The best movies on Amazon Prime Video (May 2025)

Hawthorn is one of the most exclusive restaurants in the world in The Menu. It’s nearly impossible to get into without a reservation and a trip to its remote location. Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) got in because of her date, Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult), but always with the idea that she could go home again.

Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) and the Hawthorn staff have something else in mind. Each guest has been specifically chosen for a night of torment and avant-garde dishes. Margot is the only one who really calls Slowik out on his baloney. However, her fate is still in his hands, even though she wasn’t supposed to be there.

Shia LaBeouf has one of his most moving performances in The Peanut Butter Falcon, which casts him as a crab catcher named Tyler. After literally burning his bridges with his former colleagues, Tyler hides out in the wilderness for their retribution. That’s where he meets Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young man with Down syndrome who is also on the run after escaping a facility.

Zak and Tyler emotionally bond, and they decide to stick together to help the former achieve his dream of learning how to wrestle under the legendary Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), the woman in charge of Zak’s medical care, pursues the duo because she truly cares about Zak’s well-being. And when she sees how well Zak and Tyler are together, she has to question whether bringing Zak home is the right move.

Alfonso Cuarón is one hell of a director, which is why it’s shocking he’s only helmed one other movie since winning an Oscar for Gravity. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney aren’t the only actors who appear in the film, but they are the ones who are the most important for the story. And Bullock carries most of the movie on her shoulders.

Astronaut Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is on her first mission in space with Lieutenant Matt Kowalski (Clooney) when disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalski trapped on a spacewalk with dwindling air and no way to communicate with Earth. They don’t have time to wait for a miracle to save them, and it may take some hard choices just for a chance to survive.

The pope is dead in Conclave, meaning his successor must be chosen. Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), the dean of the College of Cardinals, will oversee the election of the next pope. And it’s more than just a choice between the four major candidates. Whoever is chosen will shape the future of the Catholic Church itself.

The election may take place behind closed doors in Vatican City, but the secrets that emerge could end the careers of some and potentially spark more scandal in the church. There’s a surprising amount of intrigue in the selection process, and the film also boasts a stellar supporting cast that includes Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini.

Have you ever wondered why so many horror films have such similar setups? The Cabin in the Woods offers an explanation, which we won’t spoil here. It’s enough to say that five young men and women — Dana Polk (Kristen Connolly), Curt Vaughan (Chris Hemsworth), Jules Louden (Anna Hutchison), Marty Mikalski (Fran Kranz), and Holden McCrea (Jesse Williams) — find their weekend getaway in the woods transformed into something malevolent.

Some of the friends even find their own personalities changing to better fit the horror scenario playing out in front of them. Fighting those changes and even surviving the initial threats against them may only make things worse. 

It only took 24 years for a sequel to Gladiator to reach theaters. Russell Crowe’s character remains dead, but Lucius Verus Aurelius (Paul Mescal) carries on the tradition of losing his family and being sold into slavery in Gladiator II. Connie Nielsen reprises her role as Lucilla from the first film, and she was the one who sent Lucius away for his own safety.

In Lucius’ absence, Rome is ruled by not one but two mad emperors: Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). As Lucius climbs the ranks of the gladiators, a former slave named Macrinus (Denzel Washington) wants to use him to get the emperors out of the way. But Lucius is his own man, like his father before him.

Action hero Presidents aren’t a new thing, but Viola Davis’ character in G20 might be the first female action hero president. As far as President Danielle Sutton (Davis) knew, this year’s G20 summit in South Africa was supposed to be an ordinary meeting of leaders from across the globe.

The Boys‘ Antony Starr co-stars in the film as Rutledge, the leader of the terrorists who take the security team by surprise and capture the world leaders. President Sutton manages to get free. And if she wants to save her family and her fellow leaders, then she’ll need to get her hands dirty and do it herself.

Scream‘s Melissa Barrera reunites with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett for Abigail, a film that is very much unlike her previous genre movies. Barrera plays Joey, a military veteran who has hit hard times. That’s why she agreed to work with Frank (Dan Stevens) and a group of other criminals to kidnap a young girl named Abigail (Alisha Weir).

Joey tries to form a connection with Abigail to assure the young girl that she will remain safe before learning that the latter is the daughter of a dangerous crime lord, Kristof Lazaar (Matthew Goode). However, the greatest threat to the kidnappers is Abigail herself, because she’s more than she appears to be. When Abigail strikes, it’s lethal.

For his first directorial effort after helming the initial Quiet Place films, John Krasinski went in a completely different direction with the more family-friendly IF. That title is also the abbreviation for Imaginary Friends, all of whom are creatures that defy reality’s conventions. A young girl named Bea (Cailey Fleming) doesn’t initially know what to think when she encounters IFs like Blue (Steve Carell) and Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).

Fortunately, Bea’s neighbor, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), can see IFs. It’s his job to help them find new children to befriend after their previous kids were separated from them. Bea gets roped into helping Cal, but her solution to the IF problem is even more bold than his. Yet, it’s still going to take a lot of work to pull off, imaginary or not.

Dune: Part Two star Florence Pugh sheds all aspects of her MCU Black Widow role as a broken young woman in A Good Person. Zach Braff wrote and directed the film, which casts Pugh as Allison, a woman who was once engaged to her high school boyfriend, Nathan (Chinaza Uche). But shortly after her engagement, Allison causes a car accident that claims the lives of Nathan’s sister, Molly (Nichelle Hines), and her husband, Jesse (Toby Onwumere).

One year later, Allison is attempting to kick her addiction to painkillers when she reunites with Nathan and Molly’s father, Daniel (Morgan Freeman). As Daniel attempts to forgive Allison, they reenter each other’s lives and she tries to make amends with Ryan (Celeste O’Connor), the daughter that Molly and Jesse left behind.

Christopher Nolan made his name in Hollywood with Memento, a brilliantly twisted story that is told out of order. L.A. Confidential’s Guy Pearce stars as Leonard Shelby, a man who is out to avenge the murder of his wife. The problem is that Leonard can’t make any new long-term memories, which is why his body is covered with tattoos designed to lead him to his wife’s killer.

Every face Leonard sees is the face of a stranger, so each time he meets Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), he’s unsure of who he can trust. And everyone who knows about Leonard’s condition takes advantage of it, including Leonard himself.