Best movies on Amazon Prime Video (July 2021)

A woman is held captive in a room below a suburban home. She is sexually assaulted by her captor, and gives birth to his son. Room doesn’t sound like the rosiest watch. But this is not just the story of incarceration, but also how the pair cope with the real world after they escape.

Room won Brie Larson a Best Actress Oscar in 2016. The novel on which it is based, also called Room, is not based on a true story. But it was inspired by the 2008 Joseph Fritzl case.

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Kumail Nanjiani is currently famed across the internet as the nerd who got "swole". But The Big Sick was a highlight of his pre-muscle days.

It was written by Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon, and is based on their own experiences of an interracial relationship and their struggles with Gordon’s health issues. It is real, relatable and dances effortlessly between its funny and serious sides.

In the US? Stream The Big Sick on Prime Video here.

Haven’t seen Paddington or Paddington 2 yet? That kind of behaviour deserves a hard stare. But you can see both movies on Amazon Prime. This is a rare case where the sequel is of the same quality as the original. Many prefer it.

These 2014 and 2017 films are exemplars of family film-making done right. Kids will fall in love with Paddington, and there’s enough meat to the characters and story to lure in adults.

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One of the best movies of the 90s has probably been seen by all, but Fight Club is well worth a rewatch. The machismo of the movie may have dulled over the years, as has the CGI, but the main tale of a bunch of men looking for more from their corporate lives is still thrilling.

In the US? Stream Fight Club on Prime Video here.

This near one-shot movie is a fantastic achievement in filmmaking which loses a little of its might on the small screen but is still worth a watch. Directed by Sam Mendes, we see two young soldiers on the journey of their lives as they try and get through a battlefield to send a vitally important message to generals on the other side.

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The first time we saw Robert De Niro and Al Pacino on screen and it's in a fantastic movie. Heat is a cops and robbers tale, put the through the clinical lens of Michael Mann. It's a superb thriller and its effects can be seen in movies since - including The Dark Knight.

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One of the best movies of 2020 is the twisty, unhinged Parasite. A metaphor for the gaping chasm that is the class system in South Korea, we see a lower-class family making their way into the lives of a rich family, by way of jobs and other rather stranger means.

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Written and directed by the fantastic James Garland (of The Beach and Annihilation fame), Ex Machina follows the story of Caleb (played by Domhnall Gleeson), who wins a contest at work to meet the founder of the company he works for, the reclusive Nathan (played by Oscar Isaac). But all isn't as it seems in Nathan's super fancy and futuristic home in the middle of nowhere. He claims he wants Caleb to test one of his AI creations, but really his motives are much more nefarious. This is a nail-biting sci-fi movie that not only looks fantastic and harks to classic gothic fiction, but poses some interesting philosophical questions about artificial intelligence, consciousness and what it means to be human.

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A really nice ultra low budget thriller that has one of the best tracking shots in it we have seen. In the 50s a DJ and switchboard operator find an audio signal that could well change a town in New Mexico forever. The movie keeps you guessing right up to the end. At times it feels like an extended Twilight Zone episode but it's all done so well.

In the US? Stream Vast of the Night on Prime Video here.

There is no better than Rosamund Pike to create a villain so evil but bloody persuasive that you nearly end up rooting for her. She did it in Gone Girl and has done it again in I Care A lot. Here she is a con artist trying to grift retirees by becoming their legal guardians. What happens is jaw dropping and Pike is just fantastic to watch throughout.

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A wonderful timeloop movie that manages to find something fresh in what is now a well-worn plot point. Adam Samberg is fantastic as the man stuck replaying the same day over and over which he hates - until someone comes into his life that unwittingly falls into the same predicament he finds himself in.

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Riz Ahmed gives a career-defining performance as a drummer for a metal band who loses his hearing. The results are a gripping, tender study of the human psyche when it has to combat something that is life changing.

In the US? Stream Sound of Metal on Prime Video here.

This escapist fantasy is unlikely to feature on many top 10 all-time film lists. But it is an absolute must-see in 2020, when we can all do with a break from the real world.

A pilot (Felicity Jones) and nerdy meteorologist (Eddie Redmayne) are an unlikely team in a record-breaking hot air balloon trip into the sky. Tune your brain into The Aeronauts frequency and you’re in for one of the most charming live action family movies in years. There are sofa-clenching sections too.

In the US? Stream Aeronauts on Prime Video here.

We love The Personal History of David Copperfield. The colour blind casting of Dev Patel as the titular character is inspired, as is the rest of the casting. The script and direction are hilarious, thanks to The Thick Of It's Armando Iannuci and it's just a lovely, lovely movie to watch.

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Sylvester Stallone once again drags you through nostalgia town, pummelling your brain with memories of old and it's simply brilliant. Creed II takes some of the Rocky characters that we love (including Ivan Drago) and gives them life once more, revealing what they would be like if they were around today. While it doesn't quite have the directing spark (Steven Caple Jr replaced Ryan Coogler) it's still a great film and we can't wait for the third movie.

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One of the greatest movies ever made, Once Upon A Time In America is a generation spanning tale about the rise and fall of gangsters in the US. Robert D Niro, James Woods and the rest of the cast are superb. This was the final movie of Sergio Leone and his absolute masterpiece.

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The Watch is a gripping look at the true story of those trying to hold the government account for its 'enhanced interrogation' practises in the events after 9/11. Adam Driver is superb as the senator looking into how the CIA conducted its business and the abnormalities in what they were doing, trying to uncover a level of brutality that nobody wanted the world to know about.

In the US? Stream The Report on Prime Video here.

While not as politically charged as his recent work, Steve McQueen's Widows is still a fantastic watch, about a group of girlfriends and wives of incarcerated bank robbers that decide to take a job on from themselves. Michelle Rodriguez, Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki are all fantastic in this superb heist thriller.

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It’s by no means a perfect movie but the Borat sequel strikes a much-needed political cord with its look at Borat and his daughter making their way to America once more to make fun of the ignorant. While the ‘story’ is wafer thin, it was a genius idea to bring his daughter along for the ride as she can do everything Borat would do but nobody recognises her - and her scene with one of the most famous people in America caught with his hands down his pants is just brilliant.

In the US? Stream Borat 2 on Prime Video here.

One Night In Miami is an understated movie and all the better for it. For the most part, it takes place in one room (a motel room) after Cassius Clay's big fight with Sonny Liston. Within that time the worlds of Clay, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke collide in a drama that is compelling to watch.

In the US? Stream One Night In Miami on Prime Video here.

Who would have thought that this low-budget schlock horror film would spawn one of the greatest and most successful franchises of all time? That's the power of this movie and its star Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film is a horror, the Terminator the unstoppable force. It's relentless, terrifying and bloody fantastic.

In the US? Stream The Terminator on Prime Video here.

We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented. That's the main crux of The Truman Show, a movie about a man whose entire life just so happens to have been a TV show. It's a remarkable film, with Jim Carrey in a career best. The idea of having your every movement filmed when the movie was first released in the late '90s was a a bit of a fantasy - now, it's pretty much reality.

In the US? Stream The Truman Show on Prime Video here.

Rachel Brosnahan (of Prime Video's The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) is fantastic in this '70s-based drama about a housewife that becomes embroiled in a life of crime. While the first half of the movie is the best, it's a caustic look at what life was like for women in the Seventies with a nice mix of crime thrills.

In the US? Stream I'm Your Woman on Prime Video here.

Shot on DV, Collateral has a strange, low budget look but it still glistens on the screen thanks to Michael Mann's deft direction and Tom Cruise's brilliant acting. Here Cruise is playing out of character, a col killer who take hostage taxi driver Jamie Foxx. It's a brilliant cat and mouse thriller that still excels today.

In the US? Stream Collateral on Prime Video here.

Frightening in its intensity and powerful in its showcase of a hitman with humanity who takes a girl from a sex ring under his wing, this is a devastating portrayal of what it's like to be a flawed human. This is another Lynne Ramsay masterpiece, the Scottish director who also gave us We Need to Talk About Kevin.

In the US? Stream You Were Never Really Here on Prime Video here.

The True History of the Kelly Gang is a brutal movie, brought to life by the mesmerising acting of George MacKay, Essie Davis and Nicholas Hoult. Based on Peter Carey's novel this is an almost psychedelic retelling of the Kelly Gang's exploits. Director Justin Kurzel does a brilliant job with the source material.

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The Descent is a modern horror classic, with an achingly simple premise. A group of cave divers in search of the ultimate thrill get trapped in a cave that has savage dwellers residing within. Director Neil Marshall has never been better here and the all-female cast is a fantastic revelation.

In the US? Stream The Descent on Prime Video here.

A terrifying tale of religion, obsession and old age, Saint Maud manages to walk a tight rope of sheer terror and suspense, keeping you guessing until the end. Maud is a live-in nurse for a retired dance. At first they both get on but then things start to change.

In the US? Stream Saint Maud on Prime Video here.

Jennifer Lopez should have been up for an Oscar for her role in Hustlers. She is fantastic as the leader of a group of strip club employees who turn the tables on Wall Street execs who frequent their club. It's based on a true story and is a fascinating insight into those who hustle, why they hustle and where that eventually leads them.

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This one is an Amazon Original and is a fun frolic through the Scottish highlands, as part of the Duke of Edinburgh, as we follow four hip-hop loving city dwellers who are chased by a huntsman. Directed by Ninian Doff, who cut his tooth on music videos for the likes of Run The Jewels and The Chemical Brothers, this is a hilarious boys' own adventure. We do prefer the original title of the movie, though, which was Boyz In The Wood.

In the US? Stream Get Duked on Prime Video here.