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Kingsman: The Golden Circle has plenty of fun but isn't as cool as the first

Mathew Vaughn returns to the world of graphic novels this week with Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which is a follow up to Kingsman: The Secret Service. I spoke via satellite with two of the film’s stars Taron Egerton who plays Eggsy and Pedro Pascal who plays Agent Whiskey. I’ll let them explain what’s going on in this movie.

Taron Egerton: I think there’s about six months in between the end of the first and the start of the second and Eggsy is working as a fully-fledge Kingsman tailor/spy and he’s completed three missions and then out of nowhere, disaster strikes and Kinsgman is blown up. We discover that Kingsman has a sister organization that we didn’t know we had and it’s set in America and they are the Statesman and they’re most badass agent is Agent Whiskey played by Pedro Pascal and his colleagues are played by –

Pedro Pascal: I’m just going to physically gesture as he continues to talk about the movie so you get –

Taron: It’s demonstrative.

Pedro: You get a full…

Taron: Pedro’s like a visual aid!

Pedro: Exactly!

Taron: I find it a great support to my oration. So, I’ve gone on long enough now. Pedro, go.

Pedro: Well, I am Agent Whiskey and I am a member of the Statesmen. We are your American cousins. In the same way that director Mathew Vaughn did the first one with this brilliant young man, it gives you such a heightened version of English culture via this spy world and it does the same thing for us and the USA. We mirror each other and go on a big fat mission together.

Unfortunately, our interview time was cut short so I was only able to ask them one question, to which they gave a long answer.

There is not a lot to say about Kingsman: The Golden Circle. It’s not as good as its’ predecessor, which was a pretty awesome movie. The action sequences were cool but there wasn’t a “wow” moment. If you have seen Secret Service (which you need to before seeing Golden Circle) you’ll remember how cool the action sequence in the church was, well there isn’t a sequence that knocks you out of your seat like that one did in Golden Circle. There’s a lot going on here and it happens very quickly. The villain feels like a repeat of Secret Service although Julianne Moore’s plays her villain much better than Samuel L. Jackson played his. Speaking of Julianne Moore, this movie is loaded with star power from Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Mark Strong, and a surprise cameo that steals the show. I don’t want to spoil it for you but I will say that one of his songs has been in the headlines recently.

Also, if you’ve seen The Secret Service, you know about that one scene at the end that brings the movie to an abrupt end. There’s a similar scene in The Golden Circle that happens about midway through. It’s Rated “R” for a reason.

In this big-screen Ninjago adventure, the battle for Ninjago City calls to action young Master Builder Lloyd, along with his friends, who are all secret ninja warriors. Led by Master Wu, as wise-cracking as he is wise, they must defeat the evil warlord Garmadon, The Worst Guy Ever, who also happens to be Lloyd's dad. Pitting mech against mech and father against son, the epic showdown will test this fierce but undisciplined team of modern-day ninjas who must learn to check their egos and pull together to unleash their inner power of Spinjitzu. It’s a Lego movie so I’m sure it will be fun.

Friend Request pus a horror spin on social media relationships. Laura, a popular college girl, is very active on social media and shares almost everything in her life with her 800+ friends on Facebook. However, after accepting a friend request from an unknown girl named Marina, Laura becomes obsessed with Marina's profile, and soon her friends begin to die violently one by one.

Stronger is the inspirational and heroic true-life story of Jeff Bauman, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, the man whose iconic photo from the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing captured the hearts of the world. It’s based on Bauman's New York Times bestselling book, co-authored with Bret Witter.

Brad’s Status stars Ben Stiller as a father who accompanies his college bound son to the East Coast, which triggers a crisis of confidence Brad has a satisfying career and a comfortable life in suburban Sacramento where he lives with his sweet-natured wife, Melanie (Jenna Fischer), and their musical prodigy son, Troy (Austin Abrams), but it's not quite what he imagined during his college glory days. While showing his son around Boston, he can't help comparing his life with those of his four best college friends: a Hollywood bigshot, a hedge fund founder, a tech entrepreneur, and a bestselling author. As he imagines their wealthy, glamorous lives, he wonders if this is all he will ever amount to and begins to question whether he has really failed or is, in some ways at least, the most successful of them all.

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