Best movies on Amazon Prime Video (December 2024)

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.

UK Only

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.

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.

UK Only

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.

Ben Affleck both stars and directs this brilliant film about the Nike execs who wanted to sign a yet-unknown basketball player to their books. The player was Michael Jordan and the rest is history. This one has only just finished in the cinema but because of its backing from Amazon Studios, it's now available to watch on Prime.

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.

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.

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.

A woman is accused of murdering her husband after his body is found outside their chalet up in the showy Grenoble mountains. What follows is a film that defies easy categorisation. It’s part courtroom drama, part thriller and a look into a fractured relationship. The performances here are exceptional. Anatomy of a Fall won an Academy Award for its screenplay, and is a truly thrilling watch.

One of the greatest films of all time is now streaming on Prime Video. Fellini's 8 1/2 is a love letter to cinema - about a director who is looking for inspiration for his new movie and it comes from his past. Sit, back, relax and prepare to be mesmerised.

Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonius Ellison, a frustrated author who writes a book based around black stereotypes only to find it celebrated on face value. The thing he rallies against is what ends up making him famous. American Fiction was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and is both an insightful look at family dynamics as well as a sharp satire.

Brendan Fraser is a morbidly obese, depressed man in The Whale, a film that landed the actor a Best Actor Oscar after years largely out of the limelight. Critics are split on whether this is actually a good film, with some suggesting it's exploitative. However, almost all agree that Fraser's performance is quite something to behold.

Guy Ritchie is back with a slice of what this iconic British director does best: action. And Operation Fortune also stars one of the greatest of the genre, Jason Statham. While this movie may not pop quite as much as Ritchie classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, it's worth a watch if you regard this director's earliest films fondly.

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.

The Argento cut of Dawn Of The Dead is an intriguing one. It's pretty much the Dawn Of The Dead you know and love but the soundtrack has way more Goblin. This is the cut that most of Europe has seen and it's a much faster-paced version of the movie than you might have seen. Okay, so it's not the purest version of Romero's movie but it is still well worth a watch. And if you don't fancy it, then both the theatrical cut and Cannes' cut are available to watch on Prime, too.

This Oscar-winning movie by Jonathan Glazer looks into the banality of evil. The spotlight is on Nazi officer Rudolf Höss and has family, living outside Auschwitz as he oversees the atrocities of the concentration camp during World War II. Those horrors are off-screen, unseen, while others just get on with their lives. Based on a novel by Martin Amis.

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.

Acting Superstar Barry Keoghan is Oliver Quick, a student at Oxford University who works his way into the social circles of rich and entitled young folks. After being invited over to a friend’s family estate, all hell breaks loose. Saltburn may not be the deepest and most meaningful of films, but it sure is a whole lot of stylish fun.

A movie about professional wrestlers starring Zac Efron sounds like the stuff of comedy. The Iron Claw is an affecting, and really quite sad, drama, though. It's the real story of the Von Erichs, a family of wrestlers pushed to the spotlight and tragedy by a father driving his sons to success. Also stars Jeremy Allen White as one of the brothers.

This Aaron Sorkin drama features a nearly unrecognisable Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball, focusing on her time on the hit show I Love Lucy. Javier Bardem is the other half of the power couple and we see the goings on of their lives through the course of filming an I Love Lucy episode - from script read to performance. Both the acting and the script here are fantastic, as you would expect with the talent on show.

Years before he won his Oscar for the brilliant Parasite, Bong Joon Ho made Snowpiercer. It’s about a train that continually travels across the Earth, which is now a frozen and uninhabitable waste. Those aboard the train, the Snowpiercer, are the last remnants of world's population, which have now formed a new class system along its carriages.

Here’s a good option if you want a flat-out good time with a horror twist. A serial killer returns after a 35-year hiatus, and Jamie has to travel back in time to stop the killings from happening in the first place. There’s slasher action, time travel and a bit of mother-daughter Back to the Future’ing. Totally Killer has a similar feel to Happy Death Day or Freaky, and comes totally recommended.

This 2022 version of the caped crusader sees Batman rebooted with Robert Pattinson at the helm. It’s a more brooding, less burly Batman where he actually feels like his original tagline, the world’s greatest detective, rather than a baddie smasher. It’s a bit of a time commitment, at just a few minutes under three hours. But this is up there with the Christopher Nolan Batman films in terms of quality.

The kind of teen comedies we used to love in the 2000s aren’t gone entirely. They’re just different as Bottoms proves. Two students set a goal of getting laid before graduation. But instead of being testosterone-soaked boys, these two are queer girls. This is a very funny and fast (92 minutes!) comedy that doesn’t need to hold back, as it’s an R-rated flick.

Rom-coms are much rarer than they once were. And genuinely good rom-coms like The Idea of You should not go unnoticed. It stars Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old, a single mother who starts a relationship with the singer of a band her daughter listens to. He is much younger, but there’s much more to this movie than just that high concept line. It’s still a breezy and light watch, but might just make you think, too.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Weird Al in this biopic of America’s great maker of parody pop songs. It’s a biopic played straight on the surface, but those who remember the 80s and 90s will notice this film doesn’t play events quite as they really happened. Weird Al ends up having an affair with Madonna, for one. It’s absurd, hilarious and, just as the title promises, a bit weird.

How's this for a high-concept premise? A teenage Elliott takes magic mushrooms and the ensuing trip sees her meet her future 39-year-old self, played by Aubrey Plaza. But the performance of new star Maisy Stella, the 18-year-old Elliott, is what really keeps My Old Ass ablaze. This coming of age comedy has a real sense of authenticity, thanks to Stella and the strong writing of writer-director Megan Park.

This story of the creation of Irish rap group Kneecap stars Michael Fassbender as one of the group’s founding members. But that’s one of the least notable things about this corker of a film. It’s based on a true story, and the in-film members of the group are actual members of the real-world rap group Kneecap, which are rapidly becoming a bit of a cultural phenomenon. They put in an incredible performance, making this into a real awards magnet.

Who knew tennis could be this raunchy? This time period hopping sports drama sees Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist play a trio of tennis players who meet as teens. But the relationship turns into a fierce rivalry both on and off the court. Challengers comes from director Luca Guadagnino, who also made Call Me by Your Name and the Suspiria remake, offering clues as to the stylistic sensibilities on show here.

One of the most mesmerising movies of recent years, The Green Knight is a psychedelic rendition of the great Arthurian legend. Dev Patel is proving once more that he is the actor to revise old English stories (he was also amazing in David Copperfield) and the rest of the cast are also sublime. This is a slow, enveloping movie but we loved it.

Sometimes you wonder why remakes happen because they’re no good. Doug Liman’s remake of cheesy 1989 action thriller Road House is better than that, but not something we had on our bingo cards a few years before it came out. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a former UFC fighter turned bouncer at a rough Florida bar, while actual real-life figure Conor McGregor puts on a compelling performance as a punchy villain.

The third Terrifier film was one of the big box office stories of 2024. A huge success, given how cheap it was to make, and how flat-out nasty these movies are. The second is still largely considered the highlight of the series so far, though. Should you watch it? That’s up for debate. This is a gory film that delights in pushing boundaries, in a way some will find juvenile and distasteful. But if you’re wondering what all the fuss was about, Prime Video can supply the goods.

Sydney Sweeney is an aspiring nun, an American who travels to a remote convent in Italy to find her path in faith. But what initially appears to be a friendly nunnery is revealed to have a dark core. It’s a familiar story, and arrived almost at the same time as the eerily similar The First Omen. Immaculate’s secret weapon is Sweeney, who commits to the performance wholesale, especially in its memorable ending.

Everybody's Talking About Jamie is a fantastic filmic take on the stage play of the same name. The movie follows Jamie, a schoolboy who dreams of becoming a drag artist. Richard E Grant is there to help him on his way, even if his school doesn't believe in him. It's a brilliant feel-good British film that everyone should watch.