11/26/2009 --- John Hughes and Patrick Swayze were huge losses this year in the entertainment indust...
11/26/2009 --- John Hughes and Patrick Swayze were huge losses this year in the entertainment industry, and I intend to honor them over the next few weeks. Chris :)
CAST: Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Fernando Vargas, Lukas Haas, Matthew Berry, Vincent Kartheiser, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Hotosy, Heather Wahlquist, Alex Solowitz, Harry Dean Stanton, Frank Cassavetes, Nicole Dubos, Alec Vigil, Regina Rice, Laura Nativo, Olivia Wilde, Alan Thicke.
“You want to know what this is all about? You could say is about drugs or guns or disaffected youth, or whatever you like. This whole thing is about parenting; it’s about taking care of your children. You take care of yours, and I take care of mine.” --- Bruce Willis
****************************************************************** THE STORY OF JESSE JAMES HOLLYWOOD ******************************************************************
I love films based on true stories, even if the film is dramatized so that it could be told by cinematic means. A number of my favorite films are based on true stories: MONSTER, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, STAR 80, GANDHI, MY LEFT FOOT, THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT are just a few on my long list. However, I think that the filmmakers do have responsibilities with how they represent the characters and their sanctimonious attitude towards the truth. I thought one of the worst films of 2005 was DOMINO, where Tony Scott told the story of a young female bounty hunter; I hated it because I felt that Scott was glorifying a bunch of scumbag characters and wanted the audience to sympathize with them; when he introduces a 27-year-old grandmother living on welfare who goes on Jerry Springer to invent names of multiethnic origin, I was appalled.
It was because of Scott’s film, that I had some reservations on watching ALPHA DOG, which is based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood; I knew what Hollywood’s story was before I watched, so while I wasn’t surprised with what would happen, I was wondering why the director felt he needed to change some key details. The events depicted take place in 1999: Jesse James Hollywood (nee Johnny Truelove, played by Emile Hirsch) is a 22-year-old young man who has amassed wealth by means of drug-dealing in L.A; he owns a $500,000 house and drives a variety of sports cars. One of his friends, Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster) who he deals with every now and then now owes Truelove $1200 for heroin; Jake doesn’t have the money, so they both get into a big fight. Later on, Jake wants revenge and decides to break into Truelove’s home and destroys a lot of the furniture and electronics---and also decides to drop excrement all over Truelove’s carpet.
Truelove is, needless to say, outraged, and
is determined to confront Jake once and for all---if he doesn’t pay up he will be killed. As it turns out, while Truelove and his friends Frankie (Justin Timberlake) and Pick (Vincent Kartheiser) are driving to Jake’s house, they find Jake’s 15-year old brother Zack (Anton Yelchin); by all known accounts, Zack is the complete opposite of his troubled brother, and is just a straight-arrow high school kid. Truelove feels he has no choice but to kidnap Zack and hold him for ransom until Jake pays up the money that he is owed; Zack is taken back to Frankie’s house where he meets some local girls who take a liking to him and think it is brave of him to not resist because he cares for his brother. However, there is one girl with morals, Susan (Dominique Swain), who is repulsed at the fact that they are holding this innocent kid hostage. Three days pass, and Zack’s parents (Sharon Stone and David Thornton) get increasingly worried while Zack loses his virginity to a girl he likes and begins to bond with Frankie.
Out of desperation, Truelove calls his attorney to find out what he should do about the situation; of course, he doesn’t say that he kidnapped someone himself over a drug ransom. Fearing that Truelove might spend the rest of life in jail, he sees only one solution: ordering his friends to kill Zack and fleeing the country to avoid capture. In real life, Jesse James Hollywood became the youngest person to appear on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list and in 2005, he was finally caught in Brazil, where he had a pregnant girlfriend. After he was extradited back to the United States, he was convicted and sentenced to death; he is currently appealing from Death Row.
****************************************************************** JOHN T’S NOTEBOOK ******************************************************************
The biggest problem I had with ALPHA DOG, despite the fact it is a potentially interesting story, is writer-director Nick Cassavetes’ handling of the material. Nick is the son of director John Cassavetes, who became one of the most admired independent directors of the 1960s and 1970s; Nick started directing in the 1990s with such easygoing films as UNHOOK THE STARS and SHE’S SO LOVELY; he also wrote BLOW starring Johnny Depp, which also based on a true story about a drug dealer. So, in a way, he seemed like the ideal person for this project, though it is disappointing when compared to his two recent hits: JOHN Q with Denzel Washington and THE NOTEBOOK, which was based on Nicholas Spark’s romantic novel. I sat down to watch ALPHA DOG with an open mind, and what detracted from the real-life tragedy was Cassavetes’ indulgences in spending so much time on Truelove and his gang and not paying attention to the more interesting Zack.
Cassavetes’ screenplay is filled to the brim with graphic, raw language which seems excessive despite the fact it is true to the culture being depicted; however, do we seriously need an “F” word in every other sentence? Cassavetes could have told this story much more effectively if it was told from Zack’s point-of-view and not contain endless footage of the kids’ partying and their hedonistic lifestyle. Plus, I was afraid that he would try to make Truelove and his gang sympathetic at times just for the purpose of pushing emotional buttons and that just upset me; these are criminals, plain and simple, and we are supposed to sympathize with them? We certainly feel for Zack and his predicament, though I questioned certain scenes which suggested that Zack was having fun and not thinking about the fact that he is held hostage; it is reasonable to assume that he was sure that he would be set free, though I find it hard to believe that he would just “stick it out” when Frankie offered him a free ride home at one point.
In late 2006, a District Attorney was thrown off the defense in Hollywood’s case because he provided a lot of confidential files to Cassavetes to tell the story, though I still wonder why he had to change certain things that didn’t need to be changed; in the film it says that Truelove was picked up in Peru, when in fact he was caught in Brazil. In addition, the whole sequence near the beginning where Jake ransacks Truelove’s home never happened according to all the research I did; so, Cassavetes wrote it in just to give Truelove and even bigger drive and “understand his intentions.” However, it just plain wasn’t needed, and seeing a guy pull down his pants and leaving excrement everywhere---as well as a girl complaining to Truelove about his inability to getting an erection---was all completely uncalled for. Obviously, those files assisted Cassavetes in identifying all those involved---such as the witnesses, family members and authority figures---and he labels all the characters onscreen with such things as “Witness #11” and "Suspect #3"; it would have worked better if he didn’t throw those things on the screen for only a second…so if you blink, you will miss all the identifications.
Like I said before, what gets me the most is Cassavetes’ attempt at building emotion out of giving shades of light to the criminals; sure we are human beings, and all have hearts and everything, but I have a huge problem with artists trying to make us care about a bunch of scumbags who don’t do anything to redeem themselves. Being that is based on a true story, it makes me question even more if Zack and Frankie did in fact bond and build a respect for each other; well, if that WAS true, then I’m sure Frankie would have let him go, instead of making $1200 from Truelove just to kill him!!! Sure, I felt for Zack’s parents, as well as Zack himself…though if he really had all the opportunity in the world to escape as the film suggests, then why didn’t take advantage of it? The excuse is because he loves his brother and felt confident he would go home because he trusts brother enough to take responsibility for his actions. Ok, his brother is an uneducated, drugged up, and out of work slacker, and if Zack in real life was as smart as people said he was, he would have known better. Sorry, Nick, but I felt your whole narrative strategy was a mess, story-wise and character-wise.
****************************************************************** CRY ME A BAD PERFORMANCE ******************************************************************
As for the acting in ALPHA DOG, the performances range from excellent to flawed to laughable. Johnny Truelove is played here by Emile Hirsch, who you may remember as the dishonest cheater in THE EMPORER’S CLUB and the high school senior who falls in love with his ex-prostitute of a neighbor THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. Hirsch has proven himself as a competent actor and he gives Truelove a brooding quality which is believable enough to buy; however, the best performances belong to Sharon Stone as Zack’s grieving mother and newcomer Anton Yelchin, who plays Zack with equal parts sincerity and innocence, despite the fact I still questioned some of his character’s motivations. Bruce Willis has a small role as Truelove’s father which seems rather extraneous, and Dominique Swain (FACE/OFF) is so whiny and pathetic playing her character that it becomes oh so annoying.
Of course, one of the most talked about elements about ALPHA DOG is the fact it is the first major film role for former N’SUCK star Justin Timberlake. He plays Frankie, and sports a body covered completely by tattoos and a filthy mouth where it seems like the first word he ever learned was “f*ck.” People have actually told me that even if you don’t like Timberlake as a singer (which I don’t) that I should give him a chance here; well, I did and all I can say is that as an actor, Justin Timberlake has all the all the appeal of a fire hydrant---and all the dramatic range of Foghorn Leghorn. The scenes where his character became emotional and became teary-eyed instead triggered me to laugh; stick with singing Justin, because you suck so bad you make Eminem look like Laurence Olivier.
All of the other characters are rather stereotypical, with all the males depicted as drunken morons with no depth and all the females are depicted as party sluts looking for easy drugs and sex and having no other motivations. Among the wasted characters you will might recognize are Harry Dean Stanton (ALIEN, PRETTY IN PINK), Ben Foster (HOSTAGE), Lukas Haas (BRICK), and comedian Alan Thicke (TV’s “Growing Pains”); plus, as with his previous films, Cassavetes includes some members of his family, including his own wife Heather Wahlquist as Wanda Haynes, though his mother Gena Rowlands is noticeably absent this time around.
****************************************************************** YOU COULD DO A LOT WORSE ******************************************************************
While ALPHA DOG is certainly better than most other films that came out in early 2007---like that ridiculous STOMP THE YARD---I personally thought it failed to tell the moving story of an innocent 15-year-old boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time; however, judge for yourself. I just hope that Cassavetes’ next project GOD IS A BULLET is better, because he really is a gifted director and I think he just made some wrong, almost fatal, decisions here, compromising a potentially powerful tale. Of course, I’m sure fans of the “Cry Me A Friggin’ River” crooner will want to check this out, though I personally say it’s not worth it.
The film was released in theaters in the UK on April 20, 2007, so it might still be in a few theaters left if you really want to see it, though I recommend you just wait for it on DVD. I do apologize but I’m not including any quotes this time not because there really isn’t any memorable dialogue, but because much of it is comprised of primarily “f*cks” and “sh*ts” and every other profane word known to man, including endless comments on oral sex and drug slang. Thank you for reading and I hope you liked the review…Chris x
CRITIC’S QUOTE #1: “Cassavetes once again shows he is brimming with talent with this psychologically violent film that is involving despite the inevitable outcome.” --- Tony Medley, www.tonymedley.com
CRITIC’S QUOTE #2: “ALPHA DOG is almost a sociological study of a youthful culture awash in freedom and steeped in drugs, violence, casual sex and offensive language. It also shines a light on parents who have abdicated their positions of guidance and discipline.” --- Claudia Puig, USA Today
CRITIC’S QUOTE #3: “This film is way more about tits and ass and drugs and guns and California muscle cars and busting up house parties with kung fu than it is about deep characterization or an epic scale.” --- Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
CRITIC’S QUOTE #4: “It’s got skill and craft and some good acting to recommend it; and it is based on a true story. But its soulless posturing and jaded cynicism are far more repellant than cool.” --- Shawn Levy, Oregonian
CRITIC’S QUOTE #5: “ALPHA DOG’s characters adopt poses that they have seen on television and movies, and the same goes for the young cast hamming it up as if they watched their SCARFACE dvds too many times in preparation.” --- Mark Pfeiffer, Reel Times
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1995 - Drama - Director: Ang Lee - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Greg Wise, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy
Advantages: Captures the spirit of these youths very well, great performances by most of the cast Disadvantages: A few bad performances, not a film people of a certain age will enjoy
Advantages: Captures the spirit of these youths very well, great performances by most of the cast Disadvantages: A few bad performances, not a film people of a certain age will enjoy
May 15th, 2007
exceptional by (6%):
very helpful by (92%):
helpful by (2%):
