The Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now (May 2020)

Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut Lady Bird is a stunning portrait of a young woman at odds with the world around her. In many ways, Lady Bird is sort of an anti-coming of age story.

Christine, AKA Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) wants so desperately to rid herself of all the things that make her conformist, (i.e., church, school, etc.) but in the end, she realizes that she’s better off embracing the things that connect her to the people she loves.

Watching The Pianist is something akin to having a bowling ball dropped on your heart. The film is tense, taut, mortifying, captivating and inspiring all at once.

The Pianist is inspired by the true story of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish piano player of Jewish descent who becomes entrenched in the horrifying cross-hairs of the Nazi Reich.

The Coen Brothers’ intimate period-drama Inside Llewyn Davis is a stirring recreation of the American folk music industry. Oscar Issac stars in the film as the titular character, who doesn’t quite fit in with the “changing times.”

Perhaps the best part of Inside Llewyn Davis is its soundtrack, which was largely inspired by the work of folk revivalist Dave Van Ronk.

Love and Mercy is a nuanced portrait of the life of Beach Boys’ mastermind Brian Wilson. Paul Dano and John Cusack portray Wilson in the film in a dual-role; and both actors do an excellent job.

Many people know The Beach Boys as the symbol for 1960’s surf-rock, but few know what was going on behind the scenes during the group’s meteoric rise. 

Jim Jarmusch directs this off-beat drama about a man named Paterson who drives a bus in a town called Paterson. Few movies in recent memory recreate small-town America with as intricate of details as Paterson does.

Paterson is further supported by great lead performances from Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani.

The Stranger was one of Orson Welles’ last works before he was exiled from Hollywood and moved to Europe. As with most Orson Welles pictures, his fingerprints are over the production; he served as director, lead actor and co-writer of The Stranger.

There aren’t many movies of the World-War II era that stand up to the test of time as well as The Stranger.

Logan Lucky is director Steven Soderbergh’s best film since his 2001 masterpiece Ocean’s Eleven. It makes sense why the film works so well too, many of the themes of the Ocean’s franchise are expanded upon here in a new setting.

Aside from a strange last scene, Logan Lucky is a thrilling ride of robbery at the race-track.

They say that history is written by the victor, but in this case, history was redacted by those in power. The Report is a film that aims to expose CIA corruption to the masses, but unfortunately was lost in the 2019 Oscar season shuffle.

Adam Driver commands the screen in the role of former FBI investigator Daniel Jones, while Annette Bening gives a masterful performance portraying U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Based on Agatha Christie’s novel of the same, Murder on the Orient Express is a creative detective film of murder in transit.

Although Murder on the Orient Express is just one of many Christie stories to follow the life of fictional detective Hercule Poirot, many regard it as the author’s best take on the character.

Annihilation from Alex Garland continues the director’s hot streak of working on sci-fi epics. In the past, Garland has worked as a writer on 28 Days Later and Sunshine, and as writer and director of Ex Machina. 

If nothing else, Annihilation is a thought-provoking visual treat.

The Farewell is largely based on a true story from the life of writer/director Lulu Wang, in which her family hides their grandmother’s medical illness from her.

Awkwafina is terrific starring in the film as Billi, a character who serves as a conduit for Wang’s experiences. 

Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart won the Academy Award for Best Lead Actor in The African Queen opposite fellow Academy Award winning actor Katherine Hepburn.

The African Queen isn’t about a queen from Africa but rather named after the name of the boat that the two main characters use to travel downstream to escape the threat of war.

Joaquin Phoenix gives a tour de force performance in the awfully violent carnage-film You Were Never Really Here.

For what You Were Never Really Here lacks in narrative clarity, it makes up for in visual style, which ultimately amounts to a film that leaves a deafening imprint in the landscape of experimental filmmaking.

The Lost City of Z is a greatly enjoyable film for anyone who loves a good adventure. Charlie Hunnam stars in the picture as British explorer Percy Fawcett, a determined spirit who sacrifices nearly anything at the cost of finding the famed lost city of Z.

The cast is rounded out with great supporting performances from Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson as well.