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What's new in theaters: 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle,' 'Lego Ninjago Movie,' 'Stronger'

 
Tatiana Maslany, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal in “Stronger.”  The film chronicles the story of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman. 
Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions
Tatiana Maslany, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal in “Stronger.” The film chronicles the story of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions
Published Sept. 20, 2017

OPENING FRIDAY:

KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

Two years ago, Kingsman: The Secret Service sneaked up on audiences like a spy in the night, making an unlikely action hero of Academy Award winner Colin Firth. Director Matthew Vaughn mushed the secret agent genre's extremes — bracing violence, Austin Powers cheekiness — into a sleeper hit leaving fans wanting more.

They get it and then some with Kingsman: The Golden Circle (R) resurrects Firth's character from the apparently dead while adding three more Oscar winners and Elton John to boot. Oh, and Channing Tatum as a gunslinger secret agent named Tequila. Make it a double.

Firth's debonair spy Harry Hart is back in action with his protege Eggsy (Taron Egerton) firmly entrenched in Kingsman mayhem. They're, on the trail of Poppy (Julianne Moore), a cheery arch villain with an obsession for 1950s kitsch — dig her crazy lair — and an offbeat plan for world domination.

Assisting the Kingsman crew are their American brothers-in-espionage,the Statesmen controlled by Champ (Jeff Bridges) and led into danger by Tequila, which happens to the best of us.

Click here to read a review of Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

STRONGER

What didn't kill Jeff Bauman made him Stronger, surviving not only the Boston Marathon terrorist bombings but a crush of well-meaning yet corrosive attention for doing it.

"I'm a hero for standing there and getting my legs blown off?" Bauman asks no one in particular in Stronger, channeled through Jake Gyllenhaal's acute portrayal. It's the central question of David Gordon Green's uncommonly inspirational movie, more subdued than such against-the-odds material typically plays.

Click here to read a review of Stronger.

THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE

These Lego movies must be getting easier to assemble. The Lego Ninjago Movie (PG) makes three, two of them released this year. Ninjago is the snap-together island where six teenage ninjas use supernatural powers to defeat all kinds of evil. Exciting stuff, but they still must attend high school, where teachers and bullies make things dicier. They're trained by Master Wu (voiced by Jackie Chan) to confront the warlord Garmadon (Justin Theroux) a.k.a. the Worst Guy Ever. The funny Franco brother Dave, SNL icon Fred Armisen and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) lend their voices to the ninja army. Six — count 'em, six — screenwriters should provide plenty of put-ons and puns for three (!) directors to handle. That's a lot of moving parts for a bunch of plastic bricks.

Read a review of The Lego Ninjago Movie at tampabay.com/movies.

LATE NIGHT REWIND: VAMPIRE'S KISS

Watching Nicolas Cage eat a live cockroach never gets old. It may be his defining moment as an overreaching actor, when even Cage himself might admit he took his craft too far. Cage's snack attack is the highlight of Vampire's Kiss (R), a lurid dark comedy from 1988 that Tampa Theatre is showing as part of its Rewind series. The concession stand will be open with tastier choices. 10:30 p.m. Friday. 711 N Franklin St., Tampa. $7. tampatheatre.org.

in theaters: our Top 5

Current movies recommended by the Tampa Bay Times:

1Stronger: Jake Gyllenhaal plays a survivor of the Boston Marathon terrorist bombings.

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3Good Time: Robert Pattinson eclipses Twilight in a crackling crime thriller.

4Logan Lucky: Channing Tatum and Adam Driver play dumber than two bags of hammers.

5Patti Cake$: Hairspray meets 8 Mile making a hip-hop Cinderella of newcomer Danielle Macdonald.

UPCOMING RELEASES

(Dates subject to change)

Sept. 29: American Made; Battle of the Sexes; Flatliners; Lucky

Oct. 6: Blade Runner: 2049; The Florida Project; The Mountain Between Us; My Little Pony: The Movie

Oct. 13: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Marshall; The Foreigner; Happy Death Day

Oct. 20: The Snowman; Geostorm; Only the Brave; Boo 2: A Madea Halloween; Same Kind of Different as Me

Oct. 27: Suburbicon; Thank You for Your Service; Jigsaw

Nov. 3: Thor: Ragnarok; A Bad Moms Christmas; The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Nov. 10: Murder on the Orient Express; Daddy's Home 2