Alpha Dog (STRONG LANGUAGE & ADULT CONTENT)

TheCentralScrutinizer · 23 May 07 :: 23:45

Illinois, have you heard anyting more about the new ST yet? All I know is that it'll be that long-rumored Academy Years idea for a Kirk/Spock/McCoy story. I'm VERY interesting in the casting of this thing...

We've got your Spock right here:

Illinoisguy1 · 24 May 07 :: 15:40

I heard that Matt Damon was going to play the young Kirk.
Also that Ryan Gosling is interested in a role in it.
And that Adrien Brody, Gary Sinise and Daniel Dae Kim may also be intersted in it.

It's supposed to have more action than anyother Trek film.
It's due for release in December 2008.

domesticelefant · 25 May 07 :: 18:47

Matt Damon? THE Matt Damon? Hmmmm ... Not sure if I would like that.

shoothoops22 · 25 May 07 :: 19:52

Who's Matt Damon? I don't know who he is.:(

domesticelefant · 25 May 07 :: 21:35

shoothoops22 wrote:

Who's Matt Damon? I don't know who he is.:(

Clicky here

Illinoisguy1 · 26 May 07 :: 01:48

Just thought I'd chime in again with box office totals/ DVD rentals. (Can't figure in DVD sales as I can't find a site that actually lists such stats.)

TOTAL LIFETIME GROSSES
Domestic:    $15,242,450    50.3%
+ Foreign:    $15,061,134    49.7%
= Worldwide:    $30,303,584
DVD / HOME VIDEO SUMMARY
Rental Gross: $12.07 million
(as of 5/20/07)

So it has made a total of at least $42,373,584

Not too bad at all.

Illinoisguy1 · 30 May 07 :: 20:27

Official, AD made more overseas than in the U.S.

TOTAL LIFETIME GROSSES
Domestic:    $15,242,450    49.9%
+ Foreign:    $15,326,428    50.1%
= Worldwide:    $30,568,878

TeeJay · 30 May 07 :: 20:29

At least $15 of those overseas grosses must come from me. I saw it in the cinema three times.

-TeeJay

TeeJay · 30 May 07 :: 20:32

Illinoisguy1 wrote:

I see a Star Trek: DS9 fan. Major Kira and Dr. Julian Bashir.
I used to subscribe to the Official Star Trek fan club, never got into Enterprise though. Hopefully the new Star Trek film will be good.

I never answered this one, sorry about that. Yes, huge DS9 fan. Love that show. I never much liked TOS, but I did watch Enterprise and liked it a lot. Probably my second favorite Trek show, after DS9. TNG was also great. Voyager was good in the beginning, but got worse as the show progressed. And I, too, hope the new film will be good (with Chris as young Spock, of course! ). And, sorry, can't imagine Matt Damon as young Kirk. No way. I can kinda see Adam Brody as young Spock, though.

And, btw, the guy on the picture to the right at the bottom is Max Grodénchik (a.k.a. Rom on DS9). So there's another DS9 autograph there. (The girl in white is me....) Funniest thing is that he can speak German very well, so when he was at the con in Germany, he spoke German a lot. He also signed my picture in German. It says: Für Tina, wo bist du? (= For Tina, where are you?). A friend of mine had the photo signed for me a year later at another con, and I wasn't there then, so that's why he asked where I was. Funny guy.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 30 May 07 :: 20:38

Here's Creative Screenwriting magazine's review of the AD DVD...

Anything But Apathetic

By Jason Davis

Alpha Dog

Nick Cassavettes (also directed)

Film: ****
Extras: **

Based on the true story of 20-year-old drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood and the 15-year-old boy his gang murdered, Alpha Dog turns a violent tragedy into a cautionary tale of apathy and ignorance that haunts the viewer long after the movie is over.

Twenty-something drug lord Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) comes to blows with a high-strung debtor named Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster) at a party and the two young criminals launch into a war of violent one- upsmanship that culminates in Truelove's thugs kidnapping Mazursky's 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin). Hoping to spare his brother further difficulties with Truelove, Zack accepts his hostage status and waits for his ransom to be paid while befriending Truelove's easy-going lieutenant Frankie Ballenbacher (Justin Timberlake). Frankie and Zack form a brotherly bond, while Truelove becomes increasingly certain that the only way out of a kidnapping charge is by killing Zack. The combination of apathy and irresponsibility surrounding an innocent boy leads to a tragedy that was still in the headlines even as the film was shot.

Forging a film that's anything but apathetic to the story's victim, Alpha Dog labors to understand its villains even while condemning them for their part in the tragedy. Filmmaker Nick Cassavetes takes time to catalogue every witness to Zack's kidnapping as they appear in the movie. A brief superimposition names the witness, notes the date, and enumerates the encounter. By the final night of his captivity, Zack had been seen by 38 individuals while he was in the custody of Truelove's drug ring. Of those who saw him, a significant portion -- including two girls who seduce him in an abandoned motel pool -- knew he was a hostage and did nothing about it. Like the similarly dichotomy found in The Last King of Scotland, the film's atmosphere is one of fun and games until it suddenly isn't. Truelove and his thugs act entirely on impulse and never pause to consider the ramifications of their actions -- actions that compound each ill-considered event into another brick in the wall of a monumental tragedy.

Cassavettes' characterizations, loosely based on those of the actual participants, are quickly established, insuring that the characters are memorable enough to be identified as the drama goes on and even more players hop on the stage. Rather unusually, none of the characters really evolve through the course of the story. They start out as irresponsible self-centered youths and so they remain when the credits roll. Of course, had any of the kids in power had one shred of personal responsibility in their nature the story as it stands would have exactly the opposite ending. Only at the inevitable climax do any of the dramatis personae evince any regret at what they've been a part of, and by then it's too late.

Throughout the film, Cassavettes inserts brief, documentary-style interviews with key participants in the story. Presumably intended to provide a level of distance from the gut-wrenching subject matter of the primary narrative while lending a small amount of verisimilitude to the proceedings, the segments seem like they were an afterthought created during post to insert a sense of focus to the seemingly random decisions made by the characters in the movie. Though they provide an anchor for the story, the interviews seem too intrusive and break up the overall emotional assault on the viewer. By the middle of the film, they're almost gone, only to reappear in force for the denouement. This narrative quibble aside, the film presents an uncompromising view of the worst side of American youth and the sacrifices they're willing to wrest from others on their behalf.

Following in the footsteps of his father, independent film pioneer John Cassavettes, the younger filmmaker has created a memorable study of the human condition that parallels the documentary work of his sister, Alexandra Cassavettes, whose Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession chronicles the manic rise and murderous fall of Los Angeles TV icon Jerry Harvey in much the same sympathetic fashion.

- A Cautionary Tale: The Making of Alpha Dog
- Witness timeline

A 20-minute featurette on the story behind the film finds the actors and writer-director exploring the nature of the crime and the underlying social issues that allowed the tragedy to unfold. Meanwhile, a witness timeline offers a concise account of the historical events alongside their representation in the movie.

Alpha Dog wanders around the mind long after the images fade, and the realities on which the film was based lend an inescapable weight to a screenplay that condemns its characters even while revealing the tragedy of their own amoral existences.

Alpha Dog
Universal Home Entertainment
Rated R; 118 min.
$29.98

SOURCE: Creative Screenwriting Weekly Newsletter

TeeJay · 02 Jun 07 :: 12:26

Have you recently taken a look at this pic?

They're all wearing really warm jackets and Justin is wearing a beanie. Was it that cold when they shot the scene? In the movie they're all wearing tees... Or was this just a rehearsal? Because this is the scene at the end when they go up the hill to shoot Zack, isn't it? Keith is running away because he doesn't want to be a part of it.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 02 Jun 07 :: 19:46

Yeah, I posted about his very thing after I first saw the movie. I think it's a rehearsal because it's too bright. And there's a woman in the shot who doesn't belong there (white jacket). We know that they shot the stuff on top of the hill inside a sound stage. The stuff at the bottom was probably really outside. It probably was very cold. It can get cold as a witch's you-know-what in California at night.

irina · 05 Jun 07 :: 02:22

ok, i just now manage to finally see the movie. i must say that all the actors blew me away. i wish so much that i could see chris, emille, ben in more movies. i also liked justin , but somehow i think he will get roles easier because of his music carrier. anyway, he was good.
the subject of the movie makes this movie like the most horror movie i ever saw ( i know i did not express myself clearly ). but who needs to go see something like " i know what you did last summer " type of movie. for me this movie is a horror movie. and what makes it so is that it's based on real events. i mean if it weren't i could have tried to ignore what the movie was saying but likes this all of a sudden i am afraid of my neighbours.
the ideea that all you need is too much money, parents that are not quite there and a little stupidity and this is what you get.
damm, i am gonna be so scared when i'll have a kid. and i'll be scared for 2 reason because he could end up like the one who shot zack or that he could be zack.
ok, i try to calm down now.
kisses
irina

TheCentralScrutinizer · 05 Jun 07 :: 03:41

I understand what you're saying, Irina. I feel the same way. It's incredibly intense and maddening when you know about the real story. And everyone was wonderful in their roles. Anton was just fantastic. And I thought Shawn Hatosy was amazing too. And after his ER ep (that was almost Chris's), I'll watch him in anything. The movie still haunts me to this day. And I first saw it in November of '06! Like TeeJay, even if Chris hadn't been in it, provided the rest of the cast was the same, I know I would've been just as blown away by the movie. You know, if Keith was played by someone as powerful and adorable as Chris. Maybe Michael Angarano or John Robinson, someone like that.

But I'm so glad Chris got to create that character. Because this is going to be a cult movie, and a music movie, and dare I say it, a pothead movie, forever now. It's going to be a classic that kids and young adults consider one of those rite of passage movies you just have to see once. And there WILL be a Special Edition one day.

I'm as grateful that he got to do this movie as I am that he got to do JoA. Both of them will bring him fans for years to come.

irina · 05 Jun 07 :: 12:54

yes, you are so right about everuone in the cast. after seeing their performances i feel like if i had money i'd pay someone just to wright some good scripts for them to play in.
chris's role took me by surprise. i did no know how he was going to look like in the movie. he has this great abillity to look so doferent in diferent movies.
and i like anton ever since i saw him in a movie on hallmark called " jack ". i really liked him and the movie a lot. but when i saw him in this movie i have to admitt thinking : where did he got those abs??? where they really his??? i know , a very shallow thought. but since all day today i thought about the movie , shallow thoughts began to appear.
i was so frusted that i went to work and noone there saw the movie. and i so wantd to talk about it. and everybody was like : yes, ok. so i came home now and thought to write some more here :embarrassed:
i would like to tell my mom to watch it but i don't know if she will manage to watch it till the end in order to get the point of the movie.

irina · 05 Jun 07 :: 13:02

i just saw on the first page of this topic that chris said that ben foster is going to be one of the best actors in the world. first of all how nice of him to say somethig like this about a fellow actor, second i really think he already is only i don't know how many people know it. i saw him in a number of movies and he blew me away everytime. quite a talented generation i must say!!!!
it is so frustating that if i say paris hilton everybody knows who she is but if today at work i told them about chris and emille and ben and anton nobody knew them. they only became interested when i said justin is in it. so i said more about justin maybe someone will go watch at least for that and find out about the rest.
somebody stop me, i can't stop writing:P

TeeJay · 05 Jun 07 :: 14:06

Irina, I'm so glad you finally watched the movie. I absolutely understand that you want to talk about it, I felt the same way. When I came out of the cinema, I drove straight home and gave Deb a call at work. Unfortunately she didn't have much time then, so I wrote a long review. Have you read it? If not, you can find it here:
http://www.chris-marquette.com/forum/vi … 6103#p6103

I agree with most of what you said. It really is a movie that makes you think, makes you hate, makes you scared, makes you aware of problems that most of us easily forget about or just don't want to think about. And more importantly: Shows you that good and evil aren't very far apart from each other sometimes.

The cast of Alpha Dog was incredible, I also agree, each and every one of them. I had only seen Ben Foster once before, in X-Men 3, and his role wasn't exactly huge. But what I saw of him in Alpha Dog did impress me a lot. I've seen a little more of Shawn Hatosy, in ER, in Numb3rs (twice in the same role, only in different episodes) and not Alpha Dog. Oh, and the "What Goes Around" Justin Timberlake video. He's definitely among the top younger actors out there as well. I don't think I need to mention that Chris is a true chameleon, do I? Whenever I watch him on screen, he's always the character and not "just Chris" (as opposed to people like, say, Hugh Grant--because he's always Hugh Grant, no matter who he plays).

And don't you worry about thinking about his abs. We've all been down that road, haven't we? I actually wrote a scene in Deb's and my fan fiction that features Keith and his naked torso and Joan fantasizing about him. Well, a little. LOL

Don't get me started on Paris Hilton. I mean, for one thing I'm glad that Chris isn't all over the news like she is. He doesn't want that and I sincerely hope he will never have to go there. Yes, of course it would be nice if he received a little more recognition by the wide public, but, gals, he's gonna get there. Infestation will play a major part in that, I'm quite sure about that. Fanboys will be another step in that direction. He's just too good not to be noticed, and everyone who's worked with him that we've talked to (and we've talked to quite a few by now) adores him and has high praise for him. That's surely no coincidence.

Okay, now I need to get the drool towel and wipe the slime away.

And, Irina, feel free to come back and write down whatever is on your mind. You're in good company.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 05 Jun 07 :: 16:48

I think she was talking about Anton's abs there, TeeJay. And hey, Irina, I LOVED "Jack". I'm always trying to get people to watch that movie. I've been a fan of Anton since "Taken", but "Jack" and "Huff" really got me hooked. Have you seen Chris and Anton together in the Huff clips we have here? Great stuff from both guys.

And I could talk about AD all day, but I'm at work.

Deb

domesticelefant · 05 Jun 07 :: 18:16

All these good actors in this wonderful movie ... the DVD they made for it is a SHAME!!! :angry:
(Not that you wouldn't know that already ... )

OhGnarly · 05 Jun 07 :: 21:34

Awesome that you got to see Alpha Dog Irina I totally understand why you feel the need to talk about it. I still find myself chatting about it to people -- I recently praised my aunt for having it on her Netflix queue, then forcefully suggested she move it up on the list so she could get it sooner .

My dad was with me when I first went to see the movie, and a few minutes after Chris's character showed up, he looked at me and whispered, "That kid is such a chameleon actor." Dad had been the one to introduce me to Joan of Arcadia, so he was familiar with Chris from the show. He also has an understandable liking for The Girl Next Door. But he, of course, doesn't take an active interest in him like I do. Still, I'm glad people who aren't as attentive to Chris's career are able to recognize that he's never the same character.

Ben Foster had one of the best performances in Alpha Dog, in my opinion. When I was really young I watched him in a show called "Flash Forward", and I've kept up with him since. He pretty much rocks. He was outstanding in a movie he did called Bang Bang You're Dead, if anyone is looking for a movie recommendation.

domesticelefant · 05 Jun 07 :: 21:41

You went to see this movie with your dad? Woooow! I'd never watch that with my dad! LOL

irina · 05 Jun 07 :: 21:45

thank you for the recomandation. i do actually want to see some ben foster movie. i saw him in a movie called " liberty heights ". hte movie is not the smartest movie ever, but it is an emotional , feel good one. and ben and adrien brody are so great in it. and them i saw " hostage " i only realized that was ben when i saw the credits. and i watched x men 3 just to see him ( i hate x men movies because i am a fan of the old cartoon series ) but his role was to small there. and nw i saw alpha dog.

yes, deb, i was talking about anton's abs. i am so happy to see that someone else saw " jack " and liked it.

yes, i did see huff, the episodes with chris and anton ( thanks to tee jay ). but now i saw that a romanian tv channel is going to saw huff and i am going to watch it. i hope it will be at a good hour for me.

OhGnarly · 05 Jun 07 :: 21:49

Haha! My dad and I are big movie buffs, and we've been watching films together since I was two or three. Somewhere along the line, we found out we didn't get uncomfortable watching movies with language, sex, or violence together. It's the same with the rest of my family, to be honest. I remember that I sat down with my mom, my stepdad, and my 14-year-old brother last year and we all watched American History X.

OhGnarly · 05 Jun 07 :: 21:50

Oh, Liberty Heights is a good one! I quite enjoyed it. In fact, I should try to get my hands on it again, it's been a long time since I last saw it. Hostage I haven't seen yet, but it's definitely on my "need-to-see" list.

irina · 05 Jun 07 :: 22:03

i just read tee jay's review after she first saw the movie and it's so nice to see that she felt a lot like me. i mean last night ( more like morning ) when i wrote my thoughts i thought you might think i am too easily impressed. and also i realised reading the review that i also saw the episode from criminal minds with anton. that was such a good but scary episode. mental illness always scares me because it's so hard to fight against and the person who suffers from it, can't even be blamed.
and brenna, i would like to have " liberty heights " on cd as well. because i only saw it once , also very late at night. i only started watching because i couldn't sleep and then i couldn't sleep because i couldn't stop watching.
i also see movies with my mom no matter of the subject, not neesarrily liking all the same movies. but since i first saw " basic instinct " when it came out with my mom, i think we can watch pretty much anything toghether.:P

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