Looking for a great movie to watch on Amazon Prime tonight? On TV Tonight lists this best movies to watch on Amazon Prime Video this month.
WOMEN TALKING
Why you should watch: This is a remarkable film based on the novel by Miriam Toews. Sarah Polley won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, and it received a Best Picture nomination, which it should have won, without a doubt. This is a story filled with quiet determination. The cast is a superb representation of talented women in the film industry, both in front of and behind the lens. The story tells of the women of an isolated religious community grappling with reconciling their reality with their faith. We see a community of women coming together to resolve how they might move forward together to build a better world for themselves and their children. Stay and fight or leave. The sets are minimalistic and the acting understated, but powerful. By far the best film of 2022.
Director: SARAH POLLEY
Cast: ROONEY MARA, CLAIRE FOY, JESSIE BUCKLEY, FRANCES MCDORMAND, JUDITY IVEY, SHEILA MCCARTHY, BEN WHISHAW, MICHELLE MCLEOD, LIV MCNEIL
BABYLON
Why you should watch: This should have been a remarkable film. It certainly has the star power with Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie leading a talented ensemble cast. The production is lavish, the sets truly spectacular, receiving Oscar nominations. And yet it lacks cohesion and depth. The story is set in 1920s Los Angeles. It is a tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, tracing the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood. It is an era that has been explored previously, so I am not sure what writer/direction Damien Chazelle thought he had achieved here. The most memorable part of the film is Tobey Maguire’s performance as James McKay. Jean Smart is also excellent. It may be one of those films that improves the more you watch it.
Director: DAMIEN CHAZELLE
Cast: BRAD PITT, DIEGO CALVA, BRAD PITT, TOBEY MAGUIRE, SAMARA WEAVING, PHOEBE TONKIN, JEAN SMART, OLIVIA WILDE
FRIENDS AND CROCODILES
Why you should watch: It’s a bit of a Brit fest on this list, but they are such a talented lot that you know you will always be entertained, plus this film is written by Stephen Poliakoff. I love his work. In this story we see Billion’s Damian Lewis as yet another maverick entrepreneur Paul Reynolds. It traces his relationship with his colleague Lizzie Thomas over a period of 20 years from the beginning of the Thatcher years to the rise of the electronic age and the dot-com bubble. Paul persuades Lizzie to work for him as his personal assistant and becomes her mentor. She is inspired by his drive and creativity, but appalled by his lack of organisation and occasionally destructive anarchic lifestyle. Not the best of Poliakoff, but still worth a look.
Director: STEPHEN POLIAKOFF
Cast: DAMIAN LEWIS, ROBERT LINDSAY, JODHI MAY, EDDIE MARSAN, PATRICK MALAHIDE, SOPHIE HUNTER, ALLAN CORDUNER
LIFE ITSELF
Why you should watch: Dan Fogelman writes and directs this poignant drama, which explores the connections between people, that can span generations. The story is of Will and Abby, a young New York couple, going from college romance to marriage and the birth of their first child, and the unexpected twists of their journey, which creates reverberations that echo over continents and through lifetimes. The film celebrates the human condition and all of its complications with humour and love. Not a favourite of the critics, but I liked this one. It has a great soundtrack and an excellent ensemble cast.
Director: DAN FOGELMAN
Cast: OSCAR ISAAC, OLIVIA WILDE, ANTONIO BANDERAS, SERGIO PERIS-MENCHETA, LORENZA IZZO, ALEX MONNER, OLIVIA COOKE
BLOW THE MAN DOWN
Why you should watch: The setting for this crime drama is a remote fishing village in beautiful Maine. Mary Margaret Connolly, a beloved and integral town matriarch, has just passed away. In the wake of her death, her daughters, Mary Beth and Priscilla, face an uncertain future, haunted by bills and unpaid loans left behind. At a bed and breakfast-turned-brothel, established town elder and madame Enid Nora Devlin is up to business as usual, except for two huge problems: someone stole $50K in cash and one of her girls, Dee, has gone missing. She sends her muscle, Gorski, in pursuit of the cash and Dee. After a series of chance wrong turns Gorski finds himself on a collision course with Mary Beth. Quirky springs to mind with this one. Ebon Moss-Bachrach who appears briefly here, is now well-known to everyone as the troubled Richie in The Bear.
Director: BRIDGET SAVAGE COLE, DANIELLE KRUDY
Cast: SOPHIE LOWE, MORGAN SAYLOR, MARGOT MARTINDALE, EBON MOSS-BACHRACH, WILL BRITTAIN, GAYLE RANKIN
I GIVE IT A YEAR
Why you should watch: Romantic comedies are not usually my go to film, but I thought we needed a release from all the drama on the list. This one is not excellent by any means, but it has its moments, and it kept my attention, which is no mean feat. The drawcard for me is the talented cast, which includes Rafe Spall (son of Timothy), Rose Byrne and Simon Baker. The story follows Natasha and Josh who get married despite their being mismatched in personality and temperament, something that their closest friends and family members can see, leading some to predict the marriage won’t last a year. Just go with it, don’t take it too seriously, and have a laugh.
Director: DAN MAZER
Cast: ROSE BYRNE, RAFE SPALL, STEPHEN MERCHANT, SIMON BAKER, MINNIE DRIVER, JANE ASHER, JASON FLEMYNG, NIGEL PLANER
THAT PETER CROUCH FILM
Why you should watch: As I do have a smattering of English football knowledge, and as I still tip the English Premier League during the season, this documentary about player Peter Crouch looked interesting to me. I knew nothing about Peter other than his prowess on the field. This is an exclusive insight into one of football’s most beloved stars. His tenacity and fortitude are remarkable as he did not start out as a popular player and was jeered mercilessly at games by the crowd. Appalling behaviour, which I couldn’t believe was allowed to occur. It is a testament to the man that he ignored the ridicule by those who couldn’t even kick a ball, let alone become one of the best players of all time, beginning his career with Tottenham Hotspur in 1998, finishing with Stoke City, where he retired in 2019.
Director: BENJAMIN HIRSCH
Cast: PETER CROUCH, HARRY REDKNAPP