I love being surprised when a movie is better than I expected. “The Retirement Plan” looked like it would be just another Nicolas Cage assembly line production. It is not. Everything starts out with a heist gone wrong. The getaway driver is married to the one of the culprits who has stolen a drive with dangerous information. The wife, played by newcomer Ashley Green, has to flee the country with her daughter. They go to the Camen Islands, where her estranged father, played by Cage, lives. Then the fun starts. Cage is a Rambo type and the bad guys don’t know what hit them. There are twists and turns and a high body count done cleverly. This is a caper movie with lots of action. The real surprise for me was Ron Perlman. He plays an intellectual gangster. Very enjoyable!

Last year I saw my first Bollywood film, “RRR”, and I loved it! Three hours long, a back and forth story, singing and dancing and non-stop action. I took a chance and went to see another Indian film, “Jawan” which was also epic. The story turns out to be a multi-generational vengeance epic with a hero who seems to be a terrorist, but is really a good guy. It moves! The plot keeps going in different directions and it is only toward the end that it is all tied together. Even at three hours, I was enthralled. Not for the faint of heart, but totally entertaining! Great film!

Denzel Washington is back as Robert McCall, the Equalizer. This time he has retired and visiting Sicily. First, he uncovers an international drug ring and wipes out the entire group. Then he contacts a newbie CIA agent and anonymously alerts her. After that he ends up in a small town that is ruled by the local mafia. After being provoked once too often he takes them on. You can guess the outcome. Lots of action; lots of killing; lots of violence. Denzel is quite a badass. The story moves and keeps you on the edge of the seat. A worthy sequel.

“Bottoms” is an hilarious, raunchy, original high school comedy about two unpopular lesbian girls who want to connect with cheerleaders. They decide to start a fight club which ends up attracting the more popular students and becomes a sensation. The situations and dialogue are original and quite funny. There are a couple of scenes that are laugh out loud funny. Rachel Sennott, who plays one of the leads, also co-wrote the script and she is great. Funny and enjoyable. This is my favorite comedy of the summer.

“Oppenheimer” is the latest film from Christopher Nolan of “The Dark Knight” and “Dunkirk” fame. Nolan has become a filmmaker whose work is anticipated and this film does not disappoint. I questioned how a three hour biographical film about the maker of the atomic bomb could keep my interest. Well it did. The film is told in flashbacks from J. Robert Oppenheimer’s inquest in 1954 to renew his security clearance. We learn he was a genius in physics, followed liberal politics in the 1930’s, was tapped by the Army to lead the Manhattan Project and later a proponent for ending the nuclear arms race. “Oppenheimer” was filmed for Imax and it is beautifully done. Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer is superb. He is perfect and should be noticed at awards time. There are a lot of good supporting performances from Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnet and others. The standout Is Robert Downey, almost unrecognizable as Lewis Strauss. This is one of his best performances. He totally immerses himself in his character. This is an important film that will be among the best of 2023. Outstanding!

“Elemental” is the latest Disney-Pixar computer animated release. The critics and some people who’ve seen it haven’t really liked it, so I didn’t go into it with high expectations. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t bad at all. It’s not the best thing to come out of Pixar, but it is still better than a lot of the animated fare coming out from other studios. It’s basically a retelling of “Romeo and Juliet” with fire people vs. the water people. Parts of it are clever and funny. Other parts are pretty standard. There aren’t any characters that can be merchandised by Disney, but they are still somewhat distinctive. Cute and enjoyable, but not great.

“Sound of Freedom” is a compelling, disturbing and important film. It tells the story of human trafficking, especially of young children. At times it is hard to sit through while watching the vermin that kidnaps and sells these innocents. Jim Caviezel stars as a Homeland Security agent who pursues these criminals. It is harrowing and inspiring at the same time. Everyone should see this important movie to understand how real human trafficking really is.

I was not thrilled when I heard that they were making another sequel to the Indiana Jones franchise, especially since Harrison Ford is 80, but I was pleasantly surprised by “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” when I saw it. The film starts out during World War II and Indy is made to look younger with CGI. After he escapes danger with an ancient dial that can change the world, the film moves to 1969. The Nazi scientist wants the dial back. So does Indy’s god-daughter, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who is a great partner/antagonist for him. Lots of chases, action and fighting. I liked this film better than the last entry, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls”. Even though Ford has aged he can still carry a film. And Waller-Bridge is feisty, athletic, sarcastic and is not always on the right side of the law. A worthy addition to a legendary movie franchise.

A couple of weekends ago I saw three action movies. The first was “Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse”. This was a sequel to the animated Spiderman from a few years ago. This time Spidey gets mixed up with a villain named The Blob and all kinds of Spidermen show up. It’s a bit confusing, but has a lot of action. The ending is not really an ending but a “To be continued”. Overall, not bad, but not as good as the original.

The second film I saw was “The Flash”. As a kid I was a DC comic fan. While the Flash wasn’t one of my favorites, I still liked him. Unlike a lot of the DC films produced by Warner Brothers, this one was not totally dark. Ezra Miller plays Barry Allen who becomes the Flash. He plays with time travel in order to save his mother’s life and fouls up everything, including making a clone of himself. He enlists other super heroes including Superman, Batman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman. What I really liked was that they had multiple actors who had played the heroes. The movie starts out with Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman and then he becomes Michael Keaton. There is even a George Clooney cameo. Henry Cavill and flashbacks of Christopher Reeves show Superman. That was fun. I found it enjoyable and I liked Miller a lot. Not too found of him in real life, but he played the character well.

The third film was the latest Transformers movie, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”. This one is somewhat of an origin story that goes into the present. Some of the transformers came to earth to hide out from a sinister being intent on destroying worlds. Let’s face it, you don’t watch these movies for the dialogue or plot. There are a whole new crew of earth people, like Anthony Ramos, and many of the standard transformers including Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime. Lots of action, visual effects and battle scenes. Not a bad continuation to the franchise.

I was looking forward to Jennifer Lawrence’s new movie, “No Hard Feelings”. It had been a while since she did a comedy and the previews looked intriguing. Unfortunately it was a one-joke affair that was unbelievable and predictable at the same time. J-Law plays a down on her luck woman who can’t get out of her own way. All she wants to do is stay in her mother’s house, which she can’t afford. She also cannot make any commitments. She needs money for taxes and to get her car back so she agrees to date a 19 year old introvert whose parents promise her a car if she is successful. You can guess where it goes from there. The saving grace is that the 19 year old is played by newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman, who is the best part of the movie. When this film is streaming, if there is absolutely nothing else on you can watch it. Very disappointing.