As summer winds down, you might find yourself looking for a way to enjoy some time on your couch. Getting ready for the fall can be overwhelming, but the right movie can take the edge off better than almost anything else.
If you’re looking for movies to watch on Amazon Prime Video, we’ve pulled together an eclectic list of titles both new and old that are worth checking out. Whatever you’re looking for, you’re likely to find something satisfying on this list.
The Apartment (1960)
One of the great comedies ever made, The Apartment tells the story of a humble desk jockey who tries to earn favor with his superiors by letting them use his apartment to conduct illicit affairs. When he discovers that the elevator girl he’s long had a crush on is using the apartment to sleep with his boss, though, he begins to realize that he wants more than just to admire her from afar.
Featuring one of the most clever scripts ever written, and Shirley Maclaine at her best, there’s a reason this affable comedy was able to win Best Picture.
You can watch The Apartment on Amazon Prime Video.
The Limey (1999)
A hard-edged action movie about a lifelong criminal who gets released from jail and travels from his home in the U.K. to Los Angeles to get revenge for his daughter’s death, The Limey is dark and hugely compelling. Anchored by the late great Terrence Stamp, the movie is director Steven Soderbergh at the top of his game.
Thanks to innovative sound design and playful editing, The Limey feels like it has a slightly fluid relationship with time, even as it’s hugely focused on its central revenge narrative.
You can watch The Limey on Amazon Prime Video.
Hundreds of Beavers (2024)
Visual comedy has become less and less common in an era when you can’t even guarantee that people will actually look at the screen. That’s part of what makes Hundreds of Beavers so refreshing. The movie is almost entirely silent, and all of the excellent comedy on screen is visual. Such that it has a plot, the movie is about a man living in what seems to be the tundra as he comes face to face with a hoard of beavers and must defeat them. In reality, though, the movie plays like an extended Looney Tunes gag, and honestly has to be seen to be believed.
You can watch Hundreds of Beavers on Amazon Prime Video.
Nosferatu (2024)
Robert Eggers is one of the great horror directors working today, and Nosferatu feels like the movie that most represents his sensibility. Adapting this historically cinematic work, the film focuses on a young woman who begins to hear the call of the titular vampire and finds him victimizing all of the people in her life.
In addition to a hugely brave central performance from Lily Rose-Depp, Nosferatu also features some of the most painterly work of Eggers’ career and some of the most horrifying scenes he’s ever directed.
You can watch Nosferatu on Amazon Prime Video.
My Old Ass (2024)
One of the more underseen comedies of the past few years, My Old Ass is a gem of a movie about a teenage girl preparing to move from her remote Canadian cranberry farm to the big city for college. While smoking pot one night with her friends, she meets the older version of herself, and the two of them begin connecting regularly.
As a result, she’s better able to appreciate the life she has now and gains a new perspective on her family, even as she’s told to stay away from a newly arrived boy who is incredibly intriguing.
You can watch My Old Ass on Amazon Prime Video.
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Before Julia Roberts was Julia Roberts, there was Mystic Pizza. Here, a young Roberts is just part of a broader ensemble of employees working at a pizza shop in the small beach town of Mystic, Connecticut.
Charming as it is, Mystic Pizza is fundamentally a coming-of-age movie about a moment in life when it feels like everything is still possible. It’s romantic, heartbreaking, and ultimately all about pizza. In the years since the movie’s release, Mystic Pizza has endured not just because it was an early vehicle for Roberts, but also because its central ideas remain resonant all these years later.
You can watch Mystic Pizza on Amazon Prime Video.
Conclave (2024)
Did you know that one of the best movies of 2024 would be a thriller about the papacy? Almost no one did, but Conclave took the world by storm anyway. The film follows a Roman conclave in the aftermath of the pope’s death, in which various candidates for the job jockey for power amongst themselves.
The cardinal tasked with running the conclave begins to uncover secrets about his various colleagues, and must weigh his obligation to either reveal or hide them and what it all might mean for the future of the Catholic Church. Ralph Fiennes is, as you might expect, terrific at the center of this complex swirl.
You can watch Conclave on Amazon Prime Video.
