‘The Dog Stars’ Barks Fitfully, but Lacks Bite

Next year marks Sir Ridley Scott’s 50th year as a feature-film director; unquestionably, he is among the greatest living masters of mainstream cinema. But for all the thousands of questions Mr. Scott continues to get about “Alien” (1979) and “Blade Runner” (1982), his body of work has a fascinating relationship with timing. “Someone To Watch Over Me,” his sorely underrated 1987 New York thriller suffered from being released so soon after “Fatal Attraction”; “Body of Lies,” a 2008 Middle East CIA thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, was released at a time of growing fatigue over the Iraq War and wound up being beaten at the box office to “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.”