Even with President Trump’s strange beef with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, you can’t argue that Amazon Prime kills it with their selection of streaming content every month. We’ve already told you about some of the best movies arriving on Netflix next month, but we’re here to tell you that they’re not the only game in town. Here are some of the best of the new movies on Amazon Prime that you need to watch in April.
New movies on Amazon Prime to watch in April 2018
[Photo: Roadside Attractions]
1.) Mystery Team (2009)
Starring: Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Aubrey Plaza
Directed by: Dan Eckman
Written by: Donald Glover, D.C. Pierson, Dominic Dierkes
Length: 1hr, 37min
Rotten Tomatoes: 53%
Available on Amazon Prime: April 1st
Before the days of the total artistic domination of Donald Glover, he was a member of a struggling online NYU based sketch comedy group called Derrick Comedy. He was still years away from hitting his stride as a writer, actor, director, rapper, standup comedian — correct me if I missed anything — but with his first movie, the comedy “Mystery Team,” you could see his genius percolating underneath the surface. Oh, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
File under: The best of the new movies on Amazon Prime to watch when you’ve run out of Atlanta episodes and need to get your Donald Glover fix.
[Photo: Film 4]
2.) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Starring: Colin Ferrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Length: 2hr, 1min
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
Available on Amazon Prime: April 5th
Writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos’ movies might not be for everyone, but you should give the icy cold mood he was able to create in his low-key masterpieces “Dogtooth,” “The Lobster” and 2017’s “The Killing of the Sacred Deer” a chance. The film is one of the most intense thrillers of the past millennium and is destined for cult-status and midnight movie hall of fame. This is the second time Lanthimos has worked with both Ferrell and Kidman (in different movies) and they both deliver underrated and dazzling performances in this glacially paced nightmare of a film.
File under: The best of the new movies on Amazon Prime to watch alone in the dead of night with the lights off.
[Photo: A24]
3.) The Florida Project (2017)
Starring: Willem Defoe and a bunch of adorable kids.
Directed by: Sean Baker
Written by: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
Length: 1hr, 51min
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Available on Amazon Prime: April 6th
Is there any other filmmaker making movies with as much heart as Sean Baker? After making a splash on the indie-film circuit with his microbudget transvestite prostitute adventure “Tangerine,” his follow up, “The Florida Project,” won the hearts of audiences and critics alike and was a serious contender at last year’s Oscars. The film followed a group of children in a rundown Florida motel complex just outside of Disneyland who witness the horrors of their surroundings but are far too young and innocent to notice. Willem Defoe gave a tour de force performance as the manager of the complex that will most likely go down as his greatest. Full disclosure, I watched this movie after a few beverages on a flight to L.A. and may or may not have balled my eyes out.
File under: The best of the new movies on Amazon Prime to watch when you need a new perspective on your life.
[Photo: TriStar Pictures]
4.) Philadelphia (1993)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Written by: Ron Nyswaner
Length: 2hr, 5min
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
Available on Amazon Prime: April 1st
What an emotional rollercoaster of a movie this is. This drama directed by Jonathan Demme provided Tom Hanks with an Oscar for best actor for his performance as Andrew Beckett, a hot trial lawyer who was unlawfully fired by his firm after they found out he was both openly gay and had been diagnosed with AIDS. The film also stars Denzel Washington as the lawyer who represents his case in court. This movie not only cemented Hanks and Washington as two of our best living actors and also provided us with one hell of a song from Bruce Springsteen…
File under: The best new movies to watch on Amazon Prime when you need to feel ALLLL the feelings.
[Photo: Artisan Entertainment]
5.) Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)
Starring: The Funk Brothers
Directed by: Paul Justman
Written by: Based on the book by Alan Slutsky
Length: 1hr, 48min
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Available on Amazon Prime: April 1st
