Movies

The best movies on Amazon Prime Video right now

From comedies like Bridesmaids to medieval epics like The Northman, there's plenty to choose from on the streamer.

By

and Kevin Jacobsen

Updated on March 9, 2023 10:22AM EST

Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth and Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga in 'The Northman'. Photo: Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features

New month, new streaming titles to recommend. If you're scrolling through a seemingly endless list of movies on Prime Video with no idea what to watch, you're not alone.

Fear not though, for we have now crafted a list of films to give a try if you find yourself exploring the offerings on Amazon Prime Video. The choices range from riotously funny, to borderline incomprehensible (in a good way), all the way toward the more deeply disturbing, if that's what you're into.

Given how the platform does regular monthly updates, our list may be forced to swap films in and out, so bookmark this for future reference — we're keen on providing new recommendations each month.

Almost Famous (2000)

Almost Famous Jason Lee and Kate Hudson — Neal Preston/Paramount

This warm ode to the magic of '70s rock & roll is like that one treasured album from your favorite band's catalog: It will transport you to a specific time and place, no matter how many years it's been since you've listened to it. Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical tale of a young rock journalist who tags along with the fictional band Stillwater may not have been a box-office success, but time has been very kind to the film, decades later. —Kevin Jacobsen

Watch Almost Famous on Amazon Prime Video (via MGM+)

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Talent: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, Noah Taylor, Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Big Sick (2017)

004_TBS_D26_SHATZ_1731 — Sarah Shatz/Lionsgate

Having producer Judd Apatow and director Michael Showalter in your corner are both great, but the deeply personal script written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (which got the married pair an Oscar nomination) is what makes the movie. The film finds a way to cover arranged marriages, mysterious illness, comedian growing pains, and more, all while providing laugh after laugh. —Marcus Jones

Watch The Big Sick on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: N/A

Talent: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Holly Hunter

Bridesmaids (2011)

Film Title: Bridesmaids — Suzanne Hanover/Universal

At a time when raunchy, gross-out comedies were mostly reserved for men, Bridesmaids proved that women could do it even better. Telling the story of Annie (Kristen Wiig), a woman experiencing financial hardship who struggles with the pressures of being her best friend's (Maya Rudolph) maid of honor, the film spoke to the complexities of female friendship while providing its fair share of hearty belly-laughs. —K.J.

Watch Bridesmaids on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A (read the review)

Talent: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Chris O'Dowd, Rebel Wilson, Matt Lucas, Michael Hitchcock, Jon Hamm

Bumblebee (2018)

After some sequels that were a bit difficult to sit through, a strong case had to be made for the existence of another Transformers movie. Thankfully, this reboot delivers with much help from a winning performance by Hailee Steinfeld. Rather than go full maximalist space opera like his predecessor Michael Bay, director Travis Knight opts for a movie rooted in humor and '80s nostalgia. —M.J.

Watch Bumblebee on Amazon Prime Video via Paramount+

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Talent: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Pamela Adlon

Cyrano (2021)

Haley Bennett stars as Roxanne and Peter Dinklage as Cyrano in Joe Wright’s CYRANO — Peter Dinklage in 'Cyrano'. Peter Mountain/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

Peter Dinklage earned Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations for one of his first starring roles post-Game of Thrones. The Joe Wright-directed musical tells the classic story of Cyrano de Bergerac, who expresses his love for Roxanne (Haley Bennett) by having another man pass off Cyrano's love letters as his own. The tender film also boasts Oscar-nominated costumes. —K.J.

Watch Cyrano on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Talent: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Ben Mendelsohn

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

What would the implications be if you were able to erase someone from your mind — literally? Writer Charlie Kaufman ponders this among other philosophical questions in this sci-fi dramedy about exes who go about this experimental procedure, only to find themselves drawn to each other all over again. It's one of the most unconventional, emotional love stories in modern cinema. —K.J.

Watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A (read the review)

Talent: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson

Funny Girl (1968)

While it gained a second wind through all the times it was referenced on the show Glee, this William Wyler-directed movie musical is most known as the project that made Barbra Streisand an icon. She earned a Best Actress Oscar for playing Fanny Brice, the real-life comedian with a voice as smooth as butter, rip-roaring through songs like "Don't Rain on My Parade." —M.J.

Watch Funny Girl on Amazon Prime Video

Talent: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Anne Francis

His Girl Friday (1940)

HIS GIRL FRIDAY, from left: Ralph Bellamy, Rosalind Russell, 1940 — Everett Collection

Adapted from the play The Front Page — which has had multiple Broadway revivals — this Howard Hawks-directed film is one of the foundational examples of screwball comedy. As a newspaper editor trying to prevent his star reporter ex-wife from remarrying, Cary Grant provides snappy back and forth banter with Rosalind Russell that has helped shape the dynamics of many a romantic comedy. —M.J.

Watch His Girl Friday on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Talent: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

Related reading: 20 'classic' movies you call overrated

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Why wait for the holidays to watch a movie this iconic? The Frank Capra-directed film is another one that brings on the waterworks with its tale of a suicidal man who's shown the positive impact he has left on the world. It also has an ending that is the best PR that bells have ever received. —M.J.

Watch It's a Wonderful Life on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A+ (read the review)

Talent: Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Paul Thomas Anderson revisits 1970s Los Angeles with this hangout movie about an aimless, 25-year-old (Alana Haim) who forms an unlikely relationship with a spirited 15-year-old entrepreneur (Cooper Hoffman). The duo meets a series of eccentric characters while trying to figure out what they want in life, serving as a dual coming-of-age story. The film earned three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. —K.J.

Watch Licorice Pizza on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Talent: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie

Love & Friendship (2016)

One of the more beloved adaptations of Jane Austen in recent years, Love & Friendship centers on Lady Susan and her exploits as a matchmaker in 18th-century Britain. Kate Beckinsale shines in the lead role, an enterprising woman who will do whatever it takes to get her way. The film was directed by Whit Stillman, who helmed such critically-acclaimed classics as Metropolitan (1990) and The Last Days of Disco (1998). —K.J.

Watch Love & Friendship on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Talent: Kate Beckinsale, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, Morfydd Clark, Jemma Redgrave, Tom Bennett, James Fleet, Justin Edwards, Jenn Murray, Stephen Fry, Chloë Sevigny

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

This understated character drama won Oscars for star Casey Affleck and writer-director Kenneth Lonergan. Affleck plays Lee, a janitor living with grief over past traumas, and whose brother's death leads him to taking in his teenage nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges in a breakout performance). Have tissues ready for a rip-your-heart-out scene with Michelle Williams as Lee's ex-wife. —K.J.

Watch Manchester by the Sea on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A (read the review)

Talent: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Lucas Hedges, Kyle Chandler, Matthew Broderick, Gretchen Mol

The Northman (2022)

Editorial use only. No book cover usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Focus Featues/Moviestore/Shutterstock (12811124b) Alexander Skarsgard The Northman - 2022 — Focus Featues/Moviestore/Shutterstock

The Northman is what happens when the director of such indie horror favorites as The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019) gets a $70 million budget. Robert Eggers brings the tale of Amleth — the direct inspiration for Shakespeare's Hamlet — to the big screen as only he can, with blood, guts, and some of the most striking visuals you'll see in years. Nothing can prepare you for the epic showdown at the crater of a volcano. —K.J.

Watch The Northman on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B (read the review)

Talent: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Gustav Lindh, Ethan Hawke, Björk, Willem Dafoe

One Night in Miami (2020)

One Night in Miami, based on the 2013 play of the same name, centers on the real-life meeting between Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown in February 1964. Directed by Regina King, the film imagines the conversation they would have had, covering numerous social issues of the time — including Black entertainers in a white-dominated business, Clay's conversion to Islam as he changed his name to Muhammad Ali, and Malcolm X's own crisis of faith — creating a fascinating meditation on how some of the most influential Black leaders may have considered their place in society. —K.J.

Watch One Night in Miami on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Talent: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.

Paterson (2016)

Jim Jarmusch's muted indie drama finds beauty and poetry in the ordinary. Adam Driver plays the title role, a bus driver living a monotonous life who escapes through writing poems as he observes the world around him. A far cry from his animalistic Girls character or his scenery-chewing work in the Star Wars franchise, Paterson allows Driver to stretch as an actor, playing an everyday man full of untapped potential. —K.J.

Watch Paterson on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Talent: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Barry Shabaka Henley, Cliff Smith, Chasten Harmon, William Jackson Harper, Masatoshi Nagase

Short Term 12 (2013)

Short Term 12Brie Larson and Keith Stanfield — Brett Pawlak

Is this indie following a young residential treatment facility employee an easy watch? Not at all. But the tearjerker has become part of the origin story for some of Hollywood's most exciting new entertainers, including its writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton, who went on to direct Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings for Marvel Studios. —M.J.

Watch Short Term 12 on Amazon Prime Video via Freevee

EW grade: A (read the review)

Talent: Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Rami Malek, LaKeith Stanfield, Kaitlyn Dever

Sound of Metal (2020)

A heavy metal drummer's worst nightmare comes true when he experiences sudden hearing loss — and never gets it back. Thus begins a difficult journey for Ruben (Riz Ahmed), who must learn to adapt to a new way of living in the world while also battling his inner demons. Told with sensitivity, with Oscar-winning sound design that gives hearing viewers an approximation of deafness, the film offers an unforgettable experience. —K.J.

Watch Sound of Metal on Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Talent: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Mathieu Amalric

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