2014 Preview: September

The Summer movie season has officially come to an end and now we’re closing in on the last third of 2014. We’re not quite into the ‘Oscar season’ yet and, to be honest, there’s not that much to talk about in regards to this month but of course there are still some noteworthy releases that will be hitting theaters in the next few weeks. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films set to come out in 2014. This is Part 8 of 11 (previously 12) and today we’ll be looking at the films that will be hitting theaters this September.

SEPTEMBER 5

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a first for me in regards to this monthly preview. There are no notable new films hitting theaters this weekend. The only thing worth mentioning is a special one-week limited engagement of the 1994 Oscar-winning film ‘Forrest Gump’ in IMAX Theaters.

SEPTEMBER 12- Now we’re getting back on track as two new films will come out this weekend.

*2011’s ‘Dolphin Tale’ fared pretty well with critics and audiences when it was released that year. This month sees the release of its sequel ‘Dolphin Tale 2’. Like the first film, it is also based on a true story regarding the dolphin Winter who had lost her tail when she ended up getting caught in a fish trap. In this film, the members of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, who helped save Winter by giving her a prosthetic tail, are faced with a new challenge as they must find a new companion for Winter after her surrogate mother dies in order for her to stay at the Aquarium. The main cast of the first film (including Henry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, and Morgan Freeman) all return for this film.

*In ‘No Good Deed’, Taraji P. Henson stars as a former District Attorney who assists a stranger (played by Idris Elba) when he gets into an accident but it turns out this man isn’t as friendly as he seems.

SEPTEMBER 19- The busiest week of the month sees four new releases, including the newest young adult novel adaptation (in fact, three of these films are adaptations of novels) and a horror film from director Kevin Smith.

*The latest adaptation of a popular young adult novel, ‘The Maze Runner’, based on the book of the same name by James Dashner, centers on a boy named Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) who ends up being put into a mysterious place known as the ‘Glade’ that is surrounded by a giant maze that is guarded by creatures known as Grievers. With no memory of his past or the outside world, Thomas tries to figure out a way to escape.

*In ‘This is Where I Leave You’, based on the book of the same name by Jonathan Tropper, Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stoll, and Adam Driver star as a group of siblings who reunite with their mother (Jane Fonda) following the death of their father. The film, directed by Shawn Levy, also stars Rose Byrne, Timothy Olyphant, and Dax Shepard.

*The final major ‘adapted’ film of the week is ‘A Walk Among the Tombstones’, based off of the book of the same name by Lawrence Block. Liam Neeson stars as an ex New York cop who is hired by a drug dealer to find his missing wife.

*Closing out the week’s new releases is ‘Tusk’, a horror film from director Kevin Smith. In it, Justin Long stars as a podcaster who ends up getting kidnapped when he goes to interview a sailor. It is set to be followed by a spin-off film in 2015, ‘Yoga Hosers’, which also stars the same cast from ‘Tusk’ but is set from the perspective of two convenience store clerks (Harley Quinn Smith, Kevin Smith’s daughter, and Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of Johnny Depp, who stars in these movies as an ex-cop).

SEPTEMBER 26- Closing out the month is a pair of new releases; one a stop-motion animated film and the other an adaptation of an old TV series.

*Laika, the studio behind ‘Coraline’ and ‘Paranorman’, debut their new film, ‘The Boxtrolls’, based off of the novel ‘Here Be Monsters!’ by Alan Snow. It centers on a boy named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright (‘Bran Stark’ from ‘Game of Thrones’)) who is raised by a group of underground-living trolls known as the ‘Boxtrolls’. The film’s voice cast also includes Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost.

*To close out the month, we have ‘The Equalizer’, based off of the TV series of the same name that ran from 1985 to 1989. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (‘Training Day’), Denzel Washington stars as an ex-special ops agent who faces the Russian mob after protecting a young girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) from them.

And those are the films that are set to come out in September. Check back next month for Part 9 in which we look at the October lineup.