Top Original Prime Video Movies

While streaming movies are still controversial among movie greats (and those who make money), Amazon has managed to create a pretty impressive lineup of films that have succeeded not only in terms of audiences, but in the wider world of movie awards – more than one of the films listed below were among the nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year.

To get there, many of these films had very limited theatrical screenings, usually to satisfy the formalities that require a film to premiere in a theater in order to qualify for the biggest awards. So when we talk about Prime Video originals, we’re including movies that were more or less produced by Amazon and made primarily for Prime Video, even if they’ve been in theaters for a week or two.

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)

Queer people deserve wacky rom-coms as much as anyone else, and “Red”, “White” and “Royal Blue ” (from Casey McQuiston’s bestseller) more than fit the bill. Taylor Zachar Perez plays Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the President of the United States (Uma Thurman) against Prince Heinrich Nicholas Golitsyn, the alternate heir to the British throne. A public altercation between the two sets off an international incident, which naturally leads to a slow romance and a couple of slightly spicy sex scenes.

Black Power: A British History of the Resistance (2021)

To Americans, increasingly vaguely aware of our own history of black power and the civil rights movement, it may seem like a difficult lesson to turn to Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, but this history, important in itself, is instructive in how the history of struggle coincides. with and at odds with the history of the United States. Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen is executive producing a BBC co-production, and Daniel Kaluuya tells a tale of impressive complexity: a film not only about the heroes and triumphs of a movement, but also about roads not traveled, moments when things spiraled out of control.

Big Sick (2017)

This was the moment Kumail Nanjani made it clear that he had other talents besides comedy, even though his subsequent move to Marvel films isn’t even remotely an improvement over something like The Big Sick. , which he also co-wrote with Emily W. Gordon. The film is based on their relationship and follows a Pakistani-American comedian and a white psychology student whose new relationship is complicated when Emily unexpectedly falls ill. It’s smart and funny, and eschews fuss in favor of healthy cynicism and a sense of humor, though the film is often heartbreaking.

Endless Night (2019)

Director Andrew Patterson makes a very confident debut in this film that takes us back to the 1950s, to a small town in New Mexico on the night of a big basketball game. Young local disc jockey Everett (Jake Horowitz) and his best friend, local telephone operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) are involved in a series of strange events that begin when Everett’s show is interrupted by a strange signal. The plot is based on a lot of UFO movie clichés, but none of them really matter: the film has a phenomenal visual flair and makes the typical alien invasion stakes deeply personal for this small town.

Judy Bloom Forever (2023)

The documentary chronicles the life of Judy Bloom and a half-century career that has included triumphs such as Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970), Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing (1972) and Brabber (1974) to name but a few. If that were all, it would be worth it, and it’s nice to hear Bloom’s own opinion. However, the timing was perfect, given Bloom’s hard-earned reputation for covering topics that were once (and often still are) not considered appropriate for young adult audiences: menstruation and puberty, divorce, molestation, and what we now call body dysmorphia. . Given the current culture of hostility towards libraries, Bloom’s trajectory is not only interesting, it’s important.

Lucy and Desi (2022)

Released in the wake of Aaron Sorkin’s drama Desilu (see below), Amy Poehler’s documentary provides an in-depth look at one of Hollywood’s most powerful couples, with a focus on their tumultuous personal lives. Although there doesn’t seem to be much to say about Lucy and Desi, Poehler makes extensive use of never-released recordings, and with the full assistance of the estate. Such a family seal of approval can be an ambiguous blessing, but nothing here feels safe or blurry. This is an inside look at the events and emotions going on behind the scenes as the two of them created the most popular television show and ran the production company Desilu.

Being Ricardo (2021)

Returning to Aaron Sorkin’s Oscar-nominated docudrama, the focus here is on a critical period at the start of I Love Lucy , circa 1953, when Ball was under investigation for potential communist ties. It’s like a play in many ways, but both protagonists are great: Javier Bardem conveys Desi’s business acumen and undeniable charisma, clearly showing both the positive and negative effects of charm on his personal life. Nicole Kidman doesn’t make a direct impression of Lucy, and the movie only gets better for that; while she doesn’t necessarily convey that distinctive comic style, she is flawless as the more serious, mature, underhanded Lucy.

Get a duchy! (2019)

Probably my personal favorite of the films on this list. This dark British comedy tells the story of a group of slacker students who land in the Scottish Highlands in pursuit of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize (the real thing), which requires them to move freely across the landscape. than a paper map. The teens are soon pursued by hunters (including Eddie Izzard) who appreciate being able to cull the noisier and ungrateful kids. Utterly ill-prepared for nature, much less escaping serial killers, children face challenges that build up more and more truly terrifyingly. With a mixture of classy commentary and a wild sense of humor, it’s like the awesome Triangle of Sorrow , only at a much more reasonable length.

Tomorrow’s War (2021)

Highly entertaining, if forgettable, Tomorrow’s War is a smart choice if you’re looking for a sci-fi action thriller that doesn’t require huge brainpower. The third or fourth favorite in the film is Chris (Pratt) playing a biology teacher/ex-Green Beret who is called in 2022 to… wage war against aliens in 2048. Pratt is fine, but Sam Richardson steals the film as a nerd scientist and fellow conscript who combines a comic role with real emotion. With a $200 million budget, it was one of the most expensive COVID-era films to debut on streaming, and a sequel may well be on the way.

Uncle Frank (2020)

Alan Ball ( “Six Feet Below “, “True Blood “) directs this 1970s period play starring Paul Bettany as a closeted gay traveling with his 18-year-old niece (Sophia Lillis) and is surprised when he is joined by his partner of the decade, Wally. on the road (Peter Macdissi). The resulting complications create poignant drama, but the film is not without a sense of humour; it’s as much about the wider family dynamic as it is about secrets and the toilet. All three main cast members are fantastic and it’s good to be reminded that Bettany is more than just Marvel’s Vision.

Master (2022)

The phenomenal Regina Hall stars in this masterful psychological thriller as Gail Bishop, the first black faculty member at Ancaster, a fictional elite New England university. The school is haunted by the suicide of its first black student in 1965, and strange events soon occur involving Bishop and new freshman Jasmine Moore (Zoe Renee), a black student who struggles to fit in with the school’s clique of rich white girls. The narrative changes in unpredictable ways, leaving us as unbalanced as the main characters. Rich script ideas don’t always get the development they deserve, but the finished product is fascinating nonetheless.

Sound of Metal (2019)

A film about a heavy metal drummer slowly losing his hearing could easily come across as too intrusive, but The Sound of Thunder avoids the obvious pitfalls and finds heart and fury in Reuben Stone’s titular character, played by Riz Ahmed. He is joined by Paul Racy as Joe, an alcoholic war veteran who runs a shelter for deaf drug addicts; both actors received well-deserved Oscar nominations for their work, and the film was nominated for Best Picture. There’s enough in the film to challenge assumptions about deafness, but the characters’ understated roles never feel like a lecture.

Time (2020)

This documentary examines the American prison-industrial complex from a deeply personal perspective. This is the story of Sybil Fox Richardson fighting for the release of her husband Rob, who is serving a sixty-year prison sentence in Louisiana for his part in an armed robbery. Director Garrett Bradley had originally planned to make a short film about the family’s history, but after accessing hours of Rob’s home video of his life before incarceration, he realized she had something far deeper in her hands. I’m not sure there is a more concise and convincing argument for the inhuman nature of our prison system, and it’s not easy to walk out of a movie still thinking of prisoners as anything other than people worthy of your compassion.

One Night in Miami… (2020)

Actress Regina King had quite a bit of TV directing experience before taking on her first feature-length directing project, and it’s certainly an impressive debut. The 2013 film based on the play by Kemp Powers (who also wrote the screenplay) offers a speculative look at a real-life meeting of four of the twentieth century’s most prominent figures at the Hampton House Motel in Florida in 1964. Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge and Leslie Odom Jr. as Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay at the time), Jim Brown and Sam Cooke as four debates and a discussion of their own role in the black power movements and for civil rights. as well as putting forward their own demons and the demands of their lives as role models. Its origins as a play are clear, but King’s powerful acting and confident direction lend tension and strength to the story.

You were never here (2017)

It sounds like a John Wick reference: Joaquin Phoenix plays a mercenary named Joe, hired by a politician to retrieve his kidnapped daughter and take down the criminal network that kidnapped her. However, writer/director Lynn Ramsey ( The Pied Piper , Morvern Callar , We Need to Talk About Kevin ) has something deeper and darker in mind, and the resulting film feels less like an action movie than the impossibly intense plot of Taxi Driver . » . with Phoenix and Ekaterina Samsonova as a young girl involved in a story about how she will have to survive trauma for life, and not solve problems with bullets.

I’m not your black man (2016)

At the beginning of the documentary on Samuel L. Jackson, in his own words, James Baldwin reframes the issue of civil rights and black progress in America as an issue that is not primarily a black issue, but an issue on which the future of the country depends. It’s a key difference that the film explores through Baldwin’s writing, and also makes clear that while the cultural context may have changed a bit, we still live in an America that (mostly) doesn’t see this fundamental relationship. . Seeing the still relevant words of a strange black writer, activist, and thinker come to life decades after his death is both uplifting and necessary.