Death is coming to movie theaters worldwide with the premiere of Final Destination: Bloodlines this weekend, but at Amazon Prime Video, it’s all about passion, robbers and tricking spoiled rich people into thinking they’re poor to teach them a lesson.
That’s what’s on deck for Prime Video subscribers this weekend. You don’t have to watch these underrated movies, of course, but why spend money to go out when you can stay in and watch these fun films?
After all, it’s hard to beat a lineup of movies that boasts such stars as Russell Crowe, Goldie Hawn, Rachel McAdams and Kurt Russell.
‘Robin Hood’ (2010)The Robin Hood legend has been told countless times before, and the best one is still the 1938 film adaptation with Errol Flynn as the outlaw hero and Olivia de Havilland as the fair Maid Marian. Ridley Scott’s 2010 interpretation comes awfully close, though, and that’s due to its action-heavy set pieces, confident direction and charismatic lead performances by Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.
Crowe’s Robin Hood is less heroic and more of a scoundrel in this version, but his heart is in the right place. Assuming the identity of a dead knight, Sir Robert Loxley (Douglas Hodge), Robin is coerced into maintaining the charade to protect Loxley’s ancestral land and his widow, Marian. But Robin’s past catches up with him, and he’s forced to fight an invading French army as well as the English King John (Oscar Isaac), who quickly sees Robin as a threat to his reign.
Robin Hood is streaming on Amazon Prime Video now.
‘Passion’ (2013)Brian De Palma is one of America’s best living directors, but his last good movie was released over a decade ago and was largely ignored. But Passion is just as good as the filmmaker’s classics like Dressed to Kill and Body Double, and it has all of his signature trademarks like split screens, double crosses and gratuitous sex scenes that make his movies so enjoyable to watch.
Christine Standford (Rachel McAdams) works closely with her protégé, Isabelle (Noomi Rapace), on a new marketing campaign for a smartphone. When Christine steals Isabelle’s idea and passes it off as her own, Isabelle doesn’t seem bothered by it. But when Christine is later found dead in her apartment, the police suspect Isabelle. Did she do it? Or is she being framed by Christine’s boyfriend, Dirk (Paul Anderson)? And what’s the deal with Dani (Karoline Herfurth), Christine’s assistant, who seems to know more than she should?
Passion is crazy in a good way, with a plot like a pretzel that ends in a way you’d least expect. McAdams feasts on a femme fatale role that makes Regina George look like a pussycat, and Rapace is inscrutable as a protagonist who isn’t all that reliable. Don’t ask for too much logic when watching Passion — instead, just sit back and watch a master of suspense work his magic.
Passion is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
‘Overboard’ (1987)
Almost 40 years ago, the reigning rom-com queen was Goldie Hawn, and she made one of her best movies in the genre with Overboard. She plays Joanna Stayton, a spoiled heiress who falls overboard from her marooned yacht and is rescued by her working-class carpenter, Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell). Joanna has amnesia, and since she didn’t get along with Dean in the past, he decides to punish her by deceiving her into thinking she’s his wife and the mother of his four sons. Soon, Joanna discovers a satisfying home life she never had, but will her philandering husband and oblivious mother ruin her second chance at happiness?
Is Overboard’s plot problematic? Hell, yes. But it helps that this is clearly a fantasy, and it doesn’t hurt that Hawn’s real-life partner, Kurt Russell, is playing a guy who would normally be arrested for kidnapping and mental cruelty for his actions. Overboard was directed by Garry Marshall, and the movie has his typical broad slapstick and sentimentality that made Pretty Woman such a winner three years later. Most importantly, the movie showcases Hawn’s talents as one of the most likable actresses of the 20th century, and its crude humor still works today.
Overboard is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
