5 critically acclaimed Prime Video movies to watch this week (July 27-August 2)

This week on Amazon Prime Video, we continue to explore some of the platform’s critically acclaimed movies. From gripping true stories to searing character studies, each of our selections pulls you into its authentic world and, at just the right time, releases you with its indelible impression, showcasing its cinematic commitment.

Our top pick is a 2008 war thriller that not only won the Oscar for Best Picture but also made Oscar history for an entirely different reason. What was it? Read on to find out!

5 Backdraft The deadliest secret about fires you didn't know

The 1991 action thriller Backdraft made firefighting iconic in popular culture and revolutionized practical fire effects in cinema. It also popularized the scientific term in public vocabulary by bringing the dangerous ventilation phenomenon of a backdraft into mainstream awareness. For the unfamiliar, a backdraft occurs when a fire burning in a confined, oxygen-depleted space receives a new source of fresh air, instantly igniting hot gases and creating a violent fireball and blast wave.

Kurt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and William Baldwin (Flatliners) star as firefighting brothers Stephen and Brian, who have been rivals since childhood. While Stephen is a veteran firefighter battling a string of deadly blazes across Chicago, Brian works with an old-school arson investigator (Robert De Niro) to scrutinize the crimes of a dangerous arsonist.

The movie earned three Oscar nominations and was widely lauded for its realistic special effects, intense fire sequences, and ability to treat fire like a living, breathing character. In addition to its memorable performances, it also features immersive sound design that brilliantly captures the roaring, destructive fury of raging infernos and dynamic cinematography as cameras race through burning buildings and place viewers directly in the heat of danger.

Backdraft

Release Date May 24, 1991

Runtime 137 minutes

Director Ron Howard

4 The Report Political thriller based on actual events

Adam Driver (Star Wars sequel trilogy) and Annette Bening (Dutton Ranch) star in the Golden Globe-nominated The Report, which offers a compelling indictment of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) post-9/11 “enhanced interrogation” practices.

Daniel J. Jones (Driver) is an idealistic Senate staffer tasked by Senator Dianne Feinstein (Bening) with investigating the CIA’s post-9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program. His painstaking six-year investigation uncovers the shocking lengths to which the agency went to hide a brutal secret from the American public. Those lengths include evidence of torture, illegal “black sites,” and a widespread cover-up of the program’s failures.

As a sobering political drama, The Report is gripping and intelligent, with outstanding lead performances by Driver and Bening. The critically acclaimed movie was also commended for its efforts in turning a dense 6,700-page government investigation into an engaging and urgent watch without relying on cheap Hollywood clichés. It doesn’t force the facts but instead allows viewers to sit back and simply bear witness to what is unfolding on screen.

The Report

Release Date November 15, 2019

Runtime 118 minutes

Director Scott Z. Burns

3 The Proposition A gritty, unforgiving Australian Western

The Proposition is a gritty 2005 moral tale about a man forced to choose between the lives of his two brothers in the lawless Australian Outback. Its narrative explores the deep bonds of family loyalty, the impossibility of bringing British civilization back to a wild frontier, and the ways in which violence destroys the human soul.

Set in the 1880s in the dusty, unforgiving landscape of the Outback, Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) stars as Captain Morris Stanley, a British lawman trying to bring order to the area. When he captures the outlaw Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce, Memento) and his younger brother Mikey (Richard Wilson, All Saints), he offers Charlie a deal—ride out and kill their notorious and psychopathic older brother Arthur (Danny Huston, The Constant Gardener), and Mikey will be spared from the gallows.

Directed by John Hillcoat (The Road) and written by the musician and screenwriter Nick Cave, The Proposition is praised as much for its intense direction as for its haunting script and accompanying score. Its thought-provoking narrative, raw performances, and stark cinematography are widely noted, as is its unique take on the Western genre. In exploring the dark and bloody reality of colonial expansion, it strips away classic Western romanticism in favor of an intense, gritty, and violent survival story.

The Proposition

Release Date September 12, 2005

Runtime 104 Minutes

Director John Hillcoat

2 127 Hours A true survival story with harrowing consequences

Director Danny Boyle’s (28 Days Later franchise) intense survival story about rock climber Aron Ralston’s life-threatening adventure in a remote Utah canyon will leave you breathless. James Franco (Freaks and Geeks) stars in 127 Hours, which details every second of Ralston’s real-life experience.

An avid mountaineer, Ralston set out on April 26, 2003, to explore Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah. His mistake was that he not only went alone but also failed to tell anyone where he’d be. While descending into the canyon, an 800-pound boulder shifts, pinning Ralston’s right hand and wrist against the wall. With only a small backpack containing two burritos, very little water, a video camera, and a multi-tool, he does his best to survive. After five long days of being trapped in the dark, freezing chasm, he breaks the bones in his forearm and uses the dull blade of his multi-tool to cut through skin, tissue, tendons, and nerves, ultimately freeing himself.

As a movie based on events too insane to be true, 127 Hours earned six Academy Award nominations and boasts a 93% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is widely celebrated for Boyle’s energetic direction, striking cinematography, and Franco’s emotionally powerful lead performance.

127 Hours

Release Date November 12, 2010

Runtime 94 minutes

Director Danny Boyle

1 The Hurt Locker A fierce, multi-Oscar-winning war tale

Boasting a 96% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, director Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker swept the 82nd Academy Awards, winning 6 Oscars in total. Its most notable win was for Best Picture, but the movie also made history when Bigelow became the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director.

Following the death of their well-respected staff sergeant in the Iraq War, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit—i.e., the bomb squad—is saddled with a different team leader. Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner, Mayor of Kingstown) is an inveterate risk-taker who seems to thrive on war, and there’s no denying his gift for defusing bombs. However, his maverick personality and reckless way of handling his work quickly place him at odds with his squad.

The movie earned widespread critical acclaim because of its heart-pounding tension, intense character study of an adrenaline-addicted soldier, and raw, visceral direction. Bigelow's use of gritty, documentary-style handheld cameras to capture the dust, heat, and claustrophobia of Baghdad allows viewers to feel the real danger of the Iraq War. Furthermore, its focus on slow, meticulous bomb-defusing sequences in place of standard action explosions combines with its depictions of how modern combat changes people to create a powerful sense of psychological dread.

The Hurt Locker

Release Date July 31, 2009

Runtime 131 minutes

Director Kathryn Bigelow

Cinematic commitment

Together, these movies highlight the depth and range of critically acclaimed storytelling available on Prime Video, proving that great cinema does so much more than just entertain. Though they span multiple genres, they maintain a shared commitment to cinematic excellence, and that’s why we love them.

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