If you’re a Prime Video junkie like me, it can be difficult to find new things to watch. Fortunately, the streamer brings in a steady crop of new films to check out, but this can easily lead to decision paralysis because you don’t know which ones are worth your time.
As it turns out, I’m your guy when it comes to what to watch this week. I spend a lot of time watching Prime Video, and here are the ones that are guaranteed to entertain you from beginning to end.
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The Bourne Identity
Once upon a time, nobody really viewed Matt Damon (the Oscar-winning star of movies like Good Will Hunting) as an action hero. However, that all changed with The Bourne Identity, where he plays a man whose amnesia doesn’t keep him from pulling off some serious moves in a fight. It turns out that his abilities likely come from his training as a covert spy, and he must try to stay one step ahead of the CIA as he tries to uncover the mystery of his own recent past.
The Bourne Identity is refreshing and visceral as an action movie, and it establishes a kind of Third Way for the spy genre. That is, the movie is fun without descending into the cheesiness of a James Bond film. And it takes its goofball premise seriously, but not so seriously that it could be mistaken for something like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Pro-tip? Once you fall in love all over again with Jason Bourne, you can check out the rest of the franchise, currently streaming on Prime Video.
4
The Craft
Ever have a movie define your childhood, and then everyone else seems to forget about it? For me, that film was The Craft, a movie about four lovable outcasts who can’t really find their place in society. In another kind of movie, they’d probably all get matching tattoos and go on a life-affirming road trip. But in The Craft, they solve their problems the old-fashioned way: by studying the dark arts and becoming witches!
While The Craft has flashes of weird humor in it (mostly courtesy of the delightful Fairuza Balk), this film is mostly played as a straight horror film. Its horror street cred is enhanced by Neve Campbell, whose hit film Scream came out the same year as The Craft. And it really is scary seeing angry teens running amok with crazy powers and weaponizing freaky love spells. The spell extends to audiences, too, so don’t be surprised if you fall in love with this underrated horror classic.
3
Children of Men
You remember when Margot Robbie’s Barbie uttered those immortal words, “Do you guys ever think about dying?” If your answer was “yes,” then you might just enjoy Children of Men, one of the best (if bleakest) dystopias ever put on the silver screen. The premise of the film is quite simple: in the far-flung future of 2027, complete infertility has swept the entire globe, and this has caused rampant chaos that threatens to extinguish the human race. Clive Owen plays a grizzled former activist charged with escorting a pregnant woman (now one of the most precious commodities in the world) out of the crumbling United Kingdom.
With its austere beauty and its raggedly renegade spirit, Children of Men is one of the best films ever made. The movie has a lot to say about humanity, and it says it with the help of an inspired cast that includes Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. The film also has an admirably brisk pace, and its 109 minutes seem to fly by. All of this is thanks to Alfonso Cuarón, the director who fills this dystopia with all the style and verve he previously gave Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
2
Death Wish II
Sometimes, I get a craving for a real junk food kind of film. You know, the kind that’s not really good for you but tastes undeniably good. Death Wish II is one of the greatest examples of this type of movie. Made amid the excess of the ’80s, this film stars Charles Bronson as a man whose wife was previously killed by petty criminals. He deals with his pain in the healthiest possible way: by brutally gunning down every thief he can get in his sights. The sequel runs the plot of the first movie back, this time unleashing Brosnan on gang members who caused the death of his daughter.
If you’ve never seen any of these movies, you should know that Death Wish II is one of the most ’80s things ever created. In a decade where Dirty Harry reigned supreme, Charles Brosnan embodied the ultimate vigilante, one who refuses to be bound by either the law or his own conscience. The inciting incident of the movie is ugly, and in a way, Brosnan’s righteous kills are even uglier. But when you want an uncomplicated bite of true junk food cinema, there’s nothing quite like watching a two-dimensional hero blowing one-dimensional scum away, one scene at a time.
1
Murder On the Orient Express
There’s a certain confidence that laces nearly every frame of Murder on the Orient Express. Director and star Kenneth Branagh took on the impressive challenge of adapting one of mystery author Agatha Christie’s best books, one that had already been adapted into a sleek 1974 movie that received multiple Academy Award nominations and helped star Ingrid Bergman take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. In other words, Branagh had some tall boots to fill, and nobody was sure of how well they’d fit until Murder on the Orient Express hit theaters.
Against a modest budget of $55 million, the movie earned a cool $352.8 million. Audiences were quite satisfied with both the film’s engaging mystery plot and its deep bench of excellent actors. Branagh is joined onscreen by Judy Dench, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, and even Johnny Depp. Believe it or not, that’s just a few of the famous figures bringing this literary adaptation to life.
Bottom line? The movie is stylish and sexy in all the right ways, and this one is guaranteed to become your new favorite.
September is a time when the weather outside is getting colder. Be sure to heat things up by streaming these hit films on Prime Video this week!
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What if you could be grinning ear to ear in just a few minutes? With these hit films on Prime Video, happiness is just a click away!







