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I’ll kick this one off with a little warning: I’m extremely biased in favor of Samuel L. Jackson.  Sam Jack is good in pretty much anything, one of only a handful of actors who can say the same, at least as far as I’m concerned.  So when I laid hands on a copy of Lakeview Terrace, I was expecting him to bring a solid performance.  How was the rest of the movie around him?  More on that directly—but first, plot recap time.

When a young interracial couple moves into the neighborhood on Lakeview Terrace in sunny California, they think they’re really moving up in the world.  At least until they run afoul of their next-door neighbor, a racist cop who doesn’t approve of their relationship.  He’s also a stern disciplinarian of a single father, and the police precinct at which he works has a whole host of question marks on his record.  So when this unstable cop goes up against this young couple, in the midst of wildfire season, no less, it’s only a question of who will survive the encounter.

After all…when your psycho neighbor’s a cop…it’s hard to call the cops on him.

That’s at once what’s both awesome and wrong about this whole thing.  We don’t see movies about psycho cop neighbors very often, and for that, Lakeview Terrace gets some originality nods.  It has to—this kind of thing just doesn’t happen very often.  But a lot of SIMILAR things do happen.  Bad cop movies, psycho neighbor movies—these are fairly regular occurrences as suspense thrillers go.

It won’t surprise anyone to find that, once again, Sam Jack has turned in a choice performance.  The guy always does.  I’ve seen him play a good guy, a bad guy, and every kind of guy in between, and it doesn’t matter how big his part is or what he’s out to do: Samuel L. Jackson is one of those rare actors that can be counted on to turn in a fantastic performance no matter how bad the rest of the movie around him is.  Thankfully, Lakeview Terrace isn’t necessarily a bad movie.  Sure, it’s nothing great, but it’s at least a fairly solid title that won’t be a total waste of a rental.  These days, that’s actually a pretty good report.

Sure, it’s not the most original thing on the shelves, but it does deliver in the suspense department, and there’s plenty else to like here besides.  It’s not all sunshine and lollipops—the ending’s a bit on the predictable and abrupt side, and I can’t shake the feeling they only had an interracial couple in here to give the script just a little extra length.

Regardless, the work itself is solid, and Sam Jack throws out a great villain role, easily on par with anything else he’s done.  And I have to admit, I liked the added drama that came from adding the wildfires to the plot—it was a nice touch that added a little more spice to things.

All things considered, really, this is going to be worth the two hours you put into it.  A reasonably scary thriller with one great performer and a handful of decent backup adds up to produce a whole that’s worth your time.

Mr. Badass, aka Samuel L. Jackson, is said to be in talks to work in a film based on the life of a real-life pirate negotiator, reports Variety.

He hopes to play Andrew Mwangura, a journalist and ex-marine engineer who runs the Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, a nonprofit group that offers humanitarian aid to all seafarers. Mwangura recently came to the spotlight after he negotiated between pirates and the owners of vessels hijacked off the coast of Africa.

Jackson will produce the film along with Andras Hamori (Formula 51).

Someone once described high school, about ten years or so ago, as having too many characters and not enough plot.  Ironically, about ten years later, give or take, that same person will have described a movie based on a comic book by a man whose time would have to come–The Spirit.

The plot, such as it is, really isn’t much.  A kind of criminal genius–he’s a master of disguise (he changes costume at least five times in the movie) and a genetic engineer, as well as a drug dealer–by the unlikely name of The Octopus is after a rare and powerful artifact containing the blood of Heracles.  It’s been chained to a box containing the Golden Fleece, and The Octopus is desperate to get his hands on it because it will combine with his own drug-laced blood to make him a god, or nearly so.  But it’s left to an undead cop to find it first.  Along the way, said undead cop, now called The Spirit, will hit on literally tons of women that he apparently knew at one point or another.

See what I mean?  This sucker isn’t exactly that long on plot.  I tell you no small thing when I tell you that The Spirit is going to spend more time macking on chicks than he will actually advancing the plot.

I will admit, however, that when The Spirit DOES spend one of its rare moments actually doing something that moves what little plot there is along, it will do so in a smooth, efficient, and wholly capable fashion.  It will offer plenty of action in those segments (watching The Octopus take on a helicopter is a jaw-dropper) even pack plenty of humor into the proceedings, and that’s just awesome.  While relative unknown (I literally could not tell you the last movie I saw him in, because I have not clue one what else he’s done) Gabriel Macht handles The Spirit fairly well, it’s not him that’s the best part of the movie.  And it’s not one of the ladies that The Spirit will CONSTANTLY throw at us, either, though they generally handle their parts competently and look like they’re having a great time doing it.

No, the clear high point of this whole thing is The Octopus, played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.  The great Sam Jack is handling this one, and man…he’s clearly loving this part.  In fact, thanks to this movie, he’s now on my short list of actors who will ALWAYS turn in a good performance no matter how questionable the rest of the movie around them is.

Yes, The Spirit is a downright beautiful movie.  It LOOKS fantastic.  The characters all look fantastic.  Even the little things like clouds of explosions that look like octopi and The Spirit’s trademark red tie all look fantastic.

But from a narrative standpoint this is a vastly overlong movie that never really should have been.  It may look pretty but that’s not enough to save it from a really, REALLY, weak sauce script.  This is a LOUSY movie.  They spent more time introducing characters than they did advancing the plot, and that’s the first through tenth signs of a really, REALLY bad movie.

Way too many characters, and not nearly enough plot.  It’s high school, and it’s The Spirit.  It’s a fun and pretty little title but it has nothing even resembling substance.  It’s a great rental, but not one you’re going to want to keep around.

Maria Bello, Abigail Breslin and Samuel L. Jackson are set to star in the indie drama Rape: A Love Story.

Harold Becker will direct the movie and filming is scheduled to start in June.

I think the casting is perfect for the story that is based on the Joyce Carol Oates novella published in 2003. The grim story focuses on a mother (Bello) recovering from a brutal gang rape who is stalked by the perpetrators but is protected by a sympathetic cop (Jackson). Breslin will play the woman’s12-year-old daughter, who witnesses the attack.

Soul Men is singing on the shelves today.  This hilarious DVD is filled with numerous featurettes including tributes to both its star Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes. 

If you haven’t yet seen Jumper, then congratulations.  You’ve dodged one of the single worst bullets I’ve ever had spat at me from my DVD player.

There’s a whole lot of separate factors adding together to get me to this, but before I lay into this wreck properly, first, the plot.  Basically, a fifteen year old kid discovers he has the power to teleport to any place that he’s physically seen. Eventually, he discovers that he’s not alone in this particular ability, and that there’s a whole bunch of others out there who have taken the name of Jumpers.  They’re pursued and killed by a supragovernmental organization called the Paladins, and their struggle goes back centuries.
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Samuel L. Jackson is in with Marvel bigtime.  The actor has signed an unprecedented nine-picture deal to play Nick Fury in a series of Marvel movies.  For the last few weeks, it appeared that Jackson was not interested in reprising his role.  Now, he is the agent spy with the outfit S.H.I.E.L.D for nine films that include Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers and its sequels.

There is also talk of an S.H.I.E.L.D movie.

Soul Men is singing on the shelves today.  This hilarious DVD is filled with numerous featurettes including tributes to both its star Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes. 

Twenty years after an argument that destroyed their friendship and soul band, lead singers Loius and Floyd must re-connect in order to honor their late bandleader at his funeral.  In a trip that takes them on a cross-country road trip, the old friends are forced to find a way to bring their lives, and their music, back in sync.

This smart, witty comedy stars two-time Golden Globe nominee Bernie Mac (Transformers, Oceans 13), in his last feature film role, and Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson (The Spirit, Pulp Fiction) as the soul singing legends Louis and Floyd.  They are supported by an outstanding cast including Grammy winning R&B greats Isaac Hayes and John Legend, Jennifer Coolidge (For Your Consideration), Sean Hayes (”Will & Grace”) and Sharon Leal (Dreamgirls), all under the direction of Malcolm D. Lee (Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins).  Bursting with bonus features, Soul Men is not to be missed.

Screenhead is sponsoring a giveaway of Soul Men. To enter the giveaway, post your name and Screenhead will pick the winner Saturday, February 28, 2009.

In a shocking turn of events, The LA Times reports that Samuel L. Jackson won’t be appearing as Nick Fury in future Marvel Studios features.

The actor, who made a cameo in Iron Man, disclosed that negotiations with Marvel had broken down.

“There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won’t be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], ‘We’re not making that deal.’”

Marvel would not comment on the story.

MTV News reports that Samuel L. Jackson is teaming with filmmaker Brian Goodman to make The Fallen, a drama based on firefighters.

"We are looking at that and we both would like to work together and we’ll see what happens,” said Goodman.

The film will tell the story of a South Boston fireman who gets hooked on painkillers after suffering injuries saving a woman from fire.

"The script is good and Brian’s a good guy,” said Jackson. “Hopefully, that film will come together and I’ll be able to do it.”