By now, Amazon Prime Video subscribers should be used to seeing some of the best movies ever made among the streamer’s library of films.
August was a particularly great month for movie lovers, with Oscar-winning films arriving alongside fan-favorites.
To help you narrow down your viewing options, Watch With Us has selected the five best Prime Video movies to watch in August, as ranked by Rotten Tomatoes.
Surprisingly, this list has two very different boxing movies at No. 1 and No. 2 and the Amazon debut of a film from one of 20th Century Studios’ famous sci-fi franchises.
5. ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ (2024)
Rotten Tomatoes rank: 81 percent
If Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the worst movie on a list, then it’s only because the films in front of it are so incredible. The fourth installment of the modern reboot series takes place hundreds of years after War for the Planet of the Apes. Caesar is gone, and if you watch closely, you’ll notice hints of a new war between humans and apes on the horizon.
In the meantime, an ape named Noa (Owen Teague) and his newfound friend, Raka (Peter Macon), make a startling discovery when they meet Mae (Freya Allan), a young human woman who hasn’t lost her intelligence or her ability to speak. This unlikely trio has a common enemy in Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), an ambitious ape tyrant who has enslaved his own kind alongside humans. Noa has a personal stake in freeing his people from Proximus’ control. However, Mae’s hidden agenda may cost them everything.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is streaming on Prime Video.
4. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Rotten Tomatoes rank: 92 percent
Even more so than Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction is the movie that put Quentin Tarantino on the map, gave John Travolta his comeback and turned Samuel L. Jackson into an iconic star. Tarantino’s own role in the movie isn’t the best part of the movie, but it’s part of a memorable side story for assassins Jules Winnfield (Jackson) and Vincent Vega (Travolta).
Tarantino juggles multiple narratives and shows them to the audience out of chronological order. That non-linear technique is more common today, but few films have ever utilized it as well as this one.
Pulp Fiction is streaming on Prime Video.
3. ‘Raging Bull’ (1980)
Rotten Tomatoes rank: 92 percent
As unbelievable as it sounds now, director Martin Scorsese really believed that Raging Bull was going to be his last movie. That’s why Scorsese spent a great deal of time on this adaptation of boxer Jake LaMotta‘s life story. Robert De Niro plays Jake, and his performance won him a well-deserved Oscar for Best Actor.
The film starts early in Jake’s career and chronicles his rise to the top. It also depicts Jake’s rapid descent after making a lot of bad life choices. This movie is considered to be a cinematic masterpiece, and its legacy is secure.
Raging Bull is streaming on Prime Video.
2. ‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes rank: 93 percent
Joel and Ethan Coen have made a lot of great movies together, but none greater than their Oscar-winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. Josh Brolin stars as Llewelyn Moss, an ordinary man who comes into possession of an extraordinary amount of money from a drug deal gone bad. He should have known that someone would come looking for it, but Llewelyn is completely unprepared to deal with Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), one of the most memorable villains of the 21st century.
Chigurh has a cruel streak and a tendency to murder his victims with a captive bolt pistol that’s typically used to slaughter cattle. Llewelyn isn’t simply going to give up the money, and it’s left to the aging sheriff, Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), to make sense out of the violence they leave in their wake.
No Country for Old Men is streaming on Prime Video.
1. ‘Creed’ (2015)
Rotten Tomatoes rank: 95 percent
Apollo Creed had no children in the original Rocky films, and yet the premise for Creed perfectly fits in with the franchise’s underlying themes of rising up from nothing. Michael B. Jordan steps into the title role as Adonis “Donnie” Creed, the illegitimate son of Apollo, who never knew his father before he passed. The weight of that legacy is a lot for Donnie to handle while following in his father’s footsteps, especially without a corner man he can trust.
That’s where Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) reenters the story. As Apollo Creed’s form rival-turned-best friend, Rocky feels a fatherly bond towards Donnie. He’ll be in Donnie’s corner, but Rocky needs his own corner guy when facing a health battle that he may not win.
Creed is streaming on Prime Video.
