The Cider House Rules (1999)

I had expected not to write this review. It's not that I don't care strongly about this movie. It just features an extremely controversial subject that may very well make or break your opinion of and/or desire to watch it, and I'd hate to ostracize a good chunk of my readership by indicating my own position. Maybe that's why I never heard anyone talk about the movie outside the context of the 71st Annual Academy Awards. Still, it got me thinking, and those who haven't seen it ought to make an informed decision.

Based on a John Irving book, the story follows one Homer Wells from his infancy in a rural Maine orphanage to his young adulthood (when he's played by Tobey Maguire), ending shortly after World War II. He never gets adopted or formally educated, instead becoming an unofficial apprentice to orphanage director Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), who also serves as an obstetrician -- and abortionist. Tired of this claustrophobic life, he leaves with two friendly customers, Wally (Paul Rudd) and Candy (Charlize Theron), who help him gain employment as the only White laborer at a cider house. When Wally goes off to war, Candy strays toward Homer. But Dr. Larch won't accept that Homer will stay away for good.

Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

A film based loosely on a real-life dog famous for waiting years for a dead master does not sound like a good time. Do you even have a reason to watch, or is knowing that it exists enough? Well, its continued presence on IMDb's top 250 told me to check it out.

The most obvious departure from the truth lies in the setting: The real Hachiko lived in Japan in the 1920s and '30s, not some unidentified corner of the U.S. in the '90s and 2000s. In this telling, an Akita puppy gets shipped from Japan and breaks loose in a train station. The next human he meets, dance instructor Parker Wilson (Richard Gere), decides to take care of him temporarily, but the rightful owner never calls and Parker learns to love Hachi enough that Mrs. Wilson (Joan Allen) gives up on finding a substitute. The occasional narrator is Parker's grandson (Kevin DeCoste), now a preteen, who doesn't remember Hachi personally but deems the dog his hero.

My Life as a Dog (1985)

Although the Netflix summary mentions only summer, I recalled from what little I had already seen of this movie that it gets snowy -- not a surprise for Sweden. It turns out that we hear the characters preparing for Christmas near the end, so I was not remiss in my timing of this viewing.

Not that the mood is especially upbeat. A slice of life based loosely on the writer's real life, it follows preteen Ingemar during his mother's severe illness and beyond, which he first understands as a nervous breakdown from having to deal with him and his older brother fighting. Each brother is sent away to extended family; their dog Sickan (no pun intended, I presume) is said to go to a kennel, but Ingemar grows increasingly suspicious of her fate. At his most frustrated, he has his own sort of breakdown, exhibiting canine behaviors that explain the title, albeit not for much screen time.