If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber and haven’t really gotten your use out of its massive Prime Video library of shows and movies, then you really should start checking out what the streaming service has to offer.
Every month Prime Video refreshes its list of offerings, with movies coming and going, which is why I’m here to offer some suggestions for movies I’ve watched and enjoyed on Prime, and that I think you will, too.
5
Wicked
Release Year | 2024 |
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Runtime | 2 hour 40 minutes |
The smash-hit adaptation of the smash-hit Broadway musical of the same name is now streaming in all its glory on Prime Video. Wicked was nominated for 10 Oscars, and while it only took home hardware for two of those, the musical film was widely praised for its performances, costumes, and spectacular design.
You probably know the story already, but Wicked covers the origins of Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), better known as the Wicked Witch of the West (eventually), as they attend Shiz University in pre-Wizard Oz. With sweeping musical and dance numbers, an insane cast including Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, and Bowen Yang, among others, Wicked is a fun, visual spectacle you’ll want to watch with your kids.
Prime Video’s Wicked offers some cool special features, too, including a sing-along version you can buy, and bonus content you can check out via X-Ray.
4
The Vast of Night
Release Year | 2020 |
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Runtime | 1 hour 31 minutes |
It’s always refreshing to find an extraterrestrial film that still manages to create tension and thrills with story and character instead of gobsmacking special effects and people being vaporized (more on that in a bit). 2020’s Amazon Original film The Vast of Night achieved just that.
A self-financed indie gem, The Vast of Night, takes us to 1950s New Mexico where a radio DJ and a switchboard operator uncover a deep UFO conspiracy in their small town after they discover some unexplained sound signals that might not be of this world. If you’re into Close Encounters of the Third Kind or old episodes of The Twilight Zone, you’ll love the grainy period production and slow burn of this Toronto International Film Festival honoree.
3
Pulp Fiction
Release Year | 1994 |
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Runtime | 2 hours 34 minutes |
I was a young and naive 20-year-old dork when Pulp Fiction hit theaters in 1994. And when I left the theater, I was a man … is what I’ll tell my kids when they’re old enough to finally see it. All kidding aside, Quentin Tarantino’s indie masterpiece not only changed the face of filmmaking, but it (and 1992’s Reservoir Dogs) kicked off one of the most successful careers in Hollywood, and jettisoned so many of its cast to new heights.
If you haven’t seen it, Pulp Fiction is the interconnected tales of several players in Los Angeles’ underworld, including hitmen Jules and Vincent (Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta), their gangster boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) and his wife Mis (Uma Thurman), an aging boxer with a gambling problem (Bruce Willis), and a pair of smalltime crooks (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) who pick the wrong diner to rob.
Dark, gritty, violent, shocking, endlessly referenced, and infinitely quotable with some of the best dialog of any film, ever. If you haven’t seen this film yet, go get yourself a Big Kahuna burger and get to it.
2
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Release Year | 2005 |
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Runtime | 1 hour 56 minutes |
Before Steve Carell was a household name for his comedic and dramatic film and TV work, he was honing his improv chops at Chicago’s Second City. It was there that the sketch that The 40-Year-Old Virgin would later be based on was born. With the help of Judd Apatow, it was their script (and Apatow’s directing) that gave us this, now 20-year-old, piece of comedy gold.
It’s the endearing story of Andy (Carell), a mild-mannered employee of a local electronics store where he lets slip to his numskull bro co-workers (played by Seth Rogen, Romany Melo, and Paul Rudd) that he is, indeed, a 40-year-old virgin. The hilarity is largely gleaned from the horrible advice the boys give Andy on how to get laid, leading to some idiotic grooming (“Kelly Clarkson!”) and freaky bedroom antics, when all Andy wants to do is be with Trish (Catherine Keener), an older woman who Andy falls for.
There’s also a Director’s Cut of The 40-Year-Old Virgin available to stream on Prime Video, too.
1
War of the Worlds
Release Year | 2005 |
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Runtime | 1 hour 51 minutes |
While the internet is trying to forget the 0% Rotten Tomatoes score this film’s recently-released 2025 rendition just snagged, let’s just turn our gaze to just how good the 2005 version of War of the Worlds was.
One of, if not the best, recreations of H.G. Wells’s classic alien invasion sci-fi film stars Tom Cruise as an every-day Jersey guy named Ray, who’s just trying to keep his kids (played by Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) from getting vaporized by the towering, three-legged aliens. They’ve been dormant underground all over the planet, and have finally activated, blanketing the world to bring about the extermination of humankind.
War of the Worlds’ special effects were great for the time, and they still hold up today, but one of the best parts of the film is Tim Robbins turn as the creepy Harlan Ogilvy, whose paranoia makes him turn on humanity.
That Amazon Prime Video is a jungle (see what I did there?), and if you don’t know which vines to swing on you could find yourself lost and with nothing good to watch. I’ll stop with the ridiculous puns now, just check out this roundup of solid movies, now.
