The best new Amazon Prime Video shows and films
All that’s new and notable on Amazon’s streaming service
An Amazon Prime membership’s benefits go way beyond giving you super-speedy deliveries for free – there’s also the fantastic Prime Video streaming service included, offering up loads of movies and TV shows for instant viewing.
Read: The best streaming devices
Like Netflix, Amazon is constantly adding fresh eyeball fodder to its streaming library, so much so that it can be difficult to keep up with all the new stuff. So, as we do with Netflix each month, we’ve decided to dedicate a regularly-updated article to what’s new – as long as we deem it worth watching, of course.
Looking for the latest thing to stream? Read on, and allow us to guide you through all the best recent additions.
And why not check all these out with a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime Video here.
Note: the newest stuff is at the top of the list, with material getting progressively older as you scroll down.
Dune (2021)
Don’t get us wrong: we’re huge David Lynch fans here at Stuff. But James Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel has finally got the screen adaptation it deserves thanks to Denis Villeneuve and co.
With an all-star ensemble cast, stunning cinematography, effects and sound design and a riveting plot taking in war, betrayal, colonialism and family in the far-off future, Dune is an event movie that manages to provide far more than just spectacle.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Screeching steel, battered chrome, scorching flames, shattered glass, choking sand, blazing sun and broken bones make up the mood board for veteran director George Miller’s 2015 return to the character he first put on screen back in 1979.
Tom Hardy takes on the title role in what amounts to a two-hour car chase/fight scene interspersed by a few on-foot brawls and some post-apocalyptic musings. As a piece of filmmaking Fury Road is absolutely breathtaking, with the majority of its action scenes based on practical effects and stunts rather than CGI. There’s nothing quite like it out there, so buckle up and get on the road.
Pacific Rim
A love letter to mecha anime and classic kaiju movies with a smattering of Top Gun chucked in for good measure, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim is the high-concept popcorn movie Michael Bay wished he’d thought of first: towering human-piloted robots in epic punch-ups with giant sea monsters from another dimension. Del Toro creates a smart, imaginative and visually outstanding spectacle in a manner Bay never could, even if the relentless brawls and lack of character depth can become slightly wearing towards the end.
Dog Soldiers
Well-trained and heavily armed squaddies (including a few recognisable British thesps) versus werewolves in the Scottish Highlands. Who you got? The fight isn’t as one-sided as you might expect, leading to nail-biting moments followed by dry heaving as you take in the gallons of gore that make Neil Marshall’s low-budget Brit flick a stone-cold cult classic. And here’s a nice bit of trivia: despite being set in the wilds of rural Scotland, it was filmed almost exclusively in Luxembourg. Put that in your fact pipe and smoke it.
Get Out
A genre-bending horror that succeeds both as a straight-up scary movie and as a wry, insightful satire on race relations, Get Out is an outstanding debut film from Jordan Peele. And, as you’d expect from a film written and directed by a man formerly known for his sketch comedy, it’s well stocked with laughs too. Add in Daniel Kaluuya’s fantastic lead performance (also Oscar-nominated) as a black man visiting his white girlfriend’s wealthy family for the first time and its box office smash status, and you can see why it attracted the Academy’s attention with an Oscar nod. But hey, who needs their seal of approval when you have ours?
Fargo (1996)
Not to be confused with the anthology series (an also-excellent spiritual spin-off), this multiple Oscar-winning thriller stars Frances McDormand as the heavily pregnant police chief of a small Minnesota town where nothing much happens – until it does. When a kidnap plot goes horrifically awry and bodies start turning up in the snowy landscapes (beautifully filmed by Roger Deakins), McDormand’s no-nonsense approach to law enforcement is put to the test.
If Fargo sounds like a typical noir, it isn’t. The Coens (Minnesota natives themselves) wring something uniquely comic from each and every one of their characters, from William H Macy’s pitiful car salesman to Peter Stormare’s laconic bleached blond criminal. Their keenly observed portrayal of what’s known as ‘Minnesota nice’ is particularly funny, and somehow even more so when it’s playing out against the film’s grim backdrop of violence, betrayal and moral rot.
Dunkirk
Christopher Nolan’s recreation of the British and French armies’ evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 is an audio-visual masterpiece, richly served with moments of both quiet grandeur and epic spectacle.
With comparatively little dialogue, few CGI effects and an enemy that’s never directly seen, Nolan conjures up the hopelessness of the surrounded British Expeditionary Force, trapped between the sea and the German army and prey to horrifying attacks from the air, and the heroism of soldiers, sailors, pilots and civilians caught up in a desperate situation. Hans Zimmer’s score, meanwhile, remains a masterclass in understated power.
Shotgun Wedding
Jennifer Lopez plays a bride-to-be whose dream tropical island wedding to hunky Josh Duhamel is interrupted by a heavily armed group of pirates. Cue romantic comedy clichés flying out the window (to be replaced by action comedy clichés) as the couple fight to save their nuptials – and relationship – from disaster.
While Shotgun Wedding doesn’t exactly push the envelope when it comes to… well, anything, it’s never less than slickly made and enjoyable fluff, particularly when it comes to the supporting turns by Jennifer Coolidge and Lenny Kravitz.
Air
The real-life tale of how a then-uncool trainer maker called Nike became the biggest sneaker brand in the world gets plenty of star treatment in this entertaining Ben Affleck-directed movie. Affleck himself is among a cast that includes Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman and Chris Tucker and tells the story of how Nike’s basketball talent scout Sonny Vaccaro relentlessly courted a young rookie by the name of Michael Jordan. The rest is all well-known sporting history, of course, but the film never ceases to be a fun ride – even if the total lack of an on-screen appearance for Jordan himself feels slightly odd.
Citadel (S1)
This Amazon original series sees Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas play improbably attractive elite spies who, years after having had their minds wiped in the aftermath of their agency being destroyed, are unexpectedly reunited with their lost memories. Forced to confront their pasts, not to mention the threat of a ruthless terrorist organisation, the pair embark on a new mission – and reignite old romantic flames. Leslie Manville and Stanley Tucci also star in a series that is silly, sexy, suspenseful and surprisingly enjoyable.
Senna
It may be hard to imagine or remember given the sorry state of it today (sorry modern F1 fans; it’s dull), but once upon a time Formula 1 was possibly of the most nail-bitingly exciting sport on the planet. That was partly down to the cars, partly down to the danger and partly down to the personalities, and perhaps no era combined those three elements more dramatically than the late 80s and early 90s. Back then the fearsomely charismatic Ayrton Senna set the world alight with his daring, aggressive and record-smashing racing, much to the chagrin of Alain Prost, with whom Senna formed a bitter, vicious rivalry.
It was an incredible few years of fierce fighting on and off the track, and Asif Kapadia’s documentary beautifully captures the period’s glamour, Senna’s raw appeal and natural talent – and the devastating consequences of getting it wrong in an F1 car. If we have one complaint, it’s that making it cinema-friendly meant keeping it to a tight running time; we’d happily have sat through this documentary if it were twice as long.
Thief
Michael Mann may be one of the world’s top movie directors, but this 1981 neo noir – his first feature film – remains virtually unknown. And that’s a real crime (no pun intended).
The late James Caan delivers a career best performance as ex-con Frank, an expert safecracker who makes a living stealing diamonds and cash. When a mob boss approaches him with the offer of a score that sounds too good to be true, Frank is reluctant – and yet tempted by the prospect of a final mega-heist that sets him up for retirement. Things, needless to say, don’t go as planned.
Thief isn’t showy, try-hard or lightning-paced, and the fact that it takes it time to play out (all to an excellent soundtrack by Krautrock legends Tangerine Dream) makes it all the more effective. A truly great under-the-radar crime classic that’s rarely available on streaming services.
Dead Ringers (S1)
Rachel Weisz plays both lead roles in Amazon Studios’ psychological thriller centring on mercurial gynaecologists Elliot and Beverly Mantle – twin sisters who share a somewhat blasé approach to medical ethics, as well as a predilection for life on the edge.
If the title and premise sound familiar, it’s probably because Dead Ringers is inspired by the 1988 David Cronenberg movie in which Jeremy Irons played the Mantle twins. This six-part series offers a more female-centric viewpoint (well, duh), and is written and executive produced by Alice Birch, who scripted the BBC hit adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
Daisy Jones & The Six (S1)
Inspired by the real-life shenanigans of Dreams-era Fleetwood Mac, this limited series (based on the bestselling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid) recounts the rise and fall of a 1970s rock band, told as former members recount the truth about the group’s breakup for a documentary.
The series – an Amazon production – stars Riley Keough and Sam Claflin as the band’s feuding lead singers and features a ton of original 1970s-style tunes, and overall it’s plush, shiny and pristine – perhaps a little too much for its subject matter, which desperately wants to be edgy but never feels quite as convincingly dark as it should be.
Sicario
Working both as an involving crime thriller and an unflinching examination of the failed US War on Drugs and its latent effects on the cartel-run Mexican border cities, Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted or weak of stomach.
Taut and tense, the plot works chiefly due to leads Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro, who sell their on-paper implausible characters – a naïve and principled FBI agent and a merciless assassin on the US payroll – through sheer force of performance. The film is joined on Prime by its inferior sequel Soldado.
Carnival Row (S2)
Arriving a full four years after the first season, this is the second (and final) serving of Amazon Studios’ steampunk-inspired fantasy series, in which Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne play star-crossed lovers who form an unlikely connection across the human-pixie divide.
Delevingne’s elfin looks mean she’s well cast as a member of the fae-folk, magical beings that live in thrall to tyrannical humans. With an uprising on the cards and a spate of strange killings raising tensions, Bloom and Delevingne will be forced to choose sides. There will be 10 episodes in all, with a new one arriving on Prime Video each week.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Like The Chronicles of Narnia written by Ernest Hemingway, 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth is a fantasy film grounded very much in the grimness of reality. Set in the years following the brutal Spanish Civil War, the film centres on young Ofelia, who lives with her mother and Francoist, fascist stepfather but finds escape in a mysterious abandoned labyrinth populated by mythical creatures.
Guillermo del Toro’s visionary use of special effects and ability to both delight and horrify makes this movie an enduring classic, and arguably among the best films of the 21st century so far. Young adults will love it, yes, but its visual, auditory and thematic richness will resonate with viewers of any age.
Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese’s mob tale is nothing short of a masterpiece. Intoxicating, entertaining and horrifying with an unforgettable period soundtrack and some of the cleverest editing you’ll ever see, Goodfellas is a film that feels as fresh in 2023 as it did in 1990.
Ray Liotta shines as low-level New York gangster Henry Hill, plunged into a world of glitz, glamour, thievery and violence in a story that runs from the 1950s to the 1980s. It’s through Hill’s eyes that Scorsese gradually uncovers the absolute moral rot at the heart of the mafia, personified in his two closest friends – a pair of cold-blooded killers faultlessly played by Robert De Niro and (the Oscar-winning) Joe Pesci.
Prisoners
Celebrated director Denis Villeneuve’s 2013 English language debut is a brilliant suspense thriller that also works as a family drama and character study. When two young girls go missing and the chief suspect is dismissed as a disturbed but harmless crank, a desperate father (Hugh Jackman) takes matters into his own hands in search of the truth – all while a relentlessly driven detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) pursues his own hunches about the case. Raw, tense and with new twists of the knife around every corner, this is a crime movie with real bite.
American Beauty
Sam Mendes, later responsible for Road to Perdition, Jarhead, 1917 and the small matter of a couple of Bond films, made his big screen directing helming this unconventional, intelligent drama. It went on to bag no fewer than six Oscars, cement Kevin Spacey as one of the leading actors of his generation and ensure none of us ever looked at a wind-blown plastic bag in the same way again.
A bleakly comic examination of contemporary life through the eyes of Spacey’s jaded salaryman Lester Burnham, his ambitious wife Carolyn and troubled teenage daughter Jane, American Beauty shines a spotlight on the US suburbs. Here is a place of crushing conformity, banality, meanness and superficiality where, on rare occasions, one can still discern the fleeting appearance of pure, untarnished beauty just below the surface.
Judas and the Black Messiah
Daniel Kaluuya won an Oscar for his towering portrayal of charismatic young Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, the would-be ‘black messiah’ whose Chicago-based chapter of the socialist, anti-racist organisation was infiltrated by the FBI.
Terrified that Hampton could unite disparate working-class communities and effect a revolution, the bureau recruited and coerced car thief William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield, also Oscar-nominated) to join the outfit, befriend and later betray Hampton. It’s a gripping and galling story, full of high drama, but it’s the two lead performances that demand the most attention.
Casino
Often dismissed as Goodfellas’ lesser cousin due to its casting of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, Martin Scorsese’s 1995 mob opus remains a brilliant crime movie in its own right. Detailing the mafia’s involvement in 1970s Las Vegas, it does sometimes feel like Scorsese is retreading old ground (in particular when it comes to Pesci’s character, who feels like a tribute act to his earlier Oscar-winning turn in Goodfellas), but there’s so much style and substance on show here that it never really matters. A masterpiece of mood and technical ability.
Alan Partridge: Stratagem
Steve Coogan brings his most enduring comic creation to the stage in this live show, now presented as a Prime-exclusive feature-length movie. Alan Partridge – here attempting to shill a self-help programme he calls Stratagem – really is a wonderful character, with his oddly English prejudices and peccadillos feeling instantly recognisable, and even if this live format perhaps doesn’t work as well as others, it’s still a pleasure to spend time with him.
Freaks and Geeks (S1)
Before Judd Apatow and Paul Feig hit the big screen directing the likes of Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Bridesmaids, they co-created a little TV comedy-drama based on Feig’s own adolescence in early 1980s Michigan. Dubbed Freaks and Geeks (most of its main characters fall into one or both of these categories) it lasted just one 18-episode season, something that’s still hard to fathom given how fantastic it is.
Perhaps viewers just weren’t ready for a well-written, warm and entirely honest portrayal of the highs and lows of high school. Despite its untimely demise, it kickstarted a bunch of major Hollywood careers (James Franco, Linda Cardellini, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen being the obvious examples) and is regarded as a cult classic 20 years later.
All the episodes are now streaming on Prime, so why not go back to school?
Confessions of a Psycho Killer
Ignore the rather tacky title, which we assume was foisted on the filmmakers by producers keen to attract viewers. This feature-length documentary about Patrick Mackay, sometimes dubbed ‘Britain’s forgotten serial killer’, comes across as well-made, well-researched and interesting rather than salacious and titillating. It also raises some interesting questions about the role mental health services (or rather, the poor quality of them) may have played in the proliferation of British serial killers in the 1960s and 1970s.
Men
Alec Garland’s follow-up to Annihilation and Ex Machina is another cerebral genre flick, this time a horror movie that tackles a range of themes (possibly too many of them to feel focussed).
Jessie Buckley is excellent as Harper, a young woman who, having gone through an appalling experience at home in London, decides to escape to the English countryside for a solo holiday. But despite her destination having all the hallmarks of a rural idyll – a charming church, a cosy pub, a characterful old house and some of the lushest-looking woods and fields we’ve ever seen on screen – Harper finds relaxation hard to come by. There’s also the disquieting fact that every male inhabitant of the village has the same face (that of Rory Kinnear) – not that Harper seems to notice this jarring detail. With a denouement that’s not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, Men is a curious slow burn that has divided critics and viewers. We think it’s certainly intriguing enough that you should give it a shot – if you’re not too squeamish.
John Wick
Keanu Reeves does his best Keanu Reeves impression as John Wick, who was once a very bad man: an unstoppable assassin working for the nastiest of nasty gangsters; nothing less than “the guy you send to kill the boogieman”. But then he found love and retired his trigger fingers.
Inevitably his attempts at living the quiet life go horribly awry, culminating in the death of the cute puppy left to him by his late wife. Cue vengeful retaliation in the form of some of the finest gunplay committed to screen since, well, Keanu himself appeared in The Matrix. A truly wonderful action flick.
Three Pines (S1)
An author meets a gruesome death in a Canadian village – merely an unfortunate accident, or something more sinister? When wise Quebecois detective Armand Gamache (Alfred Molina, wonderful as ever) is sent to investigate, he quickly discovers that pretty much everyone in town had a motive for murder, and that the seemingly idyllic place is riven with secrets and shame.
That’s just the first in a series of four cases (each two episodes long) recounted in this original series, and there’s another plot, concerning the disappearance of an indigenous teenager, running throughout. Fans of Twin Peaks and other quirky crime stories will lap this up.
Silent Night, Deadly Night
There’s nothing holy or peaceful about this festive horror film. It’s about an axe-wielding Santa Claus, so it’s definitely not one for the kids to sit down to after Christmas dinner, but it does put a completely different spin on what Santa does to the badly behaved. Kind of.
When an orphaned young man witnesses something that revives his childhood trauma (seeing his parents murdered by a killer in a Santa costume), he suffers a mental break that sees him becoming a deadly Father Christmas himself. Made in 1984, it’s hardly sophisticated horror by today’s standards, but for those in search of a little-known seasonally appropriate slasher – well, it’s a gift.
Glengarry Glen Ross
Four real estate agents – played by no less than Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris and Jack Lemmon – are led into a professional sales endgame in which only two can leave with their jobs in this film noted for its enjoyably profanity-laden script (adapted by David Mamet from his own 1984 play of the same name). Despite an unimpressive box office showing on release, its strong performances have cemented it as a bona fide cult classic. The scene in which Alec Baldwin’s foul-mouthed motivational trainer is sent to gee up the salesmen is particularly memorable.
Zodiac
David Fincher’s true-life tale of the Zodiac Killer and the men who tried to unmask him is a quiet masterpiece buoyed along by its tone, acting, editing and camerawork. Less showy than some of the director’s movies and entirely lacking in the sort of hysterical, overly dramatic approach taken by many serial killer films (including Fincher’s own Seven), Zodiac will likely leave you with more questions than answers – a traditional whodunnit with a neat and satisfying conclusion, this ain’t.
Looking back years after its release, we think it’s one of the finest films of the noughties and a modern classic: creepy, funny, stylish and thought-provoking, with impeccable performances from Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo.
The Lost Boys
A true cult classic, this tale of tearaway vampires and the teenagers hunting them (while trying to avoid becoming their next snack) is beloved by an entire generation – and even today it’s easy to see why. Stuffed with Hollywood icons of the era (Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, both Corey Feldman and Corey Haim!) and an aesthetic that screams of its time and place (California in the 1980s), it’s also an involving story about the struggles of moving to a new place and starting a new life – all the more challenging when that place is plagued by a spate of mysterious murders and disappearances. A great teen horror flick that is rarely found on UK streaming services, so do drink deep of its campy delights while you can.
My Policeman
Can Harry Styles really act? And does it really matter? Michael Grandage’s drama sees the pop icon don the uniform of a Brighton bobby sitting at the point of a tragic love triangle: he’s married to a woman (played by The Crown’s Emma Corrin) whom he likes, but having an affair with a man (David Dawson) with whom he’s in love.
Next to the talented Dawson and Corrin, Harry does seem a tad out of his depth, but his slightly stilted turn does nothing to spoil the tragic nature of the story, which will doubtless cause millions of Styles stans and regular viewers alike to shed a few tears. Events play out over two timelines: one in the repressed 1950s and another in more enlightened modern times, where the trio (now played by Gina McKee, Linus Roache and Rupert Everett) find their lives pushed together again in very different circumstances.
Basic Instinct
Paul Verhoeven’s 1992 erotic thriller became notorious upon its release due to the convention-smashing nudity of leading lady Sharon Stone. It was a smash box office hit, spawning a number of subpar imitators over the next few years.
And yet despite its undeniably schlocky, sleazy nature, Basic Instinct is actually an enjoyably tense, fast-paced (and yes, sexy) murder mystery rich in noir overtones. Michael Douglas (in peak Michael Douglas mode) stars as a troubled San Francisco cop investigating the killing of a wealthy rock star, only to fall for the prime suspect: Stone’s femme fatale novelist.
The Peripheral (S1)
Based on the novel by cyberpunk supremo William Gibson, this Amazon-produced sci-fi series stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a small-town girl with big VR gaming skills in a near-future America. When her ex-military brother says she can earn some extra money playing a highly realistic sim she jumps at the chance, only to find herself whisked to London in the year 2100 – which seems far too real to be a digital game world.
Thus begins a mind-bending action-thriller set across two different timelines, packed with crazy technology like invisible cars and murderous robot bodyguards.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nicolas Cage plays himself (or more accurately an alternative-reality version of himself) in an enjoyably meta action-comedy that views the great man’s career and popular persona with a distinctly postmodern eye.
Struggling to get the parts he thinks he deserves and feeling his relationship with his teenage daughter grow more strained, Cage decides to quit acting, but not before taking one last job: guest of honour at the birthday party of a superfan (Pedro Pascal, clearly having a great time). Accompanied by the ghost of his digitally de-aged younger self, he travels to Spain for a final payday, depressed and resigned to a life out of the spotlight – only to find himself in the middle of a kidnapping plot.
Watch The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent on Prime Video
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (S1)
Amazon jacking up Prime Video’s subscription fee by around 20% right before the arrival of its biggest ever original series might smack of cynical price-gouging, but let’s face it: given the state of the real world right now, most of us would gladly shell out a few extra quid to spend more time in J.R.R. Tolkien’s picturesque Middle-Earth.
Set thousands of years before the events depicted in Peter Jackson’s movies (Sauron appears to ‘just a bloke’ here) this drama is the first time Tolkien’s Second Age has been brought to the screen. You already know the drill: elves, orcs, swords, dwarves, Balrogs and weeping hobbits (sorry, ‘harfoots’). The series has had a mixed reception overall, and we can certainly agree that it takes a long time to get going, but fantasy fanatics will lap it all up gleefully.
Watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video
Fury
David Ayer may be best known these days for directing two high-profile flops in Bright (Netflix’s big original movie release for Christmas 2017, which featured Will Smith as a tough Los Angeles cop forced to partner up with… an orc) and Suicide Squad, but a few years ago the he struck gold (or should that be steel?) with this grit-encrusted action-drama starring Brad Pitt as a tank commander in the last days of World War II.
Featuring some of the most convincing depictions of tank warfare in cinema – you can practically smell the grease, sweat and worse in the cramped confines of Pitt’s Sherman – there’s the occasional sense that Fury holds dramatic aspirations that it can’t quite match up to, but when the action is this electrifying, you’re unlikely to care that this isn’t quite Saving Private Ryan.
Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most interesting and visionary film directors of the past 30 years, which makes every new film he releases something of an event picture – even this relatively low-key comedy drama set in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. A coming-of-age story with two newcomers (Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim) in the lead roles and a gently meandering plot about waterbeds, pinball, friendship and first love, Licorice Pizza is shot on vintage lenses to replicate the look of 70s movies – and genuinely feels like a film from a different, simpler era of cinema.
Seven
Of the seemingly endless number of serial killer movies that were released in the 90s and noughties, Seven stands apart. First, there’s its clever, gripping and tension-wracked plot, with a murderer punishing what he sees as society’s collective ‘sins’ in an unnamed, rain-soaked and thoroughly depressing American city. Second, there are the fine performances from Morgan Freeman (no surprises there) and hitherto pretty boy Brad Pitt, flexing his ‘I’m a serious actor’ muscles for perhaps the first time.
Then there’s the aesthetic, director David Fincher’s trademark desaturated colours, moody lighting and inventive camerawork giving the movie an unforgettable look that contributes to the overall feeling of bleakness. And that final, gut-wrenching twist? It’s simply to die for.
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
