100 Of The Best Movies To Stream On Amazon Prime In December

Something from Tiffany's, Nanny, Hairspray, and more great titles you'll want to stream this month.

Your mission is simple enough: Find a movie to watch on Prime Video. But unfortunately for you, the task is much easier said than done as the Amazon juggernaut has a massive catalog of constantly shifting titles for you to choose from.

MGM/Regal / Via giphy.com

Although Amazon's acquisition of MGM means that every James Bond film will be on the platform for the foreseeable future, and Amazon Studios puts out a few titles a month, the tech giant does not have the decades-long back catalog of titles that other streamers have. That means that it has to rely on leasing films from other studios, which can have its pros and cons. Pro: Prime members are offered a rotating array of films from every major studio. Con: Said film could disappear at a moment's notice if the contractual agreement expires. Just because you knew what you wanted to watch on Prime Video last week, doesn't mean that it will be there today. 

Luckily for you, I am here to provide you with an up-to-date list of the best films that ARE available to stream on Prime Video.

MGM / Via giphy.com

The semi-confusing Prime Video homepage isn't always helpful, and often, the best titles aren't promoted well, meaning that the movies can come and go from the site without you ever knowing they were available. The fact that Prime's Freevee arm (an ad-supported branch that used to be IMDb TV) is somehow both a separate entity and lumped in with Prime, makes matters all the more confusing. But, if you know where to look, Prime Video offers plenty of top tier, fresh content that you probably have access to for free if you're a Prime member. 

So, no need to fear, I've put together a whole big list for you, but to start, here are my three favorite films currently available:

Paramount Pictures / Via giphy.com

1. The Way Way Back: A coming-of-age comedy set at a waterpark and starring Toni Collette, Maya Rudolph, Steve Carrell, and plenty of other funny people . 

2. Support the Girls: Regina Hall is the manager of a Hooters-like establishment and must deal with all the headaches of running the business in this indie darling.

3. Love and Monsters: This Dylan O'Brien action/comedy/romance/sci-fi/post-apocalyptic Oscar-nominated (!!!!) romp is so much fun and did not get nearly enough attention. 

Plus, there's a wealth of classics (Hairspray, E.T., Cloverfield) that have just been added to the site, along with two new Christmas rom-coms Your Christmas or Mine? and Something from Tiffany's, and the psychological horror film Nanny. 

New This Month:

1. The Breakfast Club (1985)

Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: John Hughes

Cast: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy

Genre: Coming-of-age / Comedy / Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 32m

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (Critics), 92% (Audience) 

High school wouldn't be high school without cliques, and John Hughes gives us the classic high school clique film with this masterpiece about five teens stuck together in weekend detention. They come from five different backgrounds, but obviously come to learn (what we all come to learn eventually) that humans aren't all that different from one another down deep. The athlete, the brain, the princess, the criminal, and the basket case (cliques must have done some rebranding since the '80s because there was not a basket case crew at my high school) go in as enemies and come out as friends. Plus, this is the film that gave us "Don't You (Forget About Me)" which is a banger. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

2. Capote (2005)

Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Bennett Miller

Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Mark Pellegrino, Amy Ryan, and Chris Cooper

Genre: Biographical Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 55m

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (Critics), 82% (Audience) 

No college genre lit course on true crime could be complete without Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, and no eighth-grade English class could be complete without Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Turns out that the effeminate, gay New York socialite and the reclusive, Southern tough old bird were actually best friends who helped each other write their masterworks. In the film, Philip Seymour Hoffman (who won the Oscar) and Catherine Keener (who was nominated for one) play the literary duo as Capote investigates a set of brutal murders in Kansas that will become the basis for his iconic genre-creator. It's a beautiful story of an odd-couple friendship that makes you look around and say, "OK, which one of my writer friends is gonna help me get famous?" 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

3. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

DreamWorkds/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, and Nathalie Baye

Genre: Biography / Crime / Comedy / Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 20m

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (Critics), 89% (Audience) 

Watching this Steven Spielberg film about ‘60s conman Frank Abagnale will either make you really thankful we now have technology or really annoyed they’re stopping you from pulling off jobs. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Abagnale, a street-smart teenager who manages to pull off a string of scams including impersonating a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer. He is tirelessly hunted down by Tom Hanks’s FBI agent Carl Hanratty in a cat-and-mouse game both popcorn-munchingly entertaining and incredibly satisfying. All my Amy Adams stans will also enjoy watching her play a young hospital nurse with braces who DiCaprio seduces in one of her earlier film roles.   

Watch it on Prime Video. 

4. Cloverfield (2008)

Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Matt Reeves

Cast: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, and Odette Annable

Genre: Horror / Monster

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 25m

Rotten Tomatoes: 78% (Critics), 68% (Audience) 

If you are easily susceptible to motion sickness, Cloverfield might not be the film for you. It is after all a found footage horror flick about a man with a camcorder at an NYC going away party who then spends 90 minutes running and screaming, shaking that camera every which way when the city is attacked by a giant Godzilla-like creature. A brilliant monster feature that is expertly paced and ridiculously scary, Cloverfield is shaky cam from start to finish. Its massive success on a small budget has yielded several sequels, and reinforced to me that running between subway stations through the tunnels of NYC is always a horrible idea. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

5. Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

Robert Zuckerman/Walt Disney/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: P.J. Hogan

Cast: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Leslie Bibb

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 45m

Rotten Tomatoes: 27% (Critics), 49% (Audience) 

If you, like me, were recently reminded by Wolf Like Me just how incredible Isla Fisher on your screen is, then it's time to revisit THE Isla Fisher film. (Shockingly,  the actress is very rarely a film's true lead.) Fisher, of course, plays a woman addicted to buying clothes who, through a mailing debacle, ends up employed as a journalist at a magazine dedicated to managing finances (not her strong suit). The ever-charming Hugh Dancy is the love interest/magazine editor, and while the fashion in 2009 is certainly out of fashion now, it's fun to see all the outfits nonetheless. And who knows? Maybe low-rise jeans and oversized purses will be back in shortly. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

6. Eat Pray Love (2010)

Francois Duhamel/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Ryan Murphy

Cast: Julia Roberts, James Franco, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis, Billy Crudup, and Javier Bardem

Genre: Biography / Romance / Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 20m

Rotten Tomatoes: 36% (Critics), 42% (Audience) 

Not enough people are talking about the "eat" in the "eat pray love" self-discovery journey. Based on Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 memoir about her post-divorce trip to reconnect with herself, the Julia Roberts-helmed film follows Gilbert to Italy, India, and Bali. She discovers new romantic connections, unlocks new forms of spirituality, and she eats plenty of delicious-looking food. I cannot stress enough how much the food portion of this led to transformation. Enjoying great food is one of the best treats of human existence, and if you are in a funk of just eating kale caesars, no wonder you aren't feeling good about life. You gotta eat good to feel good, and Julia Roberts taught us that. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

7. E.T. Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 55m

Rotten Tomatoes: 99% (Critics), 72% (Audience) 

I think it's hard for us in the year 2022 to imagine the power E.T. held in the pop culture of 1982. The film was in theaters for MONTHS pre-internet and streaming. People saw it over and over again pushing it to be the highest-grossing film, a title it held until Jurassic Park came around eleven years later. Spielberg's classic about a boy who becomes besties with a long-necked alien, feeds it Reese's Pieces, dresses it up as an old lady, and tries to get it back to its spaceship is a crowd pleaser for the ages. Drew Barrymore is a scene stealer as the younger sister, the image of Elliott riding his bike past the moon became the logo for Amblin Entertainment, Spielberg's production company, and "E.T. Phone home" became one of the most quoted movie lines of all time. E.T. is the cutest alien ever, and if you haven't seen this romp, you need to stream it (because you probably don't have a VCR which is the optimal way to watch it). 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

8. Hairspray (2007)

New Line/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Adam Shankman

Cast: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Brittany Snow, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, and Nikki Blonsky

Genre: Musical / Romantic Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 55m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics), 84% (Audience) 

I rewatched Hairspray this summer after having seen it multiple times as a teen and working the CD to death in my mom's minivan. And let me tell you, this is an "all killer no filler" film. The great songs just roll one into another into another with very little fluff or dialogue in between. The fact that it fits seventeen songs into less than two hours is a testament to just how much of this film is music. "Nicest Kids in Town," "Good Morning Baltimore," "Miss Baltimore Crabs." This is one of the best modern movie musicals, and the cast, including Oscar-winner Allison Janney ("devil child") and pre-spray tan Zac Efron, is perfectly constructed. The fact this film didn't get a single Oscar nomination is laughable. PLUS John Travolta as Edna Turnblad is pure genius. This movie may say it's a 54 Double D, but I'm going to give it an A+. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

9. Hawa (2022)

Sania Halifa/Prime Video

Director: Maimouna Doucouré

Cast: Sania Halifa, Oumou Sangare, Yseult, and Kamrul Hossain

Genre: Coming-of-age / Drama

Rating: TBD

Runtime: 1h 44m

Rotten Tomatoes: TBD

Not to be confused with Hawa, the 2003 horror film, Hawa, the 2022 mystery, and Hawaa, the 2019 suspense thriller, Hawa, the 2022 drama, is about a girl who wants to be adopted by Michelle Obama. This is the most relatable feeling in the entire world. If I could, I too would gladly be adopted by Barack and Michelle, who seem like the loveliest, sort of dorky, but also kind of cool parents one could find. Hawa, the film's protagonist, is a young French girl who is worried that child services will intervene because her grandmother, with whom she lives, is getting old and suffers from various health concerns. Her solution is to meet up with Michelle while she's in Paris and convince the first lady to adopt her (easy enough right?). The beautiful, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking film is a portrait of grandmotherly love and the many forms family can take. 

Watch it on Prime Video starting December 9. 

10. Hook (1991)

TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins, Maggie Smith, and Charlie Korsmo

Genre: Adventure / Drama / Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 2h 24m

Rotten Tomatoes: 29% (Critics), 76% (Audience) 

While critics were clearly not into Steven Spielberg's take on Peter Pan when the film was released, the inventive tale has since become a cult classic and one of Spielberg's most beloved under-rated gems. The ever delightful Robin Williams plays Peter Banning, a workaholic lawyer, who is as far from childlike as one can be. Turns out Peter used to be Peter Pan, and with the help of an aged Wendy (Maggie Smith) and Tinker Bell (Julia Robert), he is transported back to Neverland to face off against Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) one last time, saving his real-life kids and rediscovering his youthfulness along the way. It's a high-concept film that doesn't always work, but the exuberant performances pave over a multitude of sins and I defy anyone not to fall in love with Rufio. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

11. La La Land (2016)

Summit Releasing/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Damien Chazelle

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, and J.K. Simmons

Genre: Musical / Romance / Comedy / Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 8m

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Critics), 81% (Audience) 

What will the legacy of La La Land be? Will it be its VERY brief Best Picture win before the producers had to hand their Oscars over to the Moonlight crew? Will it be the opening highway dance scene and the Golden Globes' Arrival suit-filled parody that also starred the Stranger Things cast? Or will it be "City of Stars"? Love it or hate it (because it's an oddly divisive film), it is incredibly iconic and one of the best original movie musicals of recent history. The film won six Oscars (that weren't given back) out of a record-tying 14 nominations, with Emma Stone and director Damien Chazelle taking home top prizes (Chazelle was the youngest director ever to win). Chazelle is back this year with the opulent Babylon and his Neil Armstrong biopic, First Man, was also a success, but he will forever be tied to this tribute to Las Angeles. Gonna go find a baby grand now to play those opening notes and see if I can attract my true love.  

Watch it on Prime Video. 

12. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Brad Siberling

Cast: Jim Carrey, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Timothy Spall, Catherine O'Hara, Billy Connolly, Cedric the Entertainer, Luis Guzman, Jennifer Coolidge, and Meryl Streep

Genre: Adventure / Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 47m

Rotten Tomatoes: 72% (Critics), 63% (Audience) 

While the Netflix series starring Neil Patrick Harris is perhaps a more well-constructed (and certainly more complete) vision of Lemony Snicket's lauded children's series, I will forever love this film. Adapting the first three books of the 13-book series, it was meant to be a franchise launcher, but despite generally positive reviews, a strong box office, and four (YES FOUR) Oscar nominations and a win, a sequel never materialized. Jim Carrey's Count Olaf is some of his best, most well-suited work, Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge, and Meryl Streep provide brilliant cameos, and THE SCORE. God the score is incredible. This film deserved better, and if I could go back in time, hang a film producer's baby in a cage, and force them to make the follow-up films, I would. Sometimes I just go watch Jim Carrey's improvising videos and am endlessly entertained. As Esme Squalor would say, this film "is in."

Watch it on Prime Video. 

13. mother! (2017)

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer

Genre: Psychological Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 0m

Rotten Tomatoes: 68% (Critics), 51% (Audience) 

mother! (because we obviously have to use the lowercase "m" and the exclamation point) is sort of a train wreck, IMHO. It is a batshit, bonkers, chaotic film that is actively bad at parts, gruesome at others, and basically responsible for Jennifer Lawrence's disappearance (which thankfully ended this year with the magnificent Causeway). It's a weird Adam & Eve allegory about a woman trapped in a house with loads of horrible people who keep sitting on counters even though they're told not to. I would not suggest watching this earnestly, but hate watching it (perhaps a bit drunk) with friends is a very fun activity. Lawrence is trying her darnedest, but when Kristin Wiig shoes up inexplicably and starts shooting people, you know the movie is not salvageable. May the odds be ever in your favor if you decide to take on this film, but it is worth seeing just so you can laugh at how outrageous it is. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

14. Nanny (2022)

Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Nikyatu Jusu

Cast: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, Leslie Uggams, and Zephani Idoko

Genre: Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 38m

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (Critics), 64% (Audience) 

Nanny is a terrifying horror movie, and not just because something horrifying is going on in Aisha's (Anna Diop) dreams. Nanny is also terrifying because it hyper-realistically depicts the terrors of being a poor, Black, immigrant woman working for rich, white, New Yorkers. Aisha is hired on by an Upper East Side family as the nanny, and things seem to be going okay until the mother gets overworked, the father gets a little handsy, and both keep conveniently forgetting to pay Aisha. But who is the sinister force in this equation? The negligent mom, the too-nice dad, the creepy kid, or is it Aisha's mind itself causing her to see horrors during swim lessons in Tribeca and packing lunches in the gorgeous loft. Tense and a bit too real, the film is another addition to this year's strong horror offering. 

Watch it on Prime Video starting December 16. 

15. Ordinary People (1980)

Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Robert Redford

Cast: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton

Genre: Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 3m

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (Critics), 88% (Audience) 

An oldie but a goodie, this Best Picture winner from the '80s stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton in awards-worthy performances. An upper-class family in suburban Illinois crumbles as they each mourn the loss of their son and brother. MTM plays against type in this serious drama, and her frazzled relationship with her remaining son is devastating. This is one of my favorite family dramas for just how realistic it is, and with Judd Hirsch's strong performance in The Fabelmans this year, it might be worth revisiting this film for which he was Oscar-nominated (losing to his costar Hutton). 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

16. The Proposal (2009)

Sam Emerson/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Anne Fletcher

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Malin Akerman, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen, and Betty White

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 48m

Rotten Tomatoes: 45% (Critics), 67% (Audience) 

One could argue (and I will) that The Proposal is our most recent great rom-com. The genre, which thrived in the '80s and '90s, has been largely overlooked as of late, and no one has successfully topped the Ryan Reynolds–Sandra Bullock vehicle. In it, the heartless, all-business head of a publishing company (Bullock) demands that her kindly assistant (Reynolds) marry her in order to avoid her deportation back to Canada. As part of the ruse, however, she must return home to his native Alaska to spend time with his family. And as the laws of the rom-com dictate, the once-enemies fall in love along the way. It should also be noted that this is the film responsible for the Betty White renaissance of the early 2010s. How could you not love a sassy ole granny? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

17. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Columbia Pictures / ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Gabriele Muccino

Cast: Will Smith, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, James Lassiter, Steve Tisch, and Jaden Smith

Genre: Biographical Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 56m

Rotten Tomatoes: 67% (Critics), 87% (Audience) 

Will Smith may have gone down in Oscar history last year for winning Best Actor for King Richard mere minutes after slapping Chris Rock on national television, but he was nominated twice before, first for playing Muhammed Ali in Ali and later for this film. In this feel-good biopic, Smith plays Chris Gardner, a genius who ends up a homeless single father sleeping in subway stations, when the economy crashes. The film follows Chris as he slowly works his way up from rags to riches in the quintessential "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" American saga. The film is a little too polished at points and feels a bit too message-driven, but Smith's performance is unimpeachable, and this is also the film that introduced us to Jaden Smith, who would go on to become an actor, musician, and style icon in his own right. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

18. The Ring (2002)

Dreamworks / ©DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Gore Verbinski

Cast: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Jane Alexander, and Brian Cox

Genre: Supernatural Horror

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 55m

Rotten Tomatoes: 71% (Critics), 48% (Audience) 

As I pointed out in my ranking of horror movies by how likely I would be to survive them, The Ring would be fairly easy to survive because the plot hinges around watching a cursed VHS tape, something I would never do if I knew it was cursed. Alas, the characters in this film are not quite as bright as me, and so end up summoning Samara, the long-haired menace who crawls through the TV and commits murder. The remake of a Japanese horror classic is truly terrifying and the image of Samara has become a pop culture touchstone. This film also features a tremendous Naomi Watts performance that is often forgotten in all the hair. Thank goodness VHS tapes have gone by the wayside so we don't have to deal with this curse anymore. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

19. She's the Man (2006)

DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Andy Fickman

Cast: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, Robert Hoffman, Alex Breckenridge, Julie Hagerty, and David Cross

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 45m

Rotten Tomatoes: 43% (Critics), 79% (Audience)

In the late '90s and early '00s, filmmakers LOVED to take a classic work of literature and turn it into a witty teen comedy. IDK why this trope went by the wayside, but it brought us such gems as Easy A, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, and of course this Amanda Bynes masterclass. She's the Man is based on Twelfth Night, famously Shakespeare's best comedy about tampons. Bynes plays Viola, who pretends to be her hot brother Sebastian, so she can be taken seriously as a soccer player. Of course, while dressed as a boy, she falls in love with Channing Tatum's Duke, the captain of the soccer team. Bynes is one of the great comedic actors of our generation (I AM CONSTANTLY ROOTING FOR HER COMEBACK) and this is one of her best performances as she gets to exhibit the full range of her talents. Also, a hearty FU to whichever critics dragged this masterpiece down to a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

20. Something from Tiffany's (2022)

Erin Simkin/Amazon Prime Video/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Daryl Wein

Cast: Zoey Deutch, Kendrick Sampson, Ray Nicholson, and Shay Mitchell

Genre: Holiday Romantic Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 27m

Rotten Tomatoes: TBD

If you are looking for a delightful new Christmas rom-com, and one that feels like its budget was higher than the $6 they give Hallmark directors to make their films, and one that isn't anti-LGBTQ+, might I recommend this little gem? Consummately likable rom-com queen Zoey Deutch stars as Rachel, a baker with a crappy boyfriend who buys her earrings for Christmas. Kendrick Sampson is Ethan, a sweet and hot single dad who buys an engagement ring for Shay Mitchell. When the two Tiffany's shoppers swap bags accidentally, however, Rachel ends up engaged and Ethan ends up spending time with her trying to get the ring back. Of course, they fall in love as only two complete strangers at Christmastime in New York City can. If you need me at all this December, I will be chilling outside of Tiffany's hoping to meet my true love or his horrible earring-buying boyfriend. 

Watch it on Prime Video starting December 9. 

21. Thelma & Louise (1991)

MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, and Harvey Keitel

Genre: Crime / Comedy / Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 9m

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (Critics), 82% (Audience) 

People love to throw around the phrase "ride or die" about their friends, but would they really "ride or die" with you? Would they "ride and die" with you? That is the question of Thelma & Louise, one of cinema's most classic tales of best friends. When the pair, played by Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who were both Oscar-nominated for the film, ends up killing a man during an attempted parking lot rape, they go on the run for the police driving across the country in a game of cat and mouse. The film is profound and heart-breaking and both actresses are doing career-best work in a story that won Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards. I won't spoil the film's iconic ending, but the scene is one that will live in your mind forever. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

22. The Way Way Back (2013)

Claire Folger/Fox Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

Cast: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Liam James, Rob Corddry, and Amanda Peet

Genre: Coming-of-age / Comedy / Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 43m

Rotten Tomatoes: 84% (Critics), 84% (Audience) 

Toni Collette is an amazing actor, and apparently, casting directors have realized you can’t go wrong if you give her a sad, emo child (Hereditary, Little Miss Sunshine, The Sixth Sense, need I go on?). In this coming-of-age drama set mostly at a Cape Cod waterpark, Toni struggles to choose between her aimless son and her deadbeat boyfriend. The entire cast delivers zingers from a script written by Oscar winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (the Dean from Community), and this is easily one of the best coming-of-age movies in recent history. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

23. Your Christmas or Mine? (2022)

Prime Video

Director: Jim O'Hanlon

Cast: Asa Butterfield, Daniel Mays, Angela Griffin, and Cora Kirk

Genre: Holiday Romantic Comedy

Rating: TBD

Runtime: 1h 35m

Rotten Tomatoes: TBD

Every year approximately 700 unoriginal, snoozy, twinkle-light-infused Christmas movies are dumped on our laps, each claiming to be the newest addition to the Christmas movie canon. Your Christmas or Mine? is actually worthy of being a yearly holiday watch for the family. Asa Butterfield, bringing the same awkward charm that makes Sex Education so magnificent, as James, and his girlfriend Hayley, played by Cora Kirk, each attempt to surprise the other by showing up at their home unannounced at Christmas. Of course, this leads to James and Hayley each being snowed in with the others family to learn plenty of mishaps and secrets being revealed. The supporting cast is brilliant, the script is charming and witty, and the whole adventure feels fresh and full of holiday cheer. I already can't wait to watch this again next December!

Watch it on Prime Video. 

What to Watch:

24. 1UP (2022)

Samantha Falco / Samantha Falco/Lionsgate

Director: Kyle Newman

Cast: Paris Berelc, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Hari Nef, and Ruby Rose

Genre: E-Sports Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 40m

If you, like me, have been aggressively hoping for another Pitch Perfect movie, then I'm here to make your wishes come true by telling you that 1UP will scratch that itch — just with video games instead of a cappella singing. The film (which, full disclosure, was produced by BuzzFeed Studios) follows Paris Berelc, a college student who forms an all-girls e-sports team to take on the very douchey boys team. Trans icon Hari Nef plays her bestie, and Ruby Rose plays their coach with an amount of humor and humanity I did not get from her in Batwoman or The Meg. The film has that scrappy, rapid-fire, slightly raunchy humor of the original Pitch Perfect and isn't afraid to be weird and clever. The relationships are very sweet (especially the nerdy romance plot line), and as someone who has not played a video game since Mario Party 5 came out, I was intrigued by the world of e-sports. 

Available on Prime Video. 

25. The 355 (2022)

Robert Viglasky/Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Simon Kinberg

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong'o, Édgar Ramirez, and Sebastian Stan

Genre: Action/Spy/Thriller

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 2m

Rotten Tomatoes: 24% (Critics) 86% (Audience) 

TALK ABOUT A CAST. Newly minted Oscar winner/TikTok star Jessica Chastain leads a group of five international spies who must take down terrorists trying to start World War III. Her compatriots? First up, we've got Jessica's Best Actress fellow nominee and Donatella Versace impersonator Penélope Cruz. Then, of course, we have Diane Kruger who famously helped to steal the Declaration of Independence, so we'd love to have her on any spy team. Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who made her American film debut in X-Men: Days of Future Past, is in the group representing MSS, and last but certainly not least, we've got Oscar-winner/scissor assassin Lupita Nyong'o. While not the most original spy film ever to be made, it is a fun showcase for five actresses usually known for more serious, dramatic work. And who doesn't want to watch Tammy Faye Messner kick some ass? I mean, come on. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

26. Adventureland (2009)

Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Greg Mottola

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and Ryan Reynolds

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 46m

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (Critics) 61% (Audience) 

The "summer job" genre of movie is a favorite of mine, and this one, in which Jesse Eisenberg ends up working at a rinky-dink amusement park, is a classic. Adventureland is also Stewart's first big role following the release of Twilight. She plays Em, a park games operator who manages to stumble into several different love triangles with Adventureland coworkers (including both Eisenberg and Ryan Reynolds). In addition to perfecting her cool girl aesthetic here, Stewart also does the film's heavy lifting with a few emotional scenes in the film's back half. It's funny. It's charming. Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader play a married couple. What's not to love? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

27. All the Old Knives (2022)

Stefania Rosini/Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Janus Metz Pedersen

Cast: Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Pryce, and David Dawson

Genre: Spy Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 41m

Rotten Tomatoes: 64% (Critics) 45% (Audience) 

In the ongoing debate over which of the four Chrises is the best, this is certainly a strike in the favor of Mr. Pine. What could have easily been a run-of-the-mill spy thriller based on a novel (think Jack Reacher or Jack Ryan) is elevated by a creative storyline and unsurprisingly good performances by the all-star cast consisting of Pine, Thandiwe Newton, Laurence Fishburne, and Jonathan Pryce. Set over a sumptuous food-porn dinner (think Pig without the Nic Cage grunting), Pine and Newton discuss their days working in Vienna years earlier, where their relationship, as coworkers and lovers, disintegrated. After their CIA team botched a hostage situation that resulted in the deaths of an entire plane full of civilians, the pair moved on only to reconnect and attempt to unravel what exactly happened all those years ago. The film looks expensive, the mystery is compelling, and a series of twists will keep you on the edge of your seat. Chris's best work since he fell in that fountain in Princess Diaries 2. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

28. Argentina,1985 (2022)

Lina Etchesuri/Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Santiago Mitre

Cast: Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, and Norman Briski

Genre: Historical Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 20m

Rotten Tomatoes: N/A

I for one had never head of the Trial of the Juntas before watching this film. I can't really say I knew much about Argentinian history at all. For those of you (like me), who are ill-informed, from 1976 to 1983, Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship. When that regime was finally dismantled, its leaders were put on trial by the new government in 1985, a controversial and potentially dangerous move as the former leaders still held much sway within the country. Argentina,1985, which happens to be Argentina's Oscar submission this year, follows the attorney tasked with prosecuting these powerful men, and his ragtag team of aides who faced overwhelming odds in the name of justice. If you love a legal drama or just want to learn more about global history, this is an incredibly engaging way to delve into the past. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

29. Being the Ricardos (2021)

Glen Wilson / Amazon Content Services LLC

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J. K. Simmons, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy, and Clark Gregg

Genre: Biographical Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 11m

Rotten Tomatoes: 67% (Critics) 75% (Audience) 

"LUCY, I'M HOME!" And so is Amazon's new Lucille Ball biopic, which now resides on the tech giant's streaming platform. While the internet has expressed consternation about Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman's casting as the sitcom legend since the film's early stills appeared, there was no reason for concern. Kidman and Javier Bardem (who plays her husband, Desi Arnaz) combine just enough impression within their performances to make them believable without becoming caricatures. The Aaron Sorkin script is tight, focusing on the pair as they traverse a hectic week full of accusations of communism, cheating allegations, an unexpected pregnancy, inter-cast drama, and of course, a full-episode production cycle. The film zips along, with Sorkin's dialogue leading the film to a propulsive and cathartic end. A rare Oscar contender that is as fun as it as good. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

30. The Big Sick (2017)

Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Michael Showalter

Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, and Ray Romano

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (Critics) 88% (Audience) 

So, let’s say you dated a girl for five months, and then, she broke up with you. And then, she went to the hospital and was put into a coma. And then, her parents came, and they knew you broke up. And then, you just had to sit with them awkwardly in the waiting room because you did still care about the girl. Thus is the premise of The Big Sick, and also the real-life events surrounding the romance of the film's writers, Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani (who is also the star). One of the best romantic comedies of the past decade, this film also examines interracial dating in a smart, nuanced way and is stacked with your comedy faves, including Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, and Bo Burnham (whose recent comedy special Inside is a masterpiece). 

Watch it on Prime Video.  

31. Bottle Shock (2008)

Freestyle Releasing / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Randall Miller

Cast: Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, Bill Pullman, and Rachael Taylor

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 50m

Rotten Tomatoes: 48% (Critics) 58% (Audience) 

Once upon a time, I was home for the summer from college and rented this film from the library because I love Alan Rickman (Harry Potter, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Sense and Sensibility; I could go on). I found the movie captivating and demanded the DVD for Christmas. Rickman stars as a snobbish connoisseur of French wine who decides to throw a competition between the lauded French wineries and the looked-down-upon Californian upstarts (the leads of whom are Bill Pullman and Chris Pine). Rickman is an absolute delight, and I (someone who buys $4 watermelon rosé from Trader Joe's) was mesmerized by the true story that put Napa Valley on the map in the ’70s. Perhaps, uncork a bottle of wine, and settle in for the evening?   

Watch it on Prime Video.  

32. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Blake Edwards

Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Runtime: 1h 55m

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (Critics) 91% (Audience) 

Name a more iconic on-screen look. I'll wait. Audrey Hepburn's LBD complete with gloves, a tiara, and a long cigarette holder has been plastered on posters, mugs, and sweatshirts for decades now. Countless individuals site this simple, elegant look as the inspiration for their own personal style (despite having no idea what the movie is even about). For those who want to know, the movie is actually about a woman who falls in love with a struggling writer, and she does indeed eat breakfast at Tiffany's. It's based on a Truman Capote novella and is sort of sad, but the costumes are exquisite!

Watch it on Prime Video. 

33. Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)

Amazon Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Paul Downs Colaizzo 

Cast: Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, and Micah Stock

Genre: Sports Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 44m

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (Critics) 87% (Audience) 

As somewhat of a marathon expert (I’ve written a whole book about the sport), I can personally attest to the tremendous amount of work that goes into running 26.2 miles, as well as the euphoric emotional payoff of finishing. This Jillian Bell film (based on a true story) follows Brittany as she signs up for the New York City Marathon in an attempt to get her life back on track. The heartwarming comedy also stars Michaela Watkins (Search Party) and Utkarsh Ambudkar (Pitch Perfect) and is the first feature film to actually shoot on location during the marathon. Watching Brittany finish her race is incredibly inspiring and will make you want to sign up for a marathon as well. 

Watch it on Prime Video.  

34. Catherine Called Birdy (2022)

Alex Bailey/Amazon Prime Video

Director: Lena Dunham

Cast: Bella Ramsey, Billie Piper, Andrew Scott, Joe Alwyn, and Dean-Charles Chapman

Genre: Medieval Comedy/Coming-of-age

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 48m

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (Critics) 69% (Audience) 

The combination of a children's historical novel set in the 1200s and perpetual foot-in-mouth queen Lena Dunham (with her Pride parade casket) does not appear on the outset to be a particularly promising pairing. I am here to report though that against all odds, Catherine Called Birdy is an absolute delight, and one of the best children's movies I've seen in quite some time. Birdy (Bella Ramsey, who you probably know as Lyanna Mormont aka the bossy little northern girl from Game of Thrones) is being forced into marriage because her family needs money, but she is having NONE of it. The long string of suitors who pay visits to her castle are met with all manner of tricks and psychological warfare from Birdy, who just wants to play in the mud. The film is witty, charming, and most importantly, hilarious as it grapples with issues that feel very current (even if they are over 800 years old). While I imagine this would be a hit with teen girls (although I cannot say for sure as I'm a 30-year-old gay man), I was smitten with the whole project from start to finish. Also, if you are a 30-year-old-gay man reading this list, Andrew Scott plays Birdy's dad. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

35. Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Joe Roth

Cast: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd, Erik Per Sullivan, Cheech Marin, Jake Busey, and M. Emmet Walsh

Genre: Christmas Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 38m

Rotten Tomatoes: 5% (Critics) 38% (Audience) 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see that 5% rating just chilling there. But sometimes critics (and apparently also audiences) can't see a good time when it's standing right in front of them. Luther and Nora Krank (the very funny Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) decide that since their daughter is living abroad, they'll save the money they usually spend on Christmas (which is substantial) and put it towards a cruise instead. This infuriates their holiday-obsessed neighbors and causes a war on the cul-de-sac until the Krank's daughter does decide to return and they have to scramble and get their Christmas back up and running in only a few hours. It's a fun, fizzy holiday flick if you aren't taking it too seriously with plenty of hijinks. IDK why people seem to hate it. DO THEY HATE FUN?

Watch it on Prime Video. 

36. Clockstoppers (2002)

Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Jonathan Frakes

Cast: Jesse Bradford, Paula Garcés, French Stewart, Michael Biehn, and Robin Thomas

Genre: Action/Comedy/Sci-fi

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 34m

Rotten Tomatoes: 29% (Critics) 30% (Audience) 

Is this movie straight-up awful? I am almost certain of it. Have I watched it many times? Yes, I have. Have I watched it in the last 15 years? No. Absolutely not, nor will I. As a tween, I remember Clockstoppers, a film about a bunch of high schoolers who get magic watches that allow them to pause time, being THE SHIT. I wanted one of those watches so bad! I wanted to be able to move water droplets coming out of sprinklers. I wanted to be able to put a peeing dog on the hood of a nemesis's car. I wanted to be able to steal food off someone's plate without them noticing. The whole concept was just so remarkable for my brain, and is one I think about regularly. The movie itself, however, would I'm sure buckle under scrutiny. It has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, doesn't star a single person I've ever heard of, and was produced by Nickelodeon. BUT, you know what? Nostalgia is a powerful drug, and also Rotten Tomatoes says it's "a pleasant diversion for the young adults, but a waste of time for anyone older," which I'm taking to mean "great tween movie." So, why not give it a try? In my mind, it is a stone-cold classic!

Watch it on Prime Video. 

37. Cold War (2018)

Amazon Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Cast: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza, Cédric Kahn, and Jeanne Balibar

Genre: Historical Drama/Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 29m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics) 82% (Audience) 

The first time I tried to see Cold War in theaters, I had to leave 10 minutes in because the man sitting behind me said he’d found bedbugs in his chair. Nevertheless! I had such high hopes for the movie that I booked a ticket at a different theater the next day (after nuking my clothes in the dryer and scrubbing down in the shower), and I was not disappointed. This Oscar-nominated Polish film from Pawel Pawlikowski follows the star-crossed 20-year romantic saga of Zula and Wiktor during the Cold War. Shot in stark black and white, the story is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. A romance for the ages.  

Watch it on Prime Video. 

38. Don't Make Me Go (2022)

Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Hannah Marks

Cast: John Cho, Mia Isaac, Kaya Scodelario, and Jemaine Clement

Genre: Adventure/Comedy/Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 49m

Rotten Tomatoes: 51% (Critics) 70% (Audience)  

BRING TISSUES. I REPEAT: BRING TISSUES. 

Every year, someone is out here trying to make us weep during a young adult drama, and this year, it's the sadistic team behind Don't Make Me Go, which premiered at Tribeca. The film stars John Cho (and his wonderfully luscious hair) as the father of newcomer Mia Issac. The pair go on a roadtrip to meet her estranged birth mother after he realizes he has a terminal disease. John Cho will make you sob uncontrollably while singing karaoke, so of course, beware of the music cues and invest in waterproof mascara. The force behind this charming tearjerker is Hannah Marks, who, based on her Q&A post-screening while wearing a bra/blazer combo, is quite possibly the coolest director I've ever seen. Next up for her is the adaptation of John Green's Turtles All the Way Down, so maybe just buy the 12-pack of Kleenex in prep. 

Available on Prime Video.

39. Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

Ben Blackall/Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Simon Curtis

Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, and Penelope Wilton

Genre: Historical Drama

Rating: PG

Runtime: 2h 4m

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (Critics) 97% (Audience) 

Okay, this movie is not for everyone, BUT if you (like me) loved Downton Abbey with your whole heart, visited the actual filming location, and regularly think about Edith's lover who may not have died on the Titanic after all, then this film is completely perfect. It is everything you love about the television show ratcheted up to an 11, as the family both visits France and has a Hollywood film shot in their hallowed halls. Downton 2 is basically just an extended episode of the television show, but for fans who long to return to that world and characters, this is the ultimate comfort watch. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

40. Emergency (2022)

Quantrell Colbert/Amazon Studios

Director: Carey Williams

Cast: RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins, Sebastian Chacon, and Sabrina Carpenter

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 45m

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Critics) 71% (Audience) 

If someone pitched me a movie by saying "It's like Booksmart meets The Hate U Give," I would immediately say, "No, thanks. That sounds awful." And yet, that is exactly how I'd pitch Emergency, which is shaping up to be one of the best films of the year. With strong buzz coming out of Sundance and SXSW, the film follows a trio of POC college seniors whose typical "get to the party" comedy shenanigans are cut short when they find a white girl passed out in their living room. Equal parts horrifying and hilarious, it never pulls punches for the sake of the audience, but still somehow manages to be an incredibly watchable romp. Exceptional performances from RJ Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), Donald Elise Watkins, and Sebastian Chacon make this film's tightrope walk between genres possible, and the screenplay by KD Dávila deserves a round of shots (or an Oscar nomination depending on what kind of party we're at). Never have I been so worried about bacterial cultures. Never has there been such a scathing use of notes app apology. And never has my body whiplashed back and forth between a belly laugh and sheer horror so quickly. Clearing a spot on my 2022 Best of Film list as we speak. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

41. Emma. (2020)

Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Autumn de Wilde

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Josh O'Connor, Callum Turner, Mia Goth, Miranda Hart, and Bill Nighy

Genre: Period Drama/Romance/Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 2h 4m

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (Critics) 72% (Audience) 

Emma Woodhouse is certainly no stranger to the screen. She was, of course, played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1996 film version. Kate Beckinsale played her in a rival 1996 TV version. Emma has been the center of at least eight television adaptations of the Jane Austen novel, several stage adaptations, a manga, and was famously renamed Cher Horowitz in Clueless, which was based on the novel. It didn't appear that we needed a new Emma in 2020, but boy oh boy, am I glad we got one, because this quirky, highly stylized period drama from Autumn de Wilde is shocking, biting, and delightful. Anya Taylor-Joy steals the show (as she tends to do) as the it girl of regency England, while a cast of British up-and-comers — including Mia Goth, Josh O'Connor, Connor Swindells, and Callum Turner — take the supporting roles. This is how you properly do a remake. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

42. Encounter (2021)

Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Michael Pearce

Cast: Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Janina Gavankar, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan, and Aditya Geddada

Genre: Drama/Sci-fi

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 48m

Rotten Tomatoes: 57% (Critics) 50% (Audience) 

Not a movie to watch if you are easily creeped out by bugs, parasites, or tiny microbial creatures burrowing into your body while you sleep, only to slowly take over your mind and turn you into a zombie. In this sci-fi/horror feature, Riz Ahmed's Malik believes the world to be under threat by microscopic alien lifeforms, so he kidnaps his children to protect them from their infected mother. As a cross-country chase ensues, with the police and potentially dangerous diseased carriers closing in, Malik struggles to keep his tiny family together. And then, of course, there is the question: Is this all just in his head? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

43. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Don Siegel

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Fred Ward, Jack Thibeau, and Danny Glover

Genre: Prison Thriller

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 52m

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (Critics) 85% (Audience) 

Alcatraz is an endlessly fascinating subject for some reason. The Californian island penitentiary has made appearances in movies, in books, and in video games. Nic Cage has been there. Harry Potter's Azkaban is based off it. And y'all remember that Fox one-season wonder from J. J. Abrams? Much of the prison's notoriety stems from the mysterious escape attempt dramatized in this film, in which three inmates managed to flee what was supposedly the world's most secure prison. The inmates were never found, leading some to believe they'd drowned in the water around Alcatraz, while others claim it was one of the most successful escapes of all time. The Clint Eastwood action thriller details the events of the escape in what has become a stone-cold classic and the inspiration for numerous other prison break stories. Perhaps, we have Escape from Alcatraz to thank for Michael Scofield's tattoos? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

44. Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)

John Rogers / Courtesy Amazon Studios

Director: Jonathan Butterell

Cast: Max Harwood, Sarah Lancashire, Lauren Patel, Shobna Gulati, Ralph Ineson, Adeel Akhtar, Samuel Bottomley, Sharon Horgan, and Richard E. Grant

Genre: Coming-of-age/Musical/Comedy/Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 55m

Rotten Tomatoes: 82% (Critics) 69% (Audience) 

If you're a musical and you can get me listening to your song on repeat for a week, then you've got my support. And my Spotify certainly knows I've been jamming to "And You Don't Even Know It" nonstop. The film, based on the smash-hit, Olivier Award-nominated West End musical, follows a teenage boy named Jamie (newcomer Max Harwood) who dreams of becoming a drag queen. The songs are certified bops, and the glitzy choreography is a joy to watch. The supporting cast — including the never bad Richard E. Grant as his drag mentor, Sarah Lancashire as the supportive mother every queer kid wishes they had, and Lauren Patel as Jamie's peppy best friend — also bolsters the film. Inject this kind of pure, wholesome, LGBTQ fun straight into my arm, please. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

45. The Expendables (2010)

Karen Ballard/Lionsgate/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke

Genre: Action

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 43m

Rotten Tomatoes: 42% (Critics) 64% (Audience) 

Look, I don't know why, all of a sudden, the old-man action movie (or "geri-action" film) is now a whole genre, but that's the world we live in. And I, for one, find it sort of charming to watch a bunch of 60-year-old actors pretend they can still fight off hoards of nameless baddies armed with nothing but their waning virility and a bowie knife. No film franchise quite taps into this genre as well as the Expendables films which follow Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lungren, Jet Li, and co. as they embark on ridiculous missions and repeatedly grunt "I'm getting too old for this." The plot is ludicrous. The acting is bad. The costume designer decided to put everyone in scarves and hats for no reason. But it's undeniably fun. The films are high camp (think Lady Gaga in House of Gucci but for your dad), and are RIPE for a boozy, drinking-game-fueled viewing. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

46. Face/Off (1997)

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: John Woo

Cast: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, Alessandro Nivola, and Colm Feore

Genre: Action/Science Fiction/Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 18m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics) 82% (Audience) 

If there is someone looking camp right in the eye, it is John Woo, the director of Face/Off. Truly, there has never been a more preposterously enjoyable film than this one about an FBI agent and serial killer who get each other's faces transplanted. What a deliciously bizarre premise! This is made even more ridiculous by the fact that the actors leading this bonkers action thriller are none other than Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, two men who have gone out of their way in recent years to take the most batshit roles possible. Hairspray. Gotti. Pig. Left Behind. These men know how to dispense with any shred of apprehension they have and throw themselves fully into questionable acting choices (and accents). Nowhere has that worked better for them than in this film. It is SUCH an entertaining watch, and I wouldn't want anyone else as the leads. Yes. I will gladly take a sequel. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

47. Fences (2016)

David Lee/Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Denzel Washington

Cast: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney

Genre: Period Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 19m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics) 75% (Audience) 

If you're looking for a masterclass in acting, you needn't look any further than this film based on the August Wilson play, the revival of which earned both Denzel Washington and Viola Davis Tony Awards. The Best Picture-nominated film version earned them both Oscar nominations as well, with Davis taking home the trophy. While the toxic relationship between Troy (Washington) and Rose (Davis) is certainly front and center in the film, Troy's fraying relationship with his son Cory (Jovan Adepo) fights for top billing. An alcoholic terrified of how his own past sports career didn't serve him well, Troy forbids Cory from attempting to get a football scholarship, instead making him vastly unhappy, forcing him into the military, and robbing him of a chance to make it big. Their relationship is contentious, and the film grapples with how our parental relationships can affect us even after their deaths. But oof, those performances, though.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

48. Firebird (2021)

Roadside Attractions/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Peeter Rebane

Cast: Tom Prior, Oleg Zagorodnii, and Diana Pozharskaya

Genre: Romance/War/Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 47m

Rotten Tomatoes: 55% (Critics) 80% (Audience) 

Forbidden love. Clandestine hookups. Soviet architecture. Firebird has the three things everyone wants most in a film. Set in Estonia during the Cold War (a part of the USSR at the time), the film follows Sergey (Tom Prior), a young private in the air force, as he meets and begins an affair with Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), a handsome fighter pilot. Anyone who has watched Top Gun: Maverick knows how easy it is to fall in love instantly with a fighter pilot, and so, the two quickly launch into a steamy, "put your pants on because the KGB is coming" affair. With horrible repercussions hanging above their heads should they be caught, the pair must weigh if their love is worth more than their lives. The film is a smidge melodramatic at points, but we've got plenty of glossy, ill-fated straight romances, so we can afford a few gay ones. Also, if any gay fighter pilots are reading this, please reach out. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

49. Good Night Oppy (2022)

Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Ryan White

Genre: Documentary

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 45m

Rotten Tomatoes: N/A

In general, I am one of those people who thinks, "Why are we sending rovers to Mars when we got global warming, racism, and starving children to deal with?" So while watching this documentary about a billion-dollar robot sent to Mars to try and determine if the planet contained water millions of years ago, I was a little bit like, "This seems like a waste of money." That being said, I did marvel at all of the incredible ingenuity and hard work that went into sending Opportunity to space, then driving her across the surface of Mars to pick up data samples. The film is wonderfully compelling, and I found myself tearing up a bit at the end. It's a crowd-pleaser that is certain to fare well in the awards races. Now if the scientists at NASA could just get working on how to save Earth from imminent doom. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

50. Heathers (1989)

New World Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Michael Lehmann

Cast: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, and Penelope Milford

Genre: Teen Black Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 43m

Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (Critics) 83% (Audience) 

Perhaps, you know Heathers because you love this '80s film. Perhaps, you know Heathers because you love the musical of the 2010s. Or, perhaps you know Heathers because you (like me) watched the Heathers: The Musical episode of Riverdale and then backtracked to the source material. Whatever journey you take in order to arrive at Heathers is valid. The dark tale about a rich girl and her new boyfriend trying to murder a clique of Heathers is as terrifying as it is funny. Complete with croquet mallets and '80s blazers, the film is a haunting romp whether you're watching Winona Ryder or Cheryl Blossom. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

51. A Hero (2021)

Courtesy Amazon Studios

Director: Asghar Farhadi

Cast: Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Sahar Goldoost, Fereshteh Sadr Orafaie, and Sarina Farhadi

Genre: Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 7m

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (Critics) 82% (Audience) 

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has won the Oscar for Best International Feature twice in the last 10 years: once for A Separation in 2011 and then again for The Salesman in 2016. Well, now he's back trying for a third with this year's short-listed title about a man who thinks his ticket out of debtors prison is a purse full of cash that his girlfriend finds. But a fairly simple act goes awry very quickly and threatens to leave him worse off than he started. The intricately subtle set of moral quandaries at this film's center are as terrifying as they seem insignificant, and watching Amir Jadidi act his way through them is mesmerizing. If Farhadi takes home a third Oscar, it will certainly be well deserved. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

52. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)

Sony Pictures Animation / Courtesy Amazon Studios

Director: Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska

Cast: Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kathryn Hahn, Jim Gaffigan, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, and Fran Drescher

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 27m

Rotten Tomatoes: 49% (Critics) 44% (Audience) 

Your favorite family of monsters is back on the big screen. Well, scratch the "big," since the film was snatched away from a theatrical release because of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and sent to Prime Video for its debut instead, but they are back nonetheless. And in the fourth installment of the much-loved Adam Sandler-led animated franchise, a de-monstering gun goes awry, leading the entire monster cast to be transformed into regular humans (and a plate of jello, in one case). The goofy caper is just as delightful as its previous installments, and the premise sets up a never-ending string of entertaining jokes and bits. It also makes you wonder what monster you'd be turned into if the gun on its opposite setting were aimed at you. Where's my BuzzFeed quiz? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

53. House of Gucci (2021)

Fabio Lovino/MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, and Al Pacino

Genre: Biographical Drama/Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 38m

Rotten Tomatoes: 62% (Critics) 83% (Audience) 

Allow me to introduce you to one of the best performances of 2021, saweetie. That of my pop queen-turned-Oscar winner, Lady Gaga. The fashion murder mystery follows the rise and fall of Patrizia Reggiani, a woman who married into the Gucci family only to be pushed back out again soon thereafter. While it is true that the second half is a bit slow (mostly because of the lack of Gaga), and that every actor appears to be in a different film (because no one reaches Gaga's one-of-a-kind camp performance), House of Gucci is a decadent, wild ride. The (Gucci-heavy) fashion of the film includes plenty of men's suits and, of course, the famed Gucci loafers, but also a number of ski-trip ensembles that Narnia's White Witch would be jealous of. Apparently, Gaga will be in a musical sequel to Joker soon, so while we wait for that, give this bad boy a watch. If not, you might be cursed by father, son, and House of Gucci. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

54. The Hunt (2020)

Patti Perret/Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Craig Zobel

Cast: Betty Gilpin, Ike Barinholtz, Emma Roberts, Hilary Swank, Ethan Suplee, Sturgill Simpson, and Glenn Howerton

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 30m

Rotten Tomatoes: 57% (Critics) 66% (Audience) 

This film's original release was scrapped because of a frenzied outcry from conservative media in the wake of dual shootings on August 3, 2019. The satirical horror film was eventually reintroduced to the lineup after more careful consideration for a squeeze-it-in-before-the-theaters-shut-down premiere. The plot focuses on a bunch of “deplorables” (i.e., conservatives) being hunted for sport by a posse of liberal elites. Betty Gilpin (Glow) takes center stage as a wily Army veteran, but the cast is stuffed with your favorite comedic actors as Ike Barinholtz (Blockers), Emma Roberts (Scream Queens), and Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) all pop up. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

55. I Want You Back (2022)

Amazon Prime Video

Director: Jason Orley

Cast: Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, Scott Eastwood, Manny Jacinto, Clark Backo, and Gina Rodriguez

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 56m

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (Critics) 71% (Audience) 

While much hand-wringing has taken place over the death of the rom-com, a genre that peaked in the '90s and largely disappeared after, I'm here to report that a new great has emerged. This new Amazon Original begins with both Charlie Day and Jenny Slate being broken up with, only to meet each other when they're both weeping in the stairwell of their office building. But then, the pair comes up with an ingenious plan: ruin the romance of the other's ex in order to drive them back into the arms of their former love. Naturally, this plan goes incredibly poorly, and Charlie and Jenny end up falling in love with each other along the way. A genuine joy to watch, with loads of laughs, great chemistry, and very few cringey moments (sorry to Marry Me), this film is perfect for anyone missing an old-fashioned rom-com, but with texting and dating apps rather than love letters over email. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

56. Ida (2013)

Music Box Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Cast: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, and Dawid Ogrodnik

Genre: Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 22m

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (Critics) 79% (Audience) 

A beautiful, eery, black-and-white international film about a nun who learns secrets about her past? Don't mind if I do! Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski reached more mainstream success in the US back in 2019 when his film Cold War earned him a Best Director nomination from the academy. His previous film, Ida, I would argue is even better, and took home the statue for Best International Film (a feat that Cold War couldn't quite muster against the juggernaut Roma). It follows a young woman on the cusp of becoming a nun who learns that her parents were Jews who had been murdered during World War II. A gorgeous, haunting, coming-of-age saga and character study, it is the perfect high-brow film if you're in the mood for Cinema with a capital C. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

57. The Invisible Man (2020)

Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Leigh Whannell

Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 4m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics) 88% (Audience) 

It may have had an abbreviated theatrical run due to the pandemic, but this taut sci-fi thriller is living its best life scaring people in the comfort of their own home on streaming. In this film from Leigh Whannell (Saw), Elisabeth Moss’s husband died by suicide…or did he? Perhaps, he only faked his death so he could torment her dressed up in a high-tech bodysuit that renders him invisible. The floating knives and mysterious footprints start as unsettling but ramp up to a full-on nightmare by the film’s riveting climax. And while it's a great horror film, it is also a startling representation of the gaslighting women endure even in the #MeToo era.     

Watch it on Prime Video. 

58. Jennifer's Body (2009)

Doane Gregory/Fox Atomic/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Karyn Kusama

Cast: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, and Adam Brody

Genre: Horror/Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 41m

Rotten Tomatoes: 46% (Critics) 35% (Audience) 

When Jennifer's Body came out over a decade ago, it was panned by (mostly male) critics and marketed largely as the latest film in which to ogle Megan Fox straight off her stint in the Transformers franchise. However, in a post-#MeToo world, and especially after this summer, as society re-litigates the way Fox was treated during her rise, this horror comedy has become a feminist cult classic. The film was written by female screenwriter and Oscar winner, Diablo Cody, directed by female director Karyn Kusama (Yellowjackets), stars women, and yet is miraculously not either a romance or about motherhood (try finding films from before 2018 that fit those qualifications). It's also about a (female) succubus who can survive only by killing and eating men (an urge that seems oddly relatable sometimes). Let's get the team on the phone, because this is set up nicely for a sequel, and we'd like to see it. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

59. The Land Before Time (1988)

Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Don Bluth

Cast: Gabriel Damon, Candace Hutson, Judith Barsi, and Will Ryan

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Drama

Rating: G

Runtime: 1h 6m

Rotten Tomatoes: 64% (Critics) 79% (Audience) 

Feeling nostalgic? Then queue up The Land Before Time. Or really, you can watch any of the franchise's 14 dinosaur-helmed adventures starring Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. The original, in which the gang tries to find the Great Valley and avoid a T-Rex, is a warmhearted delight that is perfect for kids (or aging millennials who want to relive their childhood). Unfortunately, this is not the one that contains the iconic "I need you like a hole in the head" song, but has boneheads, sharptooths, and tar pits as any good adventure should have. (I'd like to speak briefly about the prevalence of sinking sand/tar pits in children's movies vs. real life. Never have I encountered the stuff, but I was TERRIFIED that it would just show up based on these movies.) Should I rewatch all of these films and write a ranking? Sound off in the comments. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

60. Last Holiday (2006)

Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Wayne Wang

Cast: Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton, Gérard Depardieu, Alicia Witt, and Giancarlo Esposito

Genre: Romantic Comedy/Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 52m

Rotten Tomatoes: 55% (Critics) 67% (Audience) 

IMHO this film is a holiday great on par with The Santa Claus and Home Alone. How it was relegated to B-tier status, I'll never know. When Georgia (Queen Latifah, who is effortlessly funny as usual) bumps her head on the job as a sales demonstrator at a department store, the store manager decides she should get a CT scan at the machine they have at the mall. As much as I love malls, I would never trust a CT scan machine that is just chilling in the back room of a department store. Why is it there? How reliable is it? Where did it come from? So many questions. Georgia asks none of them. When the machine tells her she's dying, and thus, this will be her last holiday, she's got to live it up. Off to a grand European resort and the perfect holiday adventure we go! Please, for the love of god and poulet tchoupitoulas, watch Last Holiday this Christmas. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

61. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Mike Figgis

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, and Julian Sands

Genre: Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 51m

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Critics) 85% (Audience) 

TW: This movie contains mentions of suicide.

Not to be confused with Sheryl Crow's "Leaving Las Vegas" music video (which is technically based on John O'Brien's novel as well and was the source of much consternation, but for that story, please see the Sheryl documentary), this adaptation of the novel was an Oscar heavy hitter in 1996. Based on the semi-autobiographical, now classic, novel, the film follows a suicidal alcoholic played by Nicolas Cage who decides to drink himself to death in Las Vegas. Upon arrival, he meets a sex worker, played by Elisabeth Shue, and the two begin a brief affair. The novel, which has been called O’Brien’s suicide note as he died by suicide shortly after, is an incredibly dark look at humanity, but one that still finds the beauty in life (as awful as it can sometimes be). Both Cage and Shue were Oscar-nominated for their performances (with Cage winning), and the directing and screenplay also received nominations. While not a particularly pleasant film, it is one that will leave a lasting impression on you and remind you of what Cage is capable of at the top of his game. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

62. Licorice Pizza (2021)

Melinda Sue Gordon/MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

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

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 13m

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Critics) 65% (Audience) 

As a Paul Thomas Anderson fan, a Haim fan, and a fan of waterbeds (although that was in childhood, and I haven't tested one out in a while), I am a sucker for this odd '70s Hollywood dramedy. The movie is a long series of vignettes (some of which work better than others) that follow an unlikely pair of friends played by Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim as they traipse around Los Angeles getting into trouble. A who's who of Hollywood elite also pop up in scene-stealing roles. Bradley Cooper as Barbra Streisand's lover and Harriet Sansom Harris as a child talent agent both give tremendous (if brief) performances. While the film didn't end up winning any Oscars last year, it did land three nominations (nothing to scoff at) and minted the youngest Haim as a double acting/singing threat. Speaking of which, I need Haim to get to work on a new album so PTA can shoot some more of their music videos. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

63. Little Women (1994)

Josephe Lederer/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Gillian Armstrong

Cast: Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Christian Bale, Eric Stoltz, Mary Wickes, and Susan Sarandon

Genre: Historical Drama

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 58m

Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (Critics) 84% (Audience) 

Long before BuzzFeed had its quiz up and running, readers (hair in bonnets and without running water) were asking, "Are you a Meg, Jo, Beth, or Amy?" And as a bonafide Amy through and through (I want to be great or nothing), I am more inclined toward the Greta Gerwig version of the film. But my roommate (a Beth) kindly and frequently reminds me that not everything is about me, and the 1994 version with Winona Ryder, Christian Bale, and Kirsten Dunst is actually much better. While picking your favorite Little Women is certainly subjective, the book is objectively incredible, so every version has its merits. If only I could send Louisa May Alcott a mold of my foot as a thank-you. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

64. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Peter Jackson

Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, and Andy Serkis

Genre: Adventure/Epic/Fantasy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 58m

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Critics) 95% (Audience) 

With Prime Video's uber-expensive Lord of the Rings prequel series here, the streamer is providing supplemental orc/dwarf content by streaming all six LOTR/Hobbit movies. Perhaps a controversial opinion as Return of the King snatched a (elvish?) boatload of Oscars, but I believe the original is the best film in the series. Not only do we get to watch the glut of incredible actors in the Fellowship play off one another (rather than giant spiders and gluttonous Ruling Stewards of Gondor), but the action-adventure quest element I find more enticing than the latter two films' extended battle sequences. Sean Bean's Boromir hasn't died yet, the Ringwraiths are creepy AF, and the chase sequence through the Mines of Moria is one of my favorites in the series. Most importantly, Fellowship gifted us with "the dwarf breathed so loud, we could have shot him in the dark," which is a deliciously quotable line for nearly any occasion. No matter your favorite LOTR moment, though, they're all here for your perusal. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

65. Love & Friendship (2016)

Roadside Attractions / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Whit Stillman

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, Morfydd Clark, Stephen Fry, and Chloe Sevigny

Genre: Period Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1h 30m

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (Critics) 60% (Audience) 

You have probably seen Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, or Emma, but I'm here to tell you about the recent adaptation of Jane Austen's lesser-known novel Lady Susan, which was published long after her death. Kate Beckinsale plays the titular, recently widowed protagonist, who, in true Austen fashion, is on the prowl for a wealthy husband, not just for herself but for her daughter. No one does Regency wit and matchmaking quite like Jane Austen, and the film is a thrilling romantic dramedy. Also, assuming you weren't assigned this book in college, the tale should be fresh, whereas we've all seen Mr. Darcy propose to Elizabeth Bennet 100 times. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

66. Love and Monsters (2020)

Jasin Boland/Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Michael Matthews

Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Jessica Henwick, Dan Ewing, and Michael Rooker

Genre: Monster Adventure 

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 49m

Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (Critics) 89% (Audience) 

As a completist, I make it a point every year to watch every Oscar-nominated film (shorts, documentaries, and song nominees included). Often, this is a thankless task, but occasionally, you stumble upon greatness! I'd never heard of this dystopian romance before it nabbed a Best Visual Effects nomination during the 2020 COVID Oscars. It had gone straight to VOD and boasted little star power beyond Teen Wolf actor Dylan O'Brien. This was the best surprise of the season. Witty, fresh, and full of imaginatively designed monsters, this film is a romp. O'Brien's Joel must travel through monster-infested territory to reach his true love, and the whole thing is hilarious and incredibly smart. I recommend this film so often, and it was honestly better than at least half of the Best Picture nominees that year. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

67. Manchester by the Sea (2016)

Claire Folger / Roadside Attractions / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, and Lucas Hedges

Genre: Psychological Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 17m

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (Critics) 78% (Audience) 

Manchester by the Sea is a beautiful, if disastrously depressing film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan. Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck both give incredible performances (even if Casey’s more recent controversies have detracted from his star power). But what I’d like to discuss is the birth of Lucas Hedges into the American consciousness. Hedges plays Patrick, a 16-year-old with a THICK Boston accent, who goes to live with his depressed uncle (Affleck) after the death of his father. His performance is so strong that it nabbed him a rare young male Oscar nomination and launched him into lead roles in subsequent films like Ben Is Back and Boy Erased. He would also go on to become an A24 darling in films like Lady Bird and Waves. Just as I couldn’t stop looking at this recent photo of him, I was transfixed by his presence here and have loved watching his journey to stardom.     

Watch it on Prime Video.  

68. Marry Me (2022)

Barry Wetcher/Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Kat Coiro

Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley, Chloe Coleman, and Sarah Silverman

Genre: Romantic Comedy/Drama/Musical

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 52m

Rotten Tomatoes: 61% (Critics) 92% (Audience) 

This is perhaps the most ridiculous film ever made. Jennifer Lopez plays a pop star who is jilted at the altar (i.e. on the stage of an internationally televised concert) only to spontaneously and tearfully drag Owen Wilson's derpy school teacher onto the stage to marry her instead. And while this premise is lunacy of the highest order, it ends up being a very sweet rom-com (which fared well in one handsome, clever author's ranking of J.Lo's movie romances). The best part about the film, however, is the never-ending parade of new pop tracks from the superstar including "Church" which the Academy MUST nominate for Best Original Song or risk losing all credibility. If you like silly rom-coms, this one is for you, and imho does more to prove J.Lo's star power than her Netflix documentary does. I mean, how could you possibly watch her perform "Church" and not be agog? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

69. Master (2022)

Amazon Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Mariama Diallo

Cast: Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, Amber Gray, Molly Bernard, and Nike Kadri

Genre: Psychological Horror/Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 38m

Rotten Tomatoes: 74% (Critics) 36% (Audience) 

2022 Sundance was ruled by Regina Hall, who after decades of strong work in films like Scary Movie and The Best Man finally seems to be breaking through into prestigious lead roles like that in Support the Girls, Black Monday, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., and Master. In this horror film, Hall plays the first Black master at a largely white New England private college. The campus is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the first Black student ever admitted, BUT hear me out, perhaps it is mostly haunted by a lot of racists. Hall, of course, is the consummate professional and plays her role as the conflicted, haunted, horrified academic perfectly. Terrifying and speaking to the broader cultural toxin that is WASP-y, elitist colleges, the film has the potential to break through into awards conversations as well. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

70. Mayor Pete (2021)

Courtesy Amazon Studios

Director: Jesse Moss

Cast: Pete Buttigieg and Chasten Buttigieg

Genre: Documentary

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 36m

Rotten Tomatoes: 71% (Critics) 53% (Audience) 

I think it's easy in 2021 (post-run for president, post-arrival in Washington, DC, as secretary of transportation, and post-shirtless thirst trap) to forget what a trailblazer Pete Buttigieg is. Putting aside how you feel about his politics, his track record, or his stoic demeanor, his fairly successful campaign as an openly gay man was an incredible achievement for LGBTQ rights. This documentary, while rehashing many of the campaign facts that you already know, does a nice job of reminding viewers how powerful it was for many people (especially not those in liberal urban enclaves) to see a married gay man running for president. The film also provides some interesting behind-the-scenes moments, including him repeatedly having to face a likability/relatability question and his eventual decision to drop out. You may not like Mayor Pete, but you can't help but acknowledge what he was able to accomplish. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

71. My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

Eliza Morse/Amazon Prime Video/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Damon Thomas

Cast: Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller, Rachel Ogechi Kanu, Cathy Ang, and Christopher Lowell

Genre: Comedy/Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 37m

Rotten Tomatoes: 51% (Critics) 40% (Audience) 

Elsie Fisher has returned to our screens! PRAISE THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST (for only he can save us from demons). The darling breakout star of Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade is now a high schooler in the '80s named Abby who is just casually using an Ouija board with her friends one night in a secluded cabin when, BAM!, her bestie Gretchen gets infested by the spawn of Satan. The horror comedy, which showcases mall evangelists, a hot priest, and a charity dunk tank (takes me back) is a quick and easy romp. It's got big Stranger Things energy (down to the synthy score), and the whole time, I just kept repeating to myself "Elsie Fisher is such a gem. Put her in literally every movie that is made next year." Her and Gretchen's perm are really the stars here, and the release date makes this a perfect spooky season delight. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

72. My Fake Boyfriend (2022)

Stephanie Montani/Lionsgate

Director: Rose Troche

Cast: Keiynan Lonsdale, Dylan Sprouse, Sarah Hyland, and Karen Robinson

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 40m

Rotten Tomatoes: 73% (Critics) 54% (Audience) 

We are all in need of a cute rom-com. We are all in need of a cute queer rom-com. We are all in need of a cute queer rom-com that involves a faked funeral. And, of course, we are all ALWAYS in need of more Sarah Hyland. Luckily, My Fake Boyfriend — which was produced by the folks at BuzzFeed (ever heard of it?) — checks all these boxes. Starring Keiynan Lonsdale of Love, Simon fame, the film follows Andrew (Lonsdale) as his best friend Jake (Dylan Sprouse) creates a fake boyfriend for Andrew in order to help him get over his on-again, off-again toxic ex. All three of the leads give entertaining performances, and the film is an easy, breezy fun watch that is great for Pride or any of the other eleven months where queer love is also worth celebrating. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

73. My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021)

Courtesy Amazon Studios

Director: Betsy West and Julie Cohen

Genre: Documentary

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 31m

Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (Critics) 89% (Audience) 

I am ashamed to say that prior to watching this documentary, I had no idea who Pauli Murray was. If you, too, have never heard of this fascinating, groundbreaking, trailblazing individual, then you need to hustle right on over to Amazon and give this a watch. A civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on the bus before Rosa Parks. An African American lawyer whose work paved the way for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's landmark cases on sexism. A queer intellectual who sought to understand gender and sexuality during a time before modern labels. Murray is an icon we should be learning about in school, so if you're a schoolteacher and you're reading this article, wheel that TV into the classroom and press play. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

74. My Policeman (2022)

Parisa Taghizadeh/Amazon Prime Video/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Michael Grandage

Cast: Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Gina McKee, Linus Roache, David Dawson, and Rupert Everett

Genre: Drama/Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 53m

Rotten Tomatoes: 41% (Critics) 96% (Audience) 

While the Don't Worry Darling press tour sucked up much of the oxygen in the "Harry Styles is an actor" campaign this fall, he is in fact in another (and I would say much better) film. In this British drama about a trio of friends, we witness Tom, Marion, and Patrick in two separate timelines, one in the 1950s and the other in the 1990s. Styles plays Tom in the past alongside Emma Corrin as Marion and David Dawson as Patrick. Tom, a closeted policeman, falls in love with Patrick but marries their friend Marion due to social constraints. The tormented love triangle fizzles into ruin as time goes on only to reemerge in the 90s when Patrick (now Rupert Everett) needs care due to deteriorating health. Styles isn't the best actor around, but the story here is a beautiful one and the other performances do much of the heavy lifting. Also, you get to see Harry's bare butt as he has a LOT of gay sex. Perhaps I buried the lede there. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

75. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Eliza Hittman

Cast: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold, and Sharon Van Etten

Genre: Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 41m

Rotten Tomatoes: 99% (Critics) 54% (Audience) 

Never Rarely Sometimes Always is not an easy watch, nor is it necessarily a fun one, but it is necessary, especially to those of us lucky enough to have avoided making the choice as to whether or not to have an abortion. Eliza Hittman's award-winning indie follows Autumn (Sidney Flanigan), a pregnant 17-year-old who must travel from Pennsylvania to New York in order to get an abortion without her parents' consent. The journey is fraught on so many levels as she comes up against bureaucratic roadblocks at every turn, and with little money or support, must face those crises largely alone. Autumn's relationship with her best friend Skylar is the bright spot of the film as the girls work together on their trip to New York's Planned Parenthood, and the intake where Autumn is repeatedly asked questions with the titular answers is a heart-wrenching piece of cinema. This is also the most effective use of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in film history. You feel every miserable minute that they have to spend there. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

76. No Time to Die (2021)

Nicola Dove/MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, and Ralph Fiennes

Genre: Spy Thriller

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 43m

Rotten Tomatoes: 83% (Critics) 88% (Audience) 

You hopefully don't have time to die, but you should make time to watch the latest James Bond film (and Daniel Craig's last). The spy thriller was widely lauded as a well-executed sendoff to the latest Aston Martin driver, and it includes a slew of great supporting performances from Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, and Ben Whishaw. Ana de Armas pops up in a few scenes as a perfect dose of machine gun-wielding comedic relief, and the stunts are obviously topnotch. It should be noted that the Billie Eilish-sung theme song "No Time to Die" won the Oscar for Best Original Song this year, which makes it the third Bond song in a row to take home the top prize. Now, we just have to sit and wait to see who will be cast as the new Bond and if our next musician will nab an Oscar. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

77. One Night in Miami (2020)

Patti Perret/Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Director: Regina King

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

Genre: Historical Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 54m

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (Critics) 78% (Audience) 

In 1964, famed civil rights activist Malcolm X, boxer Muhammad Ali, football star Jim Brown, and singer Sam Cooke all spent an evening together in a hotel room in Miami. That historic meeting serves as the basis for this film, directed by Regina King (an Oscar-winning actor herself) and adapted by Kemp Powers, who also wrote the play and Pixar's Soul (big year for him!). Focused on the relationships between these four great men, the film creates fictional dialogue that aims to unpack race, privilege, and the responsibility that comes with fame. Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr. plays Cooke (a performance for which he was Oscar-nominated), but it's Kingsley Ben-Adir’s take on Malcolm X that is most captivating. Never has such a long stay in a hotel room been so interesting.     

Watch it on Prime Video.  

78. Paterson (2016)

Mary Cybulski/Bleecker Street Media/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Cast: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Barry Shabaka Henley, Cliff Smith, William Jackson Harper, and Masatoshi Nagase

Genre: Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 58m

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (Critics) 72% (Audience) 

I will say this after working in publishing for half a decade: There is no tougher, less lucrative arts field than poetry. We may study the crap out of it in college and take creative writing classes where we learn to write sonnets, but making a living off poetry is insanely difficult. It's best to just keep as a hobby. In Jim Jarmusch's Paterson (named after the William Carlos Williams poem), Adam Driver plays a driver (!) named Paterson (!) who writes poetry about people on his bus. His wife wants him to publish (good luck), but he is resistant. The sweet little film, however, is ultimately an encouraging message to do what you love (no matter what curmudgeonly BuzzFeed writers may tell you) and to follow your dreams as a writer (because who knows? They might come true!). We are due for another great sonnet writer after all. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

79. Post Malone: Runaway (2022)

Amazon Freevee/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Hector Dockrill

Genre: Music Documentary

Rating: 18+

Runtime: 1h 5m

If you are a fan of the concert film genre or Post Malone, then you are in luck. Runaway, which covers the genre-defying artist's 2019-20 tour of the same name, follows Postie to various stops on the road. We see him write and record music, perform, and play an obscene amount of beer pong. The production value of the concert is not extremely high (something that cannot be said for those being filmed here), but he performs his hits AND spits beer into the audience. The film gets a pickup at the end when we see his interactions with Ozzy Osbourne (who appears on "Take What You Want"), and there are plenty of great vocal performances throughout. Really, we need a doc about the parties following Post Malone concerts, because those look to be ON ANOTHER LEVEL.

Watch it on Prime Video.

80. Pride (2014)

20th Century Fox

Director: Matthew Warchus

Cast: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Andrew Scott, George MacKay, Joseph Gilgun, and Ben Schnetzer

Genre: Historical Drama/Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 59m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics) 89% (Audience) 

I LOVE to promote a good LGBTQ film, and this funny little historical British dramedy is a fantastic one. Back in 1984, during a British miners' strike, gay activist Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer) realized that the police were too busy focusing on the miners to focus on their usual harassment of the gay community, and so he started Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners to help a fellow group of oppressed folks. It’s this fight by the LGBTQ community on behalf of the labor class that serves as the plot here. Hot priest Andrew Scott is here, along with 1917’s George MacKay and Professor Umbridge, aka Imelda Staunton. The film is charming and uplifting and shows you how underdogs helping underdogs can do a lot of good for everyone. 

Watch it on Prime Video.  

81. A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: John Krasinski

Cast: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou, and John Krasinski

Genre: Post-apocalyptic Horror

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 37m

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Critics) 92% (Audience) 

Please read this blurb in a whisper, because if you don't, then a giant tentacled beast will come eat you, your deaf daughter, your brand new baby, and your dumbass son. (Sorry, Noah Jupe. I love you, but your character here is itching to get everyone killed.) The sequel to the much-loved 2018 film directed by and starring John Krasinski is now only directed by John Krasinski, (Not gonna say why, but I'll give you three guesses), but Jupe, Emily Blunt, and Millicent Simmonds are back hustling silently through the weeds. The sequel expands the world beyond the confines of the family farm and provides some backstory as well. It's an entertaining horror/action movie, and Emily Blunt is acting her ass off (without speaking) yet again. Someone nominate her for an Oscar. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

82. Respect (2021)

Quantrell D. Colbert/MGM?Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Liesl Tommy

Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, and Mary J. Blige

Genre: Biographical Drama/Musical

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 25m

Rotten Tomatoes: 68% (Critics) 95% (Audience) 

I mean, it's basically two hours of Jennifer Hudson singing Aretha Franklin songs. What's not to love? Oscar-winner Hudson has an immaculate voice. Grammy-winner Franklin wrote immaculate songs. And the two are paired together here to perfection as we follow Franklin's life over three decades watching her career rise and fall and rise again while she also overcomes challenges in her personal life. While the film ultimately fell short of landing any Oscar nominations, it is still well worth a watch, both for the music and as a monument to the life of a historic Black woman within the music world. It should also be noted that Franklin hand picked Hudson to play her before her death, so you know she's got the goods.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

83. Run Sweetheart Run

Courtesy of Prime Video

Director: Shana Feste

Cast: Ella Balinska, Pilou Asbaek, Clark Gregg, Aml Ameen, Dayo Okeniyi, Betsy Brandt, and Shohreh Aghdashloo

Genre: Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 38m

Rotten Tomatoes: N/A

The title here gives you the basic premise. The girl has got to run, and she has got to run fast. Why? Because a horrible man is chasing her down. When Cherie accepts to attend a dinner meeting with her boss, she is initially attracted to the tall muscular man across the table (Pilou Asbaek, who you may remember as the horrible suitor of Cersei Lannister, Euron Greyjoy, toward the end of Game of Thrones). Upon going back to his house with him post meeting/date, he reveals himself to be a brutal, bloodthirsty psychopath who loves hunting down women. If she can survive until sunrise, he'll leave her alone, but until then, she will have to run (sweetheart run). The horror movie is a little cheesy at points and convoluted at others, but it's a fun, fresh ride, and if you're tired of rewatching old horror staples, this is something new and engaging. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

84. Seabiscuit (2003)

Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Gary Ross

Cast: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, and William H. Macy

Genre: Drama/Sports

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 20m

Rotten Tomatoes: 78% (Critics) 76% (Audience) 

Not to be confused with Secretariat, another movie about a famous horse, Seabiscuit is based on an underdog thoroughbred who became a sensation during the Great Depression (unlike Secretariat, which won the Triple Crown in 1973). Seabiscuit was a generally overlooked horse that ended up beating the Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a head-to-head matchup, and became a worldwide sensation. The Best Picture-nominated film stars Tobey Maguire as Seabiscuit's jockey dedicated to proving himself and his horse. I love a non-basketball/football/baseball sports movie, and so, to delve into the world of 1930s horse racing is an intriguing angle. It does not make me want to ride a horse (which seems incredibly dangerous to me), but I am slightly more intrigued having watched this. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

85. The Shape of Water (2017)

Kerry Hayes / Fox Searchlight / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer

Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 3m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics) 72% (Audience) 

Three words: Sea monster sex (or is "seamonster" one word? unclear). Anyways, if you are a fan of sea monster/seamonster sex, this is one of the very few films to give you what you're looking for. The Shape of Water is, after all, a sci-fi romance about a mute cleaning lady at a government lab falling in love with an amphibious creature they are experimenting with there. Of course, I am burying the lead, which is that Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece was nominated for a whopping 13 Oscars, taking home four for Best Production Design, Original Score, Director, and Picture. It is a gorgeous film-watching experience from start to end, and the performances (especially from Jenkins and Spencer) are masterclass, and deserved every award they got. Such a shame this didn't start a wave (sea what I did there? (see what I did there, too?)) of human/fish-person love stories. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

86. Short Term 12 (2013)

Cinedigm / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Cast: Brie Larson, John Gallagher, Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, LaKeith Stanfield, and Stephanie Beatriz

Genre: Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 36m

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (Critics) 92% (Audience) 

I don’t know what was happening on the set of Short Term 12, but someone had a rabbit's foot or made a deal with the Illuminati, because truly, everyone in this tiny indie drama has gone on to have their careers BLOW UP! There’s Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson. There’s Booksmart’s scene-stealer Kaitlyn Dever. There’s Best Actor/Freddie Mercury impersonator Rami Malek. There’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Stephanie Beatriz. And of course, there is the very recent Oscar nominee for Judas and the Black Messiah, LaKeith Stanfield. This film, which focuses on a group home for troubled teenagers, is funny, sad, and heartwarming in its own right, but watching all your current faves’ younger selves is a trip.   

Watch it on Prime Video.  

87. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Orion/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Jonathan Demme

Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levine

Genre: Psychological Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 59m

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (Critics) 95% (Audience) 

To win the Oscar's "Big Five" (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay) is a feat only accomplished three times in the history of the awards — in 1934 by It Happened One Night, in 1975 by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and in 1991 by The Silence of the Lambs. And in another bit of Oscar history-making, this is the ONLY horror film to have won Best Picture. This terrifying drama follows the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) and FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who team up to find another serial killer on the loose. While some anti-trans aspects of the film don't hold up, it remains a masterclass in suspense, and the two leads are giving some of the best work in their storied careers. The several spinoffs and sequels never quite matched the caliber of this film, but how could they? This is living in rarified air. Or, perhaps rarified fava beans? 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

88. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Paramount/Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Jeff Fowler

Cast: James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Shemar Moore, Idris Elba, and Jim Carrey

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 2h 2m

Rotten Tomatoes: 69% (Critics) 96% (Audience) 

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (and Sonic the Hedgehog 1 for that matter) are both exceptionally fun, watchable, family-friendly comedies. I have seen both at early morning IMAX screenings with one of my besties. We snuck in bagels and iced coffees and watched our favorite furry blue video game character surrounded by dozens of children's birthday parties and half-asleep parents (and we will be recreating the experience for Sonic 3). These movies are pure, wholesome delights. Jim Carrey is giving classic Jim Carrey like we haven't seen since he played Count Olaf. Ben Schwartz and James Marsden have great chemistry as Sonic and his dad(?). The plots are silly but stick to the high points of the Sonic video games (LOVE ME some Sonic Adventure 2: Battle). And if you are feeling a little too snooty to watch, might I entice you with the fact that Natasha Rothwell (of Mike White's acclaimed The White Lotus) is given some real hilarious material as a bridezilla who hates Marsden. The film RAKED in over $400M, and a third film is on the way. PLEASE introduce Rogue the Bat into the franchise. I beg of you. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

89. Sound of Metal (2019)

Amazon / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Darius Marder

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

Genre: Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 0m

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (Critics) 90% (Audience) 

One of 2020’s freshly minted Best Picture nominees, Sound of Metal follows Ruben, a heavy metal drummer who comes to the (at first) horrifying realization that he is losing his hearing. The indie drama, which continued to pick up more steam and accolades through the awards season, stars Riz Ahmed in the lead as he mourns his hearing and struggles to find ways to cope. Both he and Paul Raci, who plays the deaf leader of a shelter for recovering addicts, landed Oscar noms for their performances, and Olivia Cooke, who plays Ruben’s girlfriend, rightfully should have received one as well. This fascinating film also substantiates my mom’s claim that "you are going to lose your hearing from turning the radio up too loud."

Watch it on Prime Video.  

90. Source Code (2011)

Jonathan Wenk/Summit Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Duncan Jones

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright

Genre: Action/Science-Fiction/Thriller

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 29m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Critics) 82% (Audience) 

It's not often we get a great, twisty sci-fi thriller of this caliber. While many (Old, Serenity, Passengers, Terminal) really biff the landing, it's rare to get something that is both inventive and well-executed. If it can also incorporate a human element with powerful performances? Well DING DING DING, we have a winner! Such is the case with Source Code, the Jake-Gyllenhaal-helmed action mystery that follows an army officer into an eight-minute-long time loop where he must identify the bomber of a train in order to prevent subsequent terrorist attacks. It's using the Groundhog Day conceit in a really creative way, and the twists we encounter as we watch the explosion play out over and over continue to pay off (there is a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score to prove it!). Gyllenhaal's chemistry with Michelle Monaghan also pushes this movie into the epic romance space, so there is truly something for everyone. The sole loser in this endeavor is whoever buys this cursed Walmart poster of Monaghan serving haunted wraith at the premiere. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

91. Superbad (2007)

Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Greg Mottola

Cast: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Seth Rogan, Bill Hader, Emma Stone, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Genre: Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 53m

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (Critics) 87% (Audience) 

It's hard to find a more iconic millennial film than Superbad. The R-rated comedy about best friends trying to lose their virginity at a party is of course responsible for McLovin, but also served as the launch pad for many careers. Both Jonah Hill and Michael Cera were largely unknown actors before this film. While Seth Rogan had acted in other films prior to Superbad, this was the first film he wrote and it helped his career immensely as well. Plus this is an early vehicle for Emma Stone to show all of her charm. While some of the jokes here haven't aged particularly well, I still think the film is hilarious and well worth the watch. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

92. Support the Girls (2018)

Magnolia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Andrew Bujalski

Cast: Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, James LeGros, Shayna McHayle, Dylan Gelula, AJ Michalka, and Brooklyn Decker

Genre: Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 33m

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Critics) 60% (Audience) 

I am on the record as being a massive Regina Hall fan, and honestly, I think this is her best performance. I am still shouting off a rooftop into the void about the fact that Hall was not Oscar-nominated for this pitch-perfect performance. It's Hall's first true lead, and she delivers as Lisa, the manager of a Hooters-like "breastaurant" called Double Whammies. We follow her through a single day as she balances a slew of issues at the bar (a man is stuck in the vents, a worker got a Steph Curry tattoo in the wrong place, her manager is threatening to fire her) while also dealing with her own impending divorce. The cast of supporting characters including Haley Lu Richardson and the glorious AJ Michalka (of Aly & AJ) are all having fun, but the film IS Hall. She became the first Black actress to win Best Actress from the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and had the movie been screened more widely, I firmly believe it would have been Oscar nominated as well. I would have held a car wash to support the campaign. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

93. The Tender Bar (2021)

Claire Folger / Claire Folger/ © 2021 Amazon Content Services LLC

Director: George Clooney

Cast: Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe, Christopher Lloyd, and Daniel Ranieri

Genre: Coming-of-age/Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 46m

Rotten Tomatoes: 51% (Critics) 69% (Audience) 

With Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, Ben Affleck is a bona fide awards season hopeful in this coming-of-age drama about a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist growing up with his eccentric family on Long Island. Affleck plays the literary, yet rough-and-tumble owner of a bar who mentors his nephew (Tye Sheridan) on all things life, love, and booze. The George Clooney-directed period piece also features Lili Rabe and Christopher Lloyd as the supportive mother and crotchety grandfather respectively. Plus, who doesn't want to listen to bickering in Long Island accents?  

Watch it on Prime Video. 

94. Thirteen Lives (2022)

Vince Valitutti/MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Ron Howard

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, and Tom Bateman

Genre: Biographical Drama/Adventure

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 22m

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (Critics) 95% (Audience) 

The media frenzy around the 2018 Thai cave rescue in which 13 young men were trapped inside a cave for over two weeks is now immortalized on the silver screen in this thriller starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton as three of the divers tasked with saving the children. Oscar-winner Ron Howard directed the film, and with the somewhat similar Apollo 13 under his belt, you know he knows how to do a tense rescue in a tight space. The film, which supposedly tested incredibly well in pre-screenings, and you can see why, was set to have a juicy awards-y November release this year before MGM was bought by Amazon. With an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, stellar performances from Oscar-nominated actors, and a great real-life news hook, I am SHOCKED this was dumped onto the streaming site without much fanfare in August. This movie is exceptional and should be in the conversation for Oscars this year. Please go watch, and then DM me how much you agree. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

95. Time (2020)

Amazon Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Garrett Bradley

Genre: Documentary

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 21m

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (Critics) 50% (Audience) 

Rarely do we get a documentary as raw and moving as Time. The film follows Fox Rich, using over 25 years’ worth of home videos as she fights tirelessly for her husband, Rob, who is serving time in prison for his participation in an armed bank robbery, to be granted clemency. What filmmaker Garrett Bradley thought would be a short film turned into a feature when Fox handed her over 100 hours of home video footage taken while her husband was in prison. Bradley then took the home videos and her own footage, converted it all to stunning black and white, and built the moving, 81-minute-long final product. The documentary, which was nominated for an Oscar, vividly shows the flaws of the criminal justice system and how that can deeply affect the families of those struggling through it. It’s a beautiful statement as to what can be accomplished if you try hard enough, and how important it is to have someone tirelessly in your corner. 

Watch it on Prime Video.  

96. Train to Busan (2016)

Well Go USA Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Cast: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee, and Kim Eui-sung

Genre: Action/Horror

Runtime: 1h 58m

Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (Critics) 89% (Audience) 

South Korea puts out great horror films, including this zombies-on-a-train flick. When a zombie apocalypse breaks out, a group of survivors must band together as their high-speed train from Seoul to the titular Busan begins to fill up with overeager flesh eaters. Honestly, given the choice, I’d take snakes on a plane any day of the week.     

Watch it on Prime Video. 

97. What the Constitution Means to Me (2020)

Joan Marcus / Courtesy Amazon Studios

Director: Marielle Heller

Cast: Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian, and Thursday Williams

Genre: Broadway Play

Runtime: 1h 40m

I would hazard a guess that most of us know next to nothing about the US Constitution. Perhaps you memorized the preamble in school, but even that I never understood. Heidi Schreck, however, was well versed in the legal document from a young age, traveling around the country to compete in speech competitions about the Constitution for scholarship money. Now an adult, Schreck wrote and starred in a Broadway show about her experience with this document and what it means for our country and culture today. The deeply personal and incredibly charming show was recorded for your non-Broadway viewing (thank goodness this is happening more and more these days) and is available on Amazon. It will teach you a thing or two about this essential American document while also forcing you to ask, "Should I know more about the laws that govern me?" 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

98. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, and Jean Dujardin

Genre: Biographical Drama/Comedy/Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 59m

Rotten Tomatoes: 80% (Critics) 83% (Audience) 

Leonardo DiCaprio's best performance, which comes within one of his five collaborations with Martin Scorsese, is his portrayal of Wall Street stockbroker/party animal/deplorable human being Jordan Belfort. The role is pure drug-fueled, high-adrenaline chaos from start to finish, and Leo chews up every scene with a campy, delicious, talk-to-the-camera flair that makes you like this man even as you despise him. But DiCaprio isn't the only shining star here. Jonah Hill and his fake teeth also got an Oscar nomination, Margot Robbie launched her career on the back of her performances as the Long Island-accented wife, and of course, Scorsese makes the whole thing sing. It was nominated for five Oscars, and as long as I live, I'll be thinking about the woman who shaved her head in the party scene. 

Watch it on Prime Video. 

99. You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Lynne Ramsay

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Ekaterina Samsonov, John Doman, Alex Manette, Dante Pereira-Olson, and Alessandro Nivola

Genre: Neo-Noir/Psychological Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 30m

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (Critics) 64% (Audience) 

In its premise, You Were Never Really Here sounds like a Taken copycat. Joaquin Phoenix plays an assassin who is hired by a prominent politician to find the man's daughter who was kidnapped by human traffickers, and then murder the traffickers violently. In execution, while certainly similar in some of its plot, the film is much more interested in humanity and character development than it is action sequences. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, the woman behind the incredibly creepy We Need to Talk About Kevin, the film has a fascination with its subjects and nuanced view that most vigilante justice films don't. The score from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and the performance from Phoenix also do a lot to move this into a genre all its own. Despite strong reviews and a buzzy Cannes debut, it never quite earned mainstream success in the US, which means it's a hidden gem ripe for the watching now. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

100. Zoolander (2001)

Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director: Ben Stiller

Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor, Milla Jovovich, Jerry Stiller, and Jon Voight

Genre: Comedy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 30m

Rotten Tomatoes: 64% (Critics) 80% (Audience) 

I mean, what is there really to say about Zoolander? Really, I should just be staring you down with my Blue Steel until you are overcome with a desire to watch the film. What's it about? A group of top fashion executives trying to get a dumb model to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Who is in it? Every comedian who was alive in 2001. Should you watch the sequel after you finish watching this? Probably not. This is a comedy classic from Ben Stiller and co. that pokes fun at the pretentious fashion world. It's a quotable, delightful romp, and will also teach you the only good face to make during a selfie. 

Watch it on Prime Video.

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