Another Ali Biopic, I Fretted

I'm an admitted cinema goer. Despite the wonderful service that is NetFlix, and freely circulating academy screeners, I struggle to consume things at home, distracted by work, little ones, and the tamale stash. So I go, often, but seldom to new releases. Sunday night, I gorged on the Andrzej Wajda films at the Aero.

I'm probably a bit of a film snob, but also just disinterested in computer aided and generated animation, and stories culled from children's books, and theme park rides. Yet, there's one new release that has my attention: I Am Legend. Mostly, on account of its star. No not Will Smith, rather his canine companion--a German Shepherd. Tired am I of Dalmatians, Goldens, and Terriers (Cairn, Jack Russell, Fox, Yorkshire, etc, etc). Sure the Shepherd was celebrated in Rin Tin Tin, but nowdays even Great Danes and Rottweilers show up more often on the big screen.

Where's the urban mix? The pit-chow-mastiffs, the dober-rottis? I see a heck of a lot more of those than I do Sulukis or Pomeranians, Poodles or Collies. Matter of fact, one of the last new releases I really dug was the hard-boiled anthology film directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Amores Perros. The movie's third story, "El Chivo and Maru", features a man living mostly on the streets, caring for a large collection of mongrels. Hollywood dogs they were not. The animals didn't perform cute tricks, carry out extraordinary acts, or upstage their human masters. None was trained to use a toilet.