ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

krocheav Nic Cassavetes follows in his father's footsteps in as much as attempting to make unconventional movies, but like his dad he is simply turning out product that mainstream audiences and box office returns have little use for. Mr Cassavetes tells us he regards the 'Notebook' as his worst movie (perhaps it was just a vehicle for his talented actress mom Gina; 'Lonely are the Brave' 62). While I was not overly impressed with the Notebook, it somehow looks reasonably successful compared to this appalling effort. The only redeeming aspect of Alpha Dog is the idea of it being loosely based on a factual case. If a movie maker is going for shock value he needs to consider the audiences he is out to shock (more like alienate) it could be those he needs to have on his side. Any left watching might be the very ones this miserable show is supposedly criticising. Unnecessarily and relentlessly foul mouthed to the point of making Mr Cassavetes look like he's exposing us to his own morally corrupt side - this wretched work simply becomes grossly uninteresting and a bulk audience put-off. It's not often so many IMDb user reviewers all have the same warnings and complaints but, they are remarkably revealing in their unanimity.Any good performances along the way are eventually reduced to overacted screaming matches - cancelling out much interest in any of the characters. It also features too many story elements that trail off into territory more along the lines of the writers own suppositions. Much of the titling captions that keep popping on screen are a feeble attempt to add a 'documentary' feel and come off looking amateurish. If we were talking about ugly movies that deserve to be banned this would be high on the list. Grow up Nic and re-evaluate your life's calling before you fully destroy the family name.Closing thought: Looking back, John Cassavetes, like Orson Welles, was also a better actor than movie maker. Maybe they should have concentrated on what they did best.

Floated2 Alpha Dog tells an impulsive, thoughtless act. Based on the true story of the Jesse James Hollywood story, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) and his cronies don't know what to do with their new charge: one moment they stuff him in the closet and duct tape his mouth, and the next, he and Truelove's de facto second-in-command Frankie (Justin Timberlake) are playing X-Box. Zack is unfazed — on one level, he's enjoying the adventure (in what must ultimately be Alpha Dog's saddest moment, he asserts that he sees it as "just another story to tell his grandkids") Anton Yelchin virtually runs away with the film. Director Nick Cassavetes throws Zack into an exaggerated, flamboyant universe, his brother Jake is unaware that he's taken hostage by a bunch of wannabe Tony Montanas. Yelchin is remarkable in the way he grounds Alpha Dog in reality. Certain scenes stand entirely alone. Zack's encounter with his parents on the stairs, the subtlety of their interaction, his fully believable and familiar frustration. There's nothing else like it in the movie. Late in the film, Yelchin is given a hugely difficult scene where Zack's fantasy abruptly becomes a nightmare, and he nails it, converting Zack's ordinariness from something faintly amusing to something powerful and terrifying. Justin Timberlake is also very impressive in this scene. This also works because of the extent to which Zack is the story's moral compass. For as long as he likes and trusts his new friends, the kidnapping really does seem like fun and games, and the tone of the film shifts along with his perceptions. From this perspective, his relationship with Frankie, while touching in its way, is the ultimate betrayal, and his desperate appeals to his "friend" in the scene I mentioned earlier are one part of Alpha Dog I can't seem to get out of my mind.The other half of the film, as you may have guessed, focuses on the misadventures of the kidnappers, and here Cassavetes runs into some problems. To his great credit, his screenplay takes some real stabs at complexity: though seeming every bit the amateur gangstas, Johnny Truelove and Co. openly mock a gangsta rap music video; despite the casual misogyny constantly bandied about, Truelove himself is portrayed early on, and somewhat bizarrely, as a staunch monogamist. Then there's the issue of the parents, who are either corrupt, debauched or clueless; Cassavetes seems to blame them for allowing this to happen, and that seems about right.In the end, though, it's not quite convincing. Truelove is simply vile, a coward and a liar. He's not allowed to function as a villain, and Emile Hirsch doesn't have much to work with. The film resists the inevitable conclusion that these guys are just losers, insisting on a view of their activities that's much more exotic than they merit, and at a certain point threatening to seem silly. Including a lot of coarse language and some frightening scenes of violence, Alpha Dog can give you a sense of disturbance once completed watching the film.

slh1287 So, I thought this was a good movie- not great. I guess I was expecting a bit more than what I got from it. But don't get me wrong, the film DID deliver, there was just nothing extra with it or especially special about it. (Lol, that may be a tongue twister, my apologies if so!!) Anyway, even with that being said, Alpha Dog is definitely worth a view, at least, as it shows the importance of independence and being able to think for ourselves. The actors all do a wonderful job, and I'll focus that comment a little more toward Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster. Exceptional! And both Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis veer away from their usual characters in this one- and Sharon Stone's appearance at the end- WOW!!! So if you haven't seen this movie yet, go ahead and watch it. It won't be a waste of time or $, and who knows? You may even enjoy it more than I did.

ViernesTresAM The only reason I started watching this film is because I think Emile Hirsh and Anton Yelchin are good actors. At first, it seemed good talent wasted, and I couldn't stop wondering what was Bruce Wilis doing. However, my advice is to carry on watching the movie because if you can get passed the horrible acting of Justin Timberlake, suspense starts building up, characters develop in an unexpectedly deep way, and the climax scene makes this movie. It really saves it. The acting of Yelchin in that scene is the main reason why I'm reviewing this film, so that anyone who starts watching sticks up to the end because it's really worth it. Believe me, it really does get better, even GOOD, I dare say. That's why I give it a 7/10.