In addition to delivering much-needed supplies like toilet paper and headphones directly to your door, Amazon Prime also actually makes pretty great original movies. Amazon entered the original film realm a few years ago just as Netflix was also ramping up production of its own movies. The early Amazon Prime original movies were really angling for prestige, and they succeeded! Films likeManchester By the SeaandI Am Not Your Negrofound success at the Oscars, but recently Amazon has begun diversifying its catalogue with horror films, comedies, and just straight-up feel good movies.
We’ve gone through all of Amazon Prime’s original movies and singled out the very best ones. So if you’re in the mood to watch some great recent releases, we’ve got you covered. Check out our list of the best Amazon Prime original movies below.
Late Night
Director:Nisha Ganatra
Writer:Mindy Kaling
Cast:Mindy Kaling, Emma Thompson, Hugh Dancy, John Lithgow, Denis O’Hare, Reid Scott, and Amy Ryan
If you’re a fan of behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories and romcoms, you’ll probably likeLate Night. The film follows a young woman (Mindy Kaling) who joins the all-male writing staff of a formerly famous but now in decline late night host, played byEmma Thompson. The idealistic young writer meets the cynicism of the host and her staff head on, as they attempt to turn the show around while other obstacles arise. It’s sweet and fun and funny, but also surprisingly emotional as it reaches the end. Thompson delivers a terrific performance as a complex and powerful woman, and Kaling is charming as the naïve comedy newbie who idolizes her boss. –Adam Chitwood
Brittany Runs a Marathon
Director/Writer:Paul Downs Colaizzo
Cast:Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Abudkar, Lil Rel Howery, and Micah Stock
Brittany Runs a Marathonis not the movie you think it is, in the very best way. The film starsJillian Bellas an overweight woman who sets out to train for and run the New York marathon as a way to get in shape, which she also believes will change her life for the better. Changes do come, but they’re a mix of positive and negative as Bell’s character learns the hard way that her issues are related to who she is as a person rather than how she looks on the outside. It’s a surprising, sweet, and frequently hilarious comedy with a dash of romance for good measure. But it’s also genuinely moving, and Bell gives a star-making performance that deftly navigates both comedic and dramatic territory.Brittany Runs a Marathonisn’t just one of the best comedies of 2019, it’s also one of the best films of the year full-stop. –Adam Chitwood
The Report
Director/Writer:Scott Z. Burns
Cast:Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, Ted Levine, Corey Stoll, Maura Tierney, and Sarah Goldberg
The Reportis an excellent procedural thriller in the vein ofAll the President’s Men. It marks the directorial debut ofContagionandSide EffectswriterScott Z. Burnsand chronicles the Senate’s investigation into the CIA’s use of torture following the 9/11 attacks, withAdam Driverplaying the staffer assigned to head up the investigation at the behest of Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening). This is a contained, sharp, and incisive thriller that doesn’t take detours to dig into the character’s personal life or a love story—it’s extremely matter-of-fact in simply following the path that led to the creation of the titular report, and it’s as engrossing as it is infuriating. Driver is spectacular. –Adam Chitwood
Director:Pawel Pawlikowski
Writers:Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki, and Piotr Borkowski
Cast:Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, and Borys Szyc
Between this film andIda, I love what directorPawel Pawlikowskiis doing: making rich, deep, complicated, emotional movies that are less than 90 minutes. Some filmmakers labor under the belief that a heavy movie requires an epic runtime, but Pawlikowski’s economy of storytelling is so brilliant that he gets everything he needs packed into a single scene or a single moment. InCold War, he explores a tortured love affair that spans 15 years and has you rise and fall between composer Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and singer Zula (Joanna Kulig) in post-war Eastern Europe. The core of the movie are two people who can’t be apart and can’t be together, and yet the emotional richness always shines through without ever feeling overwrought.Cold Waris an anti-romance that’s never bleak or nihilistic. –Matt Goldberg
Director:Alma Har’el
Writer:Shia LaBeouf
Cast:Shia LaBeouf, Noah Jupe, FKA Twigs
Family trauma bubbles to the surface in the most heartbreakingly poetic ways inHoney Boy, written byShia LaBeoufand directed byAlma Har’el.Honey Boymarks LaBeouf’s foray into screenwriting and it is a hell of a debut. LaBeouf mines from his own past as a child actor living in Los Angeles and his past with his father,Jeffrey LaBeouf. As a result, LaBeouf crafts a fictionalized version of his own life that is both critical of and loving toward his father, a relationship at the very heart ofHoney Boy. With the help of Har’el’s precise, lyrical direction and tender, raw performances fromNoah Jupe, who plays the younger analogue of LaBeouf, andLucas Hedges, who plays the older version,Honey Boyblooms into an affecting work of art. There are zero wasted moments onscreen, with every look, word, and reaction perfectly measured to stir something within you as you watch without devolving into overwrought melodrama. -Allie Gemmill
Director:Luca Guadagnino
Writer:David Kajganich
Cast:Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth
Beauty and horror collide in both the story and visuals ofLuca Guadagnino’sSuspiria, a remake of the 1977 cult Italian feature of the same name fromDario Argento. Guadagnino re-teams withDakota Johnson(a cinematic duo I love and demand even more work from in the future — the results arethatgood) to bring to life the story of Susie (Johnson), a sheltered, religious American woman who comes to Berlin in the late ‘70s and joins the avant-garde dance company she’s only appreciated from afar. As Susie ingratiates herself with the dance company and its leader, Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), her talent blossoms in unexpected ways. Soon, Susie is pegged as the star and, under the tutelage of Blanc, comes into an otherworldly power that is used by Blanc and the other dance company teachers for their own mysterious, witchy purposes. Guadagnino may not be as visually bombastic as Argento, but that doesn’t mean his version ofSuspiriais a bore. Instead, the contemporary Italian director’sSuspiriais just as moody and evocative as its predecessor, with Johnson and Swinton forming a beguiling pair and working off one another magnificently. There is plenty to delight in as you watchSuspiria, especially in the very bloody, horrific, and supremely transcendent final act. -Allie Gemmill
You Were Never Really Here
Writer/Director:Lynn Ramsay
Cast:Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Frank Pando, Alex Manette, Ekaterina Samsonov
Lynne Ramsayalways makes us wait for it, but my goodness, does she always make it worth our time. Seven years after her shatteringTilda SwintonvehicleWe Need to Talk About Kevin, Ramsay teamed with Amazon forYou Were Never Really Here, givingJoaquin Phoenixa showcase for one of the most stunning performances of his career. Phoenix stars as Joe, a veteran with a traumatic past, who spends his nights tracking down trafficked girls and putting punishment to those who harm them. But when a job goes haywire, Joe gets caught up in a conspiracy that leaves his life in shambles while finally giving himself something to live for.You Were Never Really Hereis an exquisite and tender, but it’s also searing and wrenching, presenting a portrait of a man defined by violence but also softened and betrayed by it. And there’s simply no one in the game with a better eye than Ramsay right now. –Haleigh Foutch
Director/Writer:Jim Jarmusch
Cast:Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Barry Shabaka Henley, Cliff Smith, and William Jackson Harper
Jim Jarmusch’sPatersonis one of the quietest, most contemplative movies in the director’s oeuvre, but it’s hardly a snooze-fest.Adam Driverstars as Paterson, a bus driver living in Paterson, New Jersey with his wife, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) and their dog, Marvin. Paterson is a soft-spoken, salt-of-the-earth type who spends his days whipping up poetry inspired by the people and scenes unfolding around him on his bus routes. A man of simple pleasures, Paterson just needs a pen and paper to keep him content. Through Jarmusch’s lens and courtesy of his script,Patersonhas little in the way of stakes, big drama (with the exception of one devastating scene involving Marvin and no, it’s not what you think), or scenery-chewing moments. Instead, Jarmusch’s story opts to contemplate what it means to be truly content and examine where that contentment may stem from. Blessedly, this is also a movie unreliant on technology, high concept plotting, or any other fancy contemporary tomfoolery that requires you to be locked in. Instead,Patersonsimply invites you to come sit and stay a while, which is just about as pleasant an invitation as you’re gonna get from a movie these days. -Allie Gemmill
The Big Sick
Director:Michael Showalter
Writers:Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
Cast:Kumail Najiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant
Kumail NanjianiandEmily Gordon’s real-life love story serves as inspiration for the most delightful romantic comedy in years inThe Big Sick. Directed byMichael Showalter from a script by Nanjiani and Gordon, the film stars Nanjiani as himself andZoe Kazanas Emily in the stranger-than-fiction story of two people falling in love despite clashing cultures, family expectations, and a mysterious life-threatening illness.
The story follows a standup comic (Nanjiani) who falls for a woman who heckles him (Kazan) at a show. He tries to hide the relationship from his parents, who expect a strictly traditional arranged marriage to a Muslim woman, but their romance faces an even greater hurdle when she falls into an inexplicable coma and he bonds with her parents (who you’re able to’t help but fall in love with thanks to the performances fromRay RomanoandHolly Hunter). Bursting with heart and earnest good nature,The Big Sickis a witty and charming exploration of love, commitment and family, and it’s a bonafide crowd-pleaser to boot. —Haleigh Foutch
The Lost City of Z
Director/Writer:James Gray
Cast:Charlie Hunnam, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, and Angus Macfadyen
If you’re in the mood for an adventure film told through the lens of an auteur filmmaker, look no further thanThe Lost City of Z. Based on the novel of the same name, the film starsCharlie Hunnamas an explorer who continually is sent to Brazil to search for a supposed lost ancient city deep in the Amazon. He is accompanied by his son (Tom Holland) and a fellow explorer (Robert Pattinson), and while the film is certainly an adventurous drama, at heart it’s a moving father-son story. But be warned: this is probably not exactly the movie you’re expecting it to be—it’s better. –Adam Chitwood
