Nudity Guns and Tragedy

ALPHA DOG


Pretty good movie. White boy Justin Timberlake can act pretty good. He shows a great range of emotion going from happy go lucky to goonish very naturally.

But he is not the only good thing about this movie. The entire cast provided strong, adept, believable performances, saving a somewhat bland screenplay.


This is a good movie to eat popcorn and take a girl on a date out to. Not boring and you will not fall asleep. Emile Hirsch (the girl next door) is so so as Johnny Trulove, the antagonist in the film and Ben Foster (x-men the last stand) is dynamic as Jake Mazursky, a troubled drug dealer/thug whose antics set in motion the events that anchor the film.


If you like nudity guns and tragedy, this is the film for you. Another movie that has ample doses of nudity guns and tragedy is Smokin' Aces.

It's also got a lot more blood than Alpha Dog too, but less sex. It stars Jeremy Piven and a who's who of Hollywood big names, but the surprising standouts aren't even actors at all. Common and Alicia Keys steal the show. Look for Common upstaging and out acting Jeremy Piven in every scene they appear in together. And Alicia Keyes is one bad ass gun toting lesbian loving thug with a soft spot for bald headed tough guys.

The basic plot is Jermy Piven plays a drug addicted mob magician, Buddy Israel who's got a hit on his head for turning rat. The character is a fun one, but it seems as if Mr. Piven is too tired of playing the self destructive type to have any fun in this role. He pretty much sleeps through the movie.

But not to worry, Director Joe Carnahan has lots of eye candy that more than makes up for the cliche story lines and plot twists.

The costumes in this film are electric and the colors and cinematography are really expressive.

If anything the film could have used a car chase. My suggestion, and I'm not giving away anything here, have a spin off where Common and Alicia Keyes can really get busy and sink their teeth into their respective characters, and hopefully each other.

As far as date movies go, I give Alpha Dog a third base. Smokin' Aces, you're scoring baby.