The Amazon Prime Video catalog is growing by the month, and not only because a ton of old movies are jumping into the public domain. They’re getting their hands on Oscar and Emmy winners, along with an ever increasing selection of original programming. If you don’t have Amazon, now may be the time to consider signing up, if only because you’ve run out of stuff to watch on Netflix. Here are the best things coming to Amazon Prime Video this month.
Braveheart
July 1
Man oh man, do we love pre-racist/anti-Semitic (or at least before everyone knew about it) Mel Gibson. This classic war drama stars Gibson as William Wallace, the famed 13th Century Scottish warrior who stood up to King Edward I and his massive army in Scotland’s first war of independence. The movie has a runtime of just under three hours, but it really is worth every single moment. Not only is the story and plot great (albeit wildly historically inaccurate), but the cinematography is truly next-level. It won multiple Oscars when it was released in 1995, and to this day, it remains one of those movies we can’t help but watch whenever the opportunity arises. Watch
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
July 1
Breakfast at Tiffany’s isn’t just the romantic comedy to end all romantic comedies, it’s a culturally significant cinematic masterpiece that everyone—even the toughest tough guys among us—should watch at least once. The film, released in 1961, stars Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard as Holly Golightly and Paul Varjak, two people who, with a bunch of twists and turns along the way, manage to fall in love with each other in New York City. One scene of the film will show you exactly why people have, for decades, swooned over Hepburn, whose on-screen chemistry with Peppard is undeniable. We also love the film’s aesthetic—posh Manhattan socialites, debaucherous parties, wild adventures. It’s a film for the ages, and one that we can’t wait to revisit in July. Watch
The Matrix Reloaded
July 1
We’ll admit that neither of the sequels to the 1999 hit The Matrix really ever came close to touching the greatness of the first, but of the two, The Matrix Reloaded gets our runner-up vote. The film’s plot is definitely substantive and well-executed in relation to the first, and the movie brings back all your favorites from the first. Picking up six months after the conclusion of The Matrix, Zion is under threat of a real-life attack from a massive army of Sentinels. There are some incredible action scenes, like where Neo beats up a couple hundred Hugo Weavings in a public park, and excellent acting from all involved. It wasn’t exactly a hit at the box office, but we have a sneaking suspicion that the only reason people really don’t like it is because it isn’t The Matrix. Watch
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag
July 1
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag is not to be taken seriously. But sometimes, that’s the kind of movie watching mood we’re in. Joe Pesci stars as Tommy, a mob guy tasked with bringing a duffel bag with the heads of eight rival gangsters in it back to San Diego for his boss. Unfortunately, on the plane, his bag gets mixed up with another passenger’s—Charlie (Andy Comeau), a harmless, unsuspecting medical student—and things take a turn for the worst. After some careful stalking, Tommy tracks down Charlie and makes it his jobs to return the duffel bag at once. It’s not the most intelligent or brilliant acting we’ve ever seen, but, more importantly, it’s a fun hour and 35 minutes, if you’re looking for something to do. Watch
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
July 1
For the Spaghetti Western fans out there, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly makes its way to Amazon this month. Known as one of the all-time bests in the genre, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly stars Clint Eastwood as Blondie, Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes, and Eli Wallach as Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramírez—three gunslingers in the Old West competing to find a fortune’s worth of Confederate Gold during the blood and violent chaos of the American Civil War. It’s a typical Spaghetti Western, chock full of all the gunfights and bravado you’d expect from early Clint Eastwood, but the real magic here is in the cinematography. Director Sergio Leone was famous for his dramatic filming styles and combined use of close-up and long-shot photography methods, and it shines through in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ve likely heard of this one. But if you’re not, this might be the one that gets you into Westerns. Watch
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
July 4
A wonderful film with an even more wonderful cast and an even more wonderful aesthetic, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button stars Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button, a peculiar human being born with a very rare and mysterious illness that causes him to age backwards. The film follows chronologically through Button’s life, through his time on a tugboat and in the Navy, his intense romantic relationship with his childhood sweetheart Daisy (Cate Blanchett), his travels, and various smaller stories along the way. If you had to put it in a genre, we’d say romantic fantasy drama. The film was nominated for over a dozen Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and there’s nothing else like it out there. Watch
The Salesman
July 6
This Iranian drama, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi and starring acclaimed Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini, is a tough but important watch about coping with assault, forgiveness, and love. Emad (Hosseini) and Rana (Alidoosti), husband and wife, are working actors who both star in local plays, and Emad has a side gig as an acting coach. When their apartment suddenly begins to collapse one day, they are forced to relocate. They find an apartment, arranged by their friend and fellow actor Babak. One night, Emad returns home to find the apartment empty and the bathroom covered with blood. The film twists and turns through a narrative that is both heavy and dramatic, but also intensely vulnerable and deep. This is a great pickup for Amazon and we’re happy we got an early scoop on it. Expect us to be watching it day one. Watch
Mr. Robot Season 2
July 13
Season 2 of Mr. Robot hits Amazon Streaming in July, in just enough time before Season 3 debuts on the USA Network this upcoming fall. Mr. Robot is about a cyber security engineer turned hacker named Elliot Anderson (Rami Malek), who falls in with a group of “hacktivists” in order to erase the debt placed on citizens by E Corp. Season 1 was well-received, and Season 2 features big names like Joey Badass, Craig Robinson, and Sandrine Holt. If you haven’t checked out out yet, give it a spin and see what you think. Watch
And if you have Amazon, you probably have Netflix. Check out our other picks for this month.
