Word: dogged
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Davies, who made the film in two parts (one shot in 1985, the other in 1987), knows too that memory shuffles chronology like a deck of dog-eared cards on a rainy afternoon. His film is arranged as a series of vignettes, in which life's everyday epiphanies crowd out the sanctified rituals of birth, marriage and death. Eileen and her husband share a meal whose chill is punctuated only by their separate smiles at a radio comedian. Mother falls asleep with memories in her ear: Dad rasping for her to come to him, her young children answering the question...
Scott Turner (Tom Hanks) is a tidy bundle of compulsions, the kind of man who gets off on an improved filing system and looks forward to flossing his teeth. Hooch (a mastiff named Beasley) is a messy bundle of sinew and instinct, the kind of dog who lives to wreck your living room and looks forward to sinking his teeth into the necks of people he doesn't like. Also, he drools...
...against this competition, even stealing a scene or two from his furry friend. In the end, Turner tames Hooch down, Hooch loosens Turner up, and this little nothing of a movie -- sweeter and smarter than it has a right to be -- may cheer you on through the, uh, dog days...
...Dogs, who are generally fairly stupid animals, will play this game for hours. Reading Sheila Kohler's first novel, The Perfect Place, is a lot like being the dog in this game...
...game with the dog depends on the stupidity of the animal and also its desire for the reward. In The Perfect Place, the reader is too smart to waste the time, and the reward--the final story--is so unworthy that it is unlikely many readers will continue to play the game for long...