documentary
on the eating habits of the Serengeti aardvarks is not as disingenuous
as calling it a comedy. The movie is that friggin' bad."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/frostbite.php

KING SOLOMON'S MINES (reviewed by Erick Harper, overall score 65/100):
"At times the movie feels more like a National Geographic documentary
than an adventure film about lost treasure. Add to these some proto-
environmentalist speeches by Granger as Quartermain, and these scenic
interludes bring the entire movie to an abrupt halt. Even the most
exciting sequence in the film -- the stampede of a large herd of antelope-
like animals -- does nothing to further the narrative and serves only
to incorporate more of the wildlife footage which cost MGM so much time
and money."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/kingsolomonsmines.php

OH GOD! BOOK II (reviewed by Patrick Naugle, overall score 66/100):
"The film needed a follow-up as much as we need Schindler's List II: The
Return of the Fuhrer."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/ohgodbook2.php

PAULY SHORE IS DEAD (reviewed by Mitchell Hattaway, overall score
55/100):
"A little of Pauly went a long way. And as far as that sentiment goes,
nothing has changed."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/paulyshoreisdead.php

SEASON OF THE HUNTED (reviewed by David Johnson, overall score 63/100):
"Hey, if someone mentions cannibal hillbillies getting plugged with
arrows, I'd usually be the first in line. But Season of the Hunted is
able to make this premise boring, and the execution is laughable."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/seasonhunted.php

SWITCHKILLER (reviewed by David Johnson, overall score 65/100):
"But just when the G-string seems stuffed with success and happiness,
the lube hits the fan. A string of grisly slayings is rocking Las
Vegas, and the targets are all strippers that Jamie knows. In fact, it
seems that anyone Jamie has had even remote contact with is soon sliced
and diced. Who is behind the murders? Why it's the ugliest man-turned-
woman ever!"

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/switchkiller.php

WIMBLEDON (reviewed by Diane Wild, overall score 61/100):
"Wimbledon should work better than it does. The filmmakers were given
incredible access to the 2003 tournament, so shots of the actors playing
tennis were actually filmed before crowds there to see real matches with
the likes of Roger Federer and the Williams sisters."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/wimbledon.php

THE WIMBLEDON COLLECTION: THE 2004 OFFICIAL FILM (reviewed by Diane
Wild, overall score 71/100):
"Clever wordplay never overshadows the action, but there's a literary
quality to the narrative that makes even ogling Sharapova seem classy --
Fry describes the lovely blond as 'the latest model off the Russian
production line, but tested and polished in Florida.'"

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/wimbledon2004.php

YAKUZA DEMON (reviewed by Dan Mancini, overall score 67/100):
"There's an artistic nobility to opting for the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-
pants restraints of a micro-budget, but Miike's work suffers from its
sheer volume. Viewed as a whole, his oeuvre is impressive in its size,
scope, and diversity, but aside from a few exceptions, individual films
fail to impress. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/yakuzademon.php

ZHOU YU'S TRAIN (reviewed by Barrie Maxwell, overall score 60/100):
"A DVD presentation by Columbia that capitalizes (for the most part) on
the attractive look of Zhou Yu's Train is not sufficient to compensate
for the film's complicated narrative structure and ultimate air of
pretention."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/zhouyustrain.php

Mike Jackson
Editor & Webmaster, DVD Verdict
www.dvdverdict.com

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