Finding a great movie to watch can, somewhat perversely, be more difficult now than it was in an era when you had fewer choices. Now, you have access to a ton of streaming services, and each of those streaming services has plenty of great films, as well as a few terrible ones. Amazon Prime Video is one of those services filled to the brim with great movies, so much so that it can be hard to pick one.
We’ve selected three great, underrated movies that are now available on Prime Video, but that may not seem like obvious movies to pick. If you’re looking for something great to watch, but don’t want to wade through all the choices, these three movies are an excellent place to start.
Air (2023)
Ben Affleck’s directorial output is a bit of a mixed bag, but Air was a triumphant return to form, even though it focuses on a rather obscure subject. The movie tells the story of Nike in the 1980s, and particularly of one man’s big bet that they could break into the basketball business in a major way by betting on a young kid named Michael Jordan.
Air‘s genius comes in part from the way it chooses to largely avoid the legend of Michael Jordan in favor of the regular dudes who were sure he would be a star. Nike bet big on Michael Jordan, and, as it turned out, the bet paid off for both Nike and Jordan.
You can watch Air on Amazon Prime Video.
Thirteen Lives (2022)
Telling the true story of the Thai soccer team that was trapped in a cave in Thailand, and the massive effort that was made to rescue them, Thirteen Lives was one of the biggest surprises of the year in terms of its quality. Featuring an excellent cast that includes The Penguin‘s Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, and Viggo Mortensen, Thirteen Lives is kind of like Apollo 13 in that it’s just a great movie about professionals doing their jobs.
It’s fitting that Thirteen Lives was also directed by Apollo 13‘s Ron Howard, and while this movie isn’t as great as some of Howard’s best movies, it’s much better than you might have expected.
You can watch Thirteen Lives on Amazon Prime Video.
A Thousand and One (2023)
One of the more riveting dramas to fly under the radar in 2023, A Thousand and One tells the story of a mother and child as they struggle to survive over the course of more than a decade in New York City. One of the most remarkable things about this movie, in addition to Teyana Taylor’s award-worthy performance in the central role, is the ways it plays with your expectations of what it’s going to be.
This is, in many ways, a joyful story about a family forming even against the backdrop of incredible poverty. The way the movie changes and evolves as the years pass is fascinating, but those surprises are better left unspoiled.
You can watch A Thousand and One on Amazon Prime Video.
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