The 12 Best Movies on Amazon You Won't Want to Miss

Make your next movie night the best one yet with these failsafe picks from Amazon Prime’s vast catalogue of ripper flicks. Whether you want to be moved, terrified, charmed or challenged, we’ve got modern classics and new releases that’ll have you on the edge of your couch. These are the best movies on Amazon right now.

Yesterday

Music, friendship and history collide in this charming comedy infused with a touch of magic. After a mysterious blackout, main man Jack discovers that he is the only person on earth who remembers The Beatles. The down-on-his luck musician senses an opportunity and begins releasing the legendary quartet’s songs as his own, winning immense fame and fortune. Faced with losing his old life and the one person who believed in him from the start, he must decide if all he needs is love after all.  

Mr & Mrs Smith

It’s the flick that gave us Brangelina, Hollywood’s #1 golden couple of the 00s – Mr & Mrs Smith is a glitzy action comedy about a husband and wife struggling to keep their marriage alive until they realise they’re both working as assassins. The twist? Their next assignments require them to kill each other. With full on action and tongue in cheek humour, the film is taken to further heights by the co-stars’ palpable chemistry.

Pitch Perfect

Playing the raucously funny Fat Amy, our very own Rebel Wilson was the breakout star in this vivacious comedy about an all-girl college acapella group. The Barden Bellas are on the road to championship redemption following the previous year’s loss to their all-male archrivals. They recruit freshman Beca, an aspiring music producer who starts updating their repertoire with contemporary hits and mashups. As they fight their way to this year’s championship, there’ll be plenty of drama, beef and toe-tapping songs along the way.

Green Book

Academy Award for Best Picture winner Green Book tells the story of an unlikely friendship forged in a bygone era. In 1962, world class African American pianist Dr Don Shirley is about to embark on a concert tour of the country’s deep south. Needing a driver and protection, he recruits Tony, a tough talking Italian American bouncer from the Bronx. Despite their differences, the pair slowly grow respect and affection for each other as they navigate racism and danger in an era of segregation.

Midsommar

This beautifully shot yet deeply unsettling ‘folk horror’ follows an American couple who travel to a friend’s hometown in rural Sweden for its fabled midsummer festival. Florence Pugh plays a troubled young woman who is looking to heal at an idyllic retreat before bizarre and increasingly violent events reveal that they are in the hands of a pagan cult – and they want to make her their new queen. 

Beautiful Boy

This heartrending drama stars Steve Carrell in a very different role to the comedic characters he usually plays. Beautiful Boy features Carrell as a desperate father trying everything to save his vulnerable son Nic (played by a broody Timothée Chalamet) from the grips of a destructive meth addiction. The pair’s deep and loving bond is tested to its very limits by Nic’s descent into darkness.

Atonement

The enduring impact of a single mistake is explored in this romantic tragedy that will stay with you for a long time. In the lead roles are Keira Knightley and James McAvoy (at the height of their fame), playing with wrenching tenderness an ill fated couple torn apart by a false accusation. The promise of new love turns into immeasurable pain, set against the backdrop of World War II.

Long Shot

Recent release Long Shot sees the unlikely beauty and beast pairing of Seth Rogan’s free-spirited journalist Fred Flarsky and Charlize Theron’s sophisticated politician Charlotte Field. Following a chance encounter, Fred realises Charlotte is his former babysitter and childhood crush, and when she decides to run for presidency, she impulsively hires him as her speechwriter. Abundant odd couple chemistry and sharp dialogue make this a modern rom-com worth watching.

Music and Lyrics

Romantic comedy veterans Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore join forces in this sweet, easygoing flick. Grant stars as Alex, a washed up ‘80s pop artist seeking to revive his music career when he discovers that Sophie, the woman watering his plants, has a remarkable talent for lyric writing. As they work together on the song that will save him sparks fly, but the pressures of success versus artistic integrity threaten to test their new bond.

One Child Nation

This sobering exposé of the fallout from China's one-child policy is a must-watch for anyone who wants to better understand the world’s most populous nation. From 1979 to 2015, the Chinese people were subject to history’s largest government-controlled experiment in an effort to curb their population, but the ripple effects are more brutal than anyone could have imagined, from forced abortions and sterilisation, to the abandonment and murder of baby girls.

Diego Maradona

Whether or not you’re a soccer fan, this doco on the tumultuous Napolitan years of Diego Maradona’s career, one of history’s biggest sports stars, is a can’t-look-away wild ride. At the same time he was winning championships for his club and taking Argentina to glory on the World Cup stage, the volatile player was charting his own fall through a whirlwind of drug addiction, mafia ties and womanising. This real life story is one you couldn’t make up if you tried.

Generation Wealth

More relevant than ever, Lauren Greenfield’s incisive examination of materialism, celeb culture and social status reflects on the obsession, by some, to be wealthy at any cost. She interviews people from LA and Moscow, to Dubai and China in an effort to explain the troubling consequences of the global boom and bust economy, with plenty of bling porn along the way.

If you’ve watched the best movies on Amazon and got time to kill, we recommend launching into these absorbing TV shows, addictive podcasts and thought-provoking documentaries. However, if you’re looking to get productive, you can’t go past flexing your creative muscles with these Pinterest DIY projects, installing these apps to improve your daily life, or cheffing it up with these healthy food ideas.