Prime Video subscribers are eating good this month, with a whopping 98 new films landing on the streaming service at the top of the month. A few new additions through the week have pushed that total over 100, but you don’t need to go digging through all that mess to figure out what to watch this weekend.
I get paid to watch movies for a living, so I’ve already done the hard work for you. I’ve combed through Prime Video’s latest releases to find the three standouts actually wroth watching. There are plenty of horror movies in the bunch to kick-off spooky season early, but as for me, I’ll be watching “Silence of the Lambs”for the umpteenth time. To date it’s the only horror movie that’s ever won Best Picture. There’s also “Bombshell,”a drama that turns one of Fox News’ biggest scandals into a star-studded affair led by Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie. Finally, for an easy weekend watch, look no further than “Uptown Girls,” a 2000s classic where Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning’s banter will crack you up and warm your heart.
Ready to start watching? Here’s why each one is worth a spot on your watchlist this weekend.
Bombshell (2019)
The vibe: Conservative fanfiction for the girlies starring drop-dead gorgeous women
Why you should watch it: Inspired by real events and set during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, “Bombshell” follows three women whose allegations against long-time Fox News chairman Roger Ailes eventually get him ousted from the network. Charlize Theron leads a stacked cast as political commentator Megyn Kelly alongside Nicole Kidman as acclaimed journalist Gretchen Carlson and Margot Robbie as Kayla Pospisil, the wide-eyed audience stand-in jumping into the cutthroat world of broadcast journalism.
Kate McKinnon also kills it as a Fox producer who doesn’t mince words and delivers this great quote in the trailer: “What would scare my grandmother or piss off my grandfather — that’s a Fox story.” Theron and Robbie both lost out at the Oscars for their performances here, which feels like a hate crime.
Watch“Bombshell” on Prime Videonow
‘Uptown Girls’ (2003)
The vibe:A breezy watch with plenty of heart that’s perfect for a lazy afternoon
Why you should watch it: Widely panned by critics when it first came out, “Uptown Girls” has steadily gained a devoted cult following, cementing its place as an early 2000s classic. This is one of my favorite guilty pleasure watches, and you can bet my ass was sat anytime it came on cable when I was growing up. Brittany Murphy stars as girl failure Molly Gunn, a trust fund baby left broke after her slimy rock star ex Neal (Jesse Spencer) makes off with all her money.
Forced to grow up over night, she gets a job as a nanny for the most precocious 8-year-old on the planet (Dakota Fanning), whose buttoned-up demeanor masks her grief over her father’s coma. Though they butt heads at first over their polar opposite personalities, they both end up growing on each other — just as Neal crash-lands back into her life.
Watch“Uptown Girls” on Prime Videonow
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)
The vibe: A slow-burn serial killer hunt that’s tense and heart-breaking
Why you should watch it: I’ve probably seen this movie a million times (my first tattoo was a death’s-head hawk moth because of it!), and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of returning to it for my annual Halloween watch. Anthony Hopkins’ iconic turn as Hannibal Lecter never fails to make my skin crawl, while Jodie Foster is equally mesmerizing as FBI agent-in-training Clarice Starling, a force to be reckoned with up against a glass ceiling.
She’s given the impossible task of convincing the convicted cannibal to help track down a new serial killer on the loose. Unfortunately for her, he takes a shine to her homegrown gumption and agrees. Director Jonathan Demme uses some ingenious camera tricks to create a constant sense of unease, which cleverly mirrors the othering Clarice experiences as one of the few women in her field.
Stream“Silence of the Lambs” on Prime Videonow
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