Trying to figure out what to watch on Amazon this month? September has arrived which could mean cozy sweaters, early Halloween decorating, or clinging to the last bastion of summer depending on your mood. Regardless of your seasonal mindset, you’re no doubt looking for some new movies to watch, and Amazon Prime certainly has a variety of new viewing options for the month of September.
Our picks for the best new movies on Amazon range from a sci-fi classic to an iconic James Bond film to a full-on Oscar movie, really and truly offering suggestions for everyone. Indeed, there’s no time like the present to revisit (or watch for the first time) Steven Spielberg’s wildly ambitious Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Or if comedy is more your speed, the Robin Williams movie The Birdcage holds up tremendously well. And if you’re still looking to cram in some Bond prep before No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s excellent first outing Casino Royale is a much-welcomed new addition to Amazon’s library.
Casino Royale
Available: September 1
Director: Martin Campbell
Writers: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, and Judi Dench
It’s hard to overstate just how big of a deal Casino Royale was, and how substantial it ended up being for the James Bond franchise as a whole. On the heels of the increasingly cartoony direction the Pierce Brosnan films were going, Casino Royale introduced Daniel Craig as a new kind of James Bond: vulnerable, emotional, attached. He fleshed 007 out into an empathetic character rather than a misogynistic caricature, offering a much needed push into the 21st century for the franchise and character.
Released a year after Christopher Nolan’s put the “gritty reboot” twist on Batman, 2006’s Casino Royale essentially does the same with Bond. The theatricality of the earlier films is gone in favor of a more stripped down and grounded actioner, one that takes place at the beginning of 007’s career. He chases bad guys, plays high stakes poker, and falls in love – but the difference this time around is you really buy into it. Bond’s relationship with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) remains a high mark for the franchise, and in a twist for the film series, the actions of this movie would continue to reverberate throughout the following films. Is Casino Royale the best Bond movie ever made? There’s certainly a case for it.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Available: September 1
Director/Writer: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, and François Truffaut
It’s hard to imagine Steven Spielberg making a movie like Close Encounters of the Third Kind now, but that’s less a dig on Spielberg and more a testament to how he’s grown and evolved as a filmmaker over the years. Close Encounters was only Spielberg’s fourth feature film and came on the heels of his horror-thriller Jaws, but anyone expecting more of the same was in for a shock.
Released in 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a sci-fi drama about obsession, as it follows a blue-collar worker in Indiana who encounters a UFO and spends the rest of his life feverishly trying to track down its origins. Richard Dreyfuss brings a quiet madness to the lead role, and it’s honestly kind of heartbreaking to watch him turn his back on his family in favor of finding intelligent life amongst the stars. I won’t spoil it, but Spielberg has said now he probably wouldn’t end the movie the same way he did back in 1977 – it’s the kind of ambitious, cerebral science-fiction story that could only be told by a young twentysomething who grew up obsessed with tales of alien visitors. It still holds up remarkably well, and that ending continues to pack a massive gut-punch.
The Birdcage
Available: September 1
Director: Mike Nichols
Writer: Elaine May
Cast: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Weist, Dan Futterman, and Calista Flockhart
If it’s a laugh-out-loud comedy you’re in the mood for that will remind you of the comedic brilliance of Robin Williams, look no further than The Birdcage. The 1996 film is a remake of a 1978 Franco-Italian movie and is one of those “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” comedies. Williams plays Armand Goldman, the openly gay owner of a drag club in South Beach living with his partner, the club’s star attraction (played by Nathan Lane). But when Armand’s son (the result of a drunken one-night-stand) shows up to announce he not only intends to marry a young woman but that her ultra-conservative parents are coming for dinner, Armand and his partner must play dress-up to hide their true identities. Gene Hackman is a hoot as the girl’s Republican senator father, and director Mike Nichols pulls from his vast experience on the stage to really amp up the pacing and rhythm of the whole film. And, as a cherry on top, it’s shot by Oscar-winning Birdman and The Revenant cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.
The Graduate
Available: September 1
Director: Mike Nichols
Writers: Calder Willingham and Buck Henry
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, and Katharine Ross
Make it a Mike Nichols double-feature with his iconic 1967 comedy The Graduate. This one’s a classic for a reason. The coming-of-age film stars a young Dustin Hoffman as an aimless recent college graduate who is seduced by an older woman, only to fall in love with her daughter. The premise sounds “wacky” but the film is far more melancholic than you might be expecting, perfectly encapsulating the ennui that plagues many coming out of college.
The Graduate is also a film of its time, as Hoffman’s character’s lack of desire to take the straight business track like men of his father’s generation laid bare the generational divide that was happening in America. To put it in simpler terms, The Graduate is kind of like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for teenagers of the 1960s and '70s.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Available: September 1
Director/Writer: Robert Benton
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, and Jane Alexander
Keep that theme train rolling with another Dustin Hoffman classic, the Best Picture Oscar-winning 1979 drama Kramer vs. Kramer. The story chronicles the fallout of a divorce between two individuals but made its mark for the exploration of traditional gender roles and women’s rights at the time of its release. The story kicks off when Joanna Kramer (played by Meryl Streep) leaves her husband, Ted (Dustin Hoffman), and young son, Billy (Justin Henry) behind. If it’s the other way around, that’s just another day in the life of half of American families. But because it’s the woman leaving her family, the legal struggles are all the more intricate, exposing the biases in the judicial system.
Streep famously fought hard to maintain her character’s independence and make her empathetic, despite the inclination of others to villainize her for leaving her family. But at heart, this is a really devastating human drama, the likes of which we don’t get much anymore. If you liked Marriage Story but haven’t seen Kramer vs. Kramer, it’s well worth checking out.
Gemini Man
Available: September 18
Director: Ang Lee
Writers: David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke
Cast: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Benedict Wong, and Clive Owen
Okay so maybe we’re stretching the word “best” here a bit with this pick, but Gemini Man is certainly an interesting film. It began development all the way back in the early 1990s with actors like Harrison Ford and Sean Connery considered for the lead role, but no one could figure out the best way to execute its unique premise: An aging hitman is targeted by a younger clone of himself.
The technology finally got there in the 2010s, and boundary-pushing director Ang Lee brought Will Smith’s younger clone to life using full-on CG technology (he’s a completely digital character, not performance capture). The story finds Smith’s older self trying to piece together the why and how of this clone assassin while being aided by an ally played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The film’s Big Bad is played by Clive Owen and Owen sure leans into that role. While it’s not as tight as the best action movies, Gemini Man is worth a look if that premise intrigues you.
Judy
Available: September 25
Director: Rupert Goold
Writer: Tom Edge
Cast: Renée Zellweger, Finn Wittrock, Jessie Buckley, Rufus Sewell, and Michael Gambon
If you watched the trailer for Judy and thought it looked like every other biopic, I implore you to give this one a fair shot. Renée Zellweger is stunning in her Oscar-winning performance as Judy Garland, but the film itself is far more complex and interesting that other “cradle-to-grave” biopics. It takes place in 1968 (about a year before Garland’s tragic death) and follows the former Hollywood darling as she’s performing nightly stage shows in London. Or trying to, at least. Her contract (and financial well-being) is in jeopardy due to her substance abuse issues and temperamental mood, but the film doesn’t merely ogle at Garland’s downfall. Instead, it’s interested in telling a story about how Hollywood uses and abuses young stars, pushing them to the limits of their health and then tossing them in the trash when they’re too “old.”
It’s devastating and feels all too relevant to the Hollywood of 2020, but this thematic twist adds fascinating layers to what could have been a boring by-the-numbers biopic. And on top of all that, you get Zellweger out here just straight-up giving one of the best onscreen performances in recent memory. You’ll quickly agree she 100% deserved that Best Actress Oscar.