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The Woman King

Did Viola Davis deserve a 2023 Oscar nomination? She was terrific in this fall action thriller as the leader of the real-life West African women warriors who inspired the all-female army in Black Panther. Netflix

Plane

He’s like Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger with abs. In this modest early-2023 theatrical hit, Gerard Butler plays an airline pilot who safely crash-lands on an island only to see his passengers taken hostage by armed rebels. To save the day, he enlists a convicted murderer played by Luke Cage’s Mike Colter. $20 on AppleTV

The Northman

If Terrence Malick directed the History Channel’s Vikings, it might resemble this beautiful, bloody Norse action epic. Alexander Skarsgard is terrifyingly good as a Viking prince who will stop at nothing to avenge his murdered father. Amazon Prime

Beast

Idris Elba versus a lion? Put your money on Elba, who’s as tough as tough gets in this late-summer hoot, playing a doctor who must defend his teenage daughters from a rogue lion during a safari gone wrong. Amazon Prime

Ambulance

Michael Bay needed only a modest budget to create the eye-popping action in this April 2022 release. Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya AbdulMateen II co-star as adoptive brothers who hijack an ambulance amid a bank heist gone wrong. Amazon Prime

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Nicolas Cage plays...Nick Cage! In this surprisingly good 2022 action comedy, Cage attends the birthday party of a rich superfan only to be recruited by the CIA to take his admirer down. Pedro Pascal and Tiffany Haddish co-star. Starz