November means the holidays are on the horizon, and with them comes more time off to do what we love most: watch movies. Amazon Prime Video keeps an impressive rotation going, so I’ve selected some winners for you to pair with your popcorn this week.
First, we’re engaging in some stand-up comedy with one of my favorite comics, then we’re back-tracking to the eighties to have breakfast with the coolest group of high school kids on the planet. After that, it’s sci-fi time with an alien investigation flick, followed by a sword-and-sandal epic and a new Amazon Original featuring Mr. Funky Bunch himself, Mark Wahlberg.
These are the five movies you have to watch on Prime Video this week.
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Tom Segura: Completely Normal (2014)
Anytime I sit down to watch stand-up comedian Tom Segura, I’m never disappointed. I love the deadpan sarcasm with which he delivers his stories as much as I do his low-key approach to, well, everything.
In his 2014 special, Tom Segura: Completely Normal, the cool comic gets vulnerable and opens up about his hobbies and his digestive ailments, while also sharing with us his nonchalant appraisals of hotels. He also gives his thoughts on a certain type of reality television and on being a good Samaritan. You’ll be giggling at his unique style of entertainment, which will surely put you in a chill state of mind and leave you with a fresh perspective. Segura has plenty more specials available on the platform, so be sure to check those out if you dig his style.
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The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Breakfast Club was pretty much every Gen-Xer’s anthem growing up, and for good reason. It’s a timeless classic that continues carrying social relevance, and it features some of the most quotable dialogue not just of the eighties but in cinematic history.
The iconic John Hughes film takes us back to school and is set in the one place every kid hates: Saturday detention in the library. Yawn. The comedy-drama follows five high school kids—all from different walks of life—as they find themselves stuck in detention all day together, as the focus of a stern, power-hungry principal. Once they get past their hard social lines, they slowly reveal their true selves to each other and change each other’s perspectives and perceptions forever. In finding themselves, they also find their boundaries and are able to unify as one, despite their differences.
Trust me: You want to spend time in detention with star athlete Andrew (Emilio Estevez, of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers), high school bully John Bender (Judd Nelson, of South of Hope Street), social princess Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald, of Riverdale), class brainiac Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall, of Reacher), and outcast loner Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy, of Single Drunk Female). The Breakfast Club is, without a doubt, one of the best movies of all time.
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Watch the Skies (2025)
If you’re seeking an intriguing mystery that’s also a mind-blowing ride, look no further. Watch the Skies is a sci-fi mystery thriller wrapped in a wild adventure full of twists and turns. Set in 1990s Sweden, the narrative follows a rebellious teenage girl named Denise (Inez Dahl Torhaug) who grew up in the foster system after her UFO-hunting father disappeared.
After an unexpected event occurs in her town, Denise becomes determined to find the truth about what really happened to her father, so she starts digging. Her belief that he was abducted by aliens leads her right to the door of UFO Sweden, a group of quirky investigators who worked with her father the night he vanished. They agree to work with her to discover the truth, but in the process, they uncover an even bigger mystery that should be utterly impossible. In Watch the Skies, found footage meets found family, and you will be left breathless, entertained, and completely stunned.
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Gladiator II (2024)
A wildly action-packed sword-and-sandal epic full of gladiators, seduction, betrayal, and bloodsport? Yes, please, but scoot over, because I want the middle seat.
Gladiator II is the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000), whose story picks up over a decade after the original film’s events. The sequel brings us right back to the arena of blood and sand as we follow the story of Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal, of All of Us Strangers), son of Gladiator’s Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) and grandson of the late Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
After his mother sent him away as a child to the northern coast of Africa in order to protect him from Rome, Lucius is taken captive 15 years later by soldiers unaware of his identity. Now a prisoner, he’s forced to fight for his life in Rome’s gladiatorial arena. What they don’t know, though, is that Lucius is willing to do anything to get revenge against the Roman Empire. As luck would have it, his athletic skill and inherent rage are soon spotted by the former gladiator turned powerbroker called Macrinus (Denzel Washington), and conspiracy brews when he uses Lucius as a weapon to start a much-desired revolution.
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Play Dirty (2025)
Based on Donald E. Westlake’s series of Parker novels about a hardened career criminal and master thief, Play Dirty is a comedy-action heist thriller that’s also Amazon’s latest original movie.
In this 90s throwback adaptation, Mark Walberg stars as Parker and LaKeith Stanfield (The Changeling) is Philly—both are professional thieves. When they lead a heist at a racetrack count room and the you-know-what hits the fan, the two find themselves in the last place they’d ever want to be: pitted against the New York mob.
Expect to be entertained by this plot to bring down a dictator, which does feature its fair share of amusement in between its violently imaginative scenes. It also boasts a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Keegan-Michael Key (Only Murders in the Building), Thomas Jane (Troppo), Tony Shaloub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Rosa Salazar (Upload), Natt Wolf (The Stand), and Chukwudi Iwuji (The Day of the Jackal).
Prime Video also has great new movies joining its roster this month, so be sure to check those out, or just come back next week for my next round of movie suggestions. I’m more than happy to do the hard work and narrow down some choices for you.
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