Summer might be wrapping up, but Prime Video wants to keep you in the house this weekend.
The streamer will likely be successful due to its constant addition of new movies to its already bulging library.
Watch With Us has curated a list of the best Prime Video movies to watch this weekend, with the Brad Pitt crime-thriller Killing Them Softly at the top.
That film might be tough for some people to watch, which is why we also recommend streaming the peppy 2018 remake of Overboard with Anna Faris to brighten the mood.
‘Killing Them Softly’ (2012)
Jackie Cogan (Pitt) is a fixer, but instead of fixing things, like toilets or air conditioners, he fixes situations. Tough situations. Illegal situations. So when mob lawyer Driver (Richard Jenkins) hires him to fix a situation involving several low-rent criminals stealing from a Mafia-controlled poker game, he plans on carrying out his assignment as quickly and cleanly as possible. But when he brings an older hitman, Mickey (James Gandolfini), to help him, things go awry. Jackie’s always been good at fixing things, but who’s going to fix the messy situation he finds himself in as Driver becomes more impatient and the Mafia starts breathing down his neck?
Based on the 1974 crime novel Cogan’s Trade, Killing Them Softly modernizes the story by setting it around the time Barack Obama is elected President of the United States in 2008. That’s an important detail, because Obama’s message of hope and change is contrasted with Cogan’s cynical journey to kill people for money. The hitman doesn’t believe in anything except his next paycheck, which is what makes him so good at his job. The film was neglected by audiences when it was released in theaters, but it’s a first-rate thriller with a superb cast of character actors, like Gandolfini, Ray Liotta and Scoot McNairy. Pitt’s never played such a nasty character before; his coldly efficient Jackie would scare even Tyler Durden away.
Killing Them Softly is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Overboard’ (2018)
Kate Sullivan (Anna Faris) hates her boss, Leonardo ‘Leo’ Montenegro (Eugenio Derbez). She has good reason to — he’s a rich playboy who treats her like dirt. After he fires her without pay, she’s glad she’ll never see him again — until a new report the following day reveals he fell into the ocean and is suffering from amnesia. No one knows who he is except Kate, so she concocts an elaborate scheme to convince him she’s actually her husband and father of her three daughters. The plan works, but how long before Leo’s true identity is revealed to everyone — including Leo?
A remake of the 1987 hit of the same name with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, Overboard changes things up a bit by switching the roles of each character. Hawn’s rich heiress is now Derbez’s arrogant playboy, and that gives this remake just enough kick it needs to be interesting. It’s always an asset to have Faris in a comedy, and the Scary Movie actress doesn’t disappoint as a working-class mom who finds herself in over her head — and falling in love with the man she despises. Overboard doesn’t quite work as a romance, but as a comedy, it has just enough laughs to make it worth a watch.
Overboard is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Cop Car’ (2015)
When young runaways Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Hays Wellford) stumble upon a seemingly abandoned cop car, they can’t help but take it for a joyride. After hearing a strange noise from the car’s trunk, they’re shocked to discover a shackled, bloodied man (Shea Whigham). After he’s freed, he tells them they’ve stolen the car from a corrupt policeman, Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon), who will do anything to cover up his crimes. What started as an innocent prank turns out to be a life-or-death ordeal for the boys as they try to avoid being caught by Kretzer while wondering if they can trust the captured man and believe his story.
At a relatively thrifty 88 minutes, Cop Car is a lean and mean thriller that tells a simple story with just the right amount of depth and nuance. This isn’t some grand drama where you find out everyone’s backstory; instead, it’s a taut thriller where the stakes are established early on, and the suspense is gradually increased as Kretzer inches closer to finding the two boys — and the true nature of the bloodied man’s relationship to the sheriff. Everyone in Cop Car is focused on one thing — how to stay one step ahead of their enemy and stay alive. By the end, not everyone is successful at doing both, and it’s a testament to Cop Car’s success that you’re never quite sure how it’s going to end.
Cop Car is streaming on Prime Video.
