Amazon’s main video Has a collection underregate, unfairly forgotten films. Streamer’s massive film library has a Western who was robbed by the attention that it deserved by the Covid-19-Pandemic, one of 2024’s best drama and the most underrated film made by one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the last 20 years. It even has a sci-fi movie that you have probably never heard of before, even though it is blockbuster that first United Tom Cruise with its future “Top Gun: Maverick” director.
Here are seven hidden GEM films that flow on Prime Video in July.
“A very violent year” (2014)
Released in the middle of A24’s ascent up the independent film world, author-director JC Chandor’s “A Most Violent Year” is a slowly burning crime drama that deserves to be more well-known among the film guests. The film follows a fuel supplier (Oscar Isaac) whose connection to its own professional and moral compass is tested by corrupt competitors, family instability and unjustified, high level of government’s attention at New York City 1980s.
With a couple of swimming, power plant performances by Isaac and Chastain, which plays the tactful wife of Isaacs Abel, is “a very violent year” a measured drama that builds its tension and emotional weight as possible. Shots with beautiful, muted light by Kinematographer Bradford Young, it is the rare throw to the American dramas in the 1970s that does not feel false or forced, but rather structured and gripping. If you haven’t seen it yet, now is your chance.
“Slow West” (2015)
Scottish filmmaker John Maclean’s function registration debut, “Slow West”, is very much his own cause. It follows a young forwarder (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who travels to the American West in search of love in his life (Caren Pistorius) and ends up in hiring an Irish Bounty hunter (Michael Fassbender) to protect him on the road. Thanks to its sense of romance and whimsical dialogue, “Slow West” sometimes feels like a Western riff on a traditional fairy tales – a vibe that kinematographer Robbie Ryan reinforces with his bright, colorful film.
However, the film undermines its fantastic line at every turn by indulging in bitter -sweet humor and brutal violence. The resulting film is a Western moving, sounds and looks unlike everyone else. It is a distinct vision with a surprising tender heart and an even more ruthless average. Clock in just 84 minutes long, it doesn’t take your time for granted either.
“Something Wild” (1986)
Director Jonathan Demmes “Something Wild” should not work, and yet it does. Such is the magic of Demme and this incredible, subversive comic thriller. The film follows a tense investment banks (Jeff Daniels) that goes on an improvised journey with a carefree woman (Melanie Griffith). What begins as a sexy, erotic journey is quickly transformed into a nightmare struggle for personal freedom; But when Griffith’s Audrey accidentally encounters her possession, offensive exman (Ray Liotta), who is hell at getting her back.
The bold, poor prevailing shift from lighter, eccentric adventure to pure, stomach twisting tension would sink smaller movies, but not “something wild.” This classic from 1986 is revered among Cinephiles for a reason. It is one of the best films that Demme, whose other films include “Silence of the Lamb” and “Philadelphia”, ever done. More viewers should know about it, which is why you should check it out now that it is on Prime Video.
“The Bikeriders” (2024)
Dumped by its original distributor only to be saved by focus functions, author-director Jeff Nichol’s “The Bikers” Got positive reviews from the critics and movie guests who actually saw it in 2024. But it never got the kind of widespread, mainstream -recognition it should have, despite the power of its recognizable ensemble, which includes Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Norman Reedus and Michael Shannon. Based on a photo book by Danny Lyon, this sun-soaked exploration follows a clear American subculture increase and the moral case of a fictional Midwestern Motorcycle Club in the 1960s.
At the same time romantic and clear, “The Bikers” draws formalistic inspiration from similar expansive drama as “goodfellas” and “casino” to create an influencing portrait of a very specific moment in time. In this way, “The Bikers” means that you not only fall in love with the same wind-in-your hair that motivates their central motorcyclists but also feel the same grief and sadness as they do as time slowly but inevitably turn their club into something unrecognizable. The film was Nichol’s first in eight years, and it turned out to be a welcome and appropriate remarkable return to the form of filmmaker “Mud” and “Take Shelter”.
“News of the World” (2020)
Director Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World” was released in the middle of the Covid-19 2020 and therefore flew completely under the radar with relaxed film guests. Five years later, it has also not experienced the increase in popularity it deserves either. Based on a novel with the same name by Paulette Jiles, the film follows an older civil war veteran (Tom Hanks) traveling across Frontier America and shares newspapers and stories from all over the country.
Along the way he agrees to take a young white girl (Helena Zengel) raised by Indians to the few surviving members of her biological family. Hank’s captain Kidd will take care of Zengels Johanna and is increasingly obliged to protect her from the dangers in the American West. In the meantime, the film itself explores in a moving, discreet way how it is personal contacts that ultimately keep us by going through even the most sharing and unstable times.
“First Man” (2018)
There may be no more underestimated film on this list than “First man.” A ridiculous controversy about the film’s inclusion of the American flag damaged its before release campaign, and as a director DamenchazelleFollow-up of his Oscar-winning musical 2016 “La La Land”, the film was seen as a betrayal by many. But “first man” is anything but that. Chazelle’s drama about Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and the difficulties he suffered, both personal and professional, on his journey to become the first man to step foot on the moon is a subversive quiet, introspective drama.
Chazelle is not a stranger to capture big screen acts, and he does so in several, breathtaking sets in “First Man.” But what is even more impressive is how he captures the epic yet deeply personal emotional reach of Armstrong’s journey. It is a thought -provoking, influencing and haunting film – one that benefits greatly from a nuanced star performance by Gosling that is perhaps just the best actor has ever given.
“Oblivion” (2013)
Speaking of underrated films made by talented directors is the “Oblivion” movie that first led “Top Gun: Maverick” filmmaker Joseph Kosinski And star Tom Cruise together. Based on an unpublished graphic novel, the film follows a maintenance technician (cruise) which has the task of clearing the remains of a war of war and converting the planet’s remaining seawater reserves into energy rigs for the space colony where the rest of humanity has moved.
But when he discovers the female survivor (Olga Kurylenko) from a crashed spaceship, he begins to question everything he believed he knew about his mission and the war that left the earth uninhabited. Stylish and action-packed, “Oblivion” is a visually amazing and refreshing atmospheric sci-fi adventure film. It may not be as purely astonishing as “Top Gun: Maverick”, but “Oblivion” is still a memorable and exciting blockbuster that makes it absolutely most of cruise and kosinski’s shared love for practical stunts and effects.
