There are so many different streaming services and platforms available in 2020 that we almost don’t know where to start. We suspect that there will be even more to choose from in 2021 because so long as we keep proving that we’re willing to pay for subscriptions, entertainment companies will continue to come up with things for us to subscribe to. It’ll reach saturation point eventually, but right now, there’s probably never been a better time to be on the hunt for something to watch on television.
“Television” is the key word in the sentence we just said. While neither Netflix nor Amazon would ever claim to specialize in one or the other, there’s a general perception among the public that Netflix is where you head to if you want to check out great movies, and Amazon Prime is better for its television shows. That isn’t fair to either platform. There are some fantastic exclusive television shows on Netflix (“Mindhunter,” we’re looking at you), and there are also some great films on Amazon Prime that you won’t currently find anywhere else.
Going into a streaming service blind can be a little like loading up an online slots website and not checking the terms of any of the slots before you play. You might still have a good time, and you might even win something, but you won’t get as much out of it as you would have done if you’d checked first. Some of those online slots with 500 free spins are more likely to appeal to your tastes than others. Some have themes that meet your interests, and some have better rates of return. Any online slots player can be lucky, but a good online slots player goes in with their eyes open. The same applies to any form of entertainment, and doubly so for streaming!
To illustrate our point and also because it never hurts to have an idea of what you might want to watch tonight, we’ve cast our eyes over the full Amazon Prime movie range and picked out a few highlights that we think are worth your consideration if you’ve never seen them.
Table of Contents
You Were Never Really Here
If there hadn’t been so much buzz around the fact that Joaquin Phoenix had just been cast as the Joker when “You Were Never Really Here” was released, the movie might have attracted a lot more attention than it actually did. Don’t let the fact that you’ve never heard of it put you off, though – pretty much everyone who’s ever seen this film loves it. Phoenix – as he so often does – disappears within his character so completely that you’re never quite sure where he ends, and the performance begins, and a lot happens in a short space of time. In theory, it’s a film about an unscrupulous hitman who infiltrated a human trafficking network to rescue a politician’s daughter. In practice, it’s about much, much more than that, and it’s an astonishing thing to watch.
Manchester by the Sea
This movie isn’t about the famous city of Manchester in the north of England, but its much lesser-known namesake in Massachusetts, USA. To be honest, it’s not really about the city at all – that just provides a convenient backdrop for one of the most heartbreaking, emotionally-draining films we’ve seen in a long time. “Manchester by the Sea” was the first full-budget film that Amazon ever invested in, and it was a wise investment. Michelle Williams turns in the finest performance of her career, Lee Chandler manages to provide his luckless character with three dimensions, and the scenery is beautiful and gray. Watching this won’t cheer you up if you’re in a bad mood, but it might make you more grateful for the things you have.
Blow The Man Down
How do you like your comedy? If your answer to that question was “jet black,” you might love “Blow The Man Down,” starring Sophie Lowe and Morgan Saylor. If you’ve seen and enjoyed “The End Of The F-ing World,” you might find yourself reminded of it when you watch this movie. The two main characters are sisters who’ve accidentally murdered someone, need to get rid of the body, and aren’t quite sure how to go about it in a tiny American town where everybody knows their name. The more they go looking for somewhere to ditch their “Weekend at Bernie’s” style passenger, the more secrets they uncover about their town – and the worse things get. Not everyone will get the jokes, but if dark humor is your thing, you might not see a better film all year.
Paterson
There’s something about Adam Driver that makes him compelling and easy to watch even when he isn’t really doing anything at all. If all you know him for is the whiny teenager role of Kylo Ren in the most recent “Star Wars” movies, you ought to give him a second chance by watching “Paterson” by Jim Jarmusch. Driver takes the lead role (in some ways the only notable role) in the film, playing a poet who drives buses and likes going to bars on his own with his dog. Through Paterson’s observations about the small corner of New Jersey he lives in, the film has salient points to make about life in modern-day America – and it manages to make you occasionally smile while it’s doing it.
The Lost City of Z
“The Lost City of Z” stars Tom Holland sporting an excellent mustache searching through jungles in search of treasure. That ought to sell the movie to around half of you. For the other half, here’s a surprising fact about the film – it’s based on a true story, and more or less everything you see in it – no matter how unlikely it might appear to be – really happened. This is the tale of British explorer Percy Fawcett and his many trips into the Amazon Rainforest in his relentless search for a mythical ancient lost city. We won’t spoil the film by telling you whether or not he ever finds the city – but it’s fair to say that he finds many things he wasn’t expecting while he’s looking for it.
We think those five films ought to hold your attention for now, and there isn’t a single blockbuster among them! Amazon Prime does those, too. While it’s a great TV platform, it does far more than just show TV shows, and these are the films that prove it.
