While you probably sign up to Amazon Prime for the free next-day shipping or music streaming, Prime Video continues to be one of the best perks of the subscription, and that's been proven with its recent movie release slate.
In the last two weeks, Prime Video has added two of the highest-rated indie movies of 2024, both of which saw limited theatrical releases making them unseen gems for many people.
First was My Old Ass, released on Thursday, November 7. Starring Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella, this coming-of-age movie is about a teenager who takes drugs on her 18th birthday and hallucinates a meeting with a 39-year-old version of herself. This older woman gives her advice and guidance over a transformative summer.
My Old Ass first premiered at Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year, and Amazon (through its MGM Studios) quickly swooped in to buy the distribution rights. It was released in theaters in the US, but in most other countries its release was very limited, so Prime Video streaming the film gives many more people a change to watch it.
At the time of writing, My Old Ass sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the comedy premise and the surprising depth. In our My Old Ass review we called it a "a funny and touching movie".
The second movie is Kneecap, which was released on Prime Video more recently: Saturday, November 16. This too is a comedy, but quite a different one.
Kneecap is a biographical comedy movie about the real-life Irish-language rap trio Kneecap, starring the artists themselves as well as Josie Walker and Michael Fassbender.
Like My Old Ass, Kneecap premiered at Sundance Film Festival, and since then it's seen a theatrical release in the UK and Ireland as well as in the United States. The movie currently enjoys a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and critics love its energetic tone yet its commentary on the Irish language.
Kneecap isn't on Prime Video in the US, and it isn't actually streaming anywhere there, but elsewhere Amazon has it.
With Amazon's acquisition of MGM, the number of big theatrical or film festival movies coming to Prime Video has seen an impressive increase. Somber drama movie Nickel Boys and Chris Evans, Dwayne Johnson, Lucy Liu and J.K. Simmons Christmas action movie Red One are expected to hit Prime Video eventually, after their theatrical runs have concluded.
