There are few times of the year when you want to be inside more than during the dead of winter. It’s cold, the days are short, and the best way to while away your time is by sitting down and watching something great on TV.
If you’ve already made your way through all of the obviously great stuff on Prime Video, though, there are still some wonderful options for you to explore that may have flown under the radar. These are five underrated titles on the streaming service that are perfect for the cold days of winter.
Blow the Man Down (2019)
Telling the story of two sisters who work to cover up a grisly crime they’ve committed, Blow the Man Down feels like a lost Coen brothers movie. As the sisters travel deeper into the heart of the town they’ve called home their whole lives, they discover that there’s plenty of rot hidden below the surface of their small fishing village.
Featuring plenty of great sea shanties, stunning outdoor photography, and cozy knitwear, Blow the Man Down is a perfect crime thriller for anyone dealing with the persistent cold that comes with winter.
After Yang (2022)
A tender, moving examination of what it means to lead a full life, After Yang is set in a future in which AI humans are a regular part of many families. When one family’s AI, Yang, breaks down, the entire family is left to consider the role that Yang played in their family.
As the family explores his past, and how reliant they had become on him, they come to appreciate that he had lived a much fuller life than any of them had ever realized. The Batman‘s Colin Farrell delivers one of the most delicate performances of his career here, and After Yang is set in the kind of beautiful, strange future that we don’t get enough of in our sci-fi movies.
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Perhaps the most underrated animated trilogy in the genre’s history, How to Train Your Dragon is a story of friendship and grace that features some beautiful animation, a heart-pounding story, and one of the best scores you’re ever likely to hear.
Telling the story of Hiccup, an undersized Viking who discovers that the dragons his family has been fighting for decades are not the evil creatures he believed them to be, How to Train Your Dragon is really about the bond between one boy and the animal who comes to be his best friend. If you’ve ever had a dog, you’re probably going to weep your way through this one.
C’mon C’mon (2021)
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) often delivers pretty big performances, but in C’mon C’mon, we see him steer hard the other way. Telling the story of a soft-spoken radio journalist who suddenly finds himself tasked with caring for his nephew, C’mon C’mon is a brilliant examination of how much adults can learn from the kids around them.
While the movie is never heavy-handed or didactic, you constantly feel the way that the bond between these two characters deepens, so much so that you find yourself moved by the film’s final moments, even though nothing all that sad happens.
She Said (2022)
Telling the true story of the reporting work that Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor did to discover the extent of Harvey Weinstein’s criminal abuse, She Said is a riveting procedural that chronicles both reporters’ efforts to get sources on the record, even as they dealt with the strain that this story was putting on their personal lives.
She Said also doubles as a spotlight for the many victims of Weinstein, who remains almost entirely off-camera here. Instead, this movie is about the people he victimized, and the way those women have had to continue living with what he did to them.
