If you’re looking for a movie night pick that won’t let you down, head to Amazon Prime Video.
The top streamer has a fantastic selection of flicks that are basically masterpieces, and Watch With Us says that they are, and obviously, you trust us, right?
This April, we’ve picked three great movies that we feel are a perfect 10/10 — and that means it’s kind of an objective fact.
Our first selection is Being John Malkovich, the absurdist classic from Spike Jonze starring John Cusack and Cameron Diaz.
Read on to see all three movies.
‘Being John Malkovich’ (1999)
Craig Schwartz (Cusack) is an unemployed puppeteer who ends up taking a temp job as a filing clerk in an office between the 7th and 8th floors. While working in the strange environment, he stumbles upon a door that acts as a gateway into John Malkovich‘s mind for anyone who goes through — and spits you out on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike once the experience is over. Alongside his attractive coworker Maxine (Catherine Keener), Craig starts a side hustle allowing people to have the John Malkovich experience, but it causes his bored wife Lotte (Diaz) to form an odd relationship with the acclaimed actor.
Being John Malkovich is a funny and unique film that manages to pull off its odd, ambitious premise with the greatest of ease. The skilled direction from Spike Jonze, a sharp screenplay from Charlie Kaufman and the committed ensemble cast work hand in hand to pull the whole thing off, and what results is a genuinely affecting story about identity, gender, the desire for fame and the ethics of control and voyeurism. At the time, Jonze, Keener and Kaufman were all nominated for Academy Awards.
‘The Zone of Interest’ (2024)
In 1943, Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) strives to build a life for himself, his wife Hedwig (Project Hail Mary‘s Sandra Hüller) and their five children while living in a gorgeous country home that sits within birds-eye view of the black smoke billowing from the concentration camp’s chimneys. In his free time, Höss takes his children out to swim and play, Hedwig works in the garden, and the family otherwise lives normal, carefree lives while the sounds of screaming, gunshots, furnaces and trains emanate from over the wall of the extermination camp Höss oversees, and helped to create.
The Zone of Interest is a stark and frequently uncomfortable watch, adapted from the 2014 novel of the same name but instead based on the real-life Höss and his family, who inspired the fictional characters in the book. A damning indictment of the “banality of evil,” The Zone of Interest demystifies Nazi pathology from something beyond comprehension into something that might seem eerily familiar. Frequently topping lists of the best movies of the 2020s and best movies of the 21st century as a whole, The Zone of Interest also received a much-deserved Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2024.
‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ (2019)
It’s 1969, and while flower children are blowing the winds of change, aging television star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggles to adjust to the times. Rick made a big splash in the 1950s as the star of Bounty Law, but now can’t seem to find the meaningful work that he craves, as the siren song of Spaghetti Westerns looms. Nevertheless, his loyal stunt double and best friend, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), sticks by his side despite a lack of work. Meanwhile, Rick’s new neighbor, rising star Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her husband, the director Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha), move in next door, and strange, dirty hippie girls show up around town, residents of a defunct movie set where a man named Charlie Manson (Damon Herriman) is said to reside.
While the end of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood ends with a display of comic violence typical of a Quentin Tarantino film, the movie might just be the director’s most mature (and best) work. The gentle love letter to 1960s Los Angeles rewrites a tragic history for Tate — who is perfectly embodied by Robbie — while fabricating a touching, bro-mantic love story between two best friends who’d do just about anything for each other. With all of Tarantino’s best instincts on display, Hollywood is a comfort watch that is funny, thrilling and expertly crafted in just about every way.
