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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 7534
Released: May 1, 2007 |
| Our Price: $7.09 |
| Used Price: $2.83 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
When a group of suburban teens imitating the "thug life" ends up committing an impulsive crime circumstances spiral out of control toward a shocking conclusion in this gritty and uncompromising film.Runtime: 118 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 025193250629 Manufacturer No: 61032506
Description of Alpha Dog (Full Screen Edition):
With harrowing intensity, Alpha Dog dramatizes one of the most tragically notorious murders in recent history. Ripped from the headlines, writer-director Nick Cassavetes' flawed but riveting crime drama (a polar opposite to his previous film, the romantic hit The Notebook) is based on the real-life case of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer in California's San Gabriel Valley who, in 2000, became one of the youngest men to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Names and details have been changed, but the criminal circumstances remain the same: With family links to organized crime, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is on the warpath against Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a sleazebag addict who owes him money. Fate intervenes when Johnny and his stoner pals including Frankie (Justin Timberlake) encounter Jake's 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) and hold him as collateral until Jake pays his debts. What begins as a casual, seemingly harmless situation escalates into a crisis of capital crime, as Alpha Dog employs split-screen, docudrama, and mock-documentary interviews to chronicle a tragic tailspin of reckless events and lawless behavior.
Cassavetes himself became part of the real-life drama when prosecutors (hoping to locate then-fugitive Jesse James Hollywood, who was captured in 2005) gave him legally controversial access to their case files. Alpha Dog clearly benefits from this inside information, and while the film's grueling depiction of underage squalor (including rampant drug and alcohol abuse) is inevitably off-putting and at least partially exploitative, there's no denying that Cassavetes has worked wonders with a well-chosen ensemble cast including Timberlake, who contrasts his music-industry stardom with a convincing performance as a likable, not-too-bright party animal who quickly gets in over his head. The film is ultimately compromised by Cassavetes' ambitious attempt to cover too much dramatic territory, but like his father John before him, he demonstrates a remarkable skill with actors (including Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, and Harry Dean Stanton in supporting roles), and Alpha Dog is full of powerful, dangerous moments that aren't easily forgotten. --Jeff Shannon
Alpha Dog (Full Screen Edition) Reviews:
What would you expect? It's Cassavetes! 
2008-06-21 - When a man like Nick Cassavetes, the director of "She's So Lovely" and "The Notebook", stumbles upon the story of Jesse James, the youngest person ever to be featured on America's Most Wanted, you can expect a riveting vision. It's even better when someone gets the guts to tell that vision. In this case, Cassavetes delivers his baby. I saw this film and had moderate expectations. I was stunned. The movie was phenominal. Not only did Mathew Barry and Nancy Green-Keyes bring in a great cast but Nick Cassavetes brought them to perfection. Everyone from Bruce Willis to Justin Timberlake delivered breakthrough performance. Ben Foster. Emile Hirsch. Everyone. Spectacular. This film was as close to flawless as many films get. Everything from Aaron Zigman's score to Dominic Watkins' production design was marvelous. And if you think the end was harsh, it even adds more drama to your experience and what you thought of the film and helped reveal to you that not everything is Hollywood-perfect. The story is about a group of teens in Southern California who are doing drugs, sex, and having parties all the time. A double-crossing leads to a kidnap that eventually spirals out of control and so the drama begins. On to the extras. Much to my gloom, there is no commentary by Cassavetes or any cast or crew member. Instead, there is an okay making-of-featurette and a witness timeline. It's rather dissapointing since it is not likely that there will bbe a special edition release.
Boys, drugs and reckless murder 
2008-05-19 - Movie about middle class boys living in California and indulging all sorts of drugs, alcohol and girls with endless partying and no real purpose in their lives. These boys are part of the clique that is led by their drug dealing friend who is master of manipulation and recklessness. As one of the addicts defaults on his payment for drugs, the war starts between the drug dealer and the obnoxious thug. No one is spared in this war and as it escalates, it starts to include even the family members. Doped, craving for social acceptance and need to prove their manhood, group of young boys abducts a brother of the non-paying low life addict in an effort to get the debt collected. While in their minds this is an innocent game of control and their abducted kid has seeming fun in his captivity, these boys slowly realize that there cannot be good end to their actions. Before long, young man is killed and everyone's destiny starts to unrevel. It is a film about excess, spoilt little suburban kids and their rebellion against nothing in particular, shallowness of the young generation whose parents are too busy making money or indulging themselves to pay attention to their own children and their own destiny. We learn that there has to be moderation in everything, including parental love. Too much love can smother and cause kids to desire to be away from too much attention and adoration that is embarrasing and can inevitably lead only to tragedy. Too much of a sheltered life, just as too much neglect can have equally tragic consequences. The only difference is that the sheltered ends up being a victim while perpetrator is the violator.
Disturbing, Yet Riveting
2008-05-05 - ALPHA DOG, a disturbing film based on actual events, aptly illustrates the fact truth is stranger than fiction. A novelist would never be able to make a story like this up--or make it come across as plausible or believable. So because the film is based on a kidnapping/murder that actually occurred, writer/director Nick Cassavetes lets this riveting story play itself out--and fully incorporate a very real human component in the process.
Interspersed with mock-documentary interviews, ALPHA DOG depicts out-of-control teens, punks, hoodlums, and lousy parents. Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), a two-bit drug dealer, has a problem: one of his customers, Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), is a deadbeat addict who simply can't, or won't, pay for the dope he's been getting from Johnny. And the more Johnny presses for cash, the more Jake pushes back, until there is nothing but animosity and hatred between them. Opportunity arrives when Johnny stumbles across 15-year-old Zack (Anton Yelchin), Jake's half-brother, and kidnaps him. The message to Jake is clear: pay for the dope. . .or else. Ironically, Zack is completely enjoying his "captivity", as Johnny's pal Frankie (Justin Timberlake) has been assigned to show Zack the ropes, and show him a good time while he's at it. Free from a smothering, overbearing mother (Sharon Stone), Zack is in a hog heaven of his own.
Yet destiny intervenes. The captors learn they have some serious prison time awaiting them for what they have done; suddenly the urge to "off" their captive becomes a viable alternative. And at this point, the situation begins spinning out of control, as Johnny, Frankie, and their entourage are in over their heads, with very tragic consequences. The inevitable is very disturbing and painful to watch, but it is also riveting and acutely compelling.
Everything about ALPHA DOG is riveting, from direction to dialogue (which is very realistic). The large cast excels; Justin Timberlake is surprisingly good; Ben Foster aggressively soaks up the oxygen in every scene he's in (he's over the top in a very believable way). Veterans Bruce Willis, Harry Dean Stanton, and Sharon Stone appear in supporting roles--Stone (in a fat suit and virtually unrecognizable) particularly memorable as the subject of the mock interviews. ALPHA DOG is all too tragic, all too human. . .all too real.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
A True Story Heard, But All Too Easily Forgotten.........
2008-05-03 - It wasn't the toughest of neighborhoods. These kid's had known each other since their first little league games, maybe longer. They grew up, with parents, whom were not the best of influences. Truelove's Father is an example. He is a dealer himself, aiding his son's illegal purchases. Later,Daddy keeps law enforcement from finding his son's whereabouts.
In the eyes of an alpha male, he had to be always right, with a way out of any situation. Truelove was above all,and acted so. He seaked a drug debt owed to him. His debter was expected to pay, or suffer for his inability to pay. With no money coming, Truelove, kidnaps his debter's younger brother, with Truelove's friends,along for the ride.
The teenager is treated well, till the discovery that the "Stolen Kid," will get them a jail sentence. The carefree fun, quickly sours, as an unexpected tragedy unfolds!
It is a shocking story, all too easily forgotten, and or ignored. I could only hope the young actors involved will bring this tragic event to life. The varying fan bases widen these audience ranges. Young people need to see this, as too many believe they can do without consequences.
Frankie's final scene with Zack leaves one with a sea of emotions!
Say Goodbye to Hollywood.
2008-04-27 - I stumbled across Alpha Dog the other night on cable and found myself wrapped up in the true life teen gangster story along the lines of Larry Clark's Bully, although lighter and funnier. Dog is filled with young acting talent reminiscent of The Outsiders - The Complete Novel (Two-Disc Special Edition) combined with strong seasoned performances by Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Dog, directed by Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook (New Line Platinum Series)), who also played bad guy Packard Walsh in the so bad it's good 80's movie The Wraith. Amazon already does an informative write up, which talks about Cassavetes own run in with the law for his contact with the real life character behind Johnny Truelove, still on the F.B.I's ten most wanted list at the time of the film. I found that interesting. Although I disagree with their interpretation of Foster's character Jake, which I'll address.
The story, based on actual events, follows a group of suburban kids who watch music videos, act tough, drink 40's, smoke cheeba, disrespect people, and talk shiite. The leader of this crew is Johnny Truelove played by Emile Hirsch, who seems to get better with every role, and gives his best performance a year later in Into the Wild. Johnny is a smooth manipulator but gets most of his respect from his family ties, also surrounding himself with idiots doesn't hurt.
In this movie of solid performances it is Ben Foster's Jake Mazursky that steals the spotlight, as he did in similar fashion from Russel Crowe and Christian Bale in the western 3:10 to Yuma (Widescreen Edition) with his portrayal of Charlie Prince. Amazon describes Foster's character Jake as a scum bag drug addict. I disagree. There is no doubt he has a drug problem, and problems in general, but in a time when most just talk trash, Jake actually follows through. In some aspects I saw him as a stand up guy, or would be without drugs, and has a fearlessness that other men can respect, under different circumstances he could have been a leader. Ben Foster does a great job showing rage in this part with words or without. Justin Timberlake also gives a good performance as the mostly obnoxious, with hints of charisma, Frankie Ballenbacher.
The basic plot is Jake owes Johnny Truelove money. Johnny tries to disrespect Jake like he does with his other friends, but Jake isn't his other friends, and it continues to escalate from there. The crew decide to teach Jake a lesson and kidnap his younger brother, whom Jake is close with. This sets a chain of events sometimes fun and entertaining but ultimately tragic.
