The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

With a runtime of just 73-minutes, this 1933 whodunnit, the fifth of fifteen films adapted from the detective novels of S S Van Dine between 1929 and 1947, has a very high body count - four, including the first untimely death of a prize show dog - and it is up to super-sleuth Philo Vance, played by William Powell, to catch the culprit, which he does despite the solution to the mystery being quite preposterous, revealed in a laughable denouement.

★★★☆☆

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K-9 (1989)

This differs from Turner and Hooch, released only three months earlier, in the way that the German Shepherd of the mismatched cop-dog duo is the straight-laced, authoritative, respectable Tom Hanks one while Jim Belushi does a slobbering Dogue de Bordeaux version of a cop-with-a-deathwish a la Martin Riggs/Axle Foley; which movie you prefer will largely depend on your actor and your dog breed preferences and how much you can tolerate this movie's weak love triangle-involving-a-dog subplot.

★★☆☆☆

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John Wick (2014)

John Wick's two-hour gun and knife killing spree, including a brief scene featuring a yellow bus and an extended scene in a hotel called "The Continental", is justified because someone killed his dog and stole his car, but if the bus had "Columbine High School" written on it and if scenes in The Continental occurred on, say, the twelfth floor of a hotel in Las Vegas instead, the terrible indictment on America's gun culture that is not the intention of directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch's ice-cold, low affect neo noir thriller, might dampen the dumb awe of fanboys who have driven demand for not just a number two but coming soon, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Even More Bullets To The Head.

★☆☆☆☆

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Turner and Hooch (1989)

Turner and Hooch is essentially a buddy cop movie except that one of the buddy cops is whiny, dopey, incessantly barks, and has an irritating schtick - he teams up with a drooling Dogue de Bordeaux to solve a not very interesting crime and of course the mismatched pair grow to love each other despite their initial differences.

★★☆☆☆

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Tracks (2013)

This movie based on the book, Tracks by Robyn "The Camel Lady" Davidson, details her 1977 journey across 2000km of Australian desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean with just her dog and three camels, and it brings the outback to staggeringly beautiful life and along the way tantalises with bits and pieces of information about her, helping with the mystery of why anyone so young would strike so determinedly upon such a singular, dangerous and lonely plan.

★★★★☆

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Truman (2015)

A man, a stage actor dying of cancer, is visited in Madrid by his dear friend now living in Canada and their four days together are spent doing spontaneous but rather morbid things as both friends face the prospect of never seeing the other again, and if you think that sounds maudlin, it isn't - while certainly not without its emotional moments, this Spanish movie is a gentle, refreshing tonic.

★★★★☆

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Red Dog (2011)

The inhabitants of Dampier gather and share stories about a red dog that has featured prominently in their lives in this gentle drama apparently based on a true story except - as is the irritating way of all mainstream Australian films - the eccentric townfolk have been exaggerated to all get out.

★★★☆☆

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The Peanuts Movie (2015)

There is so much in this movie that will have adults and children beaming: the imagination, whimsy, the running gags, the trombone adult voices, the computer animation which brings to 3D-life the whole Snoopy and Charlie Brown world without compromising the source material, and its complete and utter cuteness!

★★★★☆

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