Amazon’s Prime Video to Add 159 New Movies On Friday – Here’s My 10 Best
By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow me on X.
Amazon’s Prime Video tomorrow (November 1, 2024) plans to add 159 new movies to its streaming lineup. Here are the 10 best, in my humble opinion:
The Godfather & The Godfather II (1972 and 1974)
The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II, arguably the two greatest films ever, not just added to Amazon. Director (and co-writer with Mario Puzo) Francis Ford Coppola paints a cinematic masterpiece in each film, chronicling the rise of the Corleone crime family from its early immigrant roots at the turn of the 20th Century to its powerful reign in 1950s and 60s America. The cast is one to die for, pun intended, with Marlon Brando somehow even eclipsing his greatest roles in the 1950s (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire) as family head Vito Corleone and a here-to-then unknown named Al Pacino as his son, Michael Corleone, who’s corrupted by family loyalties and power. And there’s the supporting crew. James Caan. Robert Duvall. Diane Keaton. John Cazale. Sterling Hayden. Robert DeNiro (!). My goodness, I can talk about these movies all day long. But let me close here by saying that Amazon is also adding the third in the trilogy, The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corelone, and that’s enough said about that film. (Even geniuses misfire sometimes.)
Mean Girls (2004)
Written by 30 Rock’s Tina Fey, who also plays a teacher here, the 2004 comedy stars Lindsay Lohan as a high school student who befriends a gaggle of popular but bitchy classmates played by Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert. The decision leads to a series of misadventures and backstabbing as well as various plots of revenge. Mean Girls is a funny and smart take on high school life from one of America’s greatest living satirists, Ms. Fey.
Carrie (1976)
The 1976 classic horror film stars Sissy Spacek as the high school girl who can move objects (among other things), particularly when taunted and teased by her fellow students. Directed by Brian DePalma, Carrie is a rich and pulpy satire of high school life and the difficulties some have in fitting in. Look for the young John Travolta in an amusing supporting role as one of the evil students who unwisely make Carrie their target.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Bradley Cooper shines in this David O. Russell comedy/drama film as a bipolar teacher named Pat who loses his grip on reality after seeing his wife having sex with a fellow teacher. Once out of a mental institution, Pat attempts to rebuild his life but is soon thrown a curve by a curvaceous young widow (Jennifer Lawrence) whose hold on reality is equally suspect. Cooper and Lawrence are wonderful together in this dysfunctional romcom and Robert De Niro is a hoot as Pat’s mentally uncertain father who lives and dies with the hometown Philadelphia Eagles. Silver Linings Playbook is a great movie that will make you smile, laugh and cry.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
The spooky 1968 drama from Polanski stars Mia Farrow as a pregnant young woman who suspects a mysterious group wants to kidnap her baby. Farrow is brilliant and haunting as the paranoid (or is she?) mother and film auteur John Cassavetes plays her loving (but possibly suspicious) hubbie to perfection. Made before the horrific Manson family murders, the film now takes on overtones of the massacre that took Polanski’s wife (Sharon Tate) in 1969, a parallel that has haunted the director throughout his life. The connection only makes the film more powerful and poignant in retrospect.
Die Hard (1988)
Bruce Willis plays the smirking New York cop combatting a terrorist takeover of his wife’s office building in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. The film, directed with perfection by John McTiernan, redefined the action genre and made Willis an A-List star. Alan Rickman nearly steals the picture as the evil, acid-tongued terrorist boss.
The Aviator (2004)
The absorbing (if overlong) drama from director Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo DiCaprio as legendary flyboy and billionaire Howard Hughes. DiCaprio is good as Hughes, but Scorsese is the star here with his stylish flourishes on display in nearly every scene. The impressive supporting cast includes Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Willen Dafoe, Jude Law, John C. Reilly and Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn. (But please overlook the casting of Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow. Dear God, Marty.)
Casualties of War (1989)
Casualties of War is a gripping and emotionally charged war drama that leaves a profound impact on its viewers. Brian De Palma’s masterful direction combined with powerful performances from Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn create an unforgettable cinematic experience. Set during the Vietnam War, the film delves into the dark and disturbing depths of human nature, exploring the moral complexities of war and the atrocities committed in its wake.
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Did you know that Robert DeNiro was originally slated to play the Jack Nicholson role in Martin Scorsese’s classic crime drama, The Departed? Bobby D bowed out because he had a previous commitment — he wanted to direct The Good Shepherd. While that may now sound like a poor choice, The Good Shepherd is an underrated film that deserves some love. The 2006 drama chronicles the early days of the Central Intelligence Agency through the eyes of Matt Damon’s character, who was based on two real-life CIA officers. It depicts the moral conflicts that quickly emerged at The Company as the agency’s architects tried to use their position to further American influence across the globe but actually resulted in diminishing that influence through abuse and overreach.
Complete List of New Movies Coming to Amazon’s Prime Video On Friday, November 1
2 Days of Christmas Eve
3 Ninjas Knuckle Up
50 To 1
A Knight’s Tale
Absolute Deception
Across The Universe
Agent Cody Banks
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
Airplane II: The Sequel
Airplane!
All Saints
Almost Christmas
Anacondas: The Hunt For The Blood Orchid
Anger Management
Apache
Bad Company
Battlefield Earth
Battleship
Big Night
Blizzard
Blown Away
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
Boomerang
Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star
Carrie (1976)
Carrie (2013)
Casualties Of War
Catch Me If You Can
Catch-22
Children of Men
Cold Mountain
Comes A Horseman
Cowboys & Aliens
Crazy In Alabama
Dear Christmas
Dear John
Death Wish 3
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown
Death Wish II
Die Hard
Disturbia
Double Team
Driven
Dumb And Dumber To
Dune
Equals
Escape From Alcatraz
Exodus
F/X
Fame
Flash of Genius
Flight
Gladiator
Gone Baby Gone
Good Boy!
Good Will Hunting
Gorky Park
Gosford Park
Guns Of The Magnificent Seven
Harriet the Spy
Hell is for Heroes
Hour Of The Gun
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Identity Thief
In & Out
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
It Takes Two
Jacob’s Ladder
Jingle All the Way
Escape from L.A.
John Grisham’s The Rainmaker
Johnny Mnemonic
Just Like Heaven
Kill Your Darlings
Kingdom of Heaven
Les Miserables
Leviathan
Libre
Loch Ness
Lords of Dogtown
Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone
Margot At The Wedding
Mean Girls
Meet John Doe
Men
Michael Jackson’s This Is It
Midnight in Paris
Mr. Mom
Murphy’s Law
Neighbors
Of Gods and Men
One Direction: This Is Us (Extended Cut)
Pan’s Labyrinth
Play Misty For Me
Popeye
Radio Flyer
Rambo III
Reba McEntire’s Christmas In Tune
Return Of The Seven
Ride Along With Gag Reel
Rio Lobo
Roboshark
Rosemary’s Baby
Roxanne
Run Lola Run
Rust
Santa Claus: The Movie
Saving Silverman
School of Rock
Scrooged
She’s So Lovely
Silver Linings Playbook
Slackers
Small Soldiers
Sonic the Hedgehog
Star Trek VIII: First Contact
Steel Magnolias
Steve Jobs
Still of the Night
Straw Dogs
Surviving Christmas
Target
The Animal
The Apartment
The Aviator
The Christmas Edition
The Eiger Sanction
The Family Stone
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
The Good Shepherd
The Great Escape
The Holiday
The Italian Job
The King’s Man
The Lady In The Van
The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven Ride
The People vs. Larry Flynt
The Pursuit Of Happyness
The Saint
The Soloist
The Spectacular Now
The Swan Princess And The Secret Of The Castle
The Swan Princess Christmas
The Terminator
The White Buffalo
The Wonderful Country
The Theory of Everything
To Sleep With Anger
Tom & Jerry
Tower Heist
Turbulence
Ultraviolet
Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning
Walk of Shame
Walking Tall
War of The Worlds
Zona Mortal
The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.
