As we continue on into a brand new year, that means there are yet more offerings to stream on Prime Video this month. From a wacky comedy mystery to a gripping noir and a horror hit from last year, we’re keeping 2023 going with a wide variety of picks for you to choose from.
Read more about what's streaming on Prime Video:
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The Best Movies on Amazon Prime Video Right Now
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The Best TV Shows on Prime Video Right Now
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The Best Kids & Family Movies on Prime Video
A Simple Favor (2018)
Available on: February 19
Director: Paul Feig | Run Time: 117 min | Genre: Comedy, Mystery
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Linda Cardellini
We don’t know if you have had the chance to take in the hilarious and bizarre experience of A Simple Favor, but in the event that you haven’t, there is no better time to remedy that than right now. Starring a spectacular Anna Kendrick as the single mother Stephanie, it accompanies her as she gets swept up in a mystery involving her new friend Emily (Blake Lively) who suddenly disappears one day. Without giving away any details, it is a movie built to defy easy categorization as it comes at you with extended jokes about incest that prove to be just the tip of the iceberg. Just when you think you have some idea of what it is going to be, it will turn everything on its head and push further into a dark absurdity that is as engaging as it is goofy.
Beast (2022)
Available on: February 7
Director: Baltasar Kormákur | Run Time: 93 min | Genre: Action, Adventure
Cast: Idris Elba, Iyana Halley, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Sharlto Copley
We’ll forgive you if you haven’t yet seen the movie where Idris Elba fights a lion because we know you absolutely would have already if you knew such a masterpiece of cinema existed. Playing a man who must protect his daughters from an oddly murderous rogue cat who attacks them while they are on vacation in South Africa, it delivers on the basics of what it has to offer in glorious fashion. The story doesn’t matter as much as the spectacle of it all that is built around Elba quite literally doing battle with the enormous being to determine who is the real apex predator. It never winks at the camera, instead taking itself seriously to a degree that is almost refreshing in a movie landscape defined by so-so quirks. Though Beast doesn’t quite bite as hard as one would hope and can often suffer from some noticeably shoddy special effects, Elba elevates the entire experience through his completely committed performance alone.
Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)
Available on: February 1
Director: Carl Franklin | Run Time: 102 min | Genre: Mystery
Cast: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, and Don Cheadle
Next, we throw it back to a neo-noir from director Carl Franklin that remains one of his films that really deserves your time. Starring the forever dynamic Denzel Washington as the down-on-his-luck Easy Rawlins, Devil In A Blue Dress rides along with him as he navigates 1948 Los Angeles in search of a missing woman. He does so out of his necessity, as he was recently laid off and needs work, though finds that there is more to this job than he realized when he took it. Both a sendup and a sharp deconstruction of the genre, it is one of those films that remains so rich in so many key aspects that you can just get wrapped up in it. Plus, it has a scene-stealing turn by Don Cheadle as a man named Mouse who comes into the movie and immediately shakes everything up, which puts it just a cut above almost anything else out there today.
Halloween Ends (2022)
Image via Universal
Available on: February 14
Director: David Gordon Green | Run Time: 93 min | Genre: Slasher Horror
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell, Will Patton, James Jude Courtney
In what may be the most controversial entry on this list, we are here to say that Halloween Ends is actually a pretty good movie. Sure, it isn’t really even about Michael Myers until we arrive at what proves to be a satisfyingly bloody end. However, there is still plenty of weird energy to the entire experience that makes it a vast improvement over its predecessor and, if we’re being honest, probably should have been the sole sequel after this series was rebooted. Picking up years after Myers brought his particular brand of murder and mayhem down on the world once again, it focuses on how the evil he represents may extend beyond just him. Gory and goofy, it is one of those horror entries that understands the importance of going in a bold new direction without ever looking back too much even as the killer may be right behind you.
Inside Man (2006)
Available on: February 1
Director: Spike Lee | Run Time: 129 min | Genre: Crime, Drama
Cast: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Another movie with Washington trying to solve a mystery that also has Spike Lee behind the camera? Oh yeah, you bet we’re going to recommend you sit down to watch Inside Man. Bouncing back and forth through time, it takes place in the events surrounding a bank heist that becomes a hostage situation. Just when it seems like everything is out of control and that the team behind it is in over their heads, the layers start to get pulled back to reveal a brilliant scheme that they might just be able to pull off. Tense and precise, it is a film that shows that Lee remains one of the great American directors no matter what genre he operates in.
Food, Inc (2008)
Available on: February 1
Director: Robert Kenner | Run Time: 94 min | Genre: Documentary
A hearty documentary about the very nature of what we eat in this country and how it is made, there is so much about Food, Inc that remains as urgent as it was when it came out more than a decade ago. In taking a deep dive into the overlooked problems of the modern food industry and the way exploitation is baked into every single facet of it, this expose provides a harsh dose of reality that shows how drastic changes need to be made to get us on a better path.
Smile (2022)
Available on: February 19
Director: Parker Finn | Run Time: 115 min | Genre: Horror
Cast: Sosie Bacon, Caitlin Stasey, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Kal Penn
Last, but definitely not least, is the surprise horror hit of 2022 that still remains stuck in our heads all these months later. Playing around with the classic convention of transmissible curses, Smile follows a psychiatrist who discovers that there is a dark force that is destroying people and has its eye on her as its next target. While there were plenty of other strong works of horror from last year and plenty more to be found in the year ahead, this one will always hold a special place in our cold hearts for just how unabashedly sinister it becomes.