Best movies on Amazon Prime Video (April 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.

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.

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.

This is not a kids’ film. We repeat, this is not a kids’ movie. Yes, it has a fun fawn and some weird and wonderful creatures but it’s set in the midst of the Spanish Civil War and is brutal in places. It’s a wonderful adult fairy tale that scares and awes in equal measure.

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.

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.

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.

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.

21 Bridges may lean heavily on its Avengers connections (Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman stars and it's produced by Anthony and Joe Russo. But it's a great movie in its own right, about a manhunt for some cop killers that essentially locks down New York City.

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.

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.

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.

Blade Runner 2049 may not have set the box office alight but in years to come this will be regarded as a classic. Visually it's sumptuous, plot-wise it's intricate. Sure, it's long and takes a while to get going but it's fantastic to revisit Ridley Scott's world, something director Denis Villeneuve does with aplomb.

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.

A little-known comedy that needs to be seen by all. Starring The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt - and written by him - it’s about an 80s TV star who played Mindhorn brought in to help the police find a serial killer. The only problem is, he really does think he’s the detective he once played. It’s ridiculous but has the same vibe as Garth Marenghi’s DarkPlace and the Boosh.

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.

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.

There are myriad versions of A Star Is Born, but the latest with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga is a marvel to watch. While it should be Cooper’s movie - he directs, writes and stars - it just wouldn’t work without the brilliance of Lady Gaga who is mesmerising as the cabaret singer who is catapulted to stardom after singing with Cooper’s washed-up country singer.

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.

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.

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 proposed third movie.

The music of Bruce Springsteen is played through the prism of the life of a British Muslim growing up in 80s Luton. Using the music of The Boss, director Gurinder Chadh does a brilliant job of showcasing what it's like to come of age and start living the life you want to live

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This film has heavyweight pedigree. It is Barry Jenkins’ follow-up to Oscar Best Picture winner Moonlight, and was adapted from a novel by James Baldwin.

The Academy must have thought Jenkins had had enough love, because If Beale Street Could Talk is a much stronger film than some of that year’s Best Picture nominees. It’s an affecting story of a young black couple’s lives in New York.