Last month, you probably watched the new Christmas movie Candy Cane Lane with Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross on Amazon Prime Video. Or maybe you decided to watch something non-holiday themed, like the intense movie Copshop or the comedy 17 Again. This month, it’s time to start fresh. What movie should you watch?
Sure, you can choose from a high-profile title like Everything Everywhere All At Once or Air. But if you want something that you can call your own little hidden gem to share with friends and family members at the next gathering, look to these three underrated movies on Prime Video you need to watch in January.
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)
A historical comedy-drama based on a screenplay, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris stars Lesley Manville as Mrs. Ada Harris, a widowed cleaning lady who becomes obsessed with a haute couture Dior dress one of her clients has. Such an extravagant piece of clothing is out of Mrs. Harris’s budget. That is until she receives the pension from her widowed husband. She decides she deserves to treat herself and heads to Paris to find a Dior dress of her own.
Set in London in 1957, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris received rave reviews, with critics calling it a charming, old-fashioned story. The film is the third adaptation of the Paul Gallico novel Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris. It earned a Golden Globe nomination for Manville and an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design.
Stream Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris on Prime Video.
The Vast of Night (2019)
Set in the 1950s in New Mexico and loosely based on the Kecksburg UFO incident and disappearances in Foss Lake, The Vast of Night is about a young switchboard operator and radio DJ who discover a strange audio frequency. They realize it could actually be coming from extraterrestrial beings.
A sci-fi mystery, The Vast of Night has been praised for its performances, direction, cinematography, and authenticity to the subject material. It was the debut film for director Andrew Patterson, who also co-produced and wrote the movie (using a pseudonym for the latter). He is working on his second project, The Rivals of Amaziah King, which is set to star Matthew McConaughey and Kurt Russell.
Stream The Vast of Night on Prime Video.
You Were Never Really Here (2017)
Has Joaquin Phoenix ever made a bad movie? The Joker actor stars in You Were Never Really Here, a neo-noir crime psychological thriller based on the Jonathan Ames novel of the same name. Phoenix plays Joe, a traumatized mercenary who is hired by a politician to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Joe is given carte blanche to decimate the human trafficking network by any means necessary.
Not surprisingly, Phoenix is a stand-out in the movie, which is described as being deeply intense, the entire way through. As far as hitman thrillers go, You Were Never Really Here is up there among the best. Yet it’s sorely underrated and worth a watch.
Stream You Were Never Really Here on Prime Video.
