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Visitors Review

sddavis63 2012-05-24 23:55:18

Not The Greatest Of Movies

Lakeview Terrace is a movie with a twist. The LAPD has had a lot of badpress over the years (most notoriously, the Rodney King incident)dealing with white racist officers abusing their authority againstblack suspects. Here, the roles are reversed. Samuel L. Jackson playsAbel Turner, an LAPD officer who goes off the deep end when aninter-racial (he's white; she's black) couple move in next door. Turneris a somewhat intriguing character. It's established right from thestart that this guy has problems - extremely over-protective andsometimes even abusive of his children. Turner is a widower. That storycomes out slowly, and it seems as it's revealed that Turner believedhis wife was having an affair with a white man. His hostility towardthe couple - and especially husband Chris (Patrick Wilson) - isexplained by that past, in a scene where he suddenly says to Chris thatwhite men feel they can take anything they want. Intriguing though hemay been, Turner really comes across as too much of a racistcaricature. He was an intriguing character, but not really a believablecharacter. Still, Jackson's performance was very good - without doubtthe highlight of the movie. The story had a lot of rough points (Iwondered especially why Turner would have been welcomed back to anotherhouse party thrown by his inter- racial neighbours, as he apparentlywas, after his attitude had become clear and his actions increasinglyaggressive) that all led up to what I thought was an unnecessarilyviolent ending. In all honesty, I was expecting better from this. 5/10

David Ferguson 2012-05-24 07:24:14

The Burbs in Color

Greetings again from the darkness. If director Neil LaBute's last filmwasn't enough reason to boycott this film, surely the ridiculoustrailer was, right? Well, not when one is addicted to movies and "GhostTown" is the other weekend opener.Besides, LaBute does have "The Company of Men" on his resume, thoughthat is more than negated by "Nurse Betty". But c'mon, Samuel L Jacksonas an angry, prejudiced, screw-loose cop? That's got to have some goodmoments, eh? Sure enough, the first 30-45 minutes of the film deliverthe level of uncomfortableness that LaBute was after. Viewers struggleto tell if Jackson is truly well meaning or actually the world's worstneighbor.The objects of his disaffection are Patrick Wilson and KerryWashington, the interracial couple who move in next door. Jackson'smenacing looks and words and his ability to flash a badge make forquite a nightmare for the two love birds.The film starts out seeming to test our beliefs and opinions on racebut then spins off the axis and winds up being almost as ridiculous as"The Wicker Man" ... I said ALMOST! The last 45 minutes, I pretty muchjust kept thinking to myself ... "are you kidding". The endingcertainly could have been handled much better given the few moments ofbrilliance throughout the movie. Quite the cop-out (pun intended).

jaredmobarak 2012-05-22 09:59:03

Honey, I'm home-owner...Lakeview Terrace

If you wanted to see a face of shock, you should have seen me when Ifound out the new Samuel L. Jackson vehicle Lakeview Terrace wasdirected by Neil LaBute. When I think of the man I can only conjureimages of the fantastic Shape of Things and In the Company of Men, andI haven't even seen that one yet. To watch the trailer for thisseemingly generic, racially motivated clash between neighbors just mademe shake my head in shame. If it weren't for the cast—or the freescreening pass—I probably would have completely passed the film up,without a second thought. So there I was, sitting in a packed theatre,in a somewhat foul mood as security made us check our phones at thedoor, taking mine despite the fact it has no camera, waiting past theadvertised start time. And then came Jackson on screen, waking up fromsleep, fixing a photo on the nightstand of he and his wife, slowlymoving downstairs to meet his children. This is a parent of morals andintelligence, telling his son to remove a Kobe Bryant jersey because ofwhat the man stands for and constantly correcting his daughter'sEnglish so as not to have her sound like an ignorant girl from thestreets. Watching him fold laundry on the couch next definitely woke meup; maybe I wasn't going to get what I thought I would after all.We are introduced to this man, Abel Turner, a cop and single father,trying to raise his children right. A man who worked double shifts andextra security jobs in order to move his family outside of the SouthCentral neighborhood he grew up in. Sure he is rough around the edges,but he is a man of principle and it seems one that loves his childrenand would do anything to protect them. This buildup puts an entirelydifferent spin on how he reacts to the moving in of Lisa and ChrisMattson, (Kerry Washington and Patrick Wilson respectively), aninterracial couple buying their first house. Where the trailer justshows racial tension and disgust, the actual film shows someone tryinghis hardest to get along, but truthfully not being shown very much inthe way of friendly neighbor from the newcomers. Between making love intheir pool, within eyesight of Jackson's house and the children lookingout the window; Wilson throwing his cigarette butts into his yard so asto fool his wife; and a little hostility early on, one might see whereTurner had a point. Is the man a little wrong in the head, though? Forsure. His intimidating demeanor is not helped by the little tests heperforms, including pretending to hold Wilson up in his car with aflashlight.There really isn't much to the story besides the escalating tensionsmounting between the Mattsons and Turner. What at first can beconstrued as getting off on the wrong foot soon grows to borderlinehatred with a touch of malicious intent. The threats fly andretribution is begun—you shine a flood light into my bedroom, I'll dothe same. Not too long after do the children become involved, actingout against their father wanting to get to know the neighbors while hetries to shield them away. While I did not anticipate the high jumpJackson's games take towards the end, stopping any fun that might havebeen mixed with the not so subtle hints for the newly weds to move,going straight into thug territory, I was not surprised. Theintroduction of a character early on has no relevance if the storydidn't evolve to the point it does at the end and it's convenientevents like this that threaten to ruin what is working. The story isvery neatly and meticulously put together, but maybe a bit too welldone. An obstacle looming heavy over the whole film is the forest fireslowly eating its way closer and closer to the street that the actiontakes place on. Having such a backdrop always in mind screams artificeand truthfully does take you out of the movie a bit. Yes, they are inCalifornia, but instead of introducing the fire so early on, (I believeit's the first thing we hear on Jackson's alarm clock radio), theycould have made it a problem with subtlety. We know the dangers of thearea and would believe a fire starting; we don't need to be hand-heldthrough the ordeal. Also, there is an underlying duplicity that cropsup often. Jackson's partner is living with decisions on whether to tryfor a promotion and move his family to a safer neighborhood, thusallowing us to find out Abel Turner's similar predicament twenty yearsearlier. There is also the story of what happened to his wife, a talewhose explanation is revelatory to his feelings towards the Mattsons, Iwon't say more, but you will see the mirroring for yourself whenviewing.When you do look at Lakeview Terrace from afar, you will see some veryintriguing instances of race, social status, and other barriers comingto the forefront as catalysts for the strained relationships croppingup. These are the kind of issues you expect LaBute to grasp ahold ofand do something inventive and provocative. There are moments, don'tget me wrong, but in the end, this is a studio picture and I'm sure hishands were tied just enough to keep it all reined in. However, there isthat edge to it, sometimes more pronounced than others, along with agreat performance from Jackson, as well as the others. With a fittingconclusion and overall entertaining suspense, I'd say LaBute has founda happy medium between Hollywood-fare and his indie/stagesensibilities. I just hope he goes full indie next time, because thatis where he truly excels.

2012-05-21 20:17:52

Sam Jackson at his best

This review is from: Lakeview Terrace (DVD) Sam is the man here and get's exactly what he deserves.Joe G.The Big Apple

shakawtwf 2012-05-17 05:33:33

Better than it had to be

This wasn't just a crazy neighbor movie, you could tell some thoughtwent into it, that the "bad guy" wasn't just a bad guy and the "goodguys" weren't perfect. Everyone in the movie was human, they allcarried baggage not necessarily visible to anybody else, which is trueof all us. I was reminded of Sam Jackson's recent excellent movie"Black Snake Moan" where he played another multi-faceted guy who wasinherently decent but flawed.Towards the end, after Sam (Abel) confesses what his driving force isto his neighbor (a lowering of personal boundaries that I foundsurprising), I would have thought some conflict would have beenresolved, that some of his anger would have dissipated and the moviecould have taken a more positive direction but I guess none of uschanges that fast. The encroaching fire served as metaphor for theinevitable messy resolution to come.Sam is always interesting to watch, he elevates any movie he's in (even"Changing Lanes", a movie where he's also butting heads with anotherman and it gets out of hand. I wasn't crazy about that movie though. Ithought the escalation of events was totally unrealistic).I didn't think "Lakeview Terrace" could have ended any other way thanit did, I was just hoping that it would.

2012-05-16 09:35:30

lakeview terrace

This review is from: Lakeview Terrace (+ BD Live) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) One of my favorites. Have watched it time and time again. I love Samuel L. Jackson

npatel-8 2012-05-14 22:07:58

Didn't expect this...

Honestly, I never watch movies about racism other than those I wasforced to watch (even read about) in high school. Fortunately, collegedoesn't focus on this. I've seen quite a few of the more conventional"whites are racist" versions and they are all better than this.I had no idea what the movie was about. I thought it was a thrillerwith a misjudged cop living next door. Wrong! The entire first half isslow...very slow. They slowly show you the personalities of everyoneand then the movie starts.By the end of the movie, I was very mad. I knew the cop was racist butI didn't realize the whole dang movie was about this. I thought therewould be a better motive than the one that was given. They try toexplain how he became like this and it still wasn't enough.I should have read the synopsis first...and I would have passed on thismovie. Unfortunately I didn't and this movie gets anther negativereview.

2012-05-14 03:02:37

Lakeview Terrace

Saw It,Didn't Like It.Reminded Me of The Movie,(Unlawful Entry)With Kurt Russell And Ray Liotta,Which Was Far Better Than This.

2012-05-13 16:59:22

Lakeview Terrace - Blu-ray Info

Version: U.S.A / Sony / Region A, B, CMPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / AACS / High Profile 4.1Aspect ratio: 2.40:1Running time: 1:50:27Movie size: 30,24 GBDisc size: 36,96 GBTotal bit rate: 36.51 MbpsAverage video bit rate: 23.81 MbpsDolby TrueHD Audio English 1489 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1489 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)Dolby TrueHD Audio French 1479 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1479 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)Dolby TrueHD Audio Portuguese 1551 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1551 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbpsDolby Digital Audio Thai 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbpsDolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / Dolby SurroundSubtitles: English / English SDH / Chinese / French / Indonesian / Korean / Portuguese / Spanish / ThaiNumber of chapters: 16#Commentary with Director Neil LaBute and Kerry Washington#Deleted Scenes with optional commentary with Director Neil LaBute and Kerry Washington#Welcome to Lakeview Terrace--An Open House--Meet Your Neigbors--Home Sweet Home--Casting--Behind the Story--Physical Production #BD-Live Enabled

gholdipp 2012-05-13 01:56:47

The Best Movie I have seen this year!!!!

An excellent performance by Samuel Jackson very convincing, the mandeserves an Oscar for this one, an interesting plot and an unexpectedending - this movie will keep you on the edge of your seat - theunderlying racial tones speak to that part of both Black and Whitepeople's consciousness that most of us are uncomfortable dealing with -Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington also played their parts well, bothare first class actors and deserve kudos for a job well done! Much ofthe criticism that I have read on this site regarding this movie ispoly-syllabic pallaba - I would encourage movie fans to go and see thismovie at least twice, it is both entertaining and provocative!!!

gibbs06 2012-05-07 08:17:23

A toned down version of Training Day for conservative audiences

The film Lakeview Terrace is a film that portrays the hypothetical "badcop" scenario with an officer of the law performing acts that areoutside the moral boundaries of a civil serviceman. Officer Abel Turner(Samuel L. Jackson) has encountered interracial newly -weds Chris(Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington) Mattson moving into theneighborhood. Abel, an African-American male in his late 40's grows aprejudice for the couple based on personal and past incidents and seeksout to create mayhem on the household. Over the course of the film Abelresorts to a span of un-neighborly actions such as excessivefloodlights aiming into the Mattson's bedroom, loud house parties lateat night, destruction of property over land line disputes, andultimately a conspired home invasion that sparks the climax of the filmand creates the foreshadowed altercation between Abel and Chris. Thefilm concludes with the showdown between Abel and Chris ending in thecliché one man standing scene and giving way to the outcome of thelifestyle resulting from the duel. The obvious theme in this film is"abuse of power", which is seen throughout the incidents Abel initiateson his own and along with his police colleagues. Abel's position as aveteran L.A.P.D. officer allows him to walk the line between legal andillegal courses of action. A similar film that also utilizes the "abuseof power" theme is the coincidental "bad cop" suspense film TrainingDay. Both films showcase a police officer working both sides of the lawfor personal interest gains while posing the facade of respectful civilservant. Two major techniques in the film referencing the theme are theangle shots of filming and the setting of the film itself. The camerashowcases multiple times the visual angle of "spying" on someone asseen through the window blinds of Abel's character. Being a policeofficer, this action could be misled as surveillance rather thanspying, yet Abel uses the latter of the actions as he watches hisneighbors engaging in sexual activity in the privacy of their own pool.The setting for the film gives the impression of a quiet gatedcommunity with conservative residents, yet the films plot shows thatwhat the viewer sees on the outside looking in is quite different fromreality. When a character takes abuse of his / her power in a film, theviewer is in for a double perspective touching both sides of the moraland emotional appeal. Abuse of power is a real issue outside of film,making it easily believable and credible to each viewer.

2012-05-06 22:15:51

A Strong Samuel Jackson Film

This review is from: Lakeview Terrace (DVD) I am not sure why I like vigilante cop movies but for some reason I do. Lakeview Terrace is one of them and S.L. Jackson gives a pretty good performance as a cop who takes the power of his job a little too far and it comes back to haunt him. The movie's storyline is very believable and in all reality could remind many people about a cop they knew that took there job to a very risky level. A must see for the S.L. Jackson fan.Peter J. MillerTraverse City, MIpeterjoemiller@gmail.com

VanVan 2012-05-05 02:16:51

better than expected

I wasn't looking forward to seeing this movie, but when I did, i decided that it was REALLY good. The action was amazing, powerful, suspensful, and intruiging. Ironicaly, it also had some funny scenes. I really reccomend this movie, it's worth the money

2012-05-04 18:03:52

love thy neighbor

What a well made, exciting, action-packed suspense Lakeview Terrace is!This movie completely lives up to the hype, and THEN some. Any time I watch a thriller of *this* magnitude, I can't help but smile when the film is over and just sit back, reflect, and appreciate all the time and effort that was put into it.It also helps that Samuel L. Jackson completely nails his role as the troublesome neighbor. Every time he speaks, you're always waiting for something rude to come out of his mouth, or getting ready to hear something odd about his choice of words and mannerisms. Just some kind of indication that the two neighbors are going to have a dispute with each other sooner rather than later. Then again he makes a good point in one scene- if your trees or bushes are hanging over the fence and into your neighbors yard, and your neighbor feels the need to trim the tree or bush, and you happen to have a problem with them taking action... wouldn't you have no choice but to place blame on yourself?However, the kind of fragile relationship the two neighbors have in this movie goes WAY beyond simple trees and bushes. This is just pure anger and special hatred. You know, it's "special" because these two neighbors have a distinct eye-twitchingly kind of hatred toward each other.I'm not so sure the final scene makes sense though. Without spoiling the conclusion... wouldn't the police department be more inclined to side with one of their own partners instead of a strange man holding a gun and calling the shots? This goes for any workplace, not just the police department- you'd side with the people you know, NOT some complete stranger holding a gun. At least, I would. Then again, I've never been put in a situation that Samuel L. Jackson's character and his neighbor were in, but the fact remains the police department weren't aware of the rocky relationship between the two neighbors.Overall, this is how action movies should ALWAYS be- exciting, unpredictable, and just adrenaline-rushing from beginning to end.

TheMovieMorgue 2012-05-02 00:58:14

Well paced, tense and exciting with a brilliant performance from Samuel L. Jackson

"What could be safer than living next to a cop?" Samuel L. Jackson ("Snakes on a Plane", "Pulp Fiction") stars in"Lakeview Terrace" in a role we wouldn't be quite used to seeing himin. He plays a racists and mentally and emotionally unstable policeofficer - Abel Turner - who will stop at nothing to drive his newneighbours away because they are an interracial couple. Turner has twoteenage children who he forbids from going over and meeting the coupleafter an incident in the neighbours pool, and he even goes as far as toshine his security lights straight into their bedroom window, cut theirair-conditioning and eventually sets about turning the couple againsteach other. Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington play the Mattson's, whofind themselves in the very tough and frightening situation bearing thequestion: who do you call when the cop next door is harassing andtormenting you? "Lakeview Terrace" is by no means a brilliant movie and isn't somethingwe haven't seen before. But it is very enjoyable and exciting, and itpits an intense and nerve-wrecking atmosphere throughout as we realisethat Lisa and Chris are pretty much helpless against this man becausenot only have they not got any solid evidence against him, but thebottom line is that it's always going to be a police officer's wordagainst their own. Lisa Washington and Patrick Wilson provide goodperformances as the couple, which comes across as a very realisticrelationship. Samuel L. Jackson as always is brilliant, and the filmmoves along at a constant and decent flow and never lets up the tensionuntil the end, which is a brilliant ending in my opinion despite whatsome people may say. The film just goes to remind us that just becausethey are in uniform doesn't mean that they can't be psychotic ordangerous...

dbborroughs 2012-05-01 12:31:11

Good as thriller. Fair as social commentary

Samuel L Jackson is very good (if slight autopilot) as a cop whodoesn't like his next door neighbors are an interracial couple. Okaythriller stacks the deck at the start by making Jackson's character acontrol freak with his own sense of the world, a sense he inflicts oneveryone around him, to the point his wife is no longer in the picture.Call me kooky but I've rarely been one to like any film where we knowhow crazy someone is at the start. I didn't like it in Mosquito Coastwhere Harrison Ford was too nuts to start, not in Falling Down whereMichael Douglas's deterioration was well under way before the filmstarted, and I don't like it here where the deck is stacked at thestart. It has nothing to do with notions of reverse racism or anythinglike that, rather I like the tension to build not be foisted upon me,since I dislike knowing early on how bad its going to get. To me theway Jackson is kind of takes away my ability to accept the film as astatement of race. To be certain its a thriller, but I just don'taccept it as social commentary since its trying too hard. Fiveish outof ten.For the record I like Jackson's idea for the alternate ending and wishthey had shot it, though to be honest looking at the film as describedby Jackson as opposed to whats on screen its clear that the directorand the studio had more a thriller in mind and not the commentaryJackson's ending would have hammered home.

JoeKarlosi 2012-04-29 01:17:15

Lakeview Terrace (2008) **

Samuel L. Jackson is intense as an older unhinged LA policeman who losthis wife in a car crash three years earlier. He's also a racist withpersonal demons who has his reasons for disliking white people, and hiswrath reaches its pinnacle when a young interracial couple (PatrickWilson and Kerry Washington) move in as his new neighbors at LakeviewTerrace.Unfortunately, despite a fine performance by Jackson with some strongmoments, there's not much else to recommend in this formulaic retreadof past "neighbor-from-hell" movies like PACIFIC HEIGHTS.** out of four

brainsmasher 2012-04-28 15:05:41

Something you haven't seen before.

Well....I haven't. And if you have, it wasn't this good. There are three oscar worthy performances. This is Sam Jackson's best role to date. He's creepy and funny at the same time. You can feel for the guy even though he is the bad guy and you know he will get it in the end.

Natalie M 2012-04-26 07:24:33

Bored!

I was so bored with this movie....it was all to very dramatic...and for no reason...it's hard to believe someone would be so hardcore about people moving next door...they want to kill them????...whatever...worst Samuel L. Jackson film ever!!!!!

2012-04-25 15:08:47

Not a bad movie.

I gave this movie 4 stars primarily because of Samuel L. Jackson's acting. He is the obvious villian of this movie. But I personally wanted to throttle Keri Washington's husband. The way that he spoke to her and treated her as if she were a one-night-stand who trapped him, just made my blood boil! He behaved like an immature, pouting, teenager. I just didn't understand that. The movie itself, held my attention from beginning to end. I just feel that they could have done more with the ending.