While technically a four-part series, it functions as a long documentary. The story of the LuLaRoe leggings pyramid scheme. An addictive, infuriating look at American hustle culture.
Director: Regina King | Genre: Historical Drama Regina King’s directorial debut is a fictional account of one night in 1964 where Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke hang out in a motel room. What follows is a powerful debate about responsibility, fame, and the civil rights movement.
| Film | Year | Why It's a Top Pick | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Parasite | 2019 | Oscar winner for Best Picture. A darkly thrilling masterpiece about class, greed, and family. | | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | 2001 | The epic start to the greatest fantasy trilogy ever made. Stunning visuals and storytelling. | | The Big Short | 2015 | A wild, funny, and infuriating explanation of the 2008 financial crisis. Incredible cast (Gosling, Bale, Pitt). | | Past Lives | 2023 | A quiet, heartbreaking romance about fate, choice, and the lives we imagine. One of the best films of the decade. | | The Worst Person in the World | 2021 | A fresh, funny, and deeply relatable Norwegian dramedy about modern love and indecision. | best amazon prime films best
From the director of Hereditary. A couple travels to a Swedish summer festival that happens only every 90 years. It takes place entirely in bright sunlight, yet it is more disturbing than any dark basement movie.
If you only have time for a few films, start here. These are the consensus picks for the best Amazon Prime films best overall. While technically a four-part series, it functions as
Sound of Metal (2019) A heavy-metal drummer (Riz Ahmed, robbed of an Oscar) begins to lose his hearing. That’s the plot. What follows is a sensory masterpiece—you’ll hear the world die around him, then go silent. Prime’s best original drama since Manchester. Best moment: The first time he turns his cochlear implants on.
Paterson (2016) Jim Jarmusch’s quiet, radical film about a bus-driving poet (Adam Driver) who lives a week of small routines. Nothing explodes. No one cheats. It’s just a gentle, profound meditation on making art while living an ordinary life. Best for: Sunday nights when you need to unclench your jaw. From the director of Hereditary
This documentary follows a mysterious man who infiltrated the highest levels of the North Korean regime. A real-life spy thriller that is almost too crazy to be true.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Genre: Drama One of the most devastatingly realistic films ever made. Casey Affleck (winning an Oscar for this role) plays a lonely janitor forced to return to his hometown after his brother’s death. It is heartbreaking, funny in the darkest ways, and utterly human. Warning: Have tissues ready.