Dolphin Tale 2 PG
Last time, Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) and Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) rescued the injured dolphin they called Winter. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) developed a prosthetic tail for Winter, who found happiness with her surrogate mother-poolmate, Panama, at the Clearwater Marine Hospital. Following Panama’s death, Winter becomes depressed and needs a new companion. Soon enough, Hope, an orphaned dolphin pup, is presented to the Clearwater Hospital team members, who attempt to persuade Winter to adopt the baby. Calculated to deliver maximum schmaltz, the sequel benefits from the presence of dolphins, but is weighed down by numerous life lessons and inspirational moments. (Lisa Miller)
Love is Strange R
With gay marriage in the news, Love is Strange could have been a ripped-from-the-headlines melodrama. Instead, writer-director Ira Sachs turns the plight of newlyweds Ben and George (John Lithgow and Alfred Molina) into a story with universal significance. When George is fired from the Roman Catholic school where he taught music, the couple (long-time companions before marriage) are forced from their condo and into other people’s homes, and grapple with loss of health insurance and income. Cinematically beautiful with nary a speck of saccharine, Love is Strange looks at commitment, fraying family ties, personal space, parenthood, aging, coming of age and middle-class anxiety without missing a beat. (David Luhrssen)
No Good Deed PG-13
Taraji P. Henson appears as a former district attorney turned stay-at-home mother of two small children. She’s loving her life until a handsome stranger (Idris Elba) appears at her door claiming to need help. She lets him into her home, and soon regrets the good deed. An escaped convict, the stranger terrorizes the woman and her children, forcing her to fight back in order to save her family. Not a new premise, this one appears unlikely to add much to the genre, although seeing Elba in nasty mode could be fun to watch. (L.M.)
