In the past for about a year now, Netflix and Apple TV+ have been battling it out for the most premium movie deals (cheer, CODA!), but some of the best movies are on Amazon Prime. The streamer was one of the first to pick up film festival darlings and other adorable favorites, and they’re all still there in the library, so if they flew under your radar the first time around, it’s is the perfect time to catch up.
Our picks for the 10 best movies on Amazon Prime are below. All of the movies in our guide are included with your Prime membership, no rentals here. Once you’ve looked at your fill, check out our listings for the best shows on netflix And best movies on Disney+ if you are looking for something else to watch. We also have a guide to best shows on amazon if that’s what you want to do.
Brittany runs a marathon
When Brittany is told by her doctor to lose weight, she uses it as a reason to take control of her life. She begins by putting on a pair of sneakers and challenging herself to run a block, which quickly escalates into a decision to run the New York City Marathon. First director Paul Downs Colaizzo based the story on his friend’s experiences, and he not only emphasizes the benefits of running, but also the pain. This film shows that no matter how bad things get, you can always pick yourself up.
Air
Of course, these days, Michael Jordan is a real sports god, and Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers are still no doubt THE field coach, but that wasn’t the case in 1984. Jordan was a rookie and Nike was about to shut down its basketball shoe division. Enter Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), a talent scout for the shoemaker who spotted a rising star in North Carolina who could turn it all around – he just needed to convince everyone that Jordan was worth betting on. ‘business. We all know how it happened, so luckily Air is more than a two-hour shoe commercial. Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker and director Ben Affleck all deliver strong performances – only to be completely overshadowed by Viola Davis in a magnetic and powerful, if somewhat underused, turn as matriarch Deloris Jordan – while Alex Convery’s screenplay keeps the drama on the people and personalities involved, rather than the boardroom. In an age of endless franchises and blockbusters, Air is the kind of character-driven film that is rarely made anymore and is all the more enjoyable for it.
Borat Next Movie
Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Kazakh” TV reporter (even though he speaks Hebrew) returns to the United States, 14 years after his last feature film escapade. This time, Baron Cohen brought his teenage daughter (Bulgarian) with the mission to give her “as a gift” to powerful American politicians – first Mike Pence, then Rudy Giuliani. In classic Boratic fashion, the mockumentary follows the wacky duo on a cavalcade across Trump’s America, filming candid performances by unsuspecting characters ranging from QAnon believers to Republican activists to award-winning upstarts, down to Giuliani himself. Even the coronavirus pandemic, which hit America during filming, is subverted as a comedic plot. Baron Cohen delivers, with the expected repertoire of shock gags and deadpan verbal enormities, and he also manages to land a few blows at the fanatics’ expense. Unlike its 2006 predecessor, many of the pranks and stunts here seem more geared towards eliciting nervous laughter from the audience than exposing America’s heart of darkness, but it’s still a worthy and fun watch.
shotgun wedding
A loud take on the traditional romantic comedy, shotgun wedding lures viewers in with a clichéd setup — a ceremony on a tropical island, complete with hijinks courtesy of bickering in-laws — before literally exploding into an action jaunt as the wedding party is taken held hostage by violent pirates. If we’re being honest, it’s a little hammered and self-aware in places, but protagonists Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel are clearly having so much fun as newlyweds Darcy and Tom, whose special day turns into an often hilarious battle. and bloody for survival it’s easy to get carried away. With a solid supporting cast, including the always entertaining Jennifer Coolidge as the mother of the groom stealing every scene she graces with her gloriously chaotic presence, it’s a marriage worth upholding.
Nanny
Aisha (Anna Diop) is a Senegalese woman who works as a nanny for a wealthy couple in New York, hoping 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 let Aisha raise their daughter, Rose, while often withholding her salary. As the stress of the power imbalance weighs on her, Aisha begins to have strange dreams of drowning, compounded by her fears of abandoning her own child. Director Nikyatu Jusu’s feature debut, Nanny contrasts the horror of the immigrant experience in modern America with something darker, while trading the expected tropes of hope and opportunity for a palpable sadness for the culture and community left behind. Nanny takes a slow-burn psychological approach to its scares, but Diop is phenomenal throughout, and the meticulous pacing and gorgeous cinematography means every frame lingers.
Licorice Pizza
Is it possible to be nostalgic for a time and place you may never have been? Licorice Pizza– Paul Thomas Anderson’s ode to the San Fernando Valley of the 1970s – makes the case for yes. A coming-of-age 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 film of self-reflective misadventures, as perfectly matched leads ricochet through waterbed sales, criminally mistaken identities and violent run-ins with film producer Jon Peters, all set to a perfect, framed soundtrack in the hazy light of a half-remembered California summer. Throughout there’s all the sharp dialogue and small but brilliant observations of human behavior you’d expect from Anderson, but it’s the director’s ability to transport viewers back in time that makes this a masterpiece. modern work.
Coming 2 America
Relying on nostalgia to bring new entries to long-dormant series can be risky business, but Eddie Murphy’s return as Zamunda’s Prince – now King – Akeem more than three decades after 1988 Coming to America shows how to do it right. Brought back to the United States in search of a son he never knew he had, Akeem and the public reunite with familiar faces from the first film, before director Craig Brewer (Bustle and flow) flips the formula and tests American characters with a trip to Zamunda. With a cleaner, smarter and more global script than the original, Coming 2 America defies the odds to be a comedic sequel that lives up to its predecessor’s reputation.
Thirteen Lives
Director Ron Howard’s latest film brings together a top-notch cast, including Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton, for a dramatization of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, where a Thai junior soccer team and its assistant coach been trapped in the flooded cave system. . As an international effort mounts to save the children, the challenges of traversing miles of underwater caverns grow increasingly dangerous, and Howard masterfully captures every dangerously claustrophobic moment. A bitingly tense film with ingeniously shot aquatic scenes, Thirteen Lives testifies to one of the most difficult rescues ever carried out.
One night in Miami…
Based on the play of the same name, One night in Miami follows four icons of culture, music and sport – Malcom 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. Meeting in a motel room following Ali’s – then still Cassius Clay – heavyweight victory over Sonny Liston in 1964, the four men discuss their roles in the movement and society as a whole, while the audience knows that the weight of history is hanging down on them. The narrow confines of much of the film reflect its theatrical roots, but this feature debut from Regina King perfectly portrays the larger-than-life personalities of its cast. Kingsley Ben-Adir is on fire as Malcom X, with Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr. and Eli Goree – as Brown, Cooke and Ali – all totally magnetic.
The report
Produced by Amazon, The report is a gripping account of the US Senate’s investigation into the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program – how it came about, who knew about it, and how the CIA manipulated facts to underpin its effectiveness. Adam Driver stars as Daniel Jones, the lead investigator who has forged an increasingly solitary path to the truth, battling political resistance and CIA interference all the way. Driver is, as is his wont these days, superb, and the film’s 82% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes is well deserved.
The sound of metal
When punk-rock drummer and recovering drug addict Ruben begins to suffer from hearing loss, it threatens to turn his entire life upside down. Faced with an impossible choice between giving up his audition or giving up his career, Ruben begins to spin in circles, until his girlfriend Lou sends him to a rehabilitation center for the deaf, forcing him to confront his own behavior. as much as the future it faces. Riz Ahmed is in spectacular shape as the troubled Ruben, while Olivia Cooke’s turn as Lou, who suffers with her own demons, including self-harm, is gripping. Quite appropriately, The sound of metal also features an incredibly nuanced use of sound – and lack thereof – as director Darius Marder crafts one of the finest dramas in years.
