We’ve all been there: browsing through Amazon Prime Video’s movie offerings, but we’re left wondering: What is good? The commercial giant’s streaming service has quietly compiled a giant archive of movies and, since 2006, has released a number of acclaimed films under the Amazon Studios brand, such as metal soundAsghar Farhadi A heroLeos Carax anette, The vast nightand Luca Guadagnino sigh Redo.
But along with the originals, there are tons of back catalog selections waiting to be discovered on, shall we say, the platform. challenging User experience. So we reviewed the service and selected some of our favorite movies currently on the platform to try out. Our latest update added The suicide squad as our editor’s pick for the month.
Editor’s Choice: The Suicide Squad
Image: Warner Bros.
Gender: superhero action
Director: James Gunn
Cast: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena
Not long ago, James Gunn was persona non grata in Hollywood, having lost his job at Marvel in 2018 after becoming the target of right-wing trolls who dredged up old offensive jokes in a concerted effort to smear him. Produced in the interval between Gunn’s initial firing and his subsequent rehiring at the helm. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3The suicide squad It marked the most turbulent career rise in the director’s career to date. The result is a film that shares the same irreverent and over-the-top tone of Gunn’s previous work, albeit now with a gleeful sense of masochism as it takes literally the concept of this imprisoned team of DC Comics supervillains, killing off characters at will. chance and build something new from the detritus.
While it’s true that it’s not such a high bar to clear, Gunn’s film improves on the 2016 film. suicide squad in almost every way imaginable. Margot Robbie, Idris Elba and John Cena deliver a trio of fantastic performances as Harley Quinn, Bloodsport and Peacemaker; The overall action is stimulating and entertaining; and hilarious cameos from the likes of Nathan Fillion, Pete Davidson, and more round out an overall satisfying superhero movie that knows not to take itself too seriously. That’s not to mention David Dastmalchian’s standout performance as Polka-Dot Man, a depressed superhuman with one of the strangest on-screen powers ever seen in a live-action superhero movie.
Overall, the film was a huge win for both Gunn and Warner Bros. The suicide squad introduced the character of Peacemaker into the DC cinematic universe, whose story would later be expanded in the Pacifier Television series created by Gunn. Shortly after, Gunn was named co-CEO of the newly formed Warner Bros. DC Studios. —Toussaint Egan
Catherine called Birdy
Photo: Alex Bailey/Prime Video
Gender: Coming-of-age comedy
Director: Lena Dunham
Cast: Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, Billie Piper
Lena Dunham’s charming adaptation of the young adult novel set in medieval times is one of the year’s best comedies, anchored by warm, layered performances from Bella Ramsey and Andrew Scott and bringing real teenage energy to a typically drab setting. and gloomy. —photovoltaic
From our review:
It is not a faithful adaptation of the book, but it is the adaptation that works best for an audience discovering this story on screen. Catherine called Birdy the film tells a more detailed story than the book’s charming diary entries, and needed a conclusion with more purpose than a diary that simply runs out of pages. It’s an updated version of the story, but not updated out of cowardice for a tragic ending, or a misplaced attempt at “How are you guys?” to attract young people by being “edgy” or “different.” Instead, the changes come from a desire to augment the best parts of the book. Catherine’s sharp narration and her vision of her daily life in the Middle Ages, juxtaposed with a more coherent narrative conclusion, make the film stronger and allow Dunham to find her own path and audience.
Coherence
Image: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Gender: Sci-fi thriller
Director: James Ward Byrkit
Cast: Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon
2013 science fiction thriller from writer-director James Ward Byrkit Coherence is a tense puzzle box of multi-dimensional weirdness and tense existential horror. What holds it all together are the strong performances led by Emily Baldoni, HomelandMaury Sterling, and Buffy the Vampire SlayerIt’s Nicholas Brendon. If you’re hungry for an intriguing mix of mumblecore cinema and sci-fi horror, Coherence It is. -TEA
fist of fury
Image: Shout! Factory
Gender: martial arts theater
Director: wei
Cast: Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee followed his first action film, The big boss, with fist of furywhich saw Lee take over as action choreographer as well as the lead role. Lee plays Chen Zhen, a martial arts student seeking to defend his school’s honor from a Japanese dojo that has been harassing and intimidating them after the death of Chen’s teacher.
Probably the most famous scene in this film occurs when Chen visits the dojo and beats up all the students and the teacher, one by one. This film has been remade many times (Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen all played Chen Zhen early in their careers, and Chan appears briefly in this one), and both the film and the character gain their greatest legacy in film history. Hong Kong and action movies. —photovoltaic
The maid
Image: Magnolia Photos
Gender: Psychological erotic mystery thriller
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo
Park Chan-wook is one of the best filmmakers working today and his most recent project Decision to leave It’s my favorite movie of the year so far. He’s made a lot of great movies (and one stellar TV show) over the years, but only one is available to watch on Amazon Prime: the excellent erotic historical mystery. The maid.
Adapted from the novel by Sarah Waters. Finger, Park takes the story to Japanese-occupied Korea, following a pickpocket and a conman who together conspire to steal the fortune of a wealthy Japanese heiress. A winding tale of seduction and intrigue, it’s a wonderful playground for Park to deploy her distinctive style, and is aided by excellent performances from Kim Tae-ri (as the titular pickpocket/maid), Kim Min-hee (as the heiress), and Ha Jung-woo (as the con artist).
So while you wait to see Decision to leave (or after doing so), go ahead and check with (or revisit) The maid. You will not regret. —Pete Volk
hellraiser
Image: Entertainment Movie Distributors
Gender: Horror
Director: Clive Barker
Cast: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Doug Bradley
Clive Barker’s 1987 directorial debut adapts his 1986 novel. The infernal heart to tell the story of Larry (Andrew Robinson) and Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins). The Cottons are a married couple who move into the home of Larry’s recently deceased brother, Frank (Sean Chapman), with whom Julia had a previous affair. After being inadvertently resurrected by a drop of blood spilled by Larry on the house’s attic floor, Frank seduces Julia into luring new men to the house so he can drain her life force and fully regain his mortal form. she. Surrounding this central narrative is the story of the Lament Configuration, a puzzle box that Frank acquired before his untimely death. When resolved, he conjures infernal beings known as cenobites to the mortal plane of existence, who indulge in infernal exercises in sadomasochistic mutilation. Easily the best and longest-running of the Hellraiser film series, Barker’s 1987 original is a must-see for horror fans. -TEA
karnan
Image: Amazon Prime Video
Gender: action drama
Director: Mari Selvaraj
Cast: Dhanush, Lal, Yogi Babu
Karnan (Dhanush) is a temperamental young man from a village in southern Tamil Nadu who wants to fix the world on his own. Their town is prevented from having its own bus stop, which causes major conflicts between people of all generations: their lack of mobility to the city prevents children from going to good schools, adults from getting good jobs, and simply makes it difficult the life of the villagers. Karnan fights and fights and fights to make things right, facing opponents as varied as police officers, people from another local village, friends and family who simply want to help, and his own demons.
This Tamil drama from director Mari Selvaraj is influenced by a real-life incident in which hundreds of policemen attacked a village in Tamil Nadu. One of the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2021, it is Selvaraj’s follow-up to the award-winning Pariyerum Perumal.
karnan is a beautiful film with powerful visuals, a fantastic soundtrack filled with folk genre songs by local Tamil Nadu musicians, outstanding performances and a palpable righteous anger at injustice in the world. —photovoltaic
love friendship
Image: Roadside Attractions/Amazon Studios
Gender: Comedy
Director: Whitney Stillman
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Morfydd Clark, Tom Bennett
After the death of her husband, Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) seeks new husbands, plural: one for herself and one for her only daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark). Lady Susan is a bold coquette and a calculating schemer, and Beckinsale absolutely excels in the layered role, delivering a bold and unforgettable lead performance in a scandalous film. While writer-director Whit Stillman is known for his modern comedies of manners such as Metropolitan and Barcelonaits 2016 adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Mrs. Susan It’s still firmly in its creative wheelhouse and stands as one of the funniest comedies in recent memory. —photovoltaic
