COMING THIS MONTH: September 2014 Movies

Happy September!  There isn’t much new in theaters this Friday, but next week things start to pick up. Here’s the best of what’s coming in theaters this month:

September 12: “Dolphin Tale 2”  This sequel to the endearing fact-based “Dolphin Tale” brings back stars Harry Connick, Jr., Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, director Charles Martin Smith, and, of course, Winter the dolphin with the prosthetic tail.  Surfing champion Bethany Hamilton joins the team as they work to rescue another injured dolphin, this one named Hope.

September 19: “This is Where I Leave You,” based on the comic novel by Jonathan Tropper, features an all-star cast: Jane Fonda, Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Corey Stoll, and Rose Byrne in the story of a loving but very dysfunctional family gathering to mourn the loss of their father.

“The Maze Runner” is the latest movie based on a dystopian trilogy with teenage protagonists, this one the The Maze Runner Series by James Dasher.  On a panel at Comic-Con, director Wes Ball acknowledged “That YA label on our back is a little bit of a target,” but promised that this is “very original, unique, very cinematic,” with a “mystery that drives the movie…more of a shipwreck story about kids who have to create their own world, their own society—plus balls-to-the-wall action, kind of “The Goonies” or “Jurassic Park.” Spectacle alone is not enough without characters you care about.” And, he promised, this film is “not bogged down in romance and being a teenager.”

September 26: There is no movie I am looking forward to more eagerly than “The Boxtrolls,” even more so since my visit to LAIKA to see the set last spring.

And even though I bet I can guess the end, “Hector and the Search for Happiness” looks very good.