This list is regularly updated as movies rotate on and off of Amazon Prime
Video. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
Amazon has a little bit of everything on their streaming service, but they don’t have an interface that makes it particularly easy to find any of it. They also love to rotate out their selection with reckless abandon, making it hard to pin down what’s available when you want to watch a movie. It’s the kind of digital minefield that demands a guide. That’s where we come in. This regularly updated list will highlight the best films currently on Prime Video, free for anyone with an Amazon Prime account, including classics and recent hits. There’s truly something here for everyone, starting with our pick of the week.
This Week’s Critic’s Pick
*Contagion
Year: 2011
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
It’s impossible to watch Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 drama in the same way after the COVID-19 pandemic changed the entire world. In fact, it’s startling how prophetic the film turned out to be in its presentation of how quickly an international virus could derail just about everything. It’s still a razor-sharp piece of entertainment, but it just feels different now, especially given news around the recent measles outbreak and the current administration’s stance on public health.
Drama
Challengers
Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 11m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
One of the most acclaimed dramas of the year is exclusively on Prime Video. Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor star in a story of tennis players who also happen to be lovers. Smart and sexy, this is the kind of film they’re talking about when they say that Hollywood doesn’t make movies for adults anymore. Watch this one so they do.
Dark City
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Alex Proyas
So far ahead of its time that people barely paid attention to it when it came out, this sci-fi masterpiece has only grown in esteem in the quarter-century since its release. Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly star in a sci-fi noir, a film with some of the most unforgettable imagery of the ‘90s.
Donnie Darko
Year: 2001
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Richard Kelly
It’s a mad world in Richard Kelly’s sci-fi hit starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, and Jena Malone. Darko made almost nothing in theaters but developed a loyal following on the home market, becoming one of the more acclaimed sci-fi films of the ‘00s. Join in the conversation that seems to constantly surround this film (and maybe Kelly will be encouraged to make another one soon — he hasn’t directed in over a decade).
Fargo
Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director: Joel Coen
Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1996 masterpiece is only one of the best films ever made, a story of violence and redemption in the great American North. The Coens won Best Original Screenplay and Frances McDormand took her first Oscar home for playing the unforgettable Marge Gunderson, a Minnesotan cop who gets entangled in a car salesman’s deeply inept foray into the criminal world.
Fitzcarraldo
Year: 1982
Runtime: 2h 37m
Director: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog set out to make a movie about a man who was insane enough to try and move a steamship over land from one river to another and Herzog himself was insane enough to actually try and replicate it. The result is a film that’s mesmerizing in its detail and blatant in its study of power gone mad, both in the narrative and the filmmaking. Watch Burden of Dreams after – a great doc about the crazy making of this film. (It’s on Prime too.)
Glengarry Glen Ross
Year: 1992
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: 1992
For a long time, it felt like David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1984 masterpiece was unfilmable, but Foley, working with the playwright as screenwriter, figured it out, assembling one of the best ensembles of the ‘90s to do so. Alec Baldwin notoriously steals his one scene, but the entire cast here is a stunner, especially Al Pacino (who was Oscar-nominated), Alan Arkin, and Jack Lemmon.
*Hoosiers
Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director: David Anspaugh
Any list of crowdpleasing sports movies that doesn’t include this 1986 smash hit is incomplete. The true story of a small-town Indiana high school basketball team that won the state championship stars Gene Hackman as the new coach, and co-stars Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper, who landed the only acting Oscar nomination of his career for his great work here.
King of New York
Year: 1990
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Abel Ferrara
The amazing Abel Ferrara directed this crime epic that oozes with style. Three decades after its release, it’s still one of the most cited films of this kind of its era. One of the main reasons for that is the cast. Christopher Walken leads the way as the legendary drug lord Frank White, but the whole ensemble here is amazing, including Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, Steve Buscemi, and Giancarlo Esposito.
The Limey
Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh directs a searing performance by Terence Stamp in his thriller about a Brit who comes to California trying to find his missing daughter, and those who may be responsible for hurting her. Soderbergh rarely missteps and The Limey is one of his most underrated films, a perfectly paced angry shout of a movie that matches its captivating leading man.
Manhunter
Year: 1986
Runtime: 2h 1m
Director: Michael Mann
Believe it or not, this Michael Mann flick isn’t regularly available for streaming subscribers, so take this chance while you can to watch one of the best from a masterful American director. Adapting Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, this is actually the first cinematic iteration of Hannibal Lecter, played here by future Succession Emmy winner Brian Cox. William Petersen is great as Will Graham, the role that Hugh Dancy would play many years later in the NBC series. This one is tense, and truly terrifying.
Melancholia
Year: 2011
Runtime: 2h 9m
Director: Lars von Trier
One of Lars von Trier’s best films is this 2011 sci-fi/drama starring Kirsten Dunst as a woman who becomes aware that the world is about to end. Von Trier has said the film is an allegory for his depression, something that can come out of nowhere like an apocalyptic event. It feels particularly appropriate for the mid-2020s too.
Memento
Year: 2001
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan announced himself to the world with this Sundance thriller that really reshaped the indie and eventually the blockbuster landscape. Guy Pearce gives one of his best performances as a man with such severe memory loss that he has to use his body to remind himself of the details he needs to solve a mystery. It’s still so clever and riveting.
Oppenheimer
Year: 2023
Runtime: 2h 58m
Director: Christopher Nolan
One of the biggest and best movies of 2023 has been doing a victory lap on the streaming services following its Oscar win for Best Picture. Of course, one of the draws of Nolan’s brilliant examination of the development of the atomic bomb was the way it played on Imax screens around the world. It’s best viewed large, loud, and in a one 3-hour chunk. So don’t break this one up and don’t watch it on your phone. Give yourself over to one of the most truly cinematic experiences of the decade.
Passion Fish
Year: 1992
Runtime: 2h 15m
Director: John Sayles
The brilliant writer/director John Sayles delivered one of his most beloved films in this 1992 drama about a soap opera star (Mary McDonnell) who has been paralyzed after being hit by a cab. She returns to her family home, where she crosses paths with a nurse (Alfre Woodard) who refuses to give up on her. It’s moving in a way that feels genuine, never manipulative.
Shoplifters
Year: 2018
Runtime: 2h
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
The masterful Japanese dramatist won his first Palme d’Or for this 2018 drama about a makeshift family that lives on the edge of poverty. When a family decides to take in a girl who has basically been abandoned by her real one, everything starts to shift and fracture in this dysfunctional clan. It’s an incredibly moving drama that stands as one of the best films of the 2010s.
The Thin Red Line
Year: 1999
Runtime: 2h 50m
Director: Terrence Malick
Terrence Malick wrote and directed one of his most acclaimed films with this 1998 World War II film based on the 1962 novel of the same name by James Jones. Well, as based as a Malick film can be. Lyrical and harrowing in equal measure, it’s a stunning ensemble piece about the Battle of Mount Austen in the Pacific Theater of WWII featuring strong work from Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Ben Chaplin, and many more.
To Leslie
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Michael Morris
Andrea Riseborough is phenomenal as Leslie, an alcoholic who hits rock bottom and travels back to her hometown to find herself again. While some of the structure of this surprisingly Oscar-nominated film can be a bit by-the-numbers, it’s a stunning showcase for Riseborough, nicely accompanied by a supporting cast that includes Marc Maron, Owen Teague, and Allison Janney, all delivering.
*Touch of Evil
Year: 1958
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Orson Welles
Putting aside the problematic nature of Charlton Heston playing a Mexican, this 1958 crime film is a masterful study in tension building, courtesy of one of the best directors who ever lived. Just the opening unbroken shot is an influential work of art. Streamers struggle with stocking films made before 2000, much less 1960, so take the chance to watch a classic while you can.
Horror
Suspiria
Year: 1977
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Dario Argento
The Luca Guadagnino remake is also on Prime, but the Argento original is the one to watch. One of the most important and influential of all the Giallo films, it stars Jessica Harper as a ballet student who goes overseas to study and discovers that her new school is populated by witches.
Comedy
*Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 26m
Director: Stephen Herek
It’s really hard to dislike this charming time travel comedy about two underachieving buddies who travel through time for a school project. Keanu Reeves (Ted) and Alex Winter (Bill) are so wonderfully sweet and funny in a film that has held up better than most comedies of its era. Note: The great sequel is also on Prime Video.
*The Birdcage
Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 56m
Director: Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols’ remake of the beloved La Cage aux Folles is a joyous comedy about acceptance and love that still works well today (which is not something you can about a lot of mid-‘90s comedies). Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are phenomenal as a gay couple forced to jump through hoops for their son’s new in-laws, played wonderfully by Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest. It’s funny and smart from front to back.
Bridesmaids
Year: 2011
Runtime: 2h 5m
Director: Paul Feig
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been over a decade since Bridesmaids shattered all expectations, making a fortune and turning Melissa McCarthy into a household name (especially after she landed an Oscar nomination). Smart and heartfelt, it’s the story of a woman (Kristen Wiig) who struggles in her role as Maid of Honor to a friend played by Rose Byrne. It’s still very, very funny.
Heathers
Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Michael Lehmann
Talk about a movie ahead of its time. Coming-of-age teen comedies were never quite as wonderfully cynical before this movie about four teenage girls whose lives are upended by the arrival of a new kid, played by Christian Slater. More than just seeking to destroy the damaging cliques at his new school, Slater’s character has plans for something a little more permanent in this comedy that really shaped the teen genre for years to come.
*Midnight Run
Year: 1988
Runtime: 2h 6m
Director: Martin Brest
Martin Brest directed one of the best ‘80s buddy comedies in this gem of a movie that paired Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. The Oscar winner plays a bounty hunter assigned to bring back Grodin’s embezzling accountant, who stole money from the Chicago mob. Easier said than done. Grodin and De Niro have perfect comic chemistry.
Action
Die Hard
Year: 1988
Runtime: 2h 6m
Director: John McTiernan
Finally! Streamers have a habit of dropping parts of the Bruce Willis franchise but never the whole thing, until now. Watch the whole series, from the masterful original through the abysmal A Good Day to Die Hard, in one sitting, only on Prime Video. The first one is still the masterpiece, a film that truly rewrote the rules for the genre, shifting it more to everyman characters like Willis and away from muscular stars like Sly and Ah-nuld. It’s held up perfectly, as entertaining today as when it came out.
The Fall Guy
Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 6m
Director: David Leitch
Why can’t people just have fun at the movies anymore? This movie bombed at the theaters, but it’s already found a bit of life on digital and streaming, first as a Peacock exclusive and now breaking out to the competition. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star in a clever, funny homage to the men and women who put their bodies in jeopardy for our entertainment.
*The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Year: 1967
Runtime: 2h 58m
Director: Sergio Leone
Is this Sergio Leone’s best movie? It might be. It’s arguably his most influential, changing the landscape of the Western in ways that are still being felt a half-century later. Clint Eastwood plays “The Good,” Lee Van Cleef plays “The Bad,” and Eli Wallach plays “The Ugly.” It’s even better than you remember.
Heat
Year: 1995
Runtime: 2h 50m
Director: Michael Mann
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino star in one of the best movies of the ‘90s, a stunning cat-and-mouse game between a career criminal and a workaholic cop. The book release of Heat 2 in 2022 brought a lot of people back to this movie, one that has held up remarkably well over the nearly three decades since it was released. It’s a masterpiece.
Family and Kids
*Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Joel Crawford, Januel P. Mercado
There was no reason to believe that this decade-in-waiting sequel to Puss in Boots would be better than the original but it undeniably is. One of the reasons is the stunning visual design for the film, clearly inspired by Spider-verse, but it’s also a more poignant animated film than usual, anchored by what’s really a theme of mortality that’s embedded in its heroism. It made a deserved fortune: half a billion dollars worldwide. It’s probably the last one, but, if it’s not, don’t wait another decade for the next sequel.
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