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Free two-day shipping is nice, sure, but have you seen all the movies your Amazon Prime subscription gives you access to? As if all the original content produced by Amazon Studios was not enough, the streamer also boasts one of the most impressive and varied catalogs of other movies available for your viewing pleasure. (For starters, they actually have more than a handful of titles made before the year 2000.) You can both brush up on some classics from Hollywood’s studio era or watch a recent under-the-radar indie sensation. They have plenty of recent crowd-pleasing hits with familiar names as well as a plentiful supply of foreign films should you be looking to do some cinematic tourism.
Rather than waste time scouring that extensive catalog for your next watch, let Decider guide you toward the service’s top offerings. Whether it’s catching up with an old favorite or discovering a new one, we’ve found and updated the 50 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now (updated for January 2024). Whatever movie-watching mood you’re in, Amazon Prime almost certainly has a title for it.
RELATED: NEW ON AMAZON PRIME: January 2024
‘Air’ (2023)
DIRECTOR: Ben Affleck
STARS: Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck
RATING: R
A movie that makes heroes out of middle-aged marketing guys? Heck yes! Air turns corporate strategy into high-stakes drama as Nike makes its improbable bid to win over Michael Jordan. The conclusion is foregone, but the lead-up to it is still riveting – in large part because the creative powers of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon also have an eye toward what it means at large for talent to profit off their own likeness.
'The Vast of Night' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Andrew Patterson
STARS: Sierra McCormack, Jake Horowitz, Gail Cronauer
RATING: PG-13
Get in on the ground floor with director Andrew Patterson before he goes supernova. His debut feature The Vast of Night is an enticing sci-fi tale about a young switchboard operator and a disc jockey uncovering what might be an extraterrestrial transmission in the ’50s. This scrappy start shows an impressive mastery of both form and mood – just imagine what he can do with a big budget.
‘The Lost City’ (2022)
DIRECTORS: Aaron and Adam Nee
STARS: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe
RATING: PG-13
Is The Lost City basically just doing Romancing the Stone – romance novelist and rugged suitor meet-cute in the jungle – for a new generation? Sure. But if you don’t need novelty and just want to see the sparks fly between a type A Sandra Bullock heroine and a lovable Channing Tatum himbo, then this is a guaranteed great night in. The Lost City delivers on romance and comedy, with a number of cunning belly laughs that far outshine the familiarity of the script.
‘Ghost Town’ (2008)
DIRECTOR: David Koepp
STARS: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Téa Leoni
RATING: PG-13
Gervais might be best known for his acidic wit, and there’s plenty of it on display here as he plays a misanthropic Manhattan dentist who begins to see ghosts. But Ghost Town also serves his snark with a hearty helping of earnest emotion and sincerity. For a movie about the undead, it has surprisingly profound things to offer the living.
‘Heathers’ (1988)
DIRECTOR: Michael Lehmann
STARS: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater
RATING: R
If you think ‘80s high school movies were nothing other than the optimistic comedies of John Hughes, look no further than Heathers. This high-concept satires skewers the conformity of cliques by imagining the popular girls as literally all named Heather. Winona Ryder’s Veronica is good enough to be among the Heathers but also smart enough to realize the group’s inanity. Once that pent-up anger crosses paths with Christian Slater’s volatile J.D., their school will have no idea what hit them.
'Sylvie's Love' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Eugene Ashe
STARS: Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Eva Longoria
RATING: PG-13
Eugene Ashe takes us back to the ’50s with his gorgeous romance Sylvie’s Love – not only in setting but also in sensibility. This is a film that sincerely believes in love at first sight as well as connections that can persevere against all odds, which is exactly what must come to pass for there to be any chance for jazz saxophonist Robert (Asomugha) and aspiring TV producer Sylvie (Thompson). There’s enough old-fashioned sincerity and charm in every sumptuously colored frame to make you swoon.
‘The Hunt’ (2013)
DIRECTOR: Thomas Vinterberg
STARS: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Susse Wold
RATING: R
No director knows how to command the screen presence of Mads Mikkelsen quite like his Danish compatriot Thomas Vinterberg. Their mightiest collaboration remains Cannes prize-winner The Hunt, a moving moral drama where Mikkelsen plays a modest schoolteacher accused of an unspeakable crime. He observes the frightening speed at which a lie can erode the trust and faith he built up over decades in his town … and wonders how much he can push back before he’s pushed out of polite society altogether. Check your simplistic ideas about “cancel culture” at the door and let Vinterberg absorb you in the thorniness of a complicated situation.
'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946)
DIRECTOR: Frank Capra
STARS: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
RATING: PG
It need not be Christmas to enjoy Frank Capra’s classic! While the snowy setting certainly gives It’s a Wonderful Life a fun seasonal glow, its message of the power of an individual life to ripple through a community resonates every week of the year. Though some might use the director’s name as an insult to deride maudlin movies – “Capra corn” – this is evidence that sincere emotion can inspire and charm if executed with indisputable earnestness.
'What the Constitution Means to Me' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Marielle Heller
STARS: Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian
RATING: Not Rated
The best of Broadway is available in your living room! Marielle Heller’s rendering of Heidi Schreck’s informative, passionate one-woman show democratizes the play for a global audience to see. And better yet, the camera brings us even closer to the star than possible when sitting in the audience – making the impact of Schreck’s scorching monologue about how the lives of the women in her family interact with the Constitution land with an even more personal impact.
Watch What the Constitution Means to Me on Amazon Prime Video
‘The General’ (1926)
DIRECTORS: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
STARS: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack
RATING: Not Rated
Tom Cruise’s stunt work has nothing on Buster Keaton, cinema’s original daredevil showman. His silent-era comic caper The General reminds us that there’s no more expressive instrument than the human body. If you can bracket the unsavory plot element that Keaton’s wannabe heroic soldier is on the side of the Confederacy, you’ll find his endearing and epic journey to impress the girl of his dreams a wild ride worth taking.
'Selah and the Spades' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Tayarisha Poe
STARS: Lovie Simone, Jharrel Jerome, Jesse Williams
RATING: R
The world of prep school intrigue gets a stylish upgrade by way of Tayarisha Poe. Unlike the normal precocious protagonists of the genre, Lovie Simone’s Selah is not itching to leave her high school halls. She relishes the power she holds over the social factions too much to relinquish it easily, so she takes great pride in grooming her successor. Selah and the Spades may give heightened, almost Shakespearean, stakes to the action, but Poe resists the urge to turn her characters into easy stereotypes.
'The Report' (2019)
DIRECTOR: Scott Z. Burns
STARS: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm
RATING: R
Need any more proof Adam Driver has the range? It’s hard to think of a role more diametrically opposed to Kylo Ren than his modest, unassuming Congressional staffer Daniel Jones in The Report. He’s tasked with getting to the bottom of the CIA’s torture program, an arduous assignment that mostly means he’s left to sort through mountains of documents. The fact that Driver can make this long process both compelling to watch and morally urgent speaks volumes to his talents as an actor.
‘Nanny’ (2022)
DIRECTOR: Nikyatu Jusu
STARS: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls
RATING: R
There have been countless “social thrillers” to pop up in the wake of Get Out’s success – most of which are garbage. Not so for Nikyatu Jusu’s Sundance-winning Nanny, a film that lambasts the contemporary realities of an undocumented African caregiver watching over the young daughter of a wealthy Manhattan family. Jusu really takes the film to the next level by connecting the struggles of Aisha (Anna Diop) to stories of mythological resonance. It’s horror by virtue of what it covers as well as how Jusu covers it.
‘Selma’ (2014)
DIRECTOR: Ava DuVernay
STARS: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson
RATING: PG-13
No access to MLK’s speeches, no problem for director Ava DuVernay. Selma is the cure for the contemporary biopic, framing a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement as the result of something more complex than just the cult of personality. It was more than just Dr. King, portrayed in all his heroism and humanity by David Oyelowo, who made it happen. It was a collective, urgent effort mobilized to prompt action from a Johnson administration content to drag its heels on voting rights until the issue proved more politically expedient.
‘Meet the Parents’ (2000)
DIRECTOR: Jay Roach
STARS: Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner
RATING: PG-13
Sure, the great Robert DeNiro gives us the odd The Irishman here and Silver Linings Playbook there, but he’s mostly spent this millennium having fun on screen in silly roles that don’t physically or emotionally tax him. It’s always clear that he’s enjoying himself, although we can’t always say the same as audiences. Meet the Parents, though, is a laugh riot through and through as DeNiro’s ex-CIA agent Jack Byrnes puts his prospective son-in-law played by Ben Stiller through the ringer. It’s not as easy as Stiller’s male nurse Greg Focker thought to join their familial “circle of trust,” and watching him squirm is the stuff of cringe comedy gold.
'Cold War' (2018)
DIRECTOR: Pawel Pawlikowski
STARS: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc
RATING: R
Know that feeling of watching a performer for the first time and sensing you’ll follow their career forever? That’s the thought that passed through my head seeing Joanna Kulig in Cold War, a tale of star-crossed lovers trying to navigate love, art, and politics in Communist-controlled Poland. Even in black and white, Kulig’s star burns incandescently as Zula, an entrancing and gifted jazz singer with self-destructive tendencies.
'Landline' (2017)
DIRECTOR: Gillian Robespierre
STARS: Jenny Slate, Edie Falco, John Turturro, Abby Quinn
RATING: R
Ready for a ’90s period piece? Like it or not, Gillian Robespierre is taking you there in Landline to reflect on some formative years when her understanding of love was forged by dealing with the realities of divorce and infidelity. This dramedy strikes a tricky balance between somberness and silliness, something it navigates nimbly thanks to deeply felt performances by the movie’s entire central family.
'Annette' (2021)
DIRECTOR: Leos Carax
STARS: Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg
RATING: R
Leos Carax has long been somewhat of an enfant terrible in French cinema, and his biggest effort to date does not back down from the unabashed weirdness that defines his work. This tribute – or perhaps parody? – of the rock opera feature the ironic tunes of cult band Sparks, the prickly brashness of Adam Driver as a self-destructive artist, and a titular baby wonder that simply must be seen to be believed. You may love Annette, or you may hate it. What’s unlikely, though, is that you feel indifferent watching this truly singular piece of cinematic art.
'His Girl Friday' (1940)
DIRECTOR: Howard Hawks
STARS: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
RATING: Not Rated
With all due respect to today’s stars, they really don’t make romantic leads like they used to. The chemistry between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell practically jumps off the screen in His Girl Friday, one of the most beloved screwball comedies of the Hollywood studio era. It’s a madcap blast as Grant’s newspaper editor Walter tries to lure back his lost love/former star reporter, Russell’s Hildy, by giving her one final assignment he knows she can’t resist … and might struggle to escape.
'One Night in Miami…' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Regina King
STARS: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr., Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge
RATING: R
“Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke walk into a hotel room…” might sound like the setup to a bad joke. But in the hands of Regina King, it’s the starting point for a fascinating debate over how to wield Black cultural power in a world that was finally beginning to accept it. One Night in Miami… nimbly balances an exploration of both who these men were and what they meant.
‘A Hero’ (2021)
DIRECTOR: Asghar Farhadi
STARS: Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Fereshteh Sadr Erfai
RATING: PG-13
No one crafts a moral drama quite like Asghar Farhadi. The Iranian master filmmaker won’t just have his works examined among other great artists of the screen – his scripts will be dissected like Shakespeare or Chekhov. A Hero provides an excellent look at Farhadi’s craft in microcosm. Start with a situation that is placid yet unstable, drop in one seemingly small action, and watch the status quo of that world unravel in front of our eyes. Here, it’s imprisoned debtor Rahim appearing to commit a highly moral action that bolsters his case for release … but Farhadi quickly and thrillingly shows how nothing is ever as open-and-shut as it appears.
'Sound of Metal' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Darius Marder
STARS: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci
RATING: R
What is gained when a sense is lost? Riz Ahmed’s high-flying metal drummer Ruben finds out as he loses almost all hearing and must contemplate the new limitations and possibilities that come from his condition. Powered by Ahmed’s vulnerable and humanistic performance, Sound of Metal forms a moving tribute to how disability can open up the world rather than shutting it down. (Winner of the 2021 Academy Awards for Best Editing and Best Sound.)
‘Let the Right One In’ (2008)
If Twilight convinced you that vampires were too sexy to be scary, let Let the Right One In dispel you of such notions. This chilling Swedish film foregrounds its horror in the innocence of youth as a bullied boy strikes up a connection with a beguiling girl next door for psychological support. She’s of course got a dark secret, but the film treats that as secondary to the secret bond she shares with her neighbor. Don’t come expecting schlock as the craftsmanship on display from director Tomas Alfredson is quite exquisite.
‘Licorice Pizza’ (2021)
DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson
STARS: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Bradley Cooper
RATING: R
Paul Thomas Anderson has conjured visions of the 1970s before in Boogie Nights, yet they’ve never had such heart and warmth as this sun-soaked vision of the San Fernando Valley in his youthful years. Licorice Pizza has that ambling, aimless feeling of growing up but not necessarily coming of age. This amusing tale of two youthful spirits finding themselves amidst a pile-up of odd misadventures is as electrifying as the needle-drops powering the film.
'The Handmaiden' (2016)
DIRECTOR: Park Chan-wook
STARS: Tae Ri Kim, Kim Min-hee
RATING: Not Rated
Get over the one-inch barrier, as Bong Joon-ho memorably dubbed subtitles, and throw yourself into the wacky world of Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden. This tantalizing triptych plays thrice through the story of Korean handmaiden Sook-hee (Tae Ri Kim) as she attempts to swindle her Japanese employer Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). But the con is far more complicated and complex than initially meets the eye – perhaps because you’ll be distracted by the stunning costumes, set design and camerawork to realize all the sneaky maneuvers happening. It’s a funny, erotic and thrilling ride worth strapping in for.
‘Uncle Buck’ (1989)
DIRECTOR: John Hughes
STARS: John Candy, Amy Madigan, Macaulay Culkin
RATING: PG
No film captures the magic of John Candy – taken from us far too soon in 1994 at just 43 years old – quite like Uncle Buck does. As the ultimate black sheep in the family, Candy’s Uncle Buck called into duty to watch his nieces and nephew when tragedy strikes for his sister-in-law. The shenanigans are just out of control in the best possible way as Buck’s good intentions clash with his dunderheaded actions.
‘Transit’ (2019)
DIRECTOR: Christian Petzold
STARS: Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer
RATING: Not Rated
Everything about the dialogue and scenario in Christian Petzold’s Transit indicates the story occurs in World War II-era Marseille. Everything about the visuals, though, suggest a story taking place in the present day. Petzold wants us to sit in that dissonance and, instead, find the resonance of how an age-old story could convincingly repeat itself in the current climate. If someone wanted to remake Casablanca today, it’d look a whole lot like this film’s tale of languishing lovers looking to flee their surroundings but not necessarily one another.
'Paterson' (2016)
DIRECTOR: Jim Jarmusch
STARS: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, William Jackson Harper
RATING: R
Want to wrap yourself in a warm blanket of a movie? Look no further than Paterson, starring Adam Driver as a modest New Jersey bus driver with a passion for writing poetry. There’s no artificial conflict, no cliched struggling artist tropes — just a thoughtful and earnest look at how people can carve out space for artistic fulfillment in the midst of mundanity.
‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ (2011)
DIRECTOR: Lynne Ramsay
STARS: Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller, John C. Reilly
RATING: R
A decade out, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin only grows in relevance. Our society continues to struggle in reckoning with the “mother of a monster” figure given the plague of disaffected young men committing acts of unspeakable violence. Ramsay never gets preachy or didactic in her exploration of the nature vs. nurture debate, instead letting her propulsive visuals pull us deep into the tortured psyche of Tilda Swinton’s Eva Khatchadourian. Don’t expect easy answers from the film, but Ramsay’s challenges and provocations will undoubtedly deepen your emotional understanding of this new cultural archetype.
'The Big Sick' (2017)
DIRECTOR: Michael Showalter
STARS: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Holly Hunter
RATING: R
If it weren’t based on a true story, the concept of The Big Sick might sound too ridiculous to believe. A couple in the throes of puppy love breaks up, and a guy decides to stay by that ex-girlfriend in the hospital as she falls into a coma from an unexplained illness? Not a usual stop on the way to “happily ever after,” but the unconventional love story of Kumail Nanjiani (playing himself) and Emily V. Gordon (played by Zoe Kazan) is all the stronger for leaning into the unconventional and unique. The alchemic mix of humor and heart is perfectly calibrated for an exuberant watching experience.
'Lovers Rock' / 'Small Axe' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen
STARS: Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Micheal Ward, Shaniqua Okwok
RATING: TV-MA
Is it a movie, or is it TV? Let’s just leave that Twitter debate aside for now and say one thing is certain: Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, a collection of five feature-length films, is absolutely outstanding. If you only have time for one piece of his chronicle memorializing London’s West Indian community as it pushed back against discrimination, make it Lovers Rock. This slender volume documents an unheralded form of resistance: collective joy. Here, that bliss all takes place on the dance floor where Black Britons congregate defiantly in a space all of their own.
‘Jackass Forever’ (2022)
DIRECTOR: Jeff Tremaine
STARS: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius
RATING: R
No need to see any previous Jackass to appreciate the new Jackass Forever. All you need to know is that the boys are back, crazier and older than ever, to do some absolutely bonkers stunts. Sure, maybe you can watch these types of shenanigans on YouTube now, but there’s something to be said for the tremendous amount of planning that goes into ensuring enough camera capture their hijinks from every necessary angle. It’s a guaranteed gut-buster of a watch.
‘Catherine Called Birdy’ (2022)
DIRECTOR: Lena Dunham
STARS: Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, Joe Alwyn
RATING: PG-13
Let’s hear it for a new classic teen comedy! Never mind the Middle Ages setting, Lena Dunham’s take on beloved young adult novel Catherine Called Birdy has plenty to offer today’s middle schoolers (not to mention those older). This irreverent, quippy coming-of-age story vividly depicts that unique life stage where you’ve started to outgrow childhood but don’t quite have the mindset to grasp adulthood. Through it all, Bella Ramsey’s Birdy provides a delightful spirit guide through the colorful ensemble surrounding her in Medieval England.
‘The Queen of Versailles’ (2012)
DIRECTOR:Lauren Greenfield
STARS: Jackie Siegel, David Siegel
RATING: PG
The best way to understand the Great Recession is *removes glasses, checks notes* through the eyes of an obscenely rich couple building one of the most expensive houses in America? Artist Lauren Greenfield has devoted her career to staring at the funhouse mirror of wealth in a consumerist country, and she hits the jackpot with the Siegels as their dreams of building a palatial estate come to a screeching halt thanks to the 2008 financial crisis that collapsed the housing market. It’s a “riches to rags” story that can make you cackle, cringe, and contemplate in equal measure.
‘Interstellar’ (2014)
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
STARS: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain
RATING: PG-13
Christopher Nolan is not exactly well-known for his emotionalism, and some bristled at the sentimental streak running through his galactic drama Interstellar. Whether you think love can cut across dimensions or not, you can surely appreciate the methodical craftsmanship of this sci-fi story about a mission to the edges of space to save earth from extinction. Matthew McConaughey’s crying scene might have its own Know Your Meme page, but within the context of the movie, it works given the personal and global stakes underlining the moment.
‘It’s Complicated’ (2009)
DIRECTOR: Nancy Meyers
STARS: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin
RATING: R
Nancy Meyers is perhaps best known for providing easygoing cinematic comfort food. You get all of that in It’s Complicated and more — as it turns out, she’s got a real knack for bawdy, brassy comedy. As Meryl Streep’s cozy divorcee weighs her romantic options between her good-natured architect (Steve Martin) and her remarried ex-husband (Alec Baldwin), Meyers finds a way to make a raunchy sex romp go down with the silky smoothness of a chocolate croissant.
‘Burning’ (2018)
DIRECTOR: Lee Chang-dong
STARS: Steven Yeun, Yoo Ah-in, Jong-seo Jun
RATING: Not Rated
If you loved the sincerity of Steven Yeun’s Oscar-nominated turn in Minari, broaden your knowledge of his formidable skills by watching him smolder in Korean drama Burning. This slow-burn of a film features the actor as the mysterious, magnetic Ben, a Gatsby-like nouveau riche South Korean with an unconventional hobby. Ben emerges out of nowhere as a romantic rival to the sheepish Jong-su, and his presence sparks a small flame that will soon engulf their lives. Give it time – the patience of director Lee Chang-dong really pays off.
‘Clue’ (1985)
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Lynn
STARS: Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan
RATING: PG
It’s a little shocking that, more than 30 years later, Clue remains the only movie that’s really cracked the code of how to turn a board game into a successful movie. This murder mystery unfolds methodically but merrily, capturing all the fun of assuming a character and navigating a fixed set of rules. Having a stacked ensemble of fantastic thespians fully willing to commit to the bit is just the cherry on top.
'You Were Never Really Here' (2018)
DIRECTOR: Lynne Ramsay
STARS: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola, Ekaterina Samsonov
RATING: R
Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here plays out almost like the response to an unspoken prompt: how much can you strip away from a revenge movie and still have it satisfy as an action flick? Her minimalistic response is a chillingly sparse look at how a tortured soul busts up a ring of sex traffickers and nearly loses himself in the process. This role is the brooding ball of anger that should have won Joaquin Phoenix his Oscar.
‘M3GAN’ (2023)
DIRECTOR: Gerard Johnstone
STARS: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng
RATING: PG-13
To quote the great Wendy Williams: she’s an icon, she’s a legend, and she is the moment. M3GAN, the killer talking AI doll who slays (literally), will sashay her way right into your heart as she curdles your spine. This is a new camp classic that proves sinful fun as it makes some quite insightful commentary on parenting in an automated world.
‘10 Things I Hate About You’ (1999)
DIRECTOR: Gil Junger
STARS: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
RATING: PG-13
There was just something in the air of March 1999: teenagers were so desperate to be taken seriously that they had to graft their struggles onto classic literature. First came Cruel Intentions, a wicked transposition of Dangerous Liaisons onto boarding school brats, but then came a much tamer comedy: 10 Things I Hate About You. This youthful romance restages Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in contemporary high school hallways as a popular Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) needs to pair off her irascible older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) so her old-fashioned father will allow the younger sibling to date. Despite the centuries-old source material, nothing feels dated about this madcap rom-com.
‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARS: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
RATING: PG-13
It’s hard to imagine, three decades later, just how awe-inspiring it must have been for audiences in 1993 to see the lifelike CGI dinosaurs of Jurassic Park roaming about. (If you saw it in theaters then, yeah, I guess this now makes you kind of old!) Good thing the film has more to offer than just historic VFX work. The film endures even as the magic of the effects fades because it’s a classic Spielbergian tale of how perilous situations necessitate the formation of makeshift families to support one another.
‘How to Train Your Dragon’ (2010)
DIRECTORS: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
STARS: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
RATING: PG
How many animated films can claim they have Academy Award-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins (frequent DP for Denis Villeneuve and the Coen Brothers) as visual consultant? It’s clear to spot his influence in How to Train Your Dragon, which features soaring aerials that still dazzle even on the small screen. This story of a young Viking who seeks to help the very creatures his village seeks to hunt has a keen eye for action and a big, beating heart of compassion.
‘Moneyball’ (2011)
DIRECTOR: Bennett Miller
STARS: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
RATING: PG-13
Sure, Moneyball is a baseball movie, but it’s really more of a business movie that achieves the improbable task of making statistical analysis sexy and exciting. Director Bennett Miller has a lot to do with turning this once-troubled production into one of the best movies about the sport, but much of the thematic heft comes from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. The film feels of a part with the writer’s other movies about innovators, The Social Network and Steve Jobs, stories about disrupting industries rife with stagnation and thus revolutionizing the world.
‘Sicario’ (2015)
DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve
STARS: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin
RATING: R
Denis Villeneuve has become a master of sci-fi worlds in his most recent directorial outings, but his best work may still be the grounded terrestrial tale along the U.S.-Mexico border in Sicario. This gripping thriller gets into the murky middle-ground where the drug trade meets law enforcement … where there is no division as clean as a dividing line. Our spiritual guide through this dangerous territory is Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer, an FBI agent trying to keep her moral compass straight. Watching Blunt’s minute facial expressions register the confusion and horror swirling around her is truly the essence of cinema.
'Time' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Garrett Bradley
STARS: Fox Rich, Rob Rich II
RATING: PG-13
Many documentaries can make us understand the cruel realities of the American prison system. But few manage to translate the way the institution can seep into every facet of a person’s life quite like Garrett Bradley does in Time, her documentary chronicle of Fox Rich’s decades-long crusade to be reunited with her incarcerated husband. The film smothers you in the purest form of love as it champions the virtues of fair justice and just mercy.
‘Raging Bull’ (1980)
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
STARS: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
RATING: R
To some extent, we have Robert De Niro to blame for the last four years of awards-bait acting; his incredible physical transformation to play both a lean and bloated iteration of boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull solidified a notion of the best acting as the most visible acting. But any bitterness for yet another “he’s unrecognizable!” biopic fades away within minutes of watching the film itself. As LaMotta, a prizefighter who sabotages his own life and success thanks to ceaseless envy and doubt, he’s most effective at conveying self-destruction by exposing the character’s brooding inner world.
‘The Birdcage’ (1996)
DIRECTOR: Mike Nichols
STARS: Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane
RATING: R
The comic energies of Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are almost too much to contain within a single movie. Yet somehow, director Mike Nichols corrals them within his uproarious The Birdcage. This is a family film of the highest order – that’s not to say it’s for the whole family, just that it’s one of the most moving and hysterical tributes to how love makes a family. As two lovers and Miami night club owners, Williams and Lane put on the show of their lives to put on a clean-cut front to meet their son’s new conservative in-laws.
‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ (1946)
DIRECTOR: William Wyler
STARS: Frederic March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews
RATING: Not Rated
Director Steven Spielberg listed this as one of his all-time favorites … game recognize game. The Best Years of Our Lives is one of those movies you should carve out three hours of your life to feel your way through. This home-front drama about three soldiers returning home from World War II, each wounded physically or psychologically in their own way, is a remarkably empathetic tale about the enormous sacrifices made by servicemembers – including those who return home alive.
'Manchester by the Sea' (2016)
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Lonergan
STARS: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler
RATING: R
Yes, it’s a bruising watch to see Casey Affleck’s Lee Chandler try to overcome the emotional baggage of his hometown and all his memories within it in Manchester by the Sea. But it’s a rewarding, uplifting one as well given that filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan paints an honest, human portrait of what it means to be there for the ones we love. This may very well be a perfect movie – I challenge anyone to name a single misjudged moment or a scene out of key. It’s less like watching a movie and more like paratrooping into a real scenario populated with authentic people.
Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.
