Amazon Prime movies (Jan. 2022): 50 best films to stream on platform

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The 50 best movies streaming free for Amazon Prime members (January 2022)

It’s January! And that means it’s time to check out some of the best offerings from Amazon Prime’s movie offerings, from classics to some new flicks that the service is premiering.

Not a Prime member? You can sign up here.

You can also check out some of our other lists if you’re looking for a fun way to entertain yourself or kill some time:

Away we go with the best of what you can watch on Amazon Prime this month:

1
Sound of Metal

A heavy-metal drummer’s life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing. (IMDb)

Stars: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci

2
The Royal Tenenbaums

The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons. (IMDb)

Stars: Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston

3
Stop Making Sense

An innovative concert movie for the rock group Talking Heads. (IMDb)

Stars: David Byrne, Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir

4
Small Axe: Lovers Rock

A single evening at a house party in 1980s West London sets the scene, developing intertwined relationships against a background of violence, romance and music. (IMDb)

Stars: Dennis Bovell, Saffron Coomber, Frankie Fox

5
Before Midnight (Jan. 1)

We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna. (IMDb)

Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick

6
Midsommar

A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown’s fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult. (IMDb)

Stars: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren

7
It’s A Wonderful Life

An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed. (IMDb)

Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

8
Inside Llewyn Davis

A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. (IMDb)

Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman

9
Sunset Blvd.

A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return. (IMDb)

Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim

10
Rushmore

A teenager at Rushmore Academy falls for a much older teacher and befriends a middle-aged industrialist. Later, he finds out that his love interest and his friend are having an affair, which prompts him to begin a vendetta. (IMDb)

Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams

11
Once (Jan. 1)

A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story. (IMDb)

Stars: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Hugh Walsh

12
Rear Window

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window, and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend. (IMDb)

Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey

13
The Thin Red Line

Adaptation of James Jones’ autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War. (IMDb)

Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte

14
The Graduate

A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter. (IMDb)

Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross

15
The Usual Suspects

A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which began when five criminals met at a seemingly random police lineup. (IMDb)

Stars: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri

16
Almost Famous

A high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour. (IMDb)

Stars: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson

17
Dead Poets Society

Maverick teacher John Keating uses poetry to embolden his boarding school students to new heights of self-expression. (IMDb)

Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke

18
Fight Club (Jan. 1)

An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more. (IMDb)

Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf

19
The Social Network

As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea, and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business. (IMDb)

Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake

20
Little Miss Sunshine

A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus. (IMDb)

Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear

21
The Last Black Man in San Francisco

A young man searches for home in the changing city that seems to have left him behind. (IMDb)

Stars: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan

22
Vertigo

A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed. (IMDb)

Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes

23
On The Waterfront

An ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate’s victims. (IMDb)

Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb

24
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Jan. 1)

A writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel’s glorious years under an exceptional concierge. (IMDb)

Stars: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric

25
Nightcrawler (Jan. 10)

When Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. (IMDb)

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton

26
Tropic Thunder

Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying. (IMDb)

Stars: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr.

27
The Master (Jan. 13)

A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future – until he is tantalized by the Cause and its charismatic leader. (IMDb)

Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams

28
Tangerine

A hooker tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart. (IMDb)

Stars: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian

29
Fargo

Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard’s inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen’s bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson. (IMDb)

Stars: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi

30
The Big Sick

Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family’s expectations, and his true feelings. (IMDb)

Stars: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter

31
Heathers

At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it’s going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count. (IMDb)

Stars: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty

32
Saving Private Ryan

Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action. (IMDb)

Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore

33
Do the Right Thing

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone’s hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence. (IMDb)

Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee

34
Sleepless in Seattle

A recently widowed man’s son calls a radio talk-show in an attempt to find his father a partner. (IMDb)

Stars: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger

35
Crazy Heart

A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him. (IMDb)

Stars: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell

36
The Wrestler

A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle. (IMDb)

Stars: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

37
Knives Out

A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family. (IMDb)

Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas

38
Broadcast News

Take two rival television reporters: one handsome, one talented, both male. Add one producer, female. Mix well, and watch the sparks fly. (IMDb)

Stars: William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter

39
Catch Me If You Can

Barely 21 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit. (IMDb)

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken

40
Raising Arizona

When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family’s quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated. (IMDb)

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson

41
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Wyoming, early 1900s. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are the leaders of a band of outlaws. After a train robbery goes wrong they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. Their solution – escape to Bolivia. (IMDb)

Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross

42
The Squid and the Whale

Follows two young boys dealing with their parents’ divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s. (IMDb)

Stars: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney

43
Pineapple Express

A process server and his marijuana dealer wind up on the run from hitmen and a corrupt police officer after he witnesses his dealer’s boss murder a competitor while trying to serve papers on him. (IMDb)

Stars: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Gary Cole

44
Being The Ricardos

Follows Lucy and Desi as they face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage. (IMDb)

Stars: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons

45
Melancholia

Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth. (IMDb)

Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg. Kiefer Sutherland

46
Beasts of the Southern Wild

Faced with both her hot-tempered father’s fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love. (IMDb)

Stars: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly

47
You Were Never Really Here

A traumatized veteran unafraid of violence tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe’s nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what could be his death trip or his awakening. (IMDb)

Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Ekaterina Samsonov

48
The Lighthouse

Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s. (IMDb)

Stars: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe, Valeriia Karaman

49
The Farewell

A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies. (IMDb)

Stars: Shuzhen Zhao, Awkwafina, X Mayo

50
No No: A Dockumentary

The life and times of major league pitcher Doc Ellis are explored in this revealing documentary. (IMDb)

Stars: Enos Cabell, Dave Cash, Roberto Clemente Jr.

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