If you subscribe to Prime Video, chances are you’re a movie fan.
The streamer caters to every genre and interest a cinephile could possibly have, with hundreds of high-quality movies currently available.
Watch With Us has compiled a quick list of underrated Prime Video movies you should watch this weekend.
The boxing drama Southpaw, the horror movie Cat People and the Bond flick Die Another Day all offer distinct pleasures that have gone underappreciated throughout the years.
‘Southpaw’ (2015)
When you think of boxing movies, you probably think of any of the Rocky or Creed movies and maybe Raging Bull. But the subgenre has dozens of high-quality films, and a more recent one is Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Billy Hope, a boxing champ with a loving wife, Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and daughter, Leila (Oona Laurence). After a tragic accident, Billy’s life spirals out of control, causing him to lose his family, wealth and nearly his life.
When a young boxer, Miguel (Miguel Gomez), challenges him to a fight, Billy sees it as an opportunity to regain his old life. But the path to redemption is paved with roadblocks, and he’ll need help training to be the expert fighter he used to be. Can Jake win the respect of his family again? Or will he die trying?
If you’ve seen any boxing movie, you won’t be surprised by Southpaw’s narrative trajectory. But what makes the movie worth seeing is Gyllenhaal’s stripped-down, intense performance. Billy’s downfall is brutal to watch, and Gyllenhaal makes you feel every ounce of pain his character endures. That’s what makes Billy’s comeback so satisfying to watch – it feels authentic and earned.
Southpaw is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Cat People’ (1982)
Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski) arrives in New Orleans with a mission – to find her long-lost brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell), whom she hasn’t seen in years. Once she finds him, she notices something is off with him. He disappears for weeks at a time and then reappears without any explanation. Meanwhile, a wild black panther is stalking and killing the city’s residents in increasingly violent ways. Irena begins to believe Paul is the killer panther, but is she projecting her own fears onto a relative she barely knows?
A loose remake of the 1942 film of the same name, Cat People is visceral, sexual and often extremely violent. It’s also very good, and it’s the rare horror movie that uses the genre to explore taboo eroticism in a non-exploitative manner. Kinski is at her youthful best as the naive Irena, and the film’s Giorgio Moroder-scored soundtrack really gets the blood pumping. One of the best songs of the ‘80s, David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting Out Fire),” originated here, and it’s the perfect complement to a movie that seems perpetually in heat.
Cat People is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Die Another Day’ (2022)
James Bond has appeared in more than 30 movies, and most of them have been good. A few have been stinkers, and one frequently ranked at the bottom of the 007 film list is Die Another Day, which was Pierce Brosnan’s fourth and last appearance as the British super spy. It’s silly, frequently stupid and often incoherent. It’s also wickedly fun, with a breathless, “what the hell?” pace, a trio of memorable villains and Halle Berry wielding a gun in a bikini. Can you get any more James Bond than that?
The movie’s overstuffed plot involves Bond pursuing Colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee), a North Korean dictator who is stashing away North African diamonds for mysterious purposes. His pursuit leads him to Jinx (Berry), an NSA agent who is investigating a gene therapy clinic that can alter a person’s appearance. What does one have to do with the other? That’s what Bond wants to find out, and he’ll travel to the ends of the world – namely, Iceland – to find out.
Die Another Day doesn’t make any sense, but the movie never really bothers to be as realistic as, say, the Jason Bourne movies. This is a film that embraces silliness with open arms, like when Bond drives in an invisible car across an iceberg or a Music-era Madonna randomly showing up as a fencing instructor. It’s a welcome break from the grave seriousness of the later Daniel Craig movies and shows the sillier side of the iconic spy hero we all know and love.
Die Another Day is streaming on Prime Video.
