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Tom's Guide
Prime Video top 10 movies — here’s the 3 worth watching now
By Rory Mellon,
16 hours ago
Whenever I’m looking for something new to watch on Prime Video, the streaming service ’s list of the top 10 most-watched movies is the first place I check. However just because a movie ranks high on this ever-rotating list does not guarantee its quality. Quite the opposite.
I check the Prime Video top 10 almost every day, and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen a movie with a low Rotten Tomatoes score claim a high rank. Case in point, the current No.1 movie on the service is “Jackpot!” which has managed a pitiful 30% score.
To help you avoid the stinkers, and instead stream the gems, I’m picking out the best movies in the Prime Video top 10 down below. And finally, before diving into my picks, this list is based on the Amazon Prime Video top 10 as of 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday, August 20.
Best movies in the Prime Video top 10
'Passengers' (2016)
“Passengers” is one of those movies where the critics and viewers don’t see eye-to-eye. While it holds a very poor 30% score on Rotten Tomatoes from professional reviewers, its audience score is much more healthy 63%, and I definitely fall into the latter camp. “Passengers” is a bit of a comfort movie for me, and watching it has become something of an annual holiday tradition in my family — it’s not a holiday movie per se, but it was released in December 2016, and it has oddly cozy vibes for a sci-fi romance set on a spaceship.
The movie is set on an interstellar sleeper ship transporting 5,000 colonists to humanity’s new home. However, one of these passengers, Jim (Chris Pratt), awakens from hypersleep early following an asteroid collision. The ship is still light years from its final destination, and Jim faces the nightmare prospect of living out the rest of his life alone. Unable to cope with total isolation, Jim decides to awaken another passenger, Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence). The two quickly bond, and strike up a romance, but the truth about Jim’s decision threatens to be revealed, and if that isn’t enough drama, the entire ship is soon at risk of destruction due to a system’s malfunction.
I’m starting to sound like a broken record when it comes to “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning”. The blockbuster action thrill ride was added to Prime Video back in July, and it’s been a permanent fixture of the service’s top 10 list ever. I’ve recommended it multiple times at this point, but I’m happy to do so again because this is one of the finest action movies ever made. Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie are in top form, and the over-the-top action set pieces are some of the best in the franchise, which is a very high bar.
While “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning” was released in theaters with a “Part One” moniker, that has subsequently been removed. This is likely because of the baggage that comes with labeling a movie merely a first part but also signifies that “Dead Reckoning” takes a satisfying story of its own, while also leaving room for the in-production sequel due in theaters next year. In this latest chapter in the “Mission: Impossible” series, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) faces off against a rogue A.I. known as The Entity alongside an old adversary.
Comedy sequels are pretty tricky to get right. But “22 Jump Street” succeeds because of its genius self-aware streak. Its lead characters, undercover cops Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum), are constantly cracking-wise about the fact their latest mission to infiltrate a college and root out the source of a deadly new drug is very similar to their previous assignment (as seen in “21 Jump Street"), and these gags are downright hilarious.
The movie also works because the chemistry between Hill and Tatum is note-perfect, and the duo each have impeccable comedic chops and a wonderful interplay. They’re police partners but act more like a married couple, there's even a scene of them attending couple’s therapy together, which is a real highlight of the movie. If you’re looking for laughs this week “22 Jump Street” is the ideal pick, and because of its Spring Break finale, it feels appropriate for the summer season.
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