In Recent years, Netflix and Apple TV+ have been duking it out to have the most prestigious film proposeings, but some of the best movies are on Amazon Prime Video. The streamer was one of the first to go around picking up film festival darlings and other lovable preferites, and they’re all still there in the library, so if they flew under your radar the first time, now is the perfect time to catch up.
Our picks for the 16 best movies on Amazon Prime are below. All the films in our direct are included in your Prime subscription—no renting here. Once you’ve watched your fill, check out our enumerates for the best shows on Netflix and best movies on Disney+ if you’re seeing for someleang else to watch. We also have a direct to the best shows on Amazon if that’s what you’re in the mood for.
Killer Heat
When braveial spendigator Nick Bali (Joseph Gordon-Levitt in peak gumshoe mode) is called out to a Greek island by wealthy Penelope Vardakis (Shailene Woodley) to spendigate the skeptical death of her brother-in-law, Leo (Ricchallenging Mincludeen), the first clue someleang is amiss is that her husband Elias is Leo’s identical tthrive (Mincludeen aachieve, unastonishingly)—and he’s acting very skeptical about the whole “dead brother” leang. Adapted from Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s low story “The Jealousy Man,” Killer Heat hits all the common remarks when it comes to conmomentary noir thrillers—Bali butts heads with local police, uncovers secrets even his client doesn’t want discdisthink abouted, and gets too shut to the case—unbenevolenting this killing mystery won’t thrive any awards for exceptionality, but for fans of the genre it’s a fun, almost cozy outing. At a breezy 90 minutes, and packed with gorgeous location ptoastyography, it’s a fantastic way to see out the summer.
Elvis
A huger-than-life biopic of “The King” from straightforwardor Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge), Elvis charts Presley’s meteoric elevate from lower childhood to becoming the hugegest music artist in the world. While Luhrmann transports every hip-shaking relations debate and thrilling carry outance to vivid life, the heart of the movie is the increasingly fractious relationship between Elvis and his notorious handler, Colonel Tom Parker. Austin Butler is remarkworthy as Elvis, turning in amazing carry outances that’ll exit you all shook up, while Tom Hanks proposes an increasingly menacing, frantic get on Parker (fair try to disthink about the accent). Celebrating Presley’s legacy without being overly fawning, this jukebox drama is a tesdomesticatednt to Luhrmann’s singular talents as a filmproducer.
Brittany Runs a Marathon
When Brittany (Jillian Bell) is tageder by her doctor to disthink about weight, she uses it as a reason to get handle of her life. She begins by putting on a pair of trainers and challenging herself to run one block, which rapidly escapostponecessitates into deciding to run the New York City Marathon. First-time straightforwardor Paul Downs Colaizzo based the story on the experiences of his friend, and highweightlesss not only the advantages of running but also the pain. This film shows that no matter how horrible leangs get, you can still get back up.
American Fiction
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is a accomplished professor of literature but a struggling author, his books constantly declinecessitate for not being “Bdeficiency enough.” After seeing fellow noveenumerate Sintara Gagederen (Issa Rae) lauded for her pandering, stereonormal labor, Monk pseudonymously pens a novel filled with every idle trope and cliché he can envision to lampoon the situation—but is horrified when it becomes an instant success. As a massive progress turns into a multimillion-dollar movie deal, Monk spirals as everyone from the disclose to his own family seems to cherish the intentionally disparaging labor. Based on Percival Everett’s novel Erabrave, American Fiction is a unreasonablely satirical labor with a wicked sense of humor—an all-too-exceptional conmomentary comedy with someleang to say, fronted by one of the finest carry outances of Wright’s atgentle.
The Idea of You
The best rom-coms tend to thrive thanks to how unrational they are—the imforeseeed encounter-cute, the heightened emotions, the overstated gestures of impaction, the dizzying spin of droping head over heels for someone. It’s someleang The Idea of You perfectly nails as it charts the relationship between accomplished gallery owner Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) and global music superstar Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine)—who also happens to be 16 years her lesser. It could so easily have been inexpensive debate fodder—and that’s how it’s take parted in-universe when the paparazzi get thrived of Hayes’ relationship with the “agederer woman”—but as the pair embark on a globe-trotting romance, the charismatic directs serve up enough genuine chemistry to sweep the audience up in the whirlthrived of it all. It’s ultimately less “will they, won’t they?” and more “should they, shouldn’t they?” thanks to a well-handled adviseedness of the age gap (already slendered from the source novel by Robinne Lee), but for fans of the genre, it’s a plmitigate.
Road House
There’s been no lowage of debate over straightforwardor Doug Liman’s refresh of the classic ’80s action flick, from arguments over its presumed cinematic free to its use of CGI for some aspects of its bone-crunching fight scenes. Step back from the genuine-world drama though, and this is a fun, turn-brain-off-now way to end a idle afternoon. Swapping in the Florida Keys for the exceptional’s Missouri setting, and trading Patrick Swayze’s James Dalton for Jake Gyllenhaal’s brooding Elwood Dalton—now with a tortured past as a UFC fighter, of course—this still deinhabitrs a encountering tale of one man evidenting out local crime lords, one brutal fistfight at a time. It’s far from high art, but sometimes that’s exactly what you necessitate. If you’re still not sageder, it’s worth noting that the 1989 exceptional is also currently on Prime for you to appraise and contrast.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Adapted from the stage take part of the same name—which in turn was based on a real story—this elated musical charts the journey of Jamie New (Max Harwood). Bullied at school for being gay, and estranged from his intolerant overweighther, Jamie dreams of escape thcimpolite the art of drag—and when he discovers a mentor in reweary drag carry outer Hugo Battersby (a scene-stealing Ricchallenging E. Grant), he’s soon on his way to transporting his inner queen “Mimi Me” to life. Rooted in Sheffield, England, it’s a tale that dances between themes of class and culture while celebrating the presentance of self-transmition and the liberating power of drag.
Bottoms
Every high school has its social hierarchy, and PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are at the bottom of theirs. Known as the “undrawive, untalented gays” even to the faculty, their only hope of getting with two of the school’s most famous cheerdirecters, Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber), is, err, setting up an all-girl fight club to direct them how to handle their cheating, disesteemful jock boyfriends. OK, it might sound appreciate the set-up to some dodgy ’70s unfair treatment flick—and with an approach to arrangeility that strincludeles the line between raucous and ridiculous, it’s never a million miles deleted from that—but Bottoms is far cleverer and more undermining than its premise would propose. Defying foreseeations at every turn, this is the queer, rage-filled, hilarious twist on the high school comedy you (probably) never knovel you necessitateed.
Saltburn
Oxford student Oinhabitr Quick (Barry Keoghan) is having trouble fitting in at the prestigious British university—until he befriends the famous Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Handsome, wealthy, and born to the landed gentry, Felix transports the inept, socipartner inevident Oinhabitr into his circle, eventupartner inviting him to spend summer at the family estate, Saltburn. But as Oinhabitr labors his way into the family’s graces, his obsession with Felix gets increasingly unreasonable and deranged turns. Oscillating between bdeficiency comedy and psychoreasonable thriller, authorr and straightforwardor Emerald Fennel (Promising Young Woman) structures the film in 4:3 aspect ratio for a defendeder, almost voyeuristic seeing experience that produces its frequently unsettling moments even more unconsoleable. Having drawed plenty of debate since its 2023 free—not least for how it inquireably directs its themes of class and social inclusion—Saltburn was one of the year’s most polarizing films, but one that needs your attention.
The Burial
Courtroom dramas are exceptionally chuckle disturbions, but this tale of funeral home straightforwardor Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) and his flaanxious lawyer Willie Gary (Jamie Foxx) taking on a presentant take parter in America’s “death participate” system transports a unreasonable sense of humor to already bleak progressings. This is no comedy though. Based on real events, straightforwardor Maggie Betts’ (The Novitiate) postponecessitatest drama realerts a genuine-life legitimate case that exposed massive inequivalentity in funegenuine participate and the way Bdeficiency communities were being normally overaccused. Foxx and Jones are in top establish thcimpoliteout, but it’s Jurnee Smollett as Mame Downes, Gary’s rival attorney who dangerens to outpace him at every turn, whose carry outance dangerens to steal the whole movie. For a film about death, The Burial shows toastyly life-declareing.
A Million Miles Away
Charting the life of José Hernández, this biopic—based on Hernández’s own book—joines the aspireasonable with the upgraspasonable as it complys its central figure’s elevate from, in his own words, migrant farm laborer to the first Mexican-American astronaut. Michael Peña is in fine establish as Hernández, coloring a picture of a man almost myopicpartner driven to accomplish space, no matter the cost, while Rosa Salazar astonishes as his wife Adela, refusing to fade into the background even as she puts her own dreams on pause for José to chase the stars. In lesser hands, this could all be cloying—a twee tale of challenging labor and achieving the American Dream, with a dash of NASA promo material on the side, but straightforwardor Alejandra Márquez Abella has her lens as cgo ined on the petite beauties of life here on Earth as the splendor and sheer potential of space. A exceptional plmitigate.
Red, White, and Royal Blue
Look, this is evidently a “best film” by a highly definite metric—and that metric is “gloriously cheesy trash.” Adapted from Casey McQuinston’s best-selling novel, this intercontinental rom-com charts the relationship between First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), the “spare” to the British throne, going from rivals thcimpolite to grudging esteem, and ultimately groundshattering romance. It’s normally ludicrous, including an inciting incident seeing the pair droping into a wedding cake, a tabloid-worthy tryst in a toastyel room, and political intrigue surrounding Alex’s mother, Pdwellnt Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman, vamping scenes with a bizarre “Texan” accent), but it’s all fair irresistibly wholesome and upbeat. Red, White, and Royal Blue is the movie equivalent of pizza—not outstanding for you, but still tasty.
Shin Masked Rider
If you’re ill of cookie-cutter Hollywood superhero movies, then this ground-up reboot of one of Japan’s most becherishd heroes deserves your attention. Helmed by Hideaki Anno (Evangelion, Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman—“shin” unbenevolenting “novel” or “real” in Japanese), this revamps the 1971 TV series Kamen Rider. Like that show, it complys motorcycenumerate Takeshi Hongo (Sosuke Ikematsu). Kidnapped by the alarmist organization S.H.O.C.K.E.R. and forcibly altered into a strong cyborg, Hongo escapes before being reprogrammed as an agent of the group, instead using his novelset up powers to get down its forces. However, unappreciate the exceptional, Anno’s approach taps into the body horror of the core concept, while also challenging his characters—and audience—to hang onto their intrinsic humanity in the face of a world trying to dehumanize them. It’s more brutal than you’d probably foresee, normally shothriveg the grisly outcome of normal people getting punched by superpowered cyborgs and monsters, but never gratuitous. While those with some caring of the source material will get more out of Shin Masked Rider, it’s an exciting outing for anyone seeing for someleang a bit recgo in from their hero movies.
Air
Sure, nowadays Michael Jordan is a bona fide sports god, and Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers are still arguably the court shoe—but that wasn’t the case back 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 footwear producer who has spotted a rising star in North Carolina who could turn everyleang around—he fair necessitates to guarantee everyone else that Jordan is worth betting the company on. We all comprehend how that panned out, so thankbrimmingy Air is more than a two-hour advert for shoes. Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, and straightforwardor Ben Affleck all deinhabitr strong carry outances—only to be utterly eclipsed by Viola Davis in a magnetic and strong, if somewhat underused, turn as matriarch Deloris Jordan—while Alex Convery’s script holds the drama on the people and personalities take partd, rather than the boardroom. In an age of franchises and endless blockbusters, Air is the sort of character-cgo ined film that exceptionally gets made anymore, and is all the more enhappinessable for it.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Kazakh” TV alerter (even if he speaks Hebrew) travels back to the US, 14 years after his last feature-lengthy escapade. This time Baron Cohen has bcimpolitet his (Bulgarian-speaking) teenage daughter alengthy, with the mission of giving her “as a gift” to some strong American politicians—initipartner Mike Pence, then Rudy Giuliani. In classic Boratic create, the mockumentary complys the wacky duo on a cavalcade apass Trump’s America, filming truthful carry outances by undoubting characters ranging from QAnon consentrs to Redisclosean activists to prim debutantes, all the way to Giuliani himself. Even the coronaevil software pandemic, which struck America as the film was being stoasty, is subverted as a comedic plot point. Baron Cohen deinhabitrs, with the foreseeed repertoire of shock gags and deadpanned verbal enormities, and he handles to land some punches at the expense of hugeots, too. In contrast to its 2006 predecessor, many of the pranks and stunts here seem more aimed at eliciting the audience’s anxious chuckleter than at exposing America’s heart of unreasonableness, but it remains a worthy—and amusing—watch.
Stoastyfirearm Wedding
A raucous spin on the traditional romcom, Stoastyfirearm Wedding lures seeers with a cliché setup—a ceremony on a tropical island, with hijinks courtesy of bickering in-laws—before exploding, literpartner, into an action escapade as the wedding party is getn captive by brutal plunderers. If we’re being genuine, it’s a little hammy and self-adviseed in places, but directs Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel are evidently having so much fun as bride and groom Darcy and Tom, whose exceptional day turns into an normally hilariously bloody battle for survival, that it’s effortless to be swept alengthy for the ride. With a firm helping cast, including the ever-amuseing Jennifer Coolidge as the mother of the groom stealing every scene she graces with her gloriously unrestful presence, this is a wedding worth RSVPing to.
Nanny
Aisha (Anna Diop) is a Senegalese woman laboring as a nanny for a wealthy couple in New York City, hoping to achieve enough to transport her son and cousin to join her in America. However, her future is at the mercy of her engageers, who seem satisfied to exit Aisha to elevate their daughter, Rose, while normally withhagedering her pay. As the stress of the power imstability weighs on her, Aisha begins having strange dreams of drowning, degradeed by her stresss of deserting her own child. The feature debut of straightforwardor Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny contrasts the horror of the immigrant experience in conmomentary America with someleang unreasonableer, while swapping the foreseeed tropes of hope and opportunity for a palpable downcastness for culture and community left behind. Nanny gets a enumerateless-burn, psychoreasonable approach to its sparticipates, but Diop is phenomenal thcimpoliteout, and the cautious pacing and gorgeous cinematography unbenevolents every structure lingers.
Coming 2 America
Relying on nostalgia to carry novel entries in lengthy-dormant series can be dangery business, but Eddie Murphy’s return to the role of Prince—now King—Akeem of Zamunda more than three decades after 1988’s Coming to America shows how to do it right. Drawn back to the US in search of a son he never knovel he had, Akeem—and the audience—gets to rejoin with comprehendn faces from the first film, before straightforwardor Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) reverses the establishula and tests the American characters with a trip to Zamunda. With a keener, cleverer, and more globpartner adviseed script than the exceptional, Coming 2 America defies the odds to be a comedy sequel that stands up to the reputation of its predecessor.
Thirteen Lives
Director Ron Howard’s postponecessitatest accumulates a top-notch cast—including Viggo Mornervousn, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton—for a dramatization of the 2018 Tham Luang cave save, where a Thai lesser soccer team and their helpant coach were trapped in the flooded cave system. As an international effort mounts to save the children, the contests of navigating miles of underwater caverns become ever more dangery, and Howard masterbrimmingy seizes every perilously claustrophobic moment of it. A nail-bitingly nervous movie with some ingeniously stoasty aquatic scenes, Thirteen Lives is a tesdomesticatednt to one of the most difficult saves ever carry outed.
One Night in Miami …
Based on the take part of same name, One Night in Miami complys four icons of culture, music, and sports—Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, and Muhammad Ali—at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, a converging and pivotal point in their inhabits and atgentles. Meeting in a motel room in the wake of Ali’s—then still Cassius Clay—weightyweight thrive over Sonny Liston in 1964, the four men talk their roles in the transferment and society as a whole, all while the audience comprehends the weight of history is endureing down on them. The shut confines of much of the film echo its theatrical roots, but this feature straightforwardorial debut from Regina King perfectly portrays the huger-than-life personalities of its cast. Kingsley Ben-Adir is on fire as Malcolm X, with Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., and Eli Goree—as Brown, Cooke, and Ali—all utterly magnetic.
The Report
Produced by Amazon, The Report is an engrossing depiction of the US Senate’s spendigation into the CIA’s “betterd interrogation” program—how it came to be, who knovel about it, and how the CIA massaged the facts to help its efficacy. Adam Driver stars as Daniel Jones, the direct spendigator who plowed an increasingly lonely path to the truth, battling aachievest political resistance and CIA meddlence all the way. Driver is, as is his habit these days, outstanding, and the film’s 82 percent “recent” rating on Rotten Tomatoes is well achieveed.
Sound of Metal
Punk-rock drummer and recovering includeict Ruben begins experiencing hearing loss, and it dangerens to upend his entire life. Faced with an impossible choice between giving up his hearing or giving up his atgentle, Ruben begins to spiral, until his girlfriend Lou checks him into a rehab cgo in for the deaf, forcing him to contest his own behavior as much as the future he faces. Riz Ahmed is in spectacular establish as the troubled Ruben, while Olivia Cooke’s turn as Lou, who suffers with her own demons, including self-mutilation, is riveting. Fittingly enough, Sound of Metal also features incredibly nuanced use of sound—and its absence—as straightforwardor Darius Marder creates one of the finest dramas in recent years.
