These 17 Movies On Amazon Prime Have Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Scores

For those who are in the mood for a dreamy, romantic period piece — who isn’t? — this recent Prime Video original from 2020 is an urgent addition to your movie night watchlist. Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha star as Sylvie and Robert, a sweet couple who life takes in different directions (and then gently pushes back together again) in midcentury America.

You might think this classic Frank Capra movie is only acceptable to watch for, like, 1/12^th of the year. But even though it culminates in cinema’s most emotional Christmas ever, it can (and should!) be enjoyed all year long, especially if you’re craving something super heartwarming. Jimmy Stewart stars as George Bailey, a man whose life has seen more than its share of setbacks — but turns out to be pretty wonderful anyway.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz changed comedy — and entertainment — forever, so who better than one of TV’s most hilarious women to helm a documentary about their love story? The 2022 film features never-before-seen footage of the pioneering couple over the course of their marriage and beyond. “What was really exciting to me,” Poehler told The New York Times, “is they were experiencing very human, complicated things that most people feel with success and marriage. You know, all the things that happen in a human life.”

Based on the play by Kemp Powers, One Night in Miami brings together Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke for a fictional philosophical conversation set in 1964. The film received a slew of award nominations — including a Best Director Golden Globe nod for Regina King’s directorial debut, which she reflected on with Bustle. “As I matured, I've made choices that are where Malcolm and Sam intersect,” she said of the film’s core discussion on race, art, and activism. “They both need to exist for the advancement of Black people.”

Even if you haven’t seen it yet, you might already know that What’s Love Got to Do With It is regarded as one of the best biopics ever made... and it’s rated a whopping 96% for good reason. Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne star as Tina Turner and her husband, Ike Turner, whose romantic and musical chemistry gives way to an abusive relationship that the “The Best” singer eventually, triumphantly, breaks free from.

Adam Driver stars in this quietly mesmerizing story of a poet and bus driver, Paterson, who finds inspiration in the rhythm of his daily routine. From his wife to his mischievous dog and chance encounters with the passengers he drives around, there’s no shortage of fodder for Paterson’s poems — proving that art and creativity can be found wherever you are.

Craving a very creepy — but also oddly romantic — body horror film? 1986’s The Fly stars Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis (then a real-life couple) as a scientist and reporter who enter into a relationship on the brink of a pretty significant discovery. The only problem? Goldblum’s Seth Brundle botches his teleportation experiment, his DNA merges with a housefly's, and he gradually becomes an enormous insect himself. This is the movie where the quote “be afraid. Be very afraid,” comes from, and it’s well-earned.

Winona Ryder and Christian Slater star in this ’80s dark comedy about a high school that’s plagued by a string of very suspicious murders. Warning: after you watch this cult classic, you might find phrases like “how very” or “greetings and salutations” slipping into your everyday vocabulary, and you won’t be able to stop for a super long time.

Riz Ahmed earned an Oscar nomination for his role as Ruben, a metal drummer who is faced with unexpected hearing loss — a diagnosis that shakes his life, relationship, and musical career to the core. “It's interesting because Reuben thinks of deafness as a disability,” Ahmed told Bustle in March, “but I think what the film shows, and what I've learnt as a hearing person approaching this role, is that deafness is not a disability. It's a culture. It's a way of being. Actually for Ruben, what he learns is that deafness is an invitation to connect more to others, and connect more to himself than he ever did as a hearing person.” Sound of Metal is an original for the streamer, making it one of several Amazon Prime movies Rotten Tomatoes rates near-perfect.

If you’re looking for an Oscar-nominated documentary (that just so happens to have a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes), add Time to your list now. The moving doc personalizes the injustice of the American prison system through the story of Sibil Fox Richardson and her husband, Rob, who served a combined 20+ years for a 1997 bank robbery. Time illustrates their past and present journey with home videos and current footage of Sibil’s (aka Fox) fight for her husband’s release — and for prison abolition as a whole.

If you want to kick back and watch a true classic, His Girl Friday is an excellent choice to add to your list. Carey Grant and Rosalind Russell have amazing onscreen chemistry in this timeless screwball comedy (the humor holds up more than 80 years later), making it easy to see why the film has a whopping 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

True to its name, Burning is a slow-burn — a 2018 psychological drama about a wealthy, mysterious stranger (played by Oscar nominee Steven Yeun) and his influence on a pair of acquaintances in South Korea. What might first seem like a familiar vignette of disillusioned 20-somethings turns into something much more dangerous in this twisty thriller, the first South Korean film to make the Oscars shortlist before Parasite took home top honors the following year.

This romantic comedy, written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 98%. One watch, and you’ll see why. The Big Sick follows Gordon's real-life story of how she met Nanjiani, how she got sick from Still’s Disease, and how they both handled it as a couple. It's touching and sweet, but also super funny.

This brief but thought-provoking 1945 noir tackles the question, what happens when everything that can go wrong... does? A tragic, bite-sized classic about a man on an ill-fated road trip, Detour might be easy to miss among bigger names of Hollywood’s Golden Age, but with an impressive 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, critics seem to agree that it’s definitely worth the watch.

Another ’80s gem on the list, 1984’s The Terminator can’t be missed for fans of sci-fi or action genres. Arnold “I’ll Be Back” Schwarzenegger stars as the titular robot, sent to the decade on a mission from the future: kill Sarah Connor, whose future son is no friend to the cyborg population. Sarah turns out to be more than The Terminator bargained for, though, and what ensues is a pretty thrilling cat-and-mouse saga.

From Pride & Prejudice to Emma, there is no shortage of Jane Austen adaptations to enjoy. But Prime Video is home to one you may have missed. Based on the novel Lady Susan, Love & Friendship stars Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny. It's witty, features multitudes of strong female characters, and with a score of 97, is not one you should pass up.

If you’re into historical war movies, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve already seen Saving Private Ryan. If not, Steven Spielberg’s critically acclaimed World War II epic is streaming on Prime Video, and it’s worth a watch. Matt Damon and Tom Hanks are two familiar faces you’ll recognize in the film, which revolves around a heroic rescue mission for a missing soldier.