One of the joys of any weekend is the feeling that you are no longer tied down by all of the obligations that often define your week. If you want to spend some time watching a movie, you’re free to do so. Once you’ve opted to watch something, though, you face the somewhat monumental task of deciding what you actually want to watch.
We’ve made that task a little easier by combing through all of the great movies available on Amazon Prime Video to find three underrated gems that are well worth your attention. Whatever kind of movie you might be looking for, you’re sure to find something like it on this list.
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
Winter’s Bone (2010)
Featuring what would become Jennifer Lawrence’s breakout performance, Winter’s Bone is one of the best indie movies of the 21st century. The film follows a young girl who is responsible for her two younger siblings. When she finds out that her criminal father has put their house up as bond and then vanished, she sets out on an odyssey to find him and save the house that is her only home.
Lawrence is truly astounding as a young girl who is doing everything she can to save her family, but Debra Granik’s direction is equally impressive, depicting the rural Ozarks as a slice of American culture that we rarely get to see on the big screen.
You can watch Winter’s Bone on Amazon Prime Video.
Emma. (2020)
Jane Austen adaptations aren’t uniformly excellent, but 2020’s Emma. hits all the right notes. The film stars Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga‘s Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular matchmaker who finds that she herself might be falling head over heels. Taylor-Joy’s central performance is terrific, but Emma. really soars because it knows exactly how funny its source material is.
Austen adaptations at their best can serve as parodies of all the formality that governed Regency-era London, even as they also indulge in the sweeping romance that defined much of the fiction of that era. Emma. is perfect for exactly those reasons.
You can watch Emma. on Amazon Prime Video.
In the Heights (2021)
Adapting an underseen Broadway musical of the same name, In the Heights tells the story of a young man living in Washington Heights who has dreams of escaping from the Puerto Rican neighborhood he’s called home his whole life.
Filled with vivacious, imaginative musical numbers, but careful to stay grounded in its street-level location, In the Heights was tragically underseen when it was first released in theaters. Anchored by a great performance from Anthony Ramos (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and bursting at the seams with life, In the Heights is every bit as vibrant as any Broadway musical worth its weight should feel.
You can watch In the Heights on Amazon Prime Video.