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Review - Lakeview Terrace

2008-10-08T21:14:00.007-04:00

The synopsis of Lakeview Terrace is "a young couple has just moved into their California dream home when they become the target of their next door neighbor, who disapproves of their interracial relationship. A stern, single father, this tightly wound LAPD officer (Samuel L. Jackson) has appointed himself the watchdog of the neighborhood. His nightly foot patrols and overly watchful eyes bring comfort to some, but he becomes increasingly harassing to the newlyweds."

Lakeview Terrace is somewhat slow-paced, but manages to make its way through to the end. Samuel L. Jackson has one of his better performances in this film, but unfortunately the supporting cast fails to match up with his acting skills. He is one of my favorite actors, and he excels at playing the overwhelming angry man role. His role in this movie is no exception - Jackson plays Abel Turner, a burned out LAPD cop with family and racial issues who is overly strict with his children. He governs over his kids like an overbearing tyrant watching over everything they do and at the same time keeping away any bad influences, which in his eyes includes the new neighbors who happen to be an interracial couple.

The couple, played by Kerry Washington and Patrick Wilson, have just moved into the neighborhood and unfortunately right next door to Abel. It is clear from the beginning that Abel disapproves of the couple's relationship, and if you don't get it in the beginning, you'll get it more and more with each stressful encounter Abel has with the couple, specifically with the husband. When Abel believes that the couple is making a bad influence on his teen daughter, Abel really turns it up a notch and will go to any extreme to make the couple move out of the neighborhood. The couple refuse to move and decide to fight back, and thus the conflict ensues.

It appears that the director was going for a statement about racial issues in American society, but the film does not quite make it clear enough. Maybe the director (or the studio) was afraid to bring this statement out in the open, but instead, it becomes confusing by showing that Abel's a burned out cop who has his own deep-seated issues regarding his wife. Who knows, the film may have benefitted more if it went strongly with this storyline.

As I mentioned before, although this film has a good basic storyline and a great performance by Samuel L. Jackson, the supporting cast fails to make a believable scene around him. The actors who play the interracial couple have a subpar performance worthy of a T.V. movie. Jay Hernandez, who is also a great actor, plays Abel's partner on the force and is vastly underused in a small supporting role. It makes me wonder why he played in such a small role, except for the chance to work with Samuel L. Jackson.

All in all, Lakeview Terrace is a decent film but fails to deliver a satisfying story and climax ending. If you are a big fan of Samuel L. Jackson like I am or really enjoy tense movies, for you this movie might be worth catching. I give Lakeview Terrace a 2.5 out of 5.

Review - The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading

2008-09-19T22:33:00.000-04:00

Burn After Reading is about a CIA analyst/agent (John Malkovich) who decides to start writing his memoirs after he quits his job when he was confronted by his superiors that he has a drinking problem. The disk containing the memoirs of the CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it. This film is a dark comedy with some great laughs scattered throughout the film.

The performances by the cast were excellent, including the vain Linda (Francis McDormond) who is desperate to do anything she can to have her plastic surgery done, her airheaded but loveable gym coworker/accomplice Chad (Brad Pitt), the paranoid sexual deviant Harry (George Clooney), and of course the always entertaining and mesmerizing John Malkovich, who plays former CIA agent Osborne Cox.

The two performances that stood out most for me were Malkovich and Pitt – Malkovich, with his great portrayal of an angry Ivy League man who thinks everything is entitled to him, was outstanding. The way he delivered his lines in a sarcastic and ever increasing tone was brilliant – I was both floored and very amused with his colorful language and reactions to the increasingly stressful challenges he faces. I absolutely loved Pitt’s character Chad, and maybe that’s partly because Chad reminds me of an old friend of mine. Chad tries to be a firm, strong minded tough guy, but deep down he’s really just a funny, simple minded, fun loving nice guy that you’d love to hang around with. This was not a typical role that I’m using to seeing Brad Pitt do, so watching him having fun with this role was a delight. Richard Jenkins was memorable as Ted, Linda’s boss who although did not have a whole lot of screen time came out as a very caring and thoughtful but misdirected friend of Linda.

This was a good movie that due to its short run time (96 min.) does not allow enough time to completely flesh out all the main characters. The story was all right with the characters’ separate lives intertwining with one another, but it was the cast who really made this the good movie that it is, if you enjoy dark comedies. I give Burn After Reading a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

Welcome to CinemaScene!

2008-09-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

WELCOME – and thank you for visiting our movie blog CinemaScene. Live, Love, Film – that is the theme and mission of CinemaScene: Live – for those who live and breathe for movies. Love – for those who love film both as a source of entertainment and escape, as well as a beautiful art form. Film – covering aspects and genres of film and major motion picture production.

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