Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Free two-day shipping is nice, sure, but have you seen all the movies your Amazon Prime subscription gives you access to? As if all the original content produced by Amazon Studios was not enough, the streamer also boasts one of the most impressive and varied catalogs of other movies available for your viewing pleasure. (For starters, they actually have more than a handful of titles made before the year 2000.) You can both brush up on some classics from Hollywood’s studio era or watch a recent under-the-radar indie sensation. They have plenty of recent crowd-pleasing hits with familiar names as well as a plentiful supply of foreign films should you be looking to do some cinematic tourism.
Rather than waste time scouring that extensive catalog for your next watch, let Decider guide you toward the service’s top offerings. Whether it’s catching up with an old favorite or discovering a new one, we’ve found and updated the 50 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now (updated for January 2025). Whatever movie-watching mood you’re in, Amazon Prime almost certainly has a title for it.
RELATED: NEW ON AMAZON PRIME: January 2025
‘Air’ (2023)
DIRECTOR: Ben Affleck
STARS: Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck
RATING: R
A movie that makes heroes out of middle-aged marketing guys? Heck yes! Air turns corporate strategy into high-stakes drama as Nike makes its improbable bid to win over Michael Jordan. The conclusion is foregone, but the lead-up to it is still riveting – in large part because the creative powers of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon also have an eye toward what it means at large for talent to profit off their own likeness.
'The Vast of Night' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Andrew Patterson
STARS: Sierra McCormack, Jake Horowitz, Gail Cronauer
RATING: PG-13
Get in on the ground floor with director Andrew Patterson before he goes supernova. His debut feature The Vast of Night is an enticing sci-fi tale about a young switchboard operator and a disc jockey uncovering what might be an extraterrestrial transmission in the ’50s. This scrappy start shows an impressive mastery of both form and mood – just imagine what he can do with a big budget.
‘Let the Right One In’ (2008)
DIRECTOR: Tomas Alfredson
STARS: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar
RATING: R
If Twilight convinced you that vampires were too sexy to be scary, let Let the Right One In dispel you of such notions. This chilling Swedish film foregrounds its horror in the innocence of youth as a bullied boy strikes up a connection with a beguiling girl next door for psychological support. She’s of course got a dark secret, but the film treats that as secondary to the secret bond she shares with her neighbor. Don’t come expecting schlock as the craftsmanship on display from director Tomas Alfredson is quite exquisite.
‘Knives Out’ (2019)
DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson
STARS: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas
RATING: PG-13
There’s simply no one better working in genre movies today than Rian Johnson. Knives Out is the full package: an old-fashioned whodunit with its finger on the pulse of contemporary society, an affectionate tribute to the detective movies that came before it while also sending up well-known tropes. It’s also a fantastic opportunity for normally stoic stars like Daniel Craig, Chris Evans and Michael Shannon to absolutely let loose.
‘Something Wild’ (1986)
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Demme
STARS: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta
RATING: R
The great Paul Thomas Anderson refers to Something Wild as a “gearshift movie” because it can change tones and styles at the drop of a hat. “I like to see that in movies because that’s what real life is like,” so says PTA, “and it’s also good storytelling.” What initially presents as an adventurous road trip rom-com between Jeff Daniels’ yuppie banker Charles and Melanie Griffith’s beguiling blonde Audrey veers into entirely unexpected territory. I could tell you, sure, but it’s better if you just strap in and let Jonathan Demme take you where he wants.
‘Heathers’ (1988)
DIRECTOR: Michael Lehmann
STARS: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater
RATING: R
If you think ‘80s high school movies were nothing other than the optimistic comedies of John Hughes, look no further than Heathers. This high-concept satires skewers the conformity of cliques by imagining the popular girls as literally all named Heather. Winona Ryder’s Veronica is good enough to be among the Heathers but also smart enough to realize the group’s inanity. Once that pent-up anger crosses paths with Christian Slater’s volatile J.D., their school will have no idea what hit them.
'Sylvie's Love' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Eugene Ashe
STARS: Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Eva Longoria
RATING: PG-13
Eugene Ashe takes us back to the ’50s with his gorgeous romance Sylvie’s Love – not only in setting but also in sensibility. This is a film that sincerely believes in love at first sight as well as connections that can persevere against all odds, which is exactly what must come to pass for there to be any chance for jazz saxophonist Robert (Asomugha) and aspiring TV producer Sylvie (Thompson). There’s enough old-fashioned sincerity and charm in every sumptuously colored frame to make you swoon.
‘Die Hard’ (1988)
DIRECTOR: John McTiernan
STARS: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
RATING: R
Before the fast-cutting style of Michael Bay took over the action genre, you used to be able to watch a movie and understand your way around a space. No movie does this to such an electrifying extent as Die Hard as we watch Bruce Willis’ scrappy John McClane outmaneuver Alan Rickman’s nefarious Hans Gruber within the nooks and crannies of the Nakatomi Plaza office building. On an unrelated note, this is also the best Christmas movie to watch outside the month of December.
'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946)
DIRECTOR: Frank Capra
STARS: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
RATING: PG
It need not be Christmas to enjoy Frank Capra’s classic! While the snowy setting certainly gives It’s a Wonderful Life a fun seasonal glow, its message of the power of an individual life to ripple through a community resonates every week of the year. Though some might use the director’s name as an insult to deride maudlin movies – “Capra corn” – this is evidence that sincere emotion can inspire and charm if executed with indisputable earnestness.
'What the Constitution Means to Me' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Marielle Heller
STARS: Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, Rosdely Ciprian
RATING: Not Rated
The best of Broadway is available in your living room! Marielle Heller’s rendering of Heidi Schreck’s informative, passionate one-woman show democratizes the play for a global audience to see. And better yet, the camera brings us even closer to the star than possible when sitting in the audience – making the impact of Schreck’s scorching monologue about how the lives of the women in her family interact with the Constitution land with an even more personal impact.
Watch What the Constitution Means to Me on Amazon Prime Video
‘The Red Shoes’ (1948)
DIRECTORS: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
STARS: Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring
RATING: Not Rated
Fan of Black Swan? You owe it to yourself to watch its spiritual antecedent, Powell and Pressburger’s The Red Shoes. This dancing drama charts the internal struggle inside a ballerina torn between her artistic and personal desires. The Technicolor bravura of the performances dates the film squarely in the classical era, but the thematic content still resonates in a contemporary context.
‘The General’ (1926)
DIRECTORS: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
STARS: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack
RATING: Not Rated
Tom Cruise’s stunt work has nothing on Buster Keaton, cinema’s original daredevil showman. His silent-era comic caper The General reminds us that there’s no more expressive instrument than the human body. If you can bracket the unsavory plot element that Keaton’s wannabe heroic soldier is on the side of the Confederacy, you’ll find his endearing and epic journey to impress the girl of his dreams a wild ride worth taking.
'Selah and the Spades' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Tayarisha Poe
STARS: Lovie Simone, Jharrel Jerome, Jesse Williams
RATING: R
The world of prep school intrigue gets a stylish upgrade by way of Tayarisha Poe. Unlike the normal precocious protagonists of the genre, Lovie Simone’s Selah is not itching to leave her high school halls. She relishes the power she holds over the social factions too much to relinquish it easily, so she takes great pride in grooming her successor. Selah and the Spades may give heightened, almost Shakespearean, stakes to the action, but Poe resists the urge to turn her characters into easy stereotypes.
'The Report' (2019)
DIRECTOR: Scott Z. Burns
STARS: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm
RATING: R
Need any more proof Adam Driver has the range? It’s hard to think of a role more diametrically opposed to Kylo Ren than his modest, unassuming Congressional staffer Daniel Jones in The Report. He’s tasked with getting to the bottom of the CIA’s torture program, an arduous assignment that mostly means he’s left to sort through mountains of documents. The fact that Driver can make this long process both compelling to watch and morally urgent speaks volumes to his talents as an actor.
‘Nanny’ (2022)
DIRECTOR: Nikyatu Jusu
STARS: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls
RATING: R
There have been countless “social thrillers” to pop up in the wake of Get Out’s success – most of which are garbage. Not so for Nikyatu Jusu’s Sundance-winning Nanny, a film that lambasts the contemporary realities of an undocumented African caregiver watching over the young daughter of a wealthy Manhattan family. Jusu really takes the film to the next level by connecting the struggles of Aisha (Anna Diop) to stories of mythological resonance. It’s horror by virtue of what it covers as well as how Jusu covers it.
‘Saint Maud’ (2021)
DIRECTOR: Rose Glass
STARS: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle
RATING: R
Oh my Maud. Director Rose Glass storms out of the gate in her feature directorial debut Saint Maud, a go-for-broke tale of religious horror that’s unwaveringly committed to its vision. She’s got an extraordinarily game partner in Morfydd Clark as Maud, a nun increasingly given to fits of fanaticism in practicing and professing her Catholic beliefs. It’s bad enough when this evangelism affects the former dancer (Jennifer Ehle) in Maud’s care as a hospice nurse, but soon enough, the fire and brimstone comes to consume Maud herself.
‘The Eyes of My Mother’ (2016)
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Demme
STARS: Kika Magalhães, Will Brill, Olivia Bond
RATING: R
Do you prefer your horror less in the vein of jump scares and more of an eerie tone poem? Then Nicolas Pesce’s brooding, bewitching The Eyes of My Mother. It’s the ultimate “no plot, just vibes” horror as it unfurls and tackles the various traumas of growing up in a rural enclave. Pesce’s progression of unsettling images slowly works their way under your skin until you can feel them crawling inside you.
'Cold War' (2018)
DIRECTOR: Pawel Pawlikowski
STARS: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc
RATING: R
Know that feeling of watching a performer for the first time and sensing you’ll follow their career forever? That’s the thought that passed through my head seeing Joanna Kulig in Cold War, a tale of star-crossed lovers trying to navigate love, art, and politics in Communist-controlled Poland. Even in black and white, Kulig’s star burns incandescently as Zula, an entrancing and gifted jazz singer with self-destructive tendencies.
'Landline' (2017)
DIRECTOR: Gillian Robespierre
STARS: Jenny Slate, Edie Falco, John Turturro, Abby Quinn
RATING: R
Ready for a ’90s period piece? Like it or not, Gillian Robespierre is taking you there in Landline to reflect on some formative years when her understanding of love was forged by dealing with the realities of divorce and infidelity. This dramedy strikes a tricky balance between somberness and silliness, something it navigates nimbly thanks to deeply felt performances by the movie’s entire central family.
'Annette' (2021)
DIRECTOR: Leos Carax
STARS: Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg
RATING: R
Leos Carax has long been somewhat of an enfant terrible in French cinema, and his biggest effort to date does not back down from the unabashed weirdness that defines his work. This tribute – or perhaps parody? – of the rock opera feature the ironic tunes of cult band Sparks, the prickly brashness of Adam Driver as a self-destructive artist, and a titular baby wonder that simply must be seen to be believed. You may love Annette, or you may hate it. What’s unlikely, though, is that you feel indifferent watching this truly singular piece of cinematic art.
'His Girl Friday' (1940)
DIRECTOR: Howard Hawks
STARS: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
RATING: Not Rated
With all due respect to today’s stars, they really don’t make romantic leads like they used to. The chemistry between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell practically jumps off the screen in His Girl Friday, one of the most beloved screwball comedies of the Hollywood studio era. It’s a madcap blast as Grant’s newspaper editor Walter tries to lure back his lost love/former star reporter, Russell’s Hildy, by giving her one final assignment he knows she can’t resist … and might struggle to escape.
'One Night in Miami…' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Regina King
STARS: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr., Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge
RATING: R
“Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke walk into a hotel room…” might sound like the setup to a bad joke. But in the hands of Regina King, it’s the starting point for a fascinating debate over how to wield Black cultural power in a world that was finally beginning to accept it. One Night in Miami… nimbly balances an exploration of both who these men were and what they meant.
‘A Hero’ (2021)
DIRECTOR: Asghar Farhadi
STARS: Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Fereshteh Sadr Erfai
RATING: PG-13
No one crafts a moral drama quite like Asghar Farhadi. The Iranian master filmmaker won’t just have his works examined among other great artists of the screen – his scripts will be dissected like Shakespeare or Chekhov. A Hero provides an excellent look at Farhadi’s craft in microcosm. Start with a situation that is placid yet unstable, drop in one seemingly small action, and watch the status quo of that world unravel in front of our eyes. Here, it’s imprisoned debtor Rahim appearing to commit a highly moral action that bolsters his case for release … but Farhadi quickly and thrillingly shows how nothing is ever as open-and-shut as it appears.
'Sound of Metal' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Darius Marder
STARS: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci
RATING: R
What is gained when a sense is lost? Riz Ahmed’s high-flying metal drummer Ruben finds out as he loses almost all hearing and must contemplate the new limitations and possibilities that come from his condition. Powered by Ahmed’s vulnerable and humanistic performance, Sound of Metal forms a moving tribute to how disability can open up the world rather than shutting it down. (Winner of the 2021 Academy Awards for Best Editing and Best Sound.)
‘Mystery Men’ (1999)
DIRECTOR: Kinka Usher
STARS: Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, William H. Macy
RATING: PG-13
Is it possible that Mystery Men arrived about 20 years too early? This 1999 cult classic follows the hijinks of a bunch of D-list wannabe superheroes and villains ranging from a silverware thrower to toxic farter as they attempt to save Champion City. The cycle of the superhero genre makes me think we’re more than ready for something this absurdly parodic.
‘The Family Stone’ (2005)
DIRECTOR: Thomas Bezucha
STARS: Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton
RATING: PG-13
Going home for the holidays is always a more fraught endeavor than one imagines, but Sarah Jessica Parker’s Meredith has no idea that tinderbox she ignites when she accompanies her boyfriend (Dermot Mulroney’s Everett) to Christmas with his immediate family. Meredith’s uptight etiquette instantly clashes with the free-wheeling members of the Stone family, setting up some madcap misadventures and prolonged painful exchanges. Sure, The Family Stone gets a bit unhinged with the wild plot maneuvers it undergoes … but what’s the holiday season without a little crazy?!
'The Handmaiden' (2016)
DIRECTOR: Park Chan-wook
STARS: Tae Ri Kim, Kim Min-hee
RATING: Not Rated
Get over the one-inch barrier, as Bong Joon-ho memorably dubbed subtitles, and throw yourself into the wacky world of Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden. This tantalizing triptych plays thrice through the story of Korean handmaiden Sook-hee (Tae Ri Kim) as she attempts to swindle her Japanese employer Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). But the con is far more complicated and complex than initially meets the eye – perhaps because you’ll be distracted by the stunning costumes, set design and camerawork to realize all the sneaky maneuvers happening. It’s a funny, erotic and thrilling ride worth strapping in for.
‘Transit’ (2019)
DIRECTOR: Christian Petzold
STARS: Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer
RATING: Not Rated
Everything about the dialogue and scenario in Christian Petzold’s Transit indicates the story occurs in World War II-era Marseille. Everything about the visuals, though, suggest a story taking place in the present day. Petzold wants us to sit in that dissonance and, instead, find the resonance of how an age-old story could convincingly repeat itself in the current climate. If someone wanted to remake Casablanca today, it’d look a whole lot like this film’s tale of languishing lovers looking to flee their surroundings but not necessarily one another.
'Paterson' (2016)
DIRECTOR: Jim Jarmusch
STARS: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, William Jackson Harper
RATING: R
Want to wrap yourself in a warm blanket of a movie? Look no further than Paterson, starring Adam Driver as a modest New Jersey bus driver with a passion for writing poetry. There’s no artificial conflict, no cliched struggling artist tropes — just a thoughtful and earnest look at how people can carve out space for artistic fulfillment in the midst of mundanity.
‘The Blues Brothers’ (1980)
DIRECTOR: John Landis
STARS: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi
RATING: R
In case the legendary comic pairing of Aykroyd and Belushi isn’t enough to lure you into The Blues Brothers, maybe the murderer’s row of soul music legends performing will? James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway and Chaka Khan all make appearances. You won’t find many better combinations of gut-busting humor and toe-tapping tunes than this.
‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ (2011)
DIRECTOR: Lynne Ramsay
STARS: Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller, John C. Reilly
RATING: R
A decade out, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin only grows in relevance. Our society continues to struggle in reckoning with the “mother of a monster” figure given the plague of disaffected young men committing acts of unspeakable violence. Ramsay never gets preachy or didactic in her exploration of the nature vs. nurture debate, instead letting her propulsive visuals pull us deep into the tortured psyche of Tilda Swinton’s Eva Khatchadourian. Don’t expect easy answers from the film, but Ramsay’s challenges and provocations will undoubtedly deepen your emotional understanding of this new cultural archetype.
'The Big Sick' (2017)
DIRECTOR: Michael Showalter
STARS: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Holly Hunter
RATING: R
If it weren’t based on a true story, the concept of The Big Sick might sound too ridiculous to believe. A couple in the throes of puppy love breaks up, and a guy decides to stay by that ex-girlfriend in the hospital as she falls into a coma from an unexplained illness? Not a usual stop on the way to “happily ever after,” but the unconventional love story of Kumail Nanjiani (playing himself) and Emily V. Gordon (played by Zoe Kazan) is all the stronger for leaning into the unconventional and unique. The alchemic mix of humor and heart is perfectly calibrated for an exuberant watching experience.
'Lovers Rock' / 'Small Axe' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen
STARS: Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Micheal Ward, Shaniqua Okwok
RATING: TV-MA
Is it a movie, or is it TV? Let’s just leave that Twitter debate aside for now and say one thing is certain: Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, a collection of five feature-length films, is absolutely outstanding. If you only have time for one piece of his chronicle memorializing London’s West Indian community as it pushed back against discrimination, make it Lovers Rock. This slender volume documents an unheralded form of resistance: collective joy. Here, that bliss all takes place on the dance floor where Black Britons congregate defiantly in a space all of their own.
‘Liar Liar’ (1997)
DIRECTOR: Tom Shadyac
STARS: Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Jennifer Tilly
RATING: PG-13
It’s stiff competition for Jim Carrey’s most physically committed performance, but Liar Liar just might take the cake. This high-concept comedy finds Carrey’s character, a chronic fibber, unable to tell a lie after a wish made by his son. With each attempt to stretch the truth, he must physically contort himself as his body forces him into honesty – a challenge in which Carrey excels with flying colors.
‘Catherine Called Birdy’ (2022)
DIRECTOR: Lena Dunham
STARS: Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, Joe Alwyn
RATING: PG-13
Let’s hear it for a new classic teen comedy! Never mind the Middle Ages setting, Lena Dunham’s take on beloved young adult novel Catherine Called Birdy has plenty to offer today’s middle schoolers (not to mention those older). This irreverent, quippy coming-of-age story vividly depicts that unique life stage where you’ve started to outgrow childhood but don’t quite have the mindset to grasp adulthood. Through it all, Bella Ramsey’s Birdy provides a delightful spirit guide through the colorful ensemble surrounding her in Medieval England.
‘Something’s Gotta Give’ (2003)
DIRECTOR: Nancy Meyers
STARS: Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves
RATING: PG-13
Focus on the interior design of a Nancy Meyers movie, and you’re missing the point. It’s exquisite, sure, but it has nothing on her treatment of the interior lives of women past a certain age. A character like Diane Keaton’s Erica Barry so often gets relegated to a supporting role or a perfunctory presence in lesser movies, but this divorced playwright finding love on her own terms gets the full spotlight here. Granted, she shares it some with an uproarious Jack Nicholson as a perpetual lothario, yet it’s Keaton (an avatar for Meyers herself) who gets to glow.
‘Captain Phillips’ (2013)
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
STARS: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Catherine Keener
RATING: R
New films don’t really give us iconic lines that permeate the entire culture anymore, but when Barkhad Abdi said “Look at me – I’m the captain now” … we all felt it. And when seen in the context of Captain Phillips, it’s even more powerful. A group of Somalian pirates overtake an American commercial vessel steered by Tom Hanks’ heroically calm titular mariner. From the attempts to fend off the pirates boarding to the tense high-seas standoff, Paul Greengrass knows how to edit the action for maximum impact. Billy Ray’s script has more on its mind than swashbuckling action, too, using the incident as a microcosm of larger post-colonial geopolitics.
‘Heat’ (1995)
DIRECTOR: Michael Mann
STARS: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
RATING: R
It might make a little more sense to watch Heat knowing that Al Pacino played his character as being on cocaine, but then director Michael Mann took out the subplot. (This would help explain the notoriously memed “GREAT ASS!” explosion.) Or, you could just take it as a natural escalation of tensions in a film that takes such a dynamic as its very subject. Pacino’s cop goes head-to-head with Robert De Niro’s criminal in a battle of wits that pushes both men to the extremes of their game. The same could be said for the actors, too.
‘The Holdovers’ (2023)
DIRECTOR: Alexander Payne
STARS: Paul Giamatti, DaVine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
RATING: R
No matter the temperature on the thermostat, Alexander Payne’s icily-set but emotionally warm dramedy hits. The Holdovers creates a tender found family out of three loners stuck at a boarding school over the Christmas holiday – an embittered teacher, a grieving cook, a frustrated student. It’s the kind of film that can break your heart so it can then repair it to feel all the greater.
‘Bridesmaids’ (2011)
DIRECTOR: Paul Feig
STARS: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne
RATING: R
If you have time to read more than a blurb on why Bridesmaids is so great, I argued that its GIF-ability made it the definitive comedy of the 2010s in my Decider column “Smells Like ‘10s Spirit.” Those outsized reactions to everyday absurdity, particularly from leading lady Kristen Wiig, made it the perfect movie to capture the imagination of a culture moving further towards visual rather than text-based communication. But the movie also endures because it’s more than just a collection of outrageous moments – it’s an honest, heartfelt look at female friendships.
'You Were Never Really Here' (2018)
DIRECTOR: Lynne Ramsay
STARS: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola, Ekaterina Samsonov
RATING: R
Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here plays out almost like the response to an unspoken prompt: how much can you strip away from a revenge movie and still have it satisfy as an action flick? Her minimalistic response is a chillingly sparse look at how a tortured soul busts up a ring of sex traffickers and nearly loses himself in the process. This role is the brooding ball of anger that should have won Joaquin Phoenix his Oscar.
‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989)
DIRECTOR: Spike Lee
STARS: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Bill Nunn
RATING: R
Who does the right thing? Can anyone under the stress of oppressive summer heat and enflamed racial/ethnic tensions? What even is the right thing, anyway? Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing offers no easy answers to the questions he poses. It’s the rare film, too, where a director matches their complex script with a rigorous visual approach. Don’t forget to let your eye feast on the camerawork here as your brain is chewing over the ethical conundrums posed by the film!
‘The Social Network’ (2010)
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
STARS: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake
RATING: PG-13
The movie of a generation, nothing less. Aaron Sorkin’s airtight script for The Social Network restages the founding of Facebook as both the stuff of Greek drama and hopelessly millennial. David Fincher’s execution effectively stages these grand stakes into something that feels era-defining in all its provocative contradictions. The term “masterpiece” gets thrown around far too loosely these days, and it cheapens the label for films like this that actually deserve it.
‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959)
DIRECTOR: Billy Wilder
STARS: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon
RATING: Not Rated
Don’t let the black & white fool you into thinking Some Like It Hot is mired in mothballs. The movie named by the American Film Institute as the country’s greatest comedy still retains all its laughter-generating capacity more than 60 years after its release. From its wild concept of two musicians disguising themselves as women in an all-girl group to escape Chicago gangsters to its emphatic final line, Billy Wilder’s classic is still a laugh riot from start to finish.
‘Mean Girls’ (2004)
DIRECTOR: Mark Waters
STARS: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey
RATING: PG-13
How many times can you watch the millennial high school movie classic Mean Girls without getting tired of it? To quote just one of the manifold lines it’s gifted to the popular vernacular, the limit does not exist! This boundlessly funny comedy captures the early-aughts with devastating accuracy while also tapping into something timeless about the clique mentality that defines adolescence in any era. Good luck getting anything this good for your cohort, Gen Z!
‘Sicario’ (2015)
DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve
STARS: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin
RATING: R
Denis Villeneuve has become a master of sci-fi worlds in his most recent directorial outings, but his best work may still be the grounded terrestrial tale along the U.S.-Mexico border in Sicario. This gripping thriller gets into the murky middle-ground where the drug trade meets law enforcement … where there is no division as clean as a dividing line. Our spiritual guide through this dangerous territory is Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer, an FBI agent trying to keep her moral compass straight. Watching Blunt’s minute facial expressions register the confusion and horror swirling around her is truly the essence of cinema.
'Time' (2020)
DIRECTOR: Garrett Bradley
STARS: Fox Rich, Rob Rich II
RATING: PG-13
Many documentaries can make us understand the cruel realities of the American prison system. But few manage to translate the way the institution can seep into every facet of a person’s life quite like Garrett Bradley does in Time, her documentary chronicle of Fox Rich’s decades-long crusade to be reunited with her incarcerated husband. The film smothers you in the purest form of love as it champions the virtues of fair justice and just mercy.
‘Memento’ (2001)
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
STARS: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, Joe Pantoliano
RATING: R
“I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world’s still there,” says Memento protagonist Leonard Shelby. Although the quote feels like it could just as easily be attributable to Dom Cobb from Inception or Oppenheimer himself, just to name a few central figures from the work of Christopher Nolan. All the hallmarks of his work are here: the interlocking narratives, the manipulation of time, the fragile sense of self, the acute fear of setting off a chain reaction spelling doom for others. This film also has the heart and soul to back it up, too.
‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ (1946)
DIRECTOR: William Wyler
STARS: Frederic March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews
RATING: Not Rated
Director Steven Spielberg listed this as one of his all-time favorites … game recognize game. The Best Years of Our Lives is one of those movies you should carve out three hours of your life to feel your way through. This home-front drama about three soldiers returning home from World War II, each wounded physically or psychologically in their own way, is a remarkably empathetic tale about the enormous sacrifices made by servicemembers – including those who return home alive.
'Manchester by the Sea' (2016)
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Lonergan
STARS: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler
RATING: R
Yes, it’s a bruising watch to see Casey Affleck’s Lee Chandler try to overcome the emotional baggage of his hometown and all his memories within it in Manchester by the Sea. But it’s a rewarding, uplifting one as well given that filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan paints an honest, human portrait of what it means to be there for the ones we love. This may very well be a perfect movie – I challenge anyone to name a single misjudged moment or a scene out of key. It’s less like watching a movie and more like paratrooping into a real scenario populated with authentic people.
Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.
