The 30 Best Movies on Amazon’s Prime Video Right Now

This list is regularly updated as movies rotate on and off of Amazon Prime
Video. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.

Amazon has a little bit of everything on their streaming service, but they don’t have an interface that makes it particularly easy to find any of it. They also love to rotate out their selection with reckless abandon, making it hard to pin down what’s available when you want to watch a movie. It’s the kind of digital minefield that demands a guide. That’s where we come in. This regularly updated list will highlight the best films currently on Prime Video, free for anyone with an Amazon Prime account, including classics and recent hits. There’s truly something here for everyone, starting with our pick of the week.

This Week’s Critic’s Pick

*Robocop

Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 39m
Director: Paul Verhoeven

People like to point at ‘80s movies and say they were ahead of their time, but this may be most true about Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 masterpiece, a film that foretold how technology would impact law enforcement in ways that took decades to come true. A brilliant action satire, this is the story of a Detroit cop who is murdered and revived as the title character, a superhuman cyborg enforcer. It’s even more riveting and relevant almost four decades later.

Drama

*12 Angry Men

Year: 1957
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet’s American classic impacted not just the courtroom dramas that would follow but the very judicial process. Who hasn’t gone into jury duty thinking they would be the “Juror 8” in their group, the one willing to really look at the case before rushing to justice? Henry Fonda gives one of his most iconic performances in a movie that holds up six decades after it was released.

*25th Hour

Year: 2003
Runtime: 2h 14m
Director: Spike Lee

One of the best movies from one of our better filmmakers, this incredible drama about a man’s (Edward Norton) final day before a 7-year prison stint is a fantastic way to spend the time before another Spike Lee joint, Highest 2 Lowest, comes out this year. Often considered one of the great 9/11 movies, 25th Hour is a modern classic, a film about a man and a city going through drastic change.

*Brokeback Mountain

Year: 2006
Runtime: 2h 8m
Director: Ang Lee

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star in this romantic drama, one of the best films of the ‘00s. Adapted from the short story by Annie Proulx, Ang Lee’s film is tender and heartbreaking, the story of unaccepted love between two men in the American West. It features some of the career-best work from Ledger, Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams.

Challengers

Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 11m
Director: Luca Guadagnino

One of the most acclaimed dramas of the year is exclusively on Prime Video. Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor star in a story of tennis players who also happen to be lovers. Smart and sexy, this is the kind of film they’re talking about when they say that Hollywood doesn’t make movies for adults anymore. Watch this one so they do.

Conclave

Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h
Director: Edward Berger

A surprising arthouse hit, this drama was a huge success that has only grown timelier with the passing of Pope Francis in April 2025. Ralph Fiennes stars as the cardinal in charge of a conclave to elect a new pope. Fiennes does some of the best work of his career, supported by great turns from Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and more.

The Conversation

Year: 1974
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Francis Ford Coppola

One of the best directors of the ’70s took a break from The Godfather movies to write, produce, and direct one of his masterpieces, a study in paranoia that gave Gene Hackman a chance to deliver arguably his best screen performance. The legendary actor plays a surveillance expert who stumbles onto what could be a potential murder, leading him down a rabbit hole of violence and paranoia. This is a must-see that’s as powerful today as when it was released, and even more so after the passing of its legendary star.

Donnie Darko

Year: 2001
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Richard Kelly

It’s a mad world in Richard Kelly’s sci-fi hit starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, and Jena Malone. Darko made almost nothing in theaters but developed a loyal following on the home market, becoming one of the more acclaimed sci-fi films of the ‘00s. Join in the conversation that seems to constantly surround this film (and maybe Kelly will be encouraged to make another one soon — he hasn’t directed in over a decade).

Fitzcarraldo

Year: 1982
Runtime: 2h 37m
Director: Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog set out to make a movie about a man who was insane enough to try and move a steamship over land from one river to another and Herzog himself was insane enough to actually try and replicate it. The result is a film that’s mesmerizing in its detail and blatant in its study of power gone mad, both in the narrative and the filmmaking. Watch Burden of Dreams after — a great doc about the crazy making of this film.

Glengarry Glen Ross

Year: 1992
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: 1992

For a long time, it felt like David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 1984 masterpiece was unfilmable, but Foley, working with the playwright as screenwriter, figured it out, assembling one of the best ensembles of the ‘90s to do so. Alec Baldwin notoriously steals his one scene, but the entire cast here is a stunner, especially Al Pacino (who was Oscar-nominated), Alan Arkin, and Jack Lemmon.

King of New York

Year: 1990
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Abel Ferrara

The amazing Abel Ferrara directed this crime epic that oozes with style. Three decades after its release, it’s still one of the most cited films of this kind of its era. One of the main reasons for that is the cast. Christopher Walken leads the way as the legendary drug lord Frank White, but the whole ensemble here is amazing, including Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, Steve Buscemi, and Giancarlo Esposito.

The Limey

Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh directs a searing performance by Terence Stamp in his thriller about a Brit who comes to California trying to find his missing daughter, and those who may be responsible for hurting her. Soderbergh rarely missteps and The Limey is one of his most underrated films, a perfectly paced angry shout of a movie that matches its captivating leading man.

Moneyball

Year: 2011
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: Bennett Miller

One of the best baseball movies ever made was adapted from the 2003 book by Michael Lewis, which recounts the management of the 2002 season of the Oakland Athletics, and how they changed the way the game is run by bringing analytics into the mix. Brad Pitt gives one of his best performances as general manager Billy Beane, a man who knew he would have to find a new way to evaluate talent if the A’s were going to compete. It’s a rich, smart, riveting movie that’s extra-interesting given what the formerly Oakland franchise is going through in 2025.

Nickel Boys

Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 20m
Director: RaMell Ross

One of 2024’s best films, and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture, this daring and unforgettable drama announces Ross as major directorial talent (and Jomo Fray as the cinematographer of the moment). Nickel Boys is a tough watch, but its daring storytelling style, told almost entirely in first-person POV, makes it truly special.

*No Country for Old Men

Year: 2007
Runtime: 2h 2m
Director: Joel Coen

Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s crime novel is one of their best movies, a flick that won them three Oscars – Directing, Writing, and Best Picture of arguably the best year of the ‘00s. If you haven’t seen it since 2007, you may be surprised at how well it’s held up. The exact same film could be released today and it would have the same cultural impact. It feels like that will be the case for decades to come.

Passion Fish

Year: 1992
Runtime: 2h 15m
Director: John Sayles

The brilliant writer/director John Sayles delivered one of his most beloved films in this 1992 drama about a soap opera star (Mary McDonnell) who has been paralyzed after being hit by a cab. She returns to her family home, where she crosses paths with a nurse (Alfre Woodard) who refuses to give up on her. It’s moving in a way that feels genuine, never manipulative.

Platoon

Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone’s deeply personal and powerful film about the Vietnam War remains his best work, winning the filmmaker an Oscar for Best Director and nabbing Best Picture too. It stars Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, and Willem Dafoe in a story that cast a light on morality in wartime in a way that hadn’t really been seen before. It’s still incredibly moving stuff, and it always will be.

*Tangerine

Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 27m
Director: Sean Baker

Before he won multiple Oscars for Anora, New Jersey filmmaker Sean Baker directed his breakthrough in this film that was shot entirely on the iPhone 5S. Baker tells the tale of a transgender sex worker named Sin-Dee Rella (the phenomenal Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), who discovers that her boyfriend has been cheating on her while she was doing a brief jail stint. This movie hums with life, feeling almost like eavesdropping instead of traditional storytelling.

*The Usual Suspects

Year: 1995
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Bryan Singer

An Oscar winner for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, this mid-‘90s classic thriller really shifted the landscape, ushering in an era of twist endings that blew people’s minds, although few could match a script that the WGA named the 35th greatest screenplay of all time. If you haven’t seen it (and how lucky you are), it’s the story of a group of criminals brought in by the cops after a massacre on a boat. Nothing is what it seems.

Horror

*The Endless

Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson

The brilliant Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead directed and star in a fantastic sci-fi thriller about two brothers who return to a cult from which they escaped years earlier. They learn that there’s more to this group than they remember or understand. It’s a riveting film about cycles and trauma, embedded in a truly thrilling story. After you watch this one, hunt down Spring, Synchronic, and their latest, Something in the Dirt. You won’t be disappointed.

Suspiria

Year: 1977
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Dario Argento

The Luca Guadagnino remake is also on Prime, but the Argento original is the one to watch. One of the most important and influential of all the Giallo films, it stars Jessica Harper as a ballet student who goes overseas to study and discovers that her new school is populated by witches.

Comedy

*The Apartment

Year: 1960
Runtime: 2h
Director: Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder’s masterpiece is over six decades old, but it still feels as timeless as ever. The template for so many movies to come, The Apartment is a daring dissection of toxicity in the story of an insurance clerk (Jack Lemmon) who lets his coworkers use his apartment to support their infidelity. It’s a perfect movie.

*Licorice Pizza

Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

A controversial nominee for Best Picture at the beginning of 2022, P.T. Anderson’s latest is exclusively on Prime Video right now, just waiting for people to rewatch before the master’s One Battle after Another. And they should. Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are transcendent in this story of a teenager who falls for a twentysomething woman, and the odd adventures that somehow keep falling into their lives. It’s a lyrical, gorgeously shot period comedy about those hazy days when anything seems possible.

*Red Rocket

Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Sean Baker

The great writer/director behind Anora shifted gears with this phenomenal comedy about a born loser, a middle-aged porn star played perfectly by Simon Rex. The former MTV personality plays Mikey Davies, a guy returning to his hometown in Texas for a second chance, but who becomes obsessed with a local teenager, who he essentially starts grooming. Rex won Best Actor from the L.A. Film Critics for this unforgettable turn.

Action

Die Hard

Year: 1988
Runtime: 2h 6m
Director: John McTiernan

Finally! Streamers have a habit of dropping parts of the Bruce Willis franchise but never the whole thing, until now. Watch the whole series, from the masterful original through the abysmal A Good Day to Die Hard, in one sitting, only on Prime Video. The first one is still the masterpiece, a film that truly rewrote the rules for the genre, shifting it more to everyman characters like Willis and away from muscular stars like Sly and Ah-nuld. It’s held up perfectly, as entertaining today as when it came out.

The Fall Guy

Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 6m
Director: David Leitch

Why can’t people just have fun at the movies anymore? This movie bombed at the theaters, but it’s already found a bit of life on digital and streaming, first as a Peacock exclusive and now breaking out to the competition. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star in a clever, funny homage to the men and women who put their bodies in jeopardy for our entertainment.

*Gladiator

Year: 2000
Runtime: 2h 28m
Director: Ridley Scott

The first Best Picture winner of the new millennium was one of the most beloved period action films of all time. Russell Crowe gives his most iconic performance a Roman general named Maximus, who watches his family murdered and his life destroyed by a vicious ruler named Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Forced into slavery, Maximus must become a gladiator, competing in arenas until he can achieve his ultimate revenge. Skip Gladiator II and go back to the original.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Year: 1967
Runtime: 2h 58m
Director: Sergio Leone

Is this Sergio Leone’s best movie? It might be. It’s arguably his most influential, changing the landscape of the Western in ways that are still being felt a half-century later. Clint Eastwood plays “The Good,” Lee Van Cleef plays “The Bad,” and Eli Wallach plays “The Ugly.” It’s even better than you remember.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Year: 2001-2003
Runtime: Various
Director: Peter Jackson

The Oscar-winning franchise by Peter Jackson bounces around the streaming services with alarming regularity, now finding its way to Prime Video for an indeterminate amount of time. Watch the entire saga of Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gange, and the rest of the Fellowship while you can.

Family and Kids

*How to Train Your Dragon 2

Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Dean Deblois

When people speak of the best film trilogies of all time, they too rarely include the films based on the books by Cressida Cowell about a boy and his beloved fire-breathing friend. These movies are gorgeously animated and legitimately moving. And the second chapter, currently on Prime Video, may be the best of the trilogy.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Joel Crawford, Januel P. Mercado

There was no reason to believe that this decade-in-waiting sequel to Puss in Boots would be better than the original but it undeniably is. One of the reasons is the stunning visual design for the film, clearly inspired by Spider-verse, but it’s also a more poignant animated film than usual, anchored by what’s really a theme of mortality that’s embedded in its heroism. It made a deserved fortune: half a billion dollars worldwide. It’s probably the last one, but, if it’s not, don’t wait another decade for the next sequel.

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