Based on a true story, a troubled and racist African-American L.A.P.D. Officer will stop at nothing to force out a friendly interracial couple who just moved in next door to him.
A District Attorney has his life turned upside down when he's involved in a hit and run and another man is arrested for his crime and charged with murder.
Director:
Peter Howitt
Stars:
Dominic Cooper,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Gloria Reuben
The story of what happens one day in New York City, when a young lawyer and a businessman share a small automobile accident on F.D.R. Drive, and their mutual road rage escalates into a feud.
Director:
Roger Michell
Stars:
Ben Affleck,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Kim Staunton
A psychological thriller centered around a black-ops interrogator and an F.B.I. Agent who press a suspect terrorist into divulging the location of three nuclear weapons set to detonate in the U.S.
Director:
Gregor Jordan
Stars:
Samuel L. Jackson,
Carrie-Anne Moss,
Michael Sheen
An imprisoned drug kingpin offers a huge cash reward to anyone that can break him out of police custody, and only the L.A.P.D.'s Special Weapons and Tactics team can prevent it.
Director:
Clark Johnson
Stars:
Samuel L. Jackson,
Colin Farrell,
Michelle Rodriguez
15 months after being stabbed 9 times by a student at work as a high school teacher in NYC, Mr. Garfield is working in LA as a substitute teacher come full-time. He refuses to be a victim anymore.
In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, a skilled police negotiator accused of corruption and murder takes hostages in a government office to gain the time he needs to find the truth.
Director:
F. Gary Gray
Stars:
Samuel L. Jackson,
Kevin Spacey,
David Morse
Though it's been about twenty years since they have spoken with one another, two estranged soul-singing legends agree to participate in a reunion performance at the Apollo Theater to honor their recently deceased band leader.
An F.B.I. Agent takes on a plane full of deadly venomous snakes, deliberately released to kill a witness being flown from Honolulu to Los Angeles to testify against a mob boss.
Director:
David R. Ellis
Stars:
Samuel L. Jackson,
Julianna Margulies,
Nathan Phillips
Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.
Director:
Rod Lurie
Stars:
Samuel L. Jackson,
Josh Hartnett,
Kathryn Morris
An American master chemist plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. All does not go as planned and he is soon entangled in a web of deceit.
Director:
Ronny Yu
Stars:
Samuel L. Jackson,
Robert Carlyle,
Emily Mortimer
In California, the Caucasian Chris Mattson and his African-American wife Lisa Mattson move to a house in a gated community. The racist and dysfunctional next-door neighbor is the abusive LAPD Officer Abel Turner who feels uncomfortable with the relationship of the newcomers and transforms their lives into Hell on Earth.Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A Google Earth Street View camera car photographed the cul-de-sac during production. Users could view North Deer Creek Drive in Walnut, California, using Street View, to see film crew and set hardware in place. The street view image has now been updated to a newer version at a later date. See more »
Goofs
At the end of the movie, Lisa has an injury on her forehead. The size changes throughout the next few scenes. See more »
Quotes
Abel Turner:
[sitting in his Captain's office]
What's going on, Captain?
Lt. Morgada:
Damon Richards. You know him?
Abel Turner:
And you are?
Captain Wentworth:
Uh, this is, uh... Bronson and Morgada. They're, uh...
Abel Turner:
Internal Affairs.
Captain Wentworth:
Yeah. It's just a procedural thing, Abel.
Lt. Morgada:
So, what about Richards?
Abel Turner:
We arrested him last week. He took two shots at me and my partner.
Captain Wentworth:
He's bringing a suit against the department.
Lt. Morgada:
Brutality charges, violation of civil rights, as well as a personnel complaint against you.
[...] See more »
Made You Look
Written by Salaam Remi (as Salaam Remi Gibbs), Nas (as Nasir Jones), Jerry Lorden (as Jeremiah P. Lordan)
Performed by Nas
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Contians a sample of "Apache"
Performed by The Incredible Bongo Band
Sample courtesy of Mr. Bongo Records and Michael Viner
By Arrangement with Big Sounds International, Inc. See more »
We've all heard the "racism is evil!" thing preached, preached again, and then preached again. We get it: racism is bad. I'm not racist. I don't know anyone who is racist. Why does every single movie have to remind us of something we teach our children before they're old enough to talk? After I watched Hairspray and Be Kind Rewind in the past year alone, I officially had enough. And not only me. At the time, my best friend, who was born and raised in Africa then moved to the US, said the same thing: why can't movies just stop beating a pointless, dead, blood horse? If someone is racist, I doubt a movie is going to change their mind. Then, out of nowhere, Lakeview Terrace comes along and defies every cliché you thought you knew about racism movies. And that is really all I have to say about the topic: thank God that someone, anyone, in Hollywood gets that we're sick of being force-fed clichés. Why is Lakeview Terrace cliché-defying? It focuses on the gray aria of racism, not black-and-white. It focuses on racism held by blacks, not by whites. It veers so far from the "racism is evil!" standpoint, and makes you make up your own mind about the over-the-top plot and who was right, who was wrong. It's been so long since Hollywood actually let the audience make up their own mind, this is like a breath of fresh air.
Lakeview Terrace is labeled as a thriller, which is half true. The first half builds up the social boundaries of real life, testing them, and then building them up stronger. It doesn't jump straight to action, but soaks you in reality before plunging into the over-the-top ending. When the action starts, near the ending, it is really worth the weight because it has you in a state of social tension. Anyone who says this isn't realistic doesn't understand realistic human behavior. Even in the most outrageous parts of the film, there was not a single thing done by anyone that was hard for me to believe could happen in real life. Maybe that's because I have a lot of cops in my family, or maybe it's because I'm just more tuned into reality than the optimistic-happy-"Humans are perfect!" people that are reviewing this film and calling it unrealistic.
The directing, writing, and technical details are all fine. They're not artistic or "find cinema", but they're done in a way that makes the film work. The acting from Samuel L. Jackson is flawless. The casting from certain other characters is a little off, but it works out in the end.
Overall, I liked Lakeview Terrace a lot. I'm the kind of person who loves thrillers, but as I said, this really isn't a thriller as much as a drama with a thriller-like ending and some thriller-like scenes scattered throughout. It's a nice break from the unintelligent mess that has become an anti-racism subgenre, and a nice break from the intense hardcore horror and action movies I enjoy watching. With that said, it didn't bore me, which really surprised me. Lakeview Terrace isn't perfect, it's not a work of art, but it's intelligent. I found it very much worth watching.
6/10
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We've all heard the "racism is evil!" thing preached, preached again, and then preached again. We get it: racism is bad. I'm not racist. I don't know anyone who is racist. Why does every single movie have to remind us of something we teach our children before they're old enough to talk? After I watched Hairspray and Be Kind Rewind in the past year alone, I officially had enough. And not only me. At the time, my best friend, who was born and raised in Africa then moved to the US, said the same thing: why can't movies just stop beating a pointless, dead, blood horse? If someone is racist, I doubt a movie is going to change their mind. Then, out of nowhere, Lakeview Terrace comes along and defies every cliché you thought you knew about racism movies. And that is really all I have to say about the topic: thank God that someone, anyone, in Hollywood gets that we're sick of being force-fed clichés. Why is Lakeview Terrace cliché-defying? It focuses on the gray aria of racism, not black-and-white. It focuses on racism held by blacks, not by whites. It veers so far from the "racism is evil!" standpoint, and makes you make up your own mind about the over-the-top plot and who was right, who was wrong. It's been so long since Hollywood actually let the audience make up their own mind, this is like a breath of fresh air.
Lakeview Terrace is labeled as a thriller, which is half true. The first half builds up the social boundaries of real life, testing them, and then building them up stronger. It doesn't jump straight to action, but soaks you in reality before plunging into the over-the-top ending. When the action starts, near the ending, it is really worth the weight because it has you in a state of social tension. Anyone who says this isn't realistic doesn't understand realistic human behavior. Even in the most outrageous parts of the film, there was not a single thing done by anyone that was hard for me to believe could happen in real life. Maybe that's because I have a lot of cops in my family, or maybe it's because I'm just more tuned into reality than the optimistic-happy-"Humans are perfect!" people that are reviewing this film and calling it unrealistic.
The directing, writing, and technical details are all fine. They're not artistic or "find cinema", but they're done in a way that makes the film work. The acting from Samuel L. Jackson is flawless. The casting from certain other characters is a little off, but it works out in the end.
Overall, I liked Lakeview Terrace a lot. I'm the kind of person who loves thrillers, but as I said, this really isn't a thriller as much as a drama with a thriller-like ending and some thriller-like scenes scattered throughout. It's a nice break from the unintelligent mess that has become an anti-racism subgenre, and a nice break from the intense hardcore horror and action movies I enjoy watching. With that said, it didn't bore me, which really surprised me. Lakeview Terrace isn't perfect, it's not a work of art, but it's intelligent. I found it very much worth watching.
6/10