Over A year or so, Netflix and Apple TV+ have been bringing out the most popular movie offerings (congratulations, coda!), but that doesn’t mean other streaming services don’t have excellent shows. Like, for example, Amazon Prime. The streamer was one of the first to go pick up film festival darlings and other beloved favorites, and they’re all still there in the library, so if they flew under your radar the first time, now’s the perfect time to catch up.
Here are our picks for the 10 best movies on Amazon Prime. All movies in our catalog are included with your Prime subscription – no rentals here. Once you’ve caught your movie, check out our lists for the best movies on Netflix and the best movies on Disney+ if you’re looking for something else to watch. We also have a guide to the best deals on Amazon if that’s what works for you.
The next Borat movie
“Kazakh” TV reporter Sacha Baron Cohen (even if he speaks Hebrew) is flying back to the United States, 14 years after his last long-distance adventure. This time Baron Cohen brought his teenage daughter (who speaks Bulgarian) with the task of giving her as a “gift” to some powerful American politician – first Mike Pence, then Rudy Giuliani. In classic Boratec style, the satirical film follows the oddball duo on a parade across Trump’s America, as they depict candid performances by unlikely figures ranging from QAnon believers, to Republican operatives, to neophytes, all the way to Giuliani himself. Even the coronavirus pandemic, which struck America during the filming of the film, was subverted as a comic plot point. Baron Cohen delivers, with the expected repertoire of shocking gags and deadpan bloopers, and manages to land a few punches at the fanatics’ expense as well. In contrast to its 2006 predecessor, many of the pranks and stunts here seem aimed more at making a jittery audience laugh than at exposing the darkened heart of America, but it remains a worthy and funny watch.
gun wedding
a raucous spin on the traditional rom-com, gun wedding It lures viewers in with a cliché—a tropical island ceremony, with a clamor of brawling between the in-laws—before it explodes, quite literally, into an action-adventure where the wedding party is taken hostage by violent pirates. If we’re being honest, it’s a little clunky and self-conscious in places, but Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel clearly have a lot of fun as bride and groom Darcy and Tom, whose special day turns into an often hilariously bloody battle for survival, It’s easy to get carried away riding. With a strong supporting cast, including the always entertaining Jennifer Coolidge as the groom’s mother who steals every pleasing scene with her gloriously chaotic presence, this is a wedding worth answering for.
Nanny
Aicha (Anna Diop) is a Senegalese woman who works as a nanny for a wealthy couple in New York City, and hopes to earn enough to bring her son and cousin to join her in America. However, her future is at the mercy of her employers, who seem content to leave Aisha to raise their daughter, Rose, with her paychecks often withheld. As the pressures of a power imbalance weigh on her, Aisha begins to have strange dreams of drowning, which are exacerbated by her fears of abandoning her child. The directorial debut of Nikiyato Gusso, Nanny He contrasts the horror of the immigrant experience in modern America with something darker, while replacing tropes of hope and expected opportunity with a palpable sadness over a culture and society left behind. Nanny It takes a slow psychological approach to its scares, but Diop is exceptional throughout, and the precise pacing and superb cinematography mean every frame lingers.
Licorice pizza
Is it possible to feel nostalgic about a time and place you may have never been to? Licorice pizza— Paul Thomas Anderson’s poem about the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s — makes a strong case for “yes.” An upcoming comedy-drama, the film follows 15-year-old actor Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) and 25-year-old photographer Alana Kane (Alana Haim) as they strike up an unlikely friendship. It’s a movie of self-reflexive misadventure, in which perfectly matched contestants bounce through watery sales, criminally mistaken identities, and violent encounters with film producer Jon Peters, all set to a period-perfect soundtrack and framed in the hazy light of a California summer. which half does not remember. Throughout, there’s all the sharp dialogue and small-but-great observations of human behavior you’d expect from Anderson, but it’s the director’s ability to transport viewers back in time that solidifies this as a modern masterpiece.
Coming 2 America
Relying on nostalgia to carry new entries in a long-dormant series can be a risky business, but Eddie Murphy’s return as Prince – now King – Akeem of Zamunda more than three decades after 1988’s Coming to America Shows how to do it right. Returning to the States in search of a son he never knew he had, Akeem and the audience meet familiar faces from the first film, kissed by director Craig Brewer (Congestion and flow) reverses the formula and tests the American characters with a trip to Zamunda. Using a script that’s more refined, smarter, and more globally aware than the original, Coming 2 America It defies the odds to be a comic sequel that lives up to the reputation of its predecessor.
Thirteen lives
Director Ron Howard’s latest work brings together a top-notch cast – including Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton – for a dramatization of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, in which a Thai junior soccer team and their assistant coach are trapped in a flooded cave system. As international efforts to save the children ramp up, the challenges of navigating miles of underwater caverns are more dangerous than ever, and Howard brilliantly captures every perilous moment of claustrophobia. A tense thriller with some brilliantly shot water scenes, Thirteen lives is a testament to one of the most difficult rescues ever conducted.
respect
Jennifer Hudson stars as the Queen of Soul in this biopic charting the life and times of Aretha Franklin. Directed by Liesl Tomei. respect Tracing Franklin from her youth in Michigan through her burgeoning gospel and jazz career and finally to the mainstream breakthrough that led to her becoming one of the most successful female performers in the world. This is not a puff piece, though. Tommy documents Franklin’s lows as stunningly as her highs, from family conflicts to job burnout, self-destruction, and battles with addiction. A beautifully illustrated film that perfectly captures each era of Franklin’s life with period-perfect clothing and designs, respect It also boasts an amazing supporting cast, including Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, and Mary J. Blige – and, of course, a great soundtrack.
One night in Miami…
Based on the play of the same name, One night in Miami … follows four icons of culture, music, and sport—Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, and Muhammad Ali—at the height of the civil rights movement, a converging and pivotal point in their lives and careers. Gathered in a hotel room in the aftermath of Ali’s – then still Cassius Clay – heavyweight victory over Sonny Liston in 1964, the four men discuss their roles in the movement and society at large, all while the audience knows that the weight of history is a downward influence. on them. The close confines of much of the film reflect its theatrical roots, but this Regina King directorial debut perfectly portrays the larger-than-life characters in the cast. Kingsley Ben-Adir is on fire as Malcolm X, with Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., and Ellie Gorey – as Brown, Cook and Ali – all completely magnetic.
Saint Maud
Like any other offering from A24 (Witch, Hereditary, Midsmar), Rose Glass’s directorial debut Saint Maud It is an ethereal cerebral horror movie. In it, Morvid Clark plays Katie, a sad and lonely young woman who quits her job due to unknown circumstances. When she begins taking care of a sick, sickly woman who isn’t everything—fun, free-spirited—Katie, who now runs by Maude, is infatuated. However, everything begins to spiral out of control when Maud becomes convinced that she has been sent to save a young woman’s soul.
the report
Produced by Amazon, the report is a stirring depiction of the US Senate’s investigation into the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program–how it came to be, who knew about it, and how the CIA spins facts to support its effectiveness. Adam Driver stars as Daniel Jones, a master detective who blazes an increasingly lonely path to the truth, battling political resistance and CIA meddling along the way. Driver, as is his wont these days, is fantastic, and the movie has an 82 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Metal sound
When punk rock drummer and recovering addict Robin begins to suffer from hearing loss, it threatens to turn his life upside down. Faced with an impossible choice between giving up his hearing or giving up his career, Robin begins to decline, until his girlfriend Lou checks him into deaf rehab, forcing him to confront his behavior as much as the future he faces. Riz Ahmed is in stunning form as the troubled Robin, while Olivia Cooke’s role as Lou, plagued by her own demons, including self-harm, is eye-opening. appropriately enough, Metal sound It is also notable for the incredible use of sound – and its absence – as director Darius Marder has crafted one of the best dramas of recent years.