The 25 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Video
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Free shipping, Whole Foods grocery delivery, Alexa eavesdropping on every word you say and likely reporting it back to the world’s richest man, and a handful of really great movies—that's what you can get from Amazon Prime. Ready to sign up?
In addition to Amazon’s arsenal of free movies, streamable with ads through their free service Freevee, the online retailer has spent the last few years legitimizing itself as a major subscription streamer. Users with an Amazon Prime account have access to a wide pool of films to stream, from the best ever made to the worst. Here are the 25 best movies to stream on Amazon Prime Video now.
Air
The latest on-screen collab between Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Air follows the origins of the Air Jordan, one of the most recognizable and profitable shoe lines on the market. Affleck and Damon play the Nike CEO and a talent scout who, tasked with finding a spokesperson to resurrect their failing basketball shoe division, court a young Michael Jordan before he was, well, Michael Jordan. The film also stars Viola Davis as the star athlete’s mother, Deloris Jordan.
Sound of Metal
This Oscar winning drama stars Riz Ahmed as a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing, and in turn, his reason for existing. In its Oscars year, the film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor, taking home awards for Best Sound and Best Film Editing.
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Top Gun: Maverick
Starring Tom Cruise and everyone else, Top Gun: Maverick is officially streamable on Amazon Prime. The 2022 movie was all anyone could talk about last year, so if you never made it to the theater, now is your chance to catch up before some dude inevitably brings it up on a date.
She Said
This 2022 drama stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, the New York Times journalists who investigated and exposed Harvey Weinstein as a serial sexual abuser. Fun fact: She Said is the first movie to ever use the real New York Times offices.
Manchester by the Sea
This Oscar-winning film stars Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, and Michelle Williams and follows the complexities of grief, depression, and responsibility through the lens of a broken family. When his brother suddenly dies, Lee Chandler (Affleck) must return to his hometown to care for his teenage nephew, forced to face a devastating past and his ex-wife. Affleck won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, and the film took home the award for Best Original Screenplay as well.
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Titanic
This 1997 classic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as young passengers aboard the ill fated Titanic megaship, who are unlucky enough to fall in love just as an iceberg tears the ship in two.
The Machinist
Christian Bale lost 62 pounds to play Trevor Reznik in The Machinist. This 2004 psychological thriller follows a man suffering from paranoia and delusion as a consequence of staying awake for an entire year. It’s a dark film with a twist ending, if you’re into that kind of thing.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Don’t let finance bros ruin this movie, they can’t have everything. This 2013 biopic stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, the former stockbroker who, in 1999, went to prison for fraud and financial crimes. This film was also the breakout performance of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, Margot Robbie.
Mamma Mia!
If you didn’t snag a ticket to Greece this summer, Amazon Prime Video has the next best thing. Mamma Mia! stars Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfriend, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård, but you knew that already. This iconic musical follows a young bride who invites three of her mother’s former flames to her wedding to finally learn the true identity of her father.
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Whiplash
Starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, Whiplash is a gritty drama that follows a percussion student at a prestigious music conservatory as he learns/suffers abuse from an intense instructor.
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Forrest Gump
This 1994 classic stars Tom Hanks as the titular Forrest Gump, a man whose life experience traces the history of America, from the Vietnam War, to Watergate, to the rise of Elvis Presley.
A Beautiful Mind
Written by Akiva Goldsman, who recently celebrated the premiere of his Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room, A Beautiful Mind is a biopic that tells the story of John Nash, a genius mathematician who suffered from schizophrenia. The film stars Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly and won four OscarrBest Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress.
Bros
This 2022 rom-com stars, and was co-written by, Billy Eichner alongside Luke Macfarlane as two gay men in New York City who fall in love, despite their best efforts not to. Bros marks one of the first gay romantic comedies from a major studio and was celebrated for its openly LGBT cast.
Dallas Buyers Club
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, and Jennifer Garner, Dallas Buyers Club tells the true story of Ron Woodroof who, after being diagnosed with AIDS, created a buying group that helped distribute inaccessible life preserving drugs to those struggling with the disease before a cure had been found.
Saint Maud
A creative horror from A24, Saint Maud follows a young hospice nurse who, having recently converted to Catholicism, becomes obsessed with one of her patients, determined to save her soul.
House of Gucci
Ensemble cast ahead! This 2021 biographical drama stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, and Al Pacino and tells the story of the Gucci fashion dynasty. Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, who married Maurizio Gucci and would later orchestrate his murder to gain control of the fashion empire.
Boyz n the Hood
Written and directed by John Singleton, Boyz n the Hood is a coming of age drama starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut as three teenagers growing up in gang-heavy South Central Los Angeles. Singleton created the film as part of his application to film school in 1986 and was largely inspired by his own life and the experiences of his peers. He went on to become the youngest person and the first African American filmmaker to be nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards.
Beautiful Boy
This 2019 drama stars Steve Carell as a concerned father and Timothée Chalamet as his son, who is suffering with addiction. The story comes from the memoirs of David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction and Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.
The Aviator
This 2004 biopic comes from Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, businessman, pilot, film producer, and one of the richest people in the world in his time. The film follows Hughes from the years 1927 to 1947 and focuses heavily on the progression of his struggle with severe OCD.
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My Policeman
Starring Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, and David Dawson, My Policeman is a heartbreaking love triangle between a policeman, his wife, and their friend. The story spans decades, beginning with the trio as retirees, and calling back to their younger years to reveal the truth of their love stories.
Thelma & Louise
This 1991 comedy takes the buddy action trope—think Starsky and Hutch, or Tango and Cash—and makes it femme. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis star as the titular Thelma and Louise, a pair of friends who embark on a road trip across the country that ends in dramatic fashion. The movie continues to be a pillar of feminist cinema and it’s just damn good.
Silver Linings Playbook
Starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook is a comedy drama that is, at its core, a story about mental health. Cooper plays Pat Solitano, a man recently released from a psychiatric hospital with a bipolar disorder diagnosis after suffering a mental breakdown and losing his job as a teacher. Lawrence plays Tiffany Maxwell, a young woman reeling from the death of her husband while also struggling with an unspecified disorder of her own. It sounds heavy, and in moments it is, but it’s also hilarious and heartwarming.
Honey Boy
Written by Shia LaBeouf and loosely (read: very loosely) based on his childhood, Honey Boy follows a child actor named Otis and his aggressive, animated, alcoholic, former rodeo clown father. As the story goes, LaBeouf wrote the script for Honey Boy in rehab, working through a PTSD diagnosis and a whole lot of childhood trauma.
The Virgin Suicides
A 1999 Coppola gem—Sofia, to be clear—The Virgin Suicides stars Kirsten Dunst and follows the lives of five suburban sisters living under the strict control of their religious parents, who eventually pull the girls out of school and confine them to their family home. An adaptation of the 1993 novel of the same name, the story is told through the eyes of a group of young neighborhood boys, fascinated by the mysterious family and the confined sisters. A modern cult classic, the film is considered to be one of the best high school movies, a twisted coming of age tale.
Blackfish
This 2013 documentary digs into the ethics of animal captivity, specifically focusing on SeaWorld and its treatment of orca whales. The star of this documentary is one orca in specific, Tilikum, whose treatment and captivity led to the deaths of three people.
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