With its formidable selection of movies, Amazon Prime Video can make for an invaluable spoke in your overall wheel of streaming services. With a regular infusion of new movies to choose from each month, Prime Video also throws a few new titles into the mix each week, and we’re here to keep you up to speed on those flicks and more. This week, for example, Prime Video adds the 2012 Kevin James MMA comedy Here Comes the Boom (November 12) and the young adult comedy Anni da Cans (Dog Years), Amazon Studio’s first Italian original movie, in which a young girl begins counting her age in dog years after a life-changing car accident (November 26).
But we also understand that finding something to watch on Prime Video isn’t always easy, so we’ve put together this curated list of the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, ranked using a combination of our own preferences as well as critical ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb. So stop scrolling and start watching.
We’ve also put together guides to the best shows on Prime Video, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Netflix, and the best movies on Disney+.
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) new
While it wasn’t the first film to mix animation and live-action, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is certainly considered the most groundbreaking. This 1988 film directed by Robert Zemeckis (hot off of hits Romancing the Stone and Back to the Future) featured a never-before-seen level of interaction between cartoon characters (or “toons”) and human actors, as well as an unprecedented mix of famous cartoon characters from the likes of Disney, Warner Bros., King Features, Universal Pictures, and more, all occupying the same screen real estate. Doing all the heavy lifting on the human side is Bob Hoskins as L.A. private detective Eddie Valiant, who gets caught up in a murder plot of Toontown owner Marvin Acme after one of its biggest stars, Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer), is suspected of the deed. Eddie and Roger team up to clear his name and save Toontown from disaster at the hands of the nefarious Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd).
Rushmore (1998) new
Jason Schwartzman made his acting debut in this Wes Anderson coming-of-age story as 15-year-old eccentric prep school student Max Fischer, a kid whose laundry-list of extracurricular activities (among them, he’s the VP of the Stamp & Coin Club, lacrosse team manager, and the founder of both the Trap & Skeet Club and the Max Fischer Players theater club) is threatening his enrollment in the private Rushmore Academy. When Max meets Herman Blume (Bill Murray), the wealthy father of another student, the pair develop a close friendship. That is until Herman moves in on Max’s crush, the much older first-grade teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), whom Max has fallen hard for. From then on, the gloves come off as Max and Herman engage in an all-out revenge war of pranks, slander, and sabotage to win Rosemary’s favor, but at what cost?
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021) new
Based on the true story of turn-of-the-century English artist Louis Wain, whose paintings and illustrations of cats depicted our feline friends with psychedelic colors and imagery that no one had ever seen in the early 1900s, prompting many to believe that Wain suffered from schizophrenia. Benedict Cumberbatch depicts the eccentric artist with power and control, but by his side as Wain descends slowly into madness is the equally-powerful Claire Foy (The Crown) as Wain’s wife Emily. It’s their deep love for one another that helps keep Wain above water during a dark time in Wain’s, and the country’s, life. “How you’ve managed to conjure images of such delight in such a dark time, I don’t know,” Wain’s boss (Toby Jones) at the Illustrated London News tells him. While not a critical darling, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain will definitely add some color to your movie night.
Blade of the Immortal (2017) new
Legendary Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (13 Assassins, Ichi the Killer) was the perfect choice to adapt this popular manga series of the same name into the live-action masterpiece it is because Miike’s films are often as visually intense, bizarrely violent, and physics-defying as manga can be. Manji (Takuya Kimura) is an elite samurai who is cursed with immortality after killing an entire group of ronin who murdered his sister. Fifty years later, the un-aged Manji is called upon by a young girl, Rin Asano (Hana Sugisaki), who implores Manji to help her avenge her father’s death at the hands of yet another society of samurai assassins. Seeing a chance to redeem himself and save his soul, Manji complies and all hell breaks loose. Blade of the Immortal is 140 minutes of high-flying, sword-swinging, and blood-splattering samurai insanity that makes Kill Bill look like an episode of Paw Patrol.
Cast Away (2000)
America’s dad (Tom Hanks) had already risen from his comedic roots into more important and dramatic fare like Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and The Green Mile before taking on the role of everyman Chuck Noland in Cast Away. And if you haven’t seen it, buckle up for some primo Hanks. After being called away from yet another Christmas with his loving girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt), the workaholic, jet-setting FedEx operations executive boards a cargo plane that plummets into the south Pacific — gone, without a trace. Nolan miraculously survives the crash and washes up on a deserted island along with some wreckage and a pile of FedEx boxes. An intensely isolating film driven by Hanks’ Oscar-nominated performance, we get to be a fly on the palm tree as Nolan struggles to make fire, survive off the land, and stave off insanity by befriending the now-famous Wilson the volleyball (named after Hanks’ real-life wife, Rita Wilson) while he plans his escape from his tropical prison to get back to Kelly before she moves on for good.
Burning (2018)
Getting its premiere in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the prestigious FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize, this South Korean psychological thriller received wide critical acclaim and might be one of the best films you’ve never seen. Jong-soo (Yoo Ah-in) is a struggling writer working as a delivery man, and after reconnecting with childhood friend Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), Jong-soo begins to fall for her and agrees to take care of her cat while she takes a trip to Africa. Hae-mi returns, but she’s not alone; she’s brought a new friend with her, Ben (The Walking Dead‘s Steven Yuen), whom she met at the airport. But there’s something off about Ben. He’s rich, drives a Porsche, and likes to burn abandoned greenhouses to the ground for some reason. And Jong-soo is totally jealous of him, which is when things get intense after Hae-mi disappears. Burning is spellbinding with cold pacing that hints at something beneath, but you just can’t figure out what.
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Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Roald Dahl’s beloved 1970 children’s novel is brought to life in beautiful stop-motion glory in Wes Anderson’s Oscar-nominated Fantastic Mr. Fox. Voiced by a star-studded roster of some of Hollywood’s best, including Geroge Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman, the sophisticated Mr. Fox (Clooney) finally gives in to his animalistic nature and goes on one last raid with his opossum friend Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), effectively pissing off the three biggest farmers in the area, who make it their life missions to put an end to Fox, his family, and all his friends. When Mr. Fox’s wife’s (Streep) nephew Kristofferson (voiced by Wes’ brother, Eric Anderson) is captured by the farmers, he must reconcile his irresponsible ways to rescue him.
Alien (1979)
This is it, the one that started it all. The OG alien horror film that made a star out of Sigourney Weaver and spawned an empire of sequels, crossovers, and prequels, including these, which are also currently streaming on Prime Video: Alien 3, Alien Ressurection, Alien vs. Predator, and Prometheus. You know the premise — a commercial deep-space vessel is on its way home to Earth when it stops to answer a distress call from a distant moon. There, the crew finds an abandoned alien ship filled with mysterious eggs, one of which shoots out a freaky crab-like creature that attaches itself to a crewmember’s face, infecting him with alien spawn that escapes and starts hunting everyone. It’s up to warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Weaver) and her crew of military, science, and engineering personnel — and an android named Ash played by Ian Holm (The Hobbit‘s Bilbo Baggins) — to make it off the moon alive. Directed by Ridley Scott, Alien is a must-see if you’re into sci-fi horror.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
What better way to kick off the weekend than with a Wes Anderson flick starring Bill Murray in a cute red hat? Murray is a delight as the titular, and internationally renowned, oceanographer adventurer Steve Zissou, who returns to sea with his motley band of seafarers to hunt down a shark that made lunch out of one of his crew. Among those joining Steve on his mighty research vessel, the Belafonte, is his ex-wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston), first mate Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), a journalist (Cate Blanchett), a documentary film crew, and a man who believes Steve is his dad (Owen Wilson). Critics didn’t really love it, but The Life Aquatic is a silly, Murray-led dive with a fantastic soundtrack led by Brazillian singer-songwriter Seu Jorge (who also plays safety expert Pelé dos Santos), whose acoustic covers of classic David Bowie songs sung in Portuguese throughout the film are not to be missed.
The Graduate (1967)
If you’re curious to see the moment Dustin Hoffman became a movie star, just settle in for the delight that is The Graduate. In a role that director Mike Nichols had to fight to get Hoffman cast in, the relatively unknown actor brought innocent charm and spot-on comedic timing to Benjamin Braddock, a wide-eyed 21-year-old college graduate who has an affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), an older woman. “You’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you, Mrs. Robinson?” Braddock famously says. Problem is, as Mrs. Robinson’s advances become more seductive, Ben starts falling for her more age-appropriate daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross), but once she learns of the couple’s infidelities, she wants nothing to do with Ben.
The Social Network (2010)
Although The Social Network acts as a kind of unofficial telling of the story of Facebook and is based on Ben Mezrich’s 2009 novel The Accidental Billionaires, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher were less dazzled by the behemoth trailblazer Facebook would become than they were with the themes of friendship, betrayal, and jealousy embroiled in its genesis. Nominated for eight Oscars and winning three, the film follows 19-year-old Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), who, along with his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), and other classmates, create TheFacebook, a social media site for Ivy League students. Problem is, Mark may have stolen the idea from the wealthy Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer). The film plays out through a mix of cut scenes to the present-day legal proceedings and flashbacks chronicling Facebook’s rise — including its involvement with Napster’s Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), its move to Silicon Valley, and Saverin’s eventual ousting from the company — but Fincher and Sorkin’s focus stays true as we see a Zuckerberg who must come to terms with the price he’s paid for his creation.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
“From the deep, dark recesses of the mind of Mel Brooks (I love him!),” as Brooks himself hilariously voices in the film’s original trailer, Young Frankenstein is a beloved comedy that the American Film Institute ranks, fittingly, as the 13th-funniest American movie of all time. In a goof on the black-and-white horror movies of the 1930s, particularly Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Gene Wilder (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Brooks) stars as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the grandson of the late mad scientist of the same famous family name. When Fredrick learns that he has inherited his grandad’s castle in Transylvania, he travels there and picks up where old Victor left off. With the help from Igor (Marty Feldman) and Inga (Teri Garr), his lab assistants, Fredrick creates a monster of his own.
My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021)
From the same directing team behind 2018’s Oscar-nominated RBG, My Name Is Pauli Murray is the long-overdue telling of the life and influence of pioneering lawyer, civil and women’s rights activist, poet, and priest Pauli Murray. The film is a tribute to the largely unsung hero, the struggles they faced as a non-binary African American, and the legal contributions they made arguing for gender and race equality, most notably with the passing of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in 1968, which outlawed discrimination based on sex. Murray’s influence on the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is highlighted throughout the documentary, which, like RGB, is destined for Oscar greatness.
Snatch (2000)
Trying to explain the intricate and scribbling plot of Guy Ritchie’s Snatch is not a wise idea — you kind of just need to buckle up and hang on for the ride. What might be helpful to know about this gritty English crime comedy, though, is that it involves the seemingly random intertwining lives of a diamond thief named Frankie Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro), a psychopathic Russian named Boris the Blade, who is trying to steal Frankie’s priceless stolen diamond, a group of amateur thugs with a dog that has swallowed said diamond, a deadly gangster boss running a boxing racket, and (perhaps the best character in the film) Brad Pitt as a bare-knuckle gypsy boxer with one of the best incomprehensible “pikey” accents in cinema. There are, of course, other larger-than-life characters in the film, but all you need to know is that Snatch is a hilariously dark, connect-the-dots film that’s satisfying for fans of clever Tarantino-style action.
Casino Royale (2006)
Daniel Craig’s time as James Bond has come to an end, but his first adventure as the legendary spy is still among the best 007 movies to date. Casino Royale was a hard reset for the franchise, which stripped out the camp with a grounded look at Bond’s early escapades. Assigned to pursue a target during a high-stakes tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro, Bond forms a sizzling physical and emotional connection with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), his partner for the case. Vesper is the Bond girl he really loved, which ratchets up the intensity when both of their lives are threatened. This is where Bond truly begins.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
If you don’t quite remember this Oscar-winning musical extravaganza from 2001, it’s more likely you’ve cut a rug to its de facto theme song, Lady Marmalade, at more than a few weddings. Part of director Baz Luhrmann’s Red Curtain trilogy of theatre-motif films that include Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge!, this final installment focuses on all the dance and drama you can handle at Paris’ famous titular cabaret at the end of the 1800s. Nicole Kidman stars as Satine, the marquee performer at the nightclub, who falls in love with young writer Christian (Ewan McGregor). But like with all good forbidden love stories, beyond the over-the-top song-and-dance numbers (with Luhrmann’s signature contemporary take delivering The Police’s Roxanne as you’ve never heard before), Moulin Rouge‘s story is fraught with tragedy, as Satine struggles to get out from under the thumb of the club’s main backer, The Duke (Richard Roxburgh), who wants her for himself. Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da.
Get Shorty (1995)
Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a movie buff with an encyclopedic knowledge of the film industry. He’s also a slick-talking Miami mobster/loan shark with a vicious right jab and even more vicious trigger finger. But when Chili heads to Hollywood to collect a $200,000 debt from sleazy B-movie director Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), he sees an opportunity to trade the gangster business for the movie business, and the latter is even more, er, cutthroat. Looking to sell his life story as a motion picture, Chili enlists the help of B-movie actress Karen Flores (Rene Russo) and her A-list actor ex, Martin Weir (Danny DeVito), but when Chili’s mob boss, Ray Barboni (Dennis Farina), shows up in Tinseltown looking for the $200K, Chili has to get creative to get his movie made and not get whacked in the process.
The Bad News Bears (1976)
They swear, they drink, they smoke, and they can’t play baseball worth a damn. They’re a team of misfits in the Southern California Youth Baseball League, coached by an alcoholic former minor-league pitcher. They’re the Bears and, yep, they’re bad news. Lauded as one of the best adult-child comedies ever, The Bad News Bears stars Walter Matthau as the washed-up coach in question, Morris Buttermaker, who, as a result of a lawsuit against the league, agrees to coach a team of oddball players no one else wants. After a series of appalling losses, Morris does the unthinkable — he brings in a girl, 11-year-old Amanda Wurlitzer (Tatum O’Neal), to pitch. Amanda is a cannon on the mound, and soon the team starts to get their act together. The Bad News Bears is definitely rough around the edges with some cringy late-’70s humor (don’t watch this one with the kids), but at its core is a losers-to-heroes story worth watching.
Raising Arizona (1987)
One of the Coen brothers’ greatest comedies (second to, perhaps, The Big Lebowski), Raising Arizona is a must-watch for fans of their Looney-Toons style and enduringly dimwitted protagonists. Petty thief H.I. “Hi” McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) is fresh out of prison and wasted no time marrying Edwina “Ed” (Holly Hunter), the now-former police officer who took his mugshot. Desperate after learning that Ed can’t have children, the couple kidnaps one of the quintuplets of local furniture magnate Nathan Arizona, setting off a series of ridiculous events that involves Hi’s former cellmates, a terrifying biker, and the Arizonas all trying to get their hands on the adorable Nathan Jr.
Garden State (2004)
Neverminding the fact that the soundtrack for Zach Braff’s directorial debut introduced the world to such great bands as The Shins and Iron & Wine, as well as bringing the late great Nick Drake’s music to a new audience, Garden State still stands out as one of the best indie films of the early aughts. Braff stars as Andrew “Large” Largeman, a struggling actor in Los Angeles who returns home to New Jersey after his mother dies. As he struggles to reconcile some deep issues with his father, whom he hasn’t spoken to in years, Andrew must learn to forgive himself and retake control of his flailing life so he can move on. And with the help of an old friend, Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), and potential new love, Sam (Natalie Portman), Andrew might just find the peace he’s been deprived of for years.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
While the critical response to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when it was released more than 50 years ago was cold to lukewarm at best, this classic western would go on to be recognized as one of the greatest films of all time. Paul Newman and Robert Redford star in the titular roles as famous U.S. outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker (aka Butch Cassidy) and Harry Longabaugh (aka The Sundance Kid), respectively. On the run from the law after a string of train robberies with their Hole-in-the-Wall gang, the infamous pair have no choice but to flee to Bolivia where they figure life as robbers will be easy-breezy. With the help of Sundance’s Spanish-speaking girlfriend Etta Pace (Katharine Ross), they have some success, but soon learn the hard way that between the Bolivian bandits, police, and the army, thieving ain’t any easier south of the border. And, of course, the epic gunfight at the film’s conclusion is worth the price of your Prime membership in and of itself.
Fight Club (1999)
When David Fincher’s Fight Club punched its way into the mainstream at the turn of the millennium, it fed directly into the psyche of post-’90s dudes still raging against the machine and grappling with their life choices to sit in a cubicle for eight hours a day. Edward Norton’s narrator is one such minion, stuck in a dead-end job with a boss he hates and so broken that he becomes a support-group tourist just to treat his unrelenting insomnia. Until he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a slightly unhinged soap salesman who teaches our unnamed narrator how to break free of the corporate machine, shed his capitalistic belongings, and feel again. How do they achieve this enlightenment? We can’t really talk about it, but it involves angsty men beating each other bloody in the basement of a bar. This organized underground club for fighting that the pair creates spreads like wildfire across the country and quickly spirals out of control as Tyler’s anarchist agenda threatens to go too far.
The Mad Women's Ball (2021)
The perfect dark and disturbing psychodrama thriller for the coming weather, The Mad Women’s Ball was adapted for the screen by French actress and director Mélanie Laurent, who most will remember as Shoshana, who takes her glorious revenge on the Nazis is Quentin Tarantino’s brilliant Inglorious Basterds. Based on Victoria Mas’s 1977 novel Le bal des folles, the film follows Eugénie (Lou de Laâge), a young woman who is committed to Paris’ Salpêtrière psychiatric hospital in the late 1800s because she can talk to the dead. Laurent plays Geneviève, the Salpêtrière’s head nurse, who bears witness to the dark and often barbaric “treatments” administered by head neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (Grégoire Bonnet), which include parading the asylum’s female patients out in front of the public in a grotesque “ball.” Luckily for Eugénie and the other “mad women,” Geneviève has different plans. Not for the faint of heart, The Mad Women’s Ball is a chilling but satisfying watch.
Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)
If you’re in need of a fun, fabulous, feel-good movie this weekend, this West End stage play-turned-feature film will likely have you not just off the couch, but setting up a runway in your living room. Originally based on Jenny Popplewell’s popular TV movie, Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, this Amazon Original Movie is an adaptation of the stage musical from the same team – director James Butterell, composer Dan Gillespie, and lyricist Tom McRae. Sixteen-year-old Sheffield high schooler Jamie New (Max Harwood) has big dreams of becoming a drag queen. And while his chosen path is unconventional and even frowned upon by his classmates, his own father (Ralph Ineson), and the locals, Jamie gets nothing but support from his loving mum (Sarah Lancashire), best friend, Pritti (Lauren Patel), and old drag legend Miss Loco Chanelle (Richard E. Grant), who agrees to teach Jamie all he knows about drag. Full of big, bold, and colorful musical numbers (there’s a lot of dancing on desks going on), if Everybody’s Talking About Jamie doesn’t help you shake off the fall funk, you may want to check your pulse.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Lauded as one of the best films of all time and a stark reflection of American race relations that’s as poignant today as it was during its release, Do the Right Thing is an intense and thought-provoking drama written, directed, produced, and starring Spike Lee. During a sweltering heatwave in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant, young Mookie (Lee) works as a delivery boy for a local pizzeria owned by Italian-American Sal (Danny Aiello), who has run the shop in the predominantly African-American area for more than two decades. After a racially charged incident in the shop erupts into violence one night, the police are called, and one of the locals, Raheem (Bill Nunn), is killed by Officer Long (Rick Aiello). The situation escalates, Sal’s pizzeria is destroyed, a mob fills the streets, and the neighborhood is rocked by the events forever. Aiello deservedly received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, while Lee also got a nod for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, but Do the Right Thing‘s impact is lasting well beyond the accolades and is a must-see.
Annette (2021)
If you’re among the multitude of people whining that everything’s been done before or that remakes and re-imaginings are all anyone does anymore, then for that reason alone, Annette is worth a try. We’re not saying you’re going to like it. The critics seem to be pretty divided on this one, with many praising it for its originality, while others call it too odd for its own good. But risky performances from two Hollywood greats, Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and the twice-nominated Adam Driver, make Annette already worth the price of your Prime membership. With a story and original music (yes, it’s a rock opera with lots of singing, so buckle up) written by Ron and Russell Mael of the quirky ’80s pop band Sparks (who are kind of having a moment right now with the Edgar Wright documentary about them, The Sparks Brothers), Annette follows the love journey of a most unlikely couple, Henry (Driver), a harsh stand-up comedian, and Ann (Cotillard), a beautiful and world-famous opera singer, whose lives in the spotlight are rocked with the arrival of their daughter, Annette, who has mysterious abilities. Intrigued?
Image: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B093K9VTV5/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r
Val (2021)
Whether the Val Kilmer in your mind’s eye is him in some of his iconic roles like Top Gun‘s Iceman, The Doors‘ Jim Morrison, or Batman Forever‘s caped crusader, or you kept up with the ’80s heartthrob into his later, quieter career for films such as Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang and beyond, one thing is for sure — you’ve never seen Val Kilmer like this. Fascinating and often heart-wrenching, Val is an Amazon Original autobiographical documentary assembled by the actor and directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo from more than 40 years of home video recordings Kilmer obsessively took throughout his life and career — including behind-the-scenes footage with Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and more. Now in his ’60s and recovering from throat cancer surgery that has left him with the need to speak through a voice box on his trachea, Kilmer’s doc is a deep look inward at his life, his rise and fall from fame, his personal triumphs and failures, and, ultimately, his coming to terms with all of it.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
In what should have brought audiences to the theater in droves, this end-of-the-world action-adventure from one of the guys behind The Lego Movie (Chris McKay) is getting the Amazon Original treatment because of that pandemic thing we’ve all been dealing with. But don’t let that fool you — there’s enough explosive action here to impress even in your living room. The Tomorrow War is kind of a Terminator in reverse, where instead of forces from a future war coming to battle it out in the present, this time, the good guys fighting an alien invasion in 2051 come back in time to recruit soldiers and civilians to join the fight in the future before humankind is wiped out. Chris Pratt stars as Dan Forester, a high school teacher with some serious gun skills who is among the recruits crossing time to save the world.
Knives Out (2019)
Writer and director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) gives the classic Agatha Christie-style murder mystery a modern spin in this tale about a famous crime novelist whose unexpected death one night after a family gathering makes everyone a suspect. Daniel Craig portrays the brilliant, debonair detective Benoit Blanc, whose investigation brings the depths of the family’s dysfunction to light and leaves you guessing who will ultimately emerge as the culprit of the film’s heinous crime. The film’s ensemble cast makes a great mystery even better, with memorable performances from every actor involved, resulting in a modern mystery masterpiece.
Pinocchio (2019)
Italian author Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s story dates back to 1881, and since then, it’s been reimagined and adapted countless times in print, on television, for the stage, and in film — perhaps most notably in Disney’s 1940 animated movie. With this most recently released feature version, Italian filmmakers Matteo Garrone and Massimo Ceccherini use live-action, stunning CGI, and some pretty fantastic costumes and makeup to once again tell the tale of a lonely carpenter, Gepetto (Roberto Benigni), who creates a wooden boy puppet who magically comes to life. Pinocchio‘s universal themes of perseverance through adversity, honesty, and redemption ring true in Garrone’s adaptation as well, as the boy puppet heads out into the film’s bizarre world of animal tricksters, blue fairies, and gigantic fish to learn the lessons he needs to get back to Gepetto and realize his dream of becoming a real boy.
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Concert films are not a new phenomenon, but they do seem to be fewer and far between. In 1984, director Jonathan Demme teamed up with the band called Talking Heads for Stop Making Sense, one of the most influential concert films of all-time. Demme filmed the movie over four live performances at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles, and Talking Heads put on the show of their lives every night. The band had a great sense of showmanship and stage presence, and Demme captured it all. Stop Making Sense has even pulled off the rare feat of a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. If it’s not a “Once in a Lifetime” experience, it’s close enough.
The Vast of Night (2019)
This nostalgic throwback to classic sci-fi thrillers follows a young switchboard operator and a radio DJ whose discovery of a mysterious audio frequency sets off a series of discoveries that lead them deep into the unknown. The Amazon Studios film is the directorial debut of Andrew Patterson and has earned high praise from critics and streaming audiences alike for its suspenseful, low-budget spin on the genre.
Midsommar (2019)
What better way to celebrate the summer solstice than by having the crap scared out of you? Called an “operatic breakup movie” by director Ari Aster, Midsommar proves to be exactly that and more in this suspenseful film. It centers around an American couple with serious relationship issues who travel with friends to a midsummer festival. It gets significantly more violent and unsettling from there, with the setting of a remote Swedish village serving as the backdrop for a cult with less-than-admirable intentions, to put it lightly. It was a hit in summer 2019 and, if you’re up for a nearly 2.5-hour movie where the scares consistently and constantly creep up on you, it won’t take long to understand why.
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)
Heavily in line with the time-loop movies that this cute coming-of-age romantic comedy itself references, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is like Groundhog Day or Edge of Tomorrow (without all the death and aliens) for a new generation. Mark (Kyle Allen) is your typical teenager trying to figure life out, except that he seems to be the only one aware that he’s living the same day over and over again — he argues with his dad over his future, plays video games with his clueless best friend, and, like Bill Murray’s Phil Connors, learns the routine so well he can do little things like rescue folks from their everyday annoyances. Mark seems content in his loop, and then he meets Margaret (Kathryn Newton), who, as if fate planned it, is also stuck in the same unremarkable day. Now with something more to live for, the pair revel in their predicament and, of course, fall for each other. Written by The Magicians author Lev Grossman, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a sweet exploration of youth and the fear that comes with taking that leap of faith to get out of our own ruts and move forward with life.
Sylvie's Love (2020)
Can we all just agree that Tessa Thompson is great in just about everything she’s in? Alright, then. In this dreamy period melodrama by Eugene Ashe, Thompson plays Sylvie, an aspiring television producer in late ’50s-early ’60s New York. While working in her dad’s record shop, Sylvie meets Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha), a talented up-and-coming jazz saxophonist with big dreams of his own. Robert takes a job in the store and the two begin a friendship that blossoms into love, despite Sylvie having a fiancé who is away at war. But as Robert’s career begins to take off and Sylvie is torn between her own ambitions and obligations, the two go their separate ways … for a little while, anyway. The pair eventually meet again, with Sylvie, having overcome many of the struggles of the era’s racism and women’s rights obstacles to become a successful TV producer, and Robert’s career skyrocketing. Is the love still there? Can and will they pick up where they left off? Sylvie’s Love is a refreshing take on the over-done love-conquers-all trope and is a romantic must-watch.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
Facing displacement from the home his grandfather built as a result of gentrification in his San Francisco neighborhood, Jimmie and his best friend, Mort, set out on a mission to reclaim the house before it is irreversibly changed. Their odyssey tests their friendship and forces them to question where they belong in the place they’ve always called home. A poignant, often intense journey, this film was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards.
One Night in Miami... (2020)
In actress Regina King’s excellent directorial debut, she takes Kemp Powers’ screenplay of his own stage play and turns it into a riveting drama. One Night in Miami is a fictionalized ponderance of a real-life meeting that happened in Miami Beach in 1964 in which famous friends Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), who earlier that night just beat Sonny Liston for the world championship, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben -Adir), singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and football star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) gathered to enjoy each other’s company, debate, and discuss their roles in affecting change in Black America. Each star holds his own portraying such cultural heavyweights, and the film mixes beautifully shot sequences of their individual lives and achievements with fly-on-the-wall ensemble scenes that give you a sense of what it might have been like being in the room with these icons.
Herself (2020)
Get ready for a tear-jerker of a drama that’s full of both pain and beautiful redemption in this Amazon Original film that won the Human Rights Film Award at last year’s Dublin International Film Festival. Actress Clare Dunne, who co-wrote the film with Shameless U.K. writer Malcolm Campbell, is Sandra, a mother of two in Dublin who, after escaping her abusive husband, finds herself on the cusp of homelessness. Told with care and often intense reality by The Iron Lady director Phyllida Lloyd, Sandra eschews Ireland’s bureaucratic social housing system and decides to try to build her own house DIY-style — all she needs is a bit of land. As Sandra’s friends and strangers alike pitch in to help rebuild (literally) her life, it’s hard not to get swept up in this touchingly unique story.
Sound of Metal (2020)
Sound of Metal doesn’t mess around, getting straight to the intense and terrifying moments that Ruben (Riz Ahmed), a drummer in a heavy metal duo with his girlfriend (the wonderful Olivia Cooke), starts to lose his hearing. It’s the little things we take for granted that director/screenwriter Darius Marder zeroes in on in the film’s opening minutes — the excruciating silence of a blender, the subtle drip of percolating coffee, or the shushing spray of a showerhead — all gone. But Sound of Metal isn’t about deafness, it’s a story about change and the journey we must take to embrace it, as Ruben enters a facility to help him learn to live with his deafness while also avoiding a relapse into his old life of drug abuse. It’s a beautiful film about life-changing loss and redemption and shouldn’t be missed.
I'm Your Woman (2020)
Premiering in October at this year’s virtual edition of AFI Fest, this gritty 1970s-era crime drama features Mrs. Maisel as you’ve never seen her before. The marvelous Rachel Brosnahan trades swing dresses and handbags for bellbottoms and handguns in I’m Your Woman, playing Jean, the bored suburban housewife of Eddie (Bill Heck), a hustler and thief with some shady associates. Jean learns just how shady when Eddie shows up one night with an infant, declaring “he’s our baby,” and then disappears a couple of days later, triggering a series of events that has Jean terrified, confused, and on the run from gun-toting henchmen. Jean’s only respite from the madness is Cal (British-Nigerian actor Arinzé Kene), who shepherds Jean and baby to a safe house where his wife, Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake), and father, Art (Frankie Faison), teach her how to navigate her new life on the lam. Dripping with ’70s style, loud wardrobe choices, boat-sized cars, and a groovy Motown soundtrack, I’m Your Woman is a great way to time-warp out of your daily grind.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)
There are very few performers in the world who can switch gears so expertly as Sacha Baron Cohen. Comedian, actor, and activist, in the last two years, Cohen has navigated the roles of famous Israeli spy Eli Cohen in The Spy and American “Yippy” activist Abby Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7 (both on Netflix). But perhaps his greatest role of all is Borat. Cohen’s clueless reporter from Kazakhstan is back for another go at America in this sequel to 2006’s Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. After spending 14 years in prison, Borat is released not only to find that he has a daughter, Tutar (Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova), but that he must return to the U.S. to redeem the reputation of his homeland by gifting the feral Tutar to Mike Pence. Along the way, Cohen, of course, resumes his pranking of Trump-era America, but with his cover mostly blown from the first film, much of the task lands on the brilliant Bakalova, who delivers some bewilderingly-awkward situations and poignant political skewering.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
A classic Christmas movie with an iconic James Stewart performance, It’s a Wonderful Life follows George Bailey (Stewart), a banker in the town of Bedford Falls who is preparing to throw himself off a bridge. An angel named Clarence (Henry Travers) appears to save George, and takes him on a journey through the most important moments in George’s life, showing him all the good things he’s done for other people despite the costs to himself. It’s a Wonderful Life is a charming story about perseverance in the face of an often cruel universe and the value of relationships.
Chi-Raq (2015)
Aristophanes’ classic Greek comedy Lysistrata gets a modern update in this 2015 film directed by Spike Lee. The film follows a group of women who decide to withhold sex from their partners until they agree to curb the gang violence plaguing their Chicago neighborhood. Told in a mixture of music and verse, the film stars Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Teyonah Parris, Jennifer Hudson, Angela Bassett, John Cusack, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Honey Boy (2019)
Shia LaBeouf’s debut script is directed by Alma Har’el and follows the life of child actor Otis Lort as he rises through young success to self-destructive Hollywood star. Navigating fame and his abusive, alcoholic father proves to be next to impossible as their contentious relationship crumbles across the course of a decade. LaBeouf also stars in this semiautobiographical tale that draws from his experience with his father.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
In the soft shadows of The Gaslight Cafe, folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) croons that he “wouldn’t mind the hanging.” Leave it to the Coen Brothers to oblige him. Two of America’s most mercurial filmmakers, the Coens have approached both grim tragedy and madcap comedy in their films, sometimes at the same time. Inside Llewyn Davis falls on the bleaker end of the spectrum, following Davis as he attempts to get his music career on track in the wake of his musical partner’s suicide. His finances are not the only part of his life falling apart; his former lover, Jean (Carey Mulligan), pregnant with a child that is likely his, wants nothing to do with him. Davis’ struggle, set against the frost-glazed backdrop of New York, is a tragic one. But the film is not without humor, black though it may be. The characters surrounding Llewyn are as vibrant as he is cold, particularly Justin Timberlake as Jane’s new boyfriend (although Isaac’s future Star Wars nemesis also has a memorable musical cameo).
The Handmaiden (2016)
From Korean director Park Chan-wook, award-winning director of Oldboy, The Handmaiden is an intense, pulse-pounding crime drama set in the early 1900s during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The film follows two women — a young Japanese lady on a secluded estate, and the Korean woman who is hired as her new handmaiden. Little does the former know, though, that the latter is conspiring with a con man to defraud the woman out of her inheritance.
You Were Never Really Here (2017)
This Amazon Original was nominated for four 2019 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature and Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix). Phoenix stars as a traumatized veteran who harnesses his trauma into hunting down missing girls for a living. However, as his nightmares begin to overtake him and he continues to get in over his head, he begins to uncover a conspiracy that threatens to destroy or save him, depending on the paths he takes.
Cold War (2018)
Paweł Pawlikowski’s gorgeous historical drama Cold War follows Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig), a music director and singer respectively, who meet and fall in love in Poland after the end of World War II. As the years drag on and the Soviet grip over Eastern Europe tightens, the two drift across borders, in and out of each other’s lives. Their turbulent romance, set against a backdrop of paranoia and repression, is messy but moving. Filmed in stark black and white, Cold War is a beautiful film full of masterfully composed shots.
The Big Sick (2017)
Comedian Kumail Nanjiani and comedy writer Emily V. Gordon adapted their real-life love story for film in The Big Sick, a charming romantic comedy that was one of Digital Trends’ favorite movies of 2019 and helped score Nanjiani and Gordon their own Apple TV+ show. The movie begins with Kumail (playing a loosely fictionalized version of himself) struggling to build a stand-up career, mining his Pakistani background for material. After a run-in with a heckler named Emily (Zoe Kazan) turns into a one-night-stand and eventually a relationship, the two start to run into troubles. For starters, Kumail’s parents want him to settle down with a Pakistani woman, leading them to break up. Making things even more complicated, an infection leaves Emily in a coma. While visiting Emily in the hospital, Kumail meets her parents, Terry (Ray Romano) and Beth (Holly Hunter), learning more about them and Emily as he processes his own feelings.
The Lighthouse (2019)
Director Robert Eggers was initially moved to adapt Edgar Allan Poe’s The Light-House as a film, but The Lighthouse ultimately went in its own direction as one of 2019’s most unusual movies. Filmed entirely in black-and-white, The Lighthouse takes place in the late 19th century, as Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) finds himself stationed with the mercurial Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe). Alone and stranded on the remote island, Winslow and Wake battle both each other and the onset of insanity. Pattinson and Dafoe’s confrontations and performances are riveting, but it’s the movie’s surprises that will keep viewers talking long after the film comes to an end.
The Farewell (2019)
In China, the name of this movie is “Don’t Tell Her.” The Farewell‘s American title doesn’t entirely capture the premise of the movie in the same way, but the core message is similar. Awkwafina stars as Billi Wang, a Chinese-American writer who learns that her grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), is dying from terminal lung cancer in China. To make matters worse, Billi’s parents, Haiyan Wang (Tzi Ma) and Lu Jian (Diana Lin), as well as the rest of the family, forbid Billi from telling Nai Nai that she has only a short time to live. It’s a promise that weighs heavily on Billi, but her connection with her beloved grandmother is beautiful and touching. Nai Nai may not know the truth, but she’s still got something valuable to teach her family.
The African Queen (1952)
One of the joys of Amazon Prime is that it allows viewers of all ages to get acquainted with the films that came out decades before they were born. The African Queen is one of director John Huston’s most beloved films, thanks in no small part to the pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn as the leads. The story is set in World War I, as a missionary named Rose Sayer (Hepburn) and the captain of a riverboat, Charlie Allnut (Bogart) join forces against the Germans after their lives are upended. The journey of the African Queen takes Charlie and Rose into countless dangers, as well as an occasionally rocky romance. This is a classic, folks. And everyone should see it at least once.
Blow the Man Down (2019)
Blow the Man Down is a dark comedy and a hidden gem that arrived on Amazon Prime under the radar earlier this year. Morgan Saylor and Sophie Lowe co-headline the film as feuding sisters Mary Beth and Priscilla Connolly, respectively. When Mary Beth kills a man who tried to harm her, Priscilla decides that blood is thicker than water and she helps her sister cover up the evidence. Unfortunately for the Connolly sisters, secrets are hard to keep in a small town, and they never quite know who they can trust. Margo Martindale also has a terrific supporting turn as Enid Nora Devlin, a local brothel owner who may know too much.
Paterson (2016)
The stakes aren’t particularly high for Paterson the film. But for Paterson himself, they’re everything. Adam Driver stars as the title character, a man who works as a bus driver. But in reality, Paterson is a poet who hasn’t learned to fully accept that aspect of himself. The entire movie takes place over the course of a week, and we see the daily routine of both Paterson and his wife, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani). But when the pattern breaks and misfortune strikes, it will take a minor miracle to get Paterson back on the right track.
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