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.
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. Be sure to note, that this list is based on the Amazon Prime Video top 10 as of 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 25.
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.
Watch "Passengers" on Prime Video now
'Drive-Away Dolls' (2024)
While "Drive-Away Dolls" only has one of the Coen brothers at the helm, it has a lot of the same zany humor and memorable characters we've come to expect from hits in their repertoire "Raising Arizona" and "Fargo." Though the critics and audience reviews agree it doesn't quite stack up to the brothers' joint projects.
Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star as a pair of best friends who set off on a road trip to Tallahassee, Florida. Along the way, Jamie (Qualley), a free spirit on the heels of her latest breakup, tries to get Marian (Viswanathan) to loosen up by taking detours to lesbian bars and encouraging her to throw caution to the wind and indulge in a fling or two. But their drive turns into a mad dash when they realize the car they rented contains a briefcase that the criminals on their tail would do anything to retrieve.
Watch "Drive-Away Dolls" on Prime Video now
'Interstellar' (2014)
My colleague Rory called "Interstellar" the best sci-fi movie of the past 20 years, and I'm inclined to agree. Christopher Nolan’s epic sci-fi masterpiece "Interstellar" stars Matthew McConaughey as Coop, a former NASA pilot now living with his two children on a farm as humanity is on the brink of extinction. His daughter thinks their house is haunted by a "ghost" that communicates through strange gravitational anomalies, which leads Coop to a massive possibility: humanity may have a second chance.
But to seize it, he'll have to leave his family on a mission to discover a new home for humanity. He pilots the Endurance spaceship through a wormhole with a team of scientists — Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), Romilly (David Gyasi), and Doyle (Wes Bentley) — in tow to check out three contenders for habitable planets. But when has a space adventure ever gone according to plan? As the mission progresses, they face various challenges that increasingly test their mettle and lead them to question what it means to save the human race.
Watch "Interstellar" on Prime Video now
Prime Video top 10 movies right now
- "Jackpot!" (2024)
- "Passengers" (2016)
- "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning" (2023)
- "The Beekeeper" (2024)
- "Night Swim" (2024"
- "21 Jump Street" (2012)
- "Drive-Away Dolls" (2024)
- "22 Jump Street" (2014)
- "Interstellar" (2014)
- "French Girls" (2024)