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Last Updated: November 19th
It’s easy to forget that Amazon does more than simply offer free shipping and quality TV shows to its Prime members. The streaming platform also turns out quality content in the film department pretty regularly. Sometimes, their movies may hit theaters first or gain a couple of Oscar nods come awards season, both valid reasons for thinking their flicks, films like Manchester By The Sea, The Big Sick, and The Handmaiden are the work of some blockbuster studio, not the streaming service you have access to at home. Well, we’re going to correct that misconception with this list of the best original Amazon Studios films out there right now. Get to streaming.
Related: The Best Amazon Prime Video Original Series Right Now, Ranked
Sound of Metal (2019)
Run Time: 120 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
Riz Ahmed stars in this powerful, heartbreaking Amazon original movie from director Darius Marder. Ahmed plays a heavy-metal drummer named Ruben who, along with his girlfriend and the band’s lead singer Lou (Olivia Cooke) hopes to make it big in the music scene. His plans are thrown for a loop when he begins to lose his hearing, putting his life, and his love for music, in jeopardy.
Annette (2021)
Run Time: 141 min | IMDb: 6.9/10
The latest Leos Carax joint is this musical fantasy epic that sees Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard play a pair of star-crossed lovers whose whirlwind romance meets a tragic, weird AF end. Driver plays Henry McHenry, a comedian who loves to stoke controversy with his art. Cotillard plays Ann, a beautiful and talented opera singer at the height of her career. Jealousy and infidelity destroy their relationship, but not before the couple has an extraordinary child with an unusual gift that takes the world by storm. It’s a strange, absorbing, surrealist journey Carax takes audiences on here, and Driver has never been better.
One Night in Miami (2021)
Run Time: 114 min | IMDb: 7.3/10
Regina King’s first outing as a director comes in the form of this moving drama that imagines a meeting between some of the most influential icons in the Civil Rights Movement. In a room at the Hampton House in February 1964, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke gather to celebrate Ali’s victory over boxer Sonny Liston where they also discuss their own roles in the movement and confront the harsh realities of the Jim Crow Era.
Val (2021)
Run Time: 109 min | IMDb: 7.7/10
Comprised of some truly unique archival footage from the actor himself and his famous friends, this documentary tells the singular story of Val Kilmer, a mysterious and incredibly interesting Hollywood celebrity who seemed to vanish from the screen for years following a stint of blockbuster success. The doc shows a different side to Kilmer, his relationship to his art, to fame, and his battle with throat cancer all taking center stage as he uses self-filmed footage to pull back the curtain on his life. It’s one of the most addictively watchable biopic docs we’ve seen in a long time.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Run Time: 138 min | IMDb: 6.8/10
Sometimes, the world just needs a dumb sci-fi action flick. Chris Pratt knows this which is why he gave us The Tomorrow War, a movie with an interesting premise that ends up following conventional blockbuster beats that never surprise us, but still manage to keep us entertained. Pratt plays a family man and scientist, who’s drafted into a future war with an alien race intent on the extinction of humanity. Once he arrives in the future, he uncovers some shocking truths about the origins of this all-consuming fight and the specific role he has to play in its eventual end. JK Simmons shows up eventually to play, what else, a bada**. Really, what more do you need to know?
You Were Never Really Here (2017)
Run Time: 89 min | IMDb: 6.8/10
Joaquin Phoenix stars as a troubled hitman with a dark past in this thrilling crime flick from Lynne Ramsay. Phoenix plays Joe, a gun for hire, former military man and FBI agent, who spends most of his time rescuing victims of sex trafficking. He’s recruited to save a Senator’s daughter from a brothel that caters to high-end clientele, but the job thrusts him into the center of a conspiracy that costs him everything and ends in blood and tragedy. It’s a relentless slog to be sure, but it works because Ramsay is more interested in profiling the man, not the hits he makes.
The Handmaiden (2016)
Run Time: 144 min | IMDb: 8.1/10
Based on a historical crime novel set in Victoria-Era England, Park Chan-wook’s lavish, mesmerizing thriller focuses on two young women fighting to escape oppression by the men in their lives. Chan-woo has traded the stuffy British countryside for Japanese-occupied Korea, telling the stories of Lady Hideko and her handmaiden, Sook-hee, in three parts, weaving a tale of passion, betrayal, dark secrets, and revenge with grander themes of imperialism, colonial rule, and patriarchal corruption. The two women are the draw of the film with both resorting to illicit, illegal, morally compromising schemes in order to gain their freedom, but love is an unintended consequence that leaves the third act — one you might think you have figured out halfway through the film — completely unpredictable.
The Lost City of Z (2016)
Run Time: 141 min | IMDb: 6.6/10
Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson star in an adventurous retelling of the true-life drama of Col. Percival Fawcett. Fawcett (Hunnam) was a British explorer who disappeared while searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s. This adaptation of David Grann’s popular book is the slowest of burns and takes liberties with Fawcett’s tale if only because no one really knows what happened to the man and his son when they went missing in the jungle, but stick around for some fantastic cinematography and a few thrilling action sequences — along with the sense of mystery that comes with a look at old-world exploration expeditions.
The Big Sick (2017)
Run Time: 120 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon drew from their own unusual love story for their script about a Chicago comic named Kumail (Nanjiani), who falls in love with Emily (Zoe Kazan), a woman who falls into a coma while in the midst of a rift in their relationship created by the expectations of Kumail’s traditional parents. The funny, moving romantic comedy also features strong supporting work from Ray Romano and Holly Hunter as Emily’s parents, who form an awkward bond with Kumail as they wait for Emily’s recovery.
Manchester By The Sea (2016)
Run Time: 137 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
Michelle Williams, Lucas Hedges, and Casey Affleck star in this family drama from Kenneth Lonergan. It won a slew of awards when it was released a couple of years ago, mostly because it’s an excellent character study that centers on a conflicted man named Lee (Affleck), who’s entrusted with the care of his teenage nephew Patrick (Hedges) when his father dies. Williams plays Randi, Lee’s ex-wife, and for two hours, Lonergan drags us through the misfortune and tragedy that ultimately broke up a home and left Lee living only half a life. It’s not a spirit-lifter, but it’s a worthy watch all the same.
The Neon Demon (2016)
Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 6.2/10
Elle Fanning stars in this twisted, trippy psychological thriller from Nicolas Winding Refn about an aspiring young model who ventures to Los Angeles and becomes sucked into a dark and dangerous world. Fanning plays the Helen of Troy type in this film, a teenager named Jesse who arrives in L.A. and earns the immediate jealousy of rival models, women older and more jaded than she. Weird things begin to happen when Jesse books fashion show after fashion show. She descends into a pit of narcissism, has hallucinations, strange visions, and disturbing encounters with people she thought she knew. It’s got Refn’s stamp all over it, but Fanning manages to sift through the more outrageous aspects of the film and give us a look at a young woman struggling to find her place in the world and come to terms with her body.
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot (2018)
Run Time: 114 min | IMDb: 6.9/10
Another Joaquin Phoenix-starring vehicle, this one is a biopic directed by Gus Van Sant and co-starring Jonah Hill, Jack Black, and Rooney Mara. Phoenix plays John Callahan, an alcoholic who becomes paralyzed after a terrible car accident. He finds sobriety, friendship, and a new perspective on life in his recovery. He also finds a hidden artistic talent, drawing newspaper cartoons that help him channel his emotions and find a new lease on life. It’s a moving portrait of a man wrestling with his inner-most demons, and Van Sant manages to curb the sentimental tendencies of a film like this through dark comedy and brilliant performances by Hill and Phoenix.
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Run Time: 93 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
This documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson is based on the unfinished manuscript, Remember this House, by James Baldwin. The author and civil rights activist recounts the history of racism in the United States through personal observations and his relationships with friends and leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. It’s a beautifully-shot, sobering reminder of how far we have yet to go when it comes to equality.
Honey Boy (2019)
Run Time: 94 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Shia LaBeouf writes and stars in this semi-autobiographical tale of his time as a child star. Noah Jupe plays the younger version of himself while LaBeouf plays his controlling, often abusive father. The two live in motel rooms in L.A. while Otis (Jupe) works on a popular kids TV show. Their relationship becomes strained as Otis ages, and his dad James (LaBeouf) grows resentful of his son’s success. Lucas Hedges plays an elder Otis, who struggles with all kinds of addictions because of his rough, unconventional upbringing. It’s a tough watch but one that feels refreshingly honest, and you can’t deny LaBeouf’s talent and courage in telling such a raw, intimate story.
The Report (2019)
Run Time: 119 min | IMDb: 7.2/10
Adam Driver and Annette Bening star in this political thriller based on a true story. Driver plays Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones, who’s tasked by his boss, Senator Dianne Feinstein to investigate the CIA’s post 9/11 interrogation tactics. What Jones finds through years of research is a shocking cover-up of inhuman abuses carried out in the name of preventing future terrorist attacks, abuses that cause Jones to question the very ideals that pushed him to work on Capitol Hill in the first place. Driver is magnetic as Jones, a man contending with the heartbreaking disillusionment with his country while also fighting against the system to bring the truth to light.
