Congratulations everyone, we’ve almost made it through the worst of winter (for those of us on the East Coast) and have finally reached February. However, something looms ahead that’s arguably more dreaded than sore throats and blizzards combined: Valentine’s Day breakups. While movies could help you escape the cold by giving you good reason to stay curled up inside on the couch, they don’t do much to help some of you escape that impending breakup you don’t see coming.
So for those that are about to embark on single life and just don’t know it yet, here are 10 good movies you can watch on Amazon Prime this month. I promise they’ll take your mind off her or him.
Pick of the Month:
What more can be said about a movie so iconic? With the Coen brother’s latest caper Hail Caeser! hitting theaters this Friday, it’s only appropriate to highlight one of the most lauded and popular movies of their illustrious career; a dark tale about murder and scheming in the frigid American north. 1996’s Fargo is classic Coen brothers fare and arguably their most balanced, with their black humor juxtaposed against grisly violence satisfyingly well.
Frequent Coen-collaborator Frances McDormand plays a pregnant Minnesota police officer who investigates a seemingly random roadside murder, only to discover it was a damning mishap apart of a larger, already-unraveling ransom plot involving a desperate car salesman (William H. Macy), his wealthy father-in-law (Harve Presnell), and the two ruthless criminals Macy hired, both played exceptionally well by Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare. This is one hell of an entertaining movie—at once funny, peculiar, and violent. While it may not be appropriate for Valentine’s Day, it nonetheless suits a dark, cold, February night.
Denis Villeneuve is a director whose work I can’t get enough of and if you enjoy mind-bending and complex stories, he’s your man. 2014 saw the release of his Jake Gyllenhaal-starring psychological thriller Enemy, which is one of his smaller but heady films. While smaller in scale than his other works Prisoners and Sicario, Enemy’s ideas are larger in ambiguity. Adapted from José Saramago’s novel “The Double”, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a college professor who discovers his dopplegänger, and I’m going to leave it at that because despite the simplicity of the premise, Villeneuve turns the story into something complex enough to truly rack your brain. It’s an uncomfortable movie—eerie and subdued until the final terrifying moment that still gives me chills.
Hands-down one of the best documentaries of 2015, Amy is a must-watch and not just for fans of its titular subject. If you’re familiar with Amy Winehouse’s rise to fame, cut short by her downward spiral driven by drug addiction, then you already know her story doesn’t have a happy ending. Despite it being a tragic cautionary tale, as well as a damning look at her not-so remarkable support system, Amy is a heartfelt, even joyful celebration of such an exceptional talent and also the most intimate examination into her life, accomplishments, and struggles we’ve seen.
“You’re so money, baby.” If that line sounds familiar but you can’t quite remember where it comes from, it’s 1996’s Swingers, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Doug Liman, and starring Favreau and Vince Vaughn in two of their earlier roles. Swingers has developed into something of a cult-classic for its endearing and funny depiction of two friends—Mike, a struggling comedian (Favreau) and Trent (Vaugn), an aspiring actor—who get out of opportunity-less Los Angeles and head to Las Vegas for a night to get Mike’s mind off his ex-girlfriend. The best thing Swingers has going for it though is, quite simply, it’s realness.
We have all at some point been the mopey struggling comedian going through a bad breakup and at other times we’ve all been the aspiring actor who’s enjoying life and being cool, but at the expense of growing up. And somewhere while going through those motions, we’ve all for a night or two escaped whatever dead end place we were living to go experience something momentarily better that could possibly lead to something revelatory or life-affirming. Throw in all the great one-liners and tirades, comedic bits, and blunt depiction of a dreary, hopeless Los Angeles and you’ve got a very satisfying cocktail of a movie with both a brain and heart.
To anyone who scoffs at Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City and declares it an exercise in all style and no substance, you may be partly correct but that doesn’t mean it isn’t one wildly fun, visually awesome ride. It’s a shame its sequel didn’t work out quite as well, but Sin City remains a stylish neo-noir adapted from the graphic novels of the same name. It’s dark and violent, and maybe a little too self-indulgent, but its gritty story and shadowy world made up of simultaneously imaginative and despicable cops, gangs, psychopaths, and prostitutes begs for your immersion for two hours. Also, even if all the gory violence and detestable acts make you wince, the black-and-white fully digital look of the movie is sure to widen your eyes and impress.
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