In the same general vicinity is usually sufficient :-) Close enough so that the insect pollinators that visit the males when flowering will also visit the females. To clarify, if I wanted good berry production I wouldn't plant the male in the front garden and the females in the back............or vice versa.

a true gentleman wouldnt tell ... lol .. ken

Ken get your mind out of the gutter!

Do these bushes require highly acidic soil? Will they do well in mildly alkaline?

Prefers moderately acidic soils (5.5-6.5) and will be stunted and chlorotic in alkaline soils.......neutral to maybe 7.5 should be acceptable but not ideal.

so many things I want to plant require acidic soil...

The vast majority of plants will prefer acidic soil, at least slightly acidic, if not more so. A slightly to moderately acidic soil will tend to have the greatest availability of nutrients plants require for optimum growth.

Except for the Ericaceous plants that require an acidic soil (rhodies and azaleas, camellias, blueberries, etc.), a neutral to just barely alkaline soil will often suffice, although you may need to be a bit more attentive to supplemental fertilization.

They grow wild around here where the soil pH is mildly alkaline (7.2)

Usually, planting guidelines give an idea of the male/female ratio. However, here I would try to get away without planting any males until trial and error proved that wasn't a good idea. Like I said, they grow wild around here.

So do you folks like your WB? Are those gorgeous red berry pics I see online exaggerated/photoshopped?

As I said above, mine are berrying for the first time and since they aren't ripe yet, I can't really evaluate the WR. But to my eye the wild ones here are stunning. They didn't grow wild in the Cleveland area where I grew up, and they caught my eye in the swamps here and are the reason I have winterberry in my garden now. They are outstanding until Christmas or thereabouts.

I think that one of the advantages of WR is that they hold their berries a bit longer than some of the other varieties. They are large shrubs, and in my garden are suckering vigorously, something that I didn't see mentioned before they were planted.

I love winterberry hollies! I have had years with so much fruit it was unbelievable, and they typically lasted through the winter - a pretty site on bare branches (for some reason, the birds left them alone).