While Prime Video has a massive streaming library, it’s not exactly always easy to navigate. The platform’s divided into subchannels and features what can often seem like a constantly rotating roster of films with little rhyme or reason to when they become available or disappear from its service. Like Hulu, Amazon has extensive licensing agreements with other networks and studios that bulk up its library. Unlike many of its competitors, however, it also owns its own film studio and makes plenty of projects of its own (some of which head to theaters before arriving on streaming). It’s complicated, but it does mean that some really great titles come under the heading of Prime Video movies, some of which you may have seen at the multiplex, and many you’ve likely never heard of before. Here are our picks (in alphabetical order) for the Prime Video films you should stream right now:
Catherine Called Birdy
Cast: Bella Ramsey, Billie Piper, Andrew Scott, Lesley Sharp, Joe Alwyn, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Kaye, Isis Hainsworth, Archie Renaux, Michael Woolfitt as Perkin, David Bradley
Lena Dunham wrote and directed this charming medieval-set comedy based on a children’s novel of the same name. The story follows a 14-year-old named Catherine (though she prefers Birdy) who is determined to thwart her father’s plans to marry her off for financial gain. Ramsey is delightful as Birdy, who deploys all her imagination and resourcefulness to scare off an array of awful suitors, and Dunham’s script has an irreverent, contemporary feel.
Hedda
Cast: Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss, Tom Bateman, Imogen Poots, Nicholas Pinnock
Writer-director Nia DaCosta reimagines Henrik Ibsen’s classic Hedda Gabler with a thoroughly modern sensibility, swapping 19th-century Oslo for 1950s England and incorporating issues of class, gender, and queerness throughout. Thompson shines as the manipulative titular character who takes obvious pleasure in the chaos and destruction she leaves in her wake, and her chemistry with Hoss, who plays Hedda’s gender-swapped ex-lover Eileen, is next-level.
Love & Friendship
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Xavier Samuel, Chloë Sevigny, Morfydd Clark, Tom Bennett
Based on Jane Austen’s unfinished and posthumously published novella Lady Susan, this delectable comedy of manners follows a scheming widow (Beckinsale) on the hunt for a new husband, as well as a match for her daughter (Clark). Director Whit Stillman gamely invents full scenes and fresh dialogue to pad out the epistolary format of Austen’s draft in a way that feels true to the spirit of her work. And Beckinsale has rarely been better, throwing herself into the role of the not particularly likable Lady Susan with gusto.
Lucy And Desi
Cast: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Lucie Arnaz, Fred Ball, Gary Morton, Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett
Amy Poehler’s sentimental documentary explores the lives of famous Hollywood comedy duo Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Using archival footage, home movies, and interviews with both the couple’s professional peers and family members, the film offers a fairly even-handed (if somewhat obviously affectionate) exploration of their personal and professional lives. Not just a love letter to two great talents, but to the power of comedy writ large, it’s a warm and satisfying watch.
My Old Ass
Cast: Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza, Percy Hynes White
A surprisingly original coming-of-age drama in which the required life lessons are imparted by an older version of the central character, My Old Ass is silly and strangely profound by turns. The story revolves around Elliott (Stella), a student in that weird liminal space between high school and college where you’re not entirely sure who you are or what you want. So she does a bunch of mushrooms and is visited by her 39-year-old self (Plaza). Older Elliott’s advice? Spend time with her family and don’t fall in love with anyone named Chad. Does younger Elliott take this to heart? Of course not, but that’s what makes this funny and bittersweet story so good.
Project Hail Mary
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce
The summer blockbuster that made summer blockbusters fun again, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s Project Hail Mary is the biggest theatrical success Amazon has had since the company entered Hollywood. And with good reason: It’s amazing. Gosling stars as a scientist turned middle school teacher who is sent out into space as part of a secret mission to stop the Earth’s sun from dying. He meets Rocky (puppeteer Ortiz), an oddball alien on a similar journey, and they form an unlikely friendship and a science partnership for the ages.
One Night In Miami
Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
Kemp Powers adapts his own 2013 stage play in this what-if historical drama, which recreates a 1964 motel room meeting between four influential Black public figures: activist Malcolm X (Ben-Adir), boxer Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), football player Jim Brown (Hodge), and singer Sam Cooke (Odom, Jr). Obviously, the conversations are fictionalized, but Kemp thoughtfully imagines many topics they probably discussed, including their respective public roles as Black men during a time of nationwide racial conflict. Unsurprisingly, as the script was written by a playwright, the dialogue sparkles throughout.
Red, White & Royal Blue
Cast: Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine, Uma Thurman, Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Stephen Fry
A charming adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s megapopular romance novel of the same name, this queer rom-com follows an unexpected love affair between the son of the president of the United States (Perez) and a British prince (Galitzine). Forced to stage a public truce with one another after an embarrassing diplomatic incident, their unwilling proximity soon transitions into real friendship and then something more. None of the problems and miscommunications the two face are particularly groundbreaking in and of themselves, but the fact that this story revolves around two young queer men in a space where too few of these stories exist makes even the most predictable beats feel fresh. It also doesn’t hurt that Perez and Galitzine have great chemistry together.
Saltburn
Cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver
Emerald Fennell’s divisive sophomore film may be a movie for sickos at heart, but its provocative story of a scholarship student (Keoghan) who becomes obsessed with one of his posh classmates (Elordi) is a fabulous mix of psychological drama, cynical satire, and guilty-pleasure fun. The odd couple-style friends spend a summer at the titular lavish estate, where uncomfortable relationship dynamics and detached privilege abound. Will everyone love the ending? No. But it’s sure fun to talk about.
The Sheep Detectives
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Brett Goldstein
If you think you’re the kind of person who won’t cry over a flock of sheep trying to solve the murder of their shepherd, think again. Based on Leonie Swann’s international bestseller Three Bags Full, this utterly delightful mystery caper boasts hidden emotional depths and surprisingly timely life lessons underneath its many jokes. It’s the increasingly rare kind of film whose themes will resonate with both kids and adults. Just keep tissues handy.
Sound Of Metal
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Mathieu Amalric
Ahmed snagged an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ruben, a heavy metal drummer who suddenly loses his hearing and has to relearn how to live life in a totally new way. It’s an affecting tale of resilience and self-acceptance with a strong cast. But the true star of this film is its sound design, which reflects Ruben’s difficult new perspective and is immersive in ways that feel as though they should be technologically impossible.
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