How many hours have we all lost the endless streaming scroll? Aiming for a little kickback, you end up perusing title after title, intent on finding just the right movie, ultimately unsure what to choose in the face of overwhelming options. Fret not, the Collider staff did all that scrolling for you, scanning through the catalogue in search of the best picks for an entertaining night in. Now, we’ve put together a wide-ranging list of the best movies streaming on Amazon Prime Video right now.
What’s more, we’ll be updating the list regularly with additional picks, so you won’t run out of viewing material any time soon. The list spans genres, decades, and ratings, so there should be a little something for everyone, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for below (and you’re a multi-platform streamer), be sure to check out our picks for the best tv shows and best movies on Netflix.
Editor’s Note: This article was last updated on June 2.
Run Time: 105 minutes
Genre: Satirical Comedy Drama
Director: Carey Williams
Cast: RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins, Sebastian Chacon, Sabrina Carpenter
On a very surface level, Emergency is a classic college comedy about three friends having a wild night. Step a little deeper and you’ll find a gripping satire about the way the world judges young people of color and the anxieties that judgment generates in its victims. Sean, Kunle, and Carlos are perfectly normal college students who just want to go out partying, with a goal to hit seven frat parties in one night. Unfortunately, their night goes off the rails when they find an unconscious (and underaged) white woman in Carlos’ house. Now, the smart thing to do would be to call the police but unfortunately, as men of color, the three friends are more than a little worried about how the whole incident would be perceived by the cops. And so begins a crazy adventure with an escalating series of painful incidents. It’s a biting piece of satire with great performances and a very, very relevant story in our times. — Remus Noronha
Run Time: 116 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi Mystery Drama
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mark O’Brien, Tzi Ma
Arguably Denis Villeneuve‘s best film to date, Arrival has a lot to unpack. First, it’s one of the most grounded explorations of humanity’s first contact with extraterrestrial life. Then, it’s also a beautiful study of how language shapes our worldview. However, above everything else, Arrival is about how to create meaningful bonds with people you love when you are aware that time is bound to destroy everything. By breaking the barriers of linear time, Arrival follows a bittersweet love story that we know will end in tragedy. And by doing so, the film dares to question if enjoying the happy and potentially short time by the side of someone we love is enough; or if knowing that the future is painful will stop us from cherishing the present moment. It’s cerebral, touching, and bittersweet, perfectly walking the line between drama and sci-fi. — Marco Vito Oddo
Run Time: 97 minutes
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Horror Thriller
Director: John Krasinski
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou
2018’s A Quiet Place is regarded as one of the most unique horror films of the last decade so you can imagine how impressive it is when we say that the movie’s 2021 sequel A Quiet Place II is perhaps even better. The post-apocalyptic movie picks up where the first film left off and expands the world of the franchise in exciting new ways. Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe are back as the Abbott family, with Djimon Hounsou and Cillian Murphy entering the world as exciting new characters. Blunt and Simmonds are brilliant once again as the mother-daughter duo and Murphy’s performance shows exactly why he’s one of the best actors working in the industry right now. With tense thrills and a better understanding of the franchise’s monsters, this is a horror movie sequel that’s a truly worthwhile watch.– Remus Noronha
Run Time: 94 minutes
Genre: Family Comedy Drama
Directors: Bert & Bertie
Cast: Viola Davis, Mckenna Grace, Jim Gaffigan, Mike Epps, Charlie Shotwell, and Allison Janney
This is a movie for every little girl with a dream. Inspired by the play Christmas and Jubilee Behold The Meteor Shower by Lucy Alibar, the plot follows a misfit girl called Christmas Flint from rural Georgia, where ambitions are big but opportunities small. But Christmas has the spirit of her namesake and she won’t back down from her dream of going to space. When her Birdie Scout troop gets a chance to be recorded by NASA for the Voyager Golden Record, Christmas and her friends get together to fulfill their once-in-a-lifetime chance. Set in 1977, Troop Zero has all the retro ingredients that you want from a movie, plus brilliant performances by the star-studded cast. The movie is funny, colorful, and heartwarming, all at the same time. — Remus Noronha
Run Time: 99 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi Romantic Comedy
Director: Ian Samuels
Cast: Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a truly delightful movie that’s a great comfort watch. The film’s narrative isn’t particularly groundbreaking but it’s got enough heart and charm to give you that warm feeling that a good rom-com ought to have. The real highlights of the movie are its stars. Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen put on solid, endearing performances as the film’s lead characters, Margaret and Mark. The basic premise of the movie is a time loop, similar to Groundhog Day or Russian Doll, with the key twist being that the person stuck in the loop (Mark) has no real desire to break out of it. But Mark’s perfect, ever-repeating day takes a turn when he meets Margaret, who is also stuck in the same loop. Soon the two teens begin working together to understand how they got caught in the loop and decide whether they should try to break out. Grab some popcorn and curl up on the couch with this film for a little light, heartwarming watch.– Remus Noronha
Black as Night (2021)
Run Time: 87 minutes
Genre: Teen Action Horror Drama
Director: Maritte Lee Go
Cast: Asjha Cooper, Frabizio Guido, Mason Beauchamp, Abbie Gayle, Craig Tate, Keith David
As horror movies go, Black as Night isn’t particularly scary but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great watch. The movie is perfect for fans of teen dramas with a supernatural focus. Part of the Welcome to the Blumhouse collection, the movie is centered on a teenage girl who discovers that there are vampires hunting the streets of New Orleans. With the help of her friends, she sets out to battle these forces of the night, all the while seeking revenge for the loss of a loved one. It’s more action movie than horror flick but it’s got just enough meat to satisfy your craving for fun movies. — Remus Noronha
Run Time: 109 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Directors: Leo Scott and Ting Poo
Val Kilmer is easily one of the most iconic actors of all time. So when you find out about a documentary that not only chronicles his life and career but also contains never-before-seen footage shot by Kilmer himself, that’s a difficult thing to pass up. Leo Scott and Ting Poo‘s Val more than delivers on its promise, presenting an intimate and absorbing look at Kilmer’s life. As it turns out, Val Kilmer has a sizable collection of videos he made over the course of his lifetime, and this vast archive of self-shot footage is what provides the meat of the documentary. Val also goes into Kilmer’s battle with throat cancer and the impact it had on his life. It’s a beautiful watch that shows the talented actor in a light we never got to see him in before. — Remus Noronha
Rushmore (1998)
Run Time: 93 minutes
Genre: Romantic Comedy-Drama
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams
Easily one of Wes Anderson’s most underrated movies, this coming-of-age comedy-drama film is a weird and strangely wonderful take on the romantic comedy genre. Jason Schwartzman stars as Max Fischer, a teenager with a problem: he’s got a crush. Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), the crush in question, is a widowed first-grade teacher who tries to dissuade him. So Max seeks advice from Herman Blume (Bill Murray), a businessman whose children go to the Rushmore Academy with Max. The movie hinges on the friendship between Max and Herman, which turns into an intense and quirky rivalry when Herman begins to see Rosemary. Written by Wes Anderson and frequent collaborator Owen Wilson, Rushmore is a must-watch for fans of the iconic auteur.– Remus Noronha
Run Time: 55 minutes
Genre: Musical
Director: Hiro Murai
Cast: Donald Glover, Rihanna, Letitia Wright, Nonso Anozie
Donald Glover has established himself as a multi-talented star with his writing, directing, and producing, not to mention his singing career under the name Childish Gambino. Glover stars in this 2019 movie opposite fellow musician and actor Rihanna and he also developed the story alongside Ibra Ake, Jamal Olori, Fam Udeorji, and his brother Stephen Glover. Guava Island is the story of Deni Maroon (Glover), a talented musician who lives on the eponymous Guava Island. The people of Guava Island are constantly oppressed by a shady business tycoon who employs almost all of them. So Deni decides to throw a music festival to give the islanders a day of celebration. The movie is an off-beat musical stitched together with many of Glover’s biggest hits including “This Is America”, “Summertime Magic”, and “Feels Like Summer”. It’s an entertaining watch with great music and a fable-like story. — Remus Noronha
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Run Time: 106 minutes
Genre: Crime Comedy-Drama Musical
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a lot of things. It’s the eighth film by the Coen Brothers and was conceived as an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey (even though neither of them had read the original classic). It’s a crime-comedy and a musical with just the right amount of drama and a healthy dose of magical realism. It’s a brilliant work of satire and presents a story along the lines of an old American tall tale. For that matter, you could even look at it as a disaster movie. In short, it’s a Coen Brothers film.
Charged with prophecy, three escaped convicts set out on an epic journey across rural Mississippi during the Great Depression in search of buried treasure. Along the way, they encounter a high-spirited bank robber, a Faustian musician, strange and possibly magical women, and racist politicians. And somewhere during all that, they also make a recording of a beloved folk song.– Remus Noronha
Run Time: 103 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Director: Amy Poehler
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are comedy legends. That’s pretty much an undeniable fact. What most people don’t know about the I Love Lucy stars is how they actually began their iconic partnership. And that’s what Lucy and Desi is all about. This Amy Poehler-directed documentary film provides a behind-the-scenes look at how these two stars first formed their unlikely partnership and how they went on to become one of the most admired power couples of their time. Ball and Arnaz are also the subjects of another entry on this list but for a more thorough and non-fictionalized take on their lives, this film is your best bet.- Remus Noronha
Run Time: 111 minutes
Genre: Rom-Com
Director: Jason Orley
Cast: Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, Gina Rodriguez, Scott Eastwood, Manny Jacinto, Clark Backo, Jami Gertz, Dylan Gelula, Mason Gooding, Isabel May, Luke David Blumm
Weirdly enough, the plot of this Valentine’s Day movie sounds a lot like a gripping psychological thriller. Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) are total strangers who are brought together by one thing: they were both dumped out of the blue by their respective partners, Anne (Gina Rodriguez) and Noah (Scott Eastwood). Their exes move on to new romances but Peter and Emma conspire to win them back. How do you ask? Emma plans on seducing Anne’s new boyfriend and Peter decides he will befriend Noah and convince him to go back to Emma. What follows is a rollercoaster of love-fuelled insanity, the likes of which you’ll only see in a hilarious rom-com like this one. It’s a fun movie with an engaging plot that manages to subvert some of the clichés of the genre while delivering exactly what you want from a Valentine’s movie. – Remus Noronha
Run Time: 131 minutes
Genre: Biographical Drama
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy
A must-watch for viewers who want to be in the know on this year’s awards race, Being the Ricardos stars Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as comedy icons Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz during the production of their sitcom classic I Love Lucy. Rattled by potentially career-ending reports, threatened with cancellation, and up against the clock to produce the week’s new episode, the couple also find their marriage under strain. The West Wing and The Newsroom creator Aaron Sorkin explores similar fascinations with the exceptional, quick-witted folks under fire – in his signature rat-a-tat dialogue-driven way, naturally. I wouldn’t call it one of Sorkin’s best, but it’s a fascinating look into a little-known moment in Hollywood history filled with game performances, and if you’re generally a fan of Sorkin’s storytelling instincts, you’ll likely find lots to like here. – Haleigh Foutch
Run Time: 104 minutes
Genre: Coming-of-Age Drama
Director: George Clooney
Cast: Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe, Christopher Lloyd, Daniel Ranieri
A coming-of-age tale as old as time, George Clooney’s latest directorial effort The Tender Bar is a quiet, cozy drama filled with winning performances that keep the film afloat, even as it treads dreadfully familiar waters. Adapted from J. R. Moehringer‘s memoir of the same name, the film follows J.R.’s (Tye Sheridan) evolving relationship with the alcoholic uncle he idolizes (Ben Affleck), through childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Affleck, in particular, shines here in an understated, magnetic piece of acting that opens up his A-list charisma on full blast. – Haleigh Foutch
Run Time: 115 minutes
Genre: Musical Comedy-Drama
Director: Jonathan Butterell
Cast: Max Harwood, Sarah Lancashire, Lauren Patel, Shobna Gulati, Ralph Ineson, Adeel Akhtar, Samuel Bottomley, Sharon Horgan, Richard E. Grant
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and you should be, too! The sparkling musical, based on an acclaimed stage show, follows gay teenager Jamie New (newcomer Max Harwood, immediate star) in rural England as he realizes his dreams of becoming a drag queen. While he finds a strong pillar of support in single mom Sarah Lancashire, best friend Lauren Patel, and drag queen mentor Richard E. Grant (always essential), he also faces challenges in the form of school bully Samuel Bottomley, unencouraging teacher Sharon Horgan, and deadbeat dad Ralph Ineson. Through its wonderfully rendered songs, many of which serve as a history of queer pop music, you’ll feel the sweeping waves of every emotion from despair to euphoria, and you will walk away inspired to find the best version of yourself. Put Everybody’s Talking About Jamie on immediately, and, uh, keep your letters to a certain other musical teenager in the drawer. – Gregory Lawrence
Run Time: 138 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Director: Chris McKay
Cast: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J. K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge
A truly epic sci-fi story in terms of narrative ambition, The Tomorrow War is overstuffed with ideas – but a lot of them are pretty dang entertaining ideas, at least. It all starts with a great hook: time-travelers from the near-future arrive with news of an alien invasion that destroys the world, drafting people from the present into a time-jumping army to battle the otherwordly monsters. Almost no one survives. When former Green Beret Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) is drafted, the audience follows him onto the battlefields of the Tomorrow War and beyond. Way beyond.
The Tomorrow War probably should have been either a series or a series of films, because every time you feel like you’ve reached the natural conclusion it juts off in another wild direction, but again, a lot of the stuff that works, really works. Dan’s arrival in the future is a breathless bit of immersive action, the alien threat feels viscerally real and dangerous, and the time-travel hook winds up being the basis from some solid character-building that challenges the hero archetype in a refreshingly grounded way – so if you’re looking for a sprawling, sometimes surprising sci-fi thriller, The Tomorrow War should get the job done – as long as you can forgive it for wasting the talents of the spectacular Betty Gilpin so egregiously. –Haleigh Foutch
Run Time: 110 minutes
Genre: Drama
Director: Regina King
Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
Regina King makes a commanding directorial debut with One Night in Miami, an understated historical drama set during a meeting of extraordinary minds, when Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay, Eli Goree), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) spent a night in a quiet Florida hotel room. Based on Kemp Powers’ play of the same name, King’s film digs deep into an imagined discourse spun from those historical events, a celebration of the young black men who carved a space in all avenues of public life during the civil rights movement and an intellectual investigation into their individual methods of activism. The performances are stunners, especially from Ben-Adir and Odom, whose conflicting approaches to their shared ideologies make for the film’s most moving dramatic heights. And King, who would know a thing or two about great performances, just directs the hell out of all of it. – Haleigh Foutch
Run Time: 130 minutes
Genre: Drama
Director: Darius Marder
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Mathieu Amalric
Don’t sleep on Sound of Metal, the touching drama might just be one of the best movies of 2020. Starring Riz Ahmed as a metal drummer who rapidly loses his hearing and has to re-learn how to live his life, the film originally debuted at Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 and was poised for a splashier summer release before the pandemic turned the film industry upside down. The film’s arrival on Amazon feels a lot quieter than it should, because it’s a beautiful and phenomenally well-acted story about empathy and rebirth, with yet another outstanding performance by the always-reliable Ahmed. He’s well-matched by Olivia Cooke as his girlfriend and bandmate, as well as Paul Raci as a man who runs a community for deaf recovering addicts in one of the most memorable supporting performances of the year. Sound of Metal is a slow, steady, and compelling portrait of addiction, the sneaky and insidious tolls you pay for its false relief, and why it’s worth the much more obvious tolls you have to pay to take back your life. And it’s a striking glimpse at human grace, reminding us that just because challenging, even devastating new circumstances can alter the texture of our lives forever, that doesn’t diminish the beauty those lives can have. — Haleigh Foutch
Run Time: 110 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Director: Craig Brewer
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, Shari Headley, Teyana Taylor, Wesley Snipes, James Earl Jones
Do you love Coming to America? Good news, so do the folk who made Coming 2 America, the new sequel arriving exclusively on Amazon Prime Video this month. Nearly the entire original cast reunites, led by Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall as Prince Akeem and his right-hand-man Semmi, in a slim, but cheerful and vibrant follow-up that sweeps audiences back to the kingdom of Zamunda (and of course, back 2 America) for a new take on the fish-out-of-water comedy that sees Akeem unite with his unexpected heir (Jermaine Fowler), while learning how to be a good king. Directed by Craig Brewer, who previously teamed with Murphy on the magnetic Dolemite Is My Name, Coming 2 America isn’t quite as funny or groundbreaking as its predecessor, but it maintains the sweetness and spirit of the original, even if it sometimes feels like more of a celebration of the 1988 classic than a cohesive comedy in its own right. But guess what, the original is worth celebrating, and Murphy and Brewer make sure you have a dang good time doing it. – Haleigh Foutch
Run Time: 97 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi Horror
Director: Lorcan Finnegan
Cast: Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Aris
If you like Twilight Zone-inspired contained tales of horror and existential dread, boy does Amazon have the right horror movie streaming for you this month. Lorcan Finegan‘s Vivarium is dark as hell and a walloping bummer, but it’s a very good bad time. Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg star as a couple on the hunt for their first home and wind up trapped in a surreal suburban neighborhood from which there’s no escaping. No matter how many streets they drive through, how many fences they hop, they just can’t get out. Then the nightmare baby shows up. On the surface, Vivarium is an effective portrait of the horrors of getting trapped in a white-picket-fence life you never wanted, but the scarier, much more effective undercurrent comes from the way the film embraces the cruel indifference of nature’s life cycles and the helplessness of being stuck in them. — Haleigh Foutch
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