Amazon’s Prime Video welcomed a number of movies to its platform in July, including a Best Picture-winning historical epic that is just as watchable now as it was when it was originally released and an underrated, once-dismissed mid-2000s crime film from “Heat” director Michael Mann. Some of the other best titles available on the streamer this month include a 1950s masterpiece from “Psycho” filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and an oft-forgotten dramedy that features a rare dramatic star turn from Will Ferrell.
Here are the seven best movies on Prime Video you can stream this month.
“Gladiator” (2000)
Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” has not lost an ounce of its epic or dramatic power in the 26 years since its release. A Roman epic that leans into the classical, straightforward nature of its story, the film is anchored by a movie star performance for the ages by Russell Crowe. The latter stars as Maximus Decimus Meridius, a Roman general who sets out for revenge when he is betrayed and his wife and son are killed by Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris).
What follows is a hero’s journey filled with enough deeply felt emotions to make every one of Maximus’ victories and setbacks hit with the epic force that they should. The film is a Hollywood blockbuster that, like many of the classics it was made in the shadow of, just sings.
“Lars and the Real Girl” (2007)
“Lars and the Real Girl” has no business working as well as it does. This quirky Hollywood dramedy stars Ryan Gosling as its eponymous protagonist, a shy, socially awkward man who forms a romantic relationship with a sex doll he names Bianca.
Elevated by Gosling’s against-type, magnetic lead performance, “Lars and the Real Girl” evolves over the course of its runtime from a gimmicky comedy with a cheap premise into a movingly empathetic film about the sometimes unconventional ways we find ourselves and our places in the world. It is, if quietly, so much more than its synopsis suggests.
“Miami Vice” (2006)
Time has been kind to Michael Mann’s 2006 reimagining of “Miami Vice.” What was initially received as a divisive, disappointing adaptation of the beloved 1980s TV series of the same name has since been reclaimed as a legitimate cult classic, and for good reason. Starring Colin Farrell as James “Sonny” Crockett and Jamie Foxx as Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs, a pair of tight-knit Miami police detectives, “Miami Vice” follows its leads as they go undercover to fight a powerful drug trafficking operation on a mission that tests them in ways both personal and professional.
Featuring a mid-film detour to Cuba that ranks high among the greatest sequences Mann has ever created, “Miami Vice” is a romantic, heartbroken crime thriller that mesmerizes just as much as it entertains.
“Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
“Saving Private Ryan” is a World War II epic of astonishing power and visceral, stomach-churning intensity. Director Steven Spielberg’s late ’90s dramatization of a real-life story follows a group of American soldiers — led by Tom Hanks’ Captain John Miller — as they are sent on a mission to locate a young private (Matt Damon) and send him safely home after his three brothers are all killed in action.
Featuring a slew of memorable supporting performances and one of the most technically astounding opening acts in cinema history, “Saving Private Ryan” hits with blunt-force power. It might not reach all of its notes with the same grace as it does others, but its many cinematic and dramatic highs are about as impressive as it gets.
“The Martian” (2015)
The second Ridley Scott film on this list happens to be one of the most purely entertaining Hollywood blockbusters of the last 11 years. Based on a novel of the same name by “Project Hail Mary” author Andy Weir, “The Martian” follows an American astronaut (Matt Damon) as he struggles to survive alone on Mars after being left behind by his crew.
Anchored by Damon’s effortlessly charismatic one-man-show performance and benefitting greatly from Drew Goddard’s clever screenplay, “The Martian” charms and thrills. Even more impressively, it makes doing both of those things look deceptively easy.
“Rear Window” (1954)
Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” is one of the most perfect movies ever made. Directed by Hitchcock and written by frequent collaborator John Michael Hayes, the film follows a magazine photographer (James Stewart) who, while stuck in his apartment in a leg cast, begins to suspect that one of his neighbors (Raymond Burr) may have killed his wife. Based on a 1942 short story by Cornell Woolrich, “Rear Window” mines endless cinematic gold out of the sparest of ingredients, telling a story of paranoia that so acutely realizes the cinematic and psychological power of voyeurism that its story still feels just as relevant now as it did in 1954.
To top it all off, the film manages to sneak an endearing and crackling love story between Stewart and co-star Grace Kelly’s characters in between all of its missing bodies and mystery that just makes watching it all the more fun, entertaining and worthwhile.
“Stranger Than Fiction” (2006)
The last film on this list is also, perhaps, the most underrated. 2006’s “Stranger Than Fiction” is a delightfully metatextual dramedy about an everyday IRS agent (an against-type Will Ferrell) who begins hearing his life narrated by a disembodied voice (Emma Thompson) whose warnings about his impending death inspire him to not only seek out a solution but also break free of the strict rigidity of his usual routine.
Equal parts snarky and heartwarming, “Stranger Than Fiction” is an unexpectedly rousing fantasy about the freedom of self-reinvention and the fear that arises when you dare to rewrite your own story.
The Top 21 New Movies Streaming Now