For as long as Prime Video has existed, the streaming service has been home to plenty of great movies. The problem for users is when they log in, they receive the same recommendations repeatedly. If you’re looking for some underrated gems, that’s where we can help.
We’ve pulled together this list of titles, each of which is well worth your time and has a totally distinct sensibility:
We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
September 5 (2024)
A tight, short procedural about people doing their jobs, September 5 follows ABC’s sports crew at the 1972 Olympics in Munich as they find themselves in the middle of a hostage situation after members of the Israeli team are held captive. As they work to figure out exactly what is happening and begin telling the story live, they scramble to use their limited resources to get to the truth.
September 5 is tense, filled with great actors who seem like real people, and a reminder that journalism at its best can deliver truth when no one else is around. It’s also a smart look at a moment in history with eerie echoes today.
You can watch September 5 on Amazon Prime Video.
25th Hour
One of Spike Lee’s best and most under-discussed movies, 25th Hour follows a man preparing for a lengthy prison sentence in the days after 9/11. In addition to being a remarkable chronicle of the city in the wake of unimaginable tragedy, it’s also the study of a man who is reevaluating everything about his life in light of his sentence.
As he spends time with his friends and girlfriend in the hours before he has to report to prison, we come to see the life he’s leaving behind and all the choices he made that led him to where he is now.
You can watch 25th Hour on Amazon Prime Video.
Bottoms (2023)
Like a strange combination of Clueless and Fight Club, Bottoms follows two gay best friends who decide to start a fight club at their high school to meet girls and eventually lose their virginity.
As the club moves from self-defense to an excuse to wail on one another, the girls find themselves losing control and struggling to remember what the club was for to begin with. Anchored by two remarkable central performances from Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott, Bottoms is outrageously funny and the kind of teen comedy that we should be getting at least four of every year.
You can watch Bottoms on Amazon Prime Video.
