Alpha Dog [WS]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

A drug dealer moves on to bigger crimes in an effort to settle a score with disastrous results in this drama inspired by actual events. Though barely out of his teens, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) has already built a lucrative career for himself selling drugs -- he has his own home, a luxury car, and posse of friends who do double duty as his crew, including Elvis (Shawn Hatosy), Frankie (Justin Timberlake), and Tiko (Fernando Vargas). While life at Johnny's house is usually a constant party interrupted by occasional dope deals, Johnny has lost all of his patience with Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a regular customer who has run up a large tab that he can't pay. Determined to clear Jake's account, Johnny and his boys plan to kidnap Jake and hold him for ransom, but when they happen upon his 15-year-old stepbrother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), they impulsively decide to take the youngster instead. Jake's father, Butch (David Thornton), and his stepmother, Olivia (Sharon Stone), are already furious with their junkie son when they learn about Zack's disappearance, and aren't sure what they should do. Meanwhile at Johnny's place, Frankie takes a liking to young Zack, who already admires his brother's high-flying lifestyle, and introduces the kid to the joys of grown-up partying, which he takes to with dangerous zeal. Also featuring Bruce Willis as Johnny's father, Alpha Dog was based on the real-life story of Jesse James Hollywood, who at the age of 21 became one of the youngest people to ever appear on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Features:
  • A Cautionary Tale - The Making of Alpha Dog
  • Witness timeline - Get detailed information on each witness as the shocking events unfold

AWARDS

• Sundance Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 2006

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Emile Hirsch - Johnny Truelove
       Justin Timberlake - Frankie Ballenbacher
       Bruce Willis - Sonny Truelove
       Sharon Stone - Olivia Mazursky
       Ben Foster - Jake Mazursky
       Anton Yelchin - Zack Mazursky
       Alex Kingston - Tiffy Hartunian
       Harry Dean Stanton - Cosmo Gadabeeti
       Alex Solowitz - Bobby "911" Tiko
       Fernando Vargas - "TKO" Martinez
       Olivia Wilde - Angela Holden
       Christopher Marquette - Keith Stratten

• Director:

  Nick Cassavetes

• Producer:

  Sidney Kimmel, Chuck Pacheco

• Screenwriter:

  Nick Cassavetes

• Cinematographer:

  Robert Fraisse

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Spring Aspers

• Composer (Music Score):

  Aaron Zigman

• Editor:

  Alan Heim

• Production Designer:

  Dominic Watkins

• Art Director:

  Alan Petherick

• Co-producer:

  Matthew Barry, Nancy Green-Keyes

• Associate Producer:

  Brad Jensen, Frank Peluso, Michael Mehas

• Executive Producer:

  Avram Kaplan, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid, Steven Markoff, Jan Körbelin, Marina Grasic, Robert Geringer

• Costume Designer:

  Sara Jane Slotnick

• Set Decorator:

  Fainche MacCarthy

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Ed White, Craig Woods

• First Assistant Director:

  David A. Ticotin

• Casting:

  Matthew Barry, Nancy Green-Keyes

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Kerry Rossall

• Supervising Sound Editor:

  Kelly Cabral

• Line Producer:

  Todd Lewis

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  Dan Schmitt

REVIEW:

• The release of Alpha Dog was mired in controversy. The real-life murder-kidnapping that inspired it was still being tried in courts, and the deputy district attorney's role as a consultant on the film placed the trial in a state of legal limbo. That's too bad, because this ancillary fact -- along with the studio dumping it in January -- tended to obscure just how good Nick Cassavetes' film really is. Free from the exploitative qualities of Larry Clark's Kids, Alpha Dog shows the absolutely true transmogrification of bored suburban youths into drug kingpins and other reckless associates. At the same time -- and this is key -- it keeps its finger on their childlike humanity, which they retain even as their posturing forces them down the opposite path. Potentially complicating the message of Alpha Dog is the fact that it must partially glamorize its characters' portable poolside party lifestyle, because this is how the kidnapping victim -- who thinks he's undergoing a great moment of awakening -- experiences their excesses himself. But by film's end, Cassavetes, in his most mature film to date, has driven home the consequences of those excesses with unambiguous clarity. A key asset is his cast. Some of the most impressive, and in some cases underrated, young actors of their generation have gathered for Alpha Dog, including Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster as the feuding badasses who escalate the conflict. Foster, in particular, burns with an apoplexy we've never seen from him, wiry and intense as he neutralizes a dozen partygoers in his quest to find his brother. But two less likely suspects actually carry this film: singer Justin Timberlake, whose utter naturalism disarms the audience in every scene, and Anton Yelchin, whose innocent first tastes of the lifestyle are all the more touching, given the impending doom they carry with them. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi