Dog movie, dogged movie

When Pencil the adorable beagle went to that great dog park in the sky, his owner, Molly Shannon's wallflower secretary, went a little looney. The aftermath involved embezzlement (a victimless crime -- all in the name of helping animals, really) and an ill-conceived, mass rescue of shelter dogs. Low-key high-larity ensued.

This off-beat, touching indie film won the Genesis Award this weekend from the Hollywood branch of the Humane Society of the U.S., which gives out the honors each year to entertainment that looks at animal welfare issues. Mike White's film, with a breakthrough performance from Shannon, fit the bill. As did Hayden Panettiere (cause: dolphins) and Wolfgang Puck (pet peeve: factory farming). More here.

Even lanky shirtless eye candy like Ryan Phillippe and an MTV marketing campaign that focused on love and camaraderie in scorching Texas couldn't drag audiences to an Iraq war movie. "Stop-Loss," (pictured) which took pains in its advertising to distance itself from the "war" aspect of this war-based movie, pulled in a paltry $4.5 million at the boxoffice over the weekend, lower than modest estimates. (Even "Drillbit Taylor" did better than that as it hobbled into its second weekend).

Guess the jury's no longer out on the genre, at least for the foreseeable future (Oscar winners like Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Redford couldn't even jump start it). With 4,000 dead and counting, movie-goers just must not see stories about the Iraq war as leisure entertainment, no matter how beautiful or accomplished the cast.

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