Although Amazon’s video push began as a place to purchase and watch movies and TV shows, it eventually embraced unlimited, buffet-style streaming for a single monthly fee. The streamer offers excellent original content, including Bosch, The Boys, Catastrophe, Electric Dreams, Fallout, Fleabag, Invincible, Jack Ryan, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. In addition, Amazon is working on adaptations of acclaimed video games Disco Elysium and God of War. Although it’s not as large as HBO Max’s or Netflix’s collections, many original shows are on par in terms of quality. Naturally, you can view more than Amazon’s original shows on Prime Video, including The Americans, Chuck, Burn Notice, Hannibal, and Mr. Robot, at no additional cost.
Prime Video’s library also includes a rotating library of popular movies, plus a surprising number of classic films. Like Netflix, it also produces original movies, including Blow the Man Down, The Big Sick, Honey Boy, Manchester by the Sea, My Spy, The Report, Troop Zero, and The Vast of Night. Many of these movies have not fared as well as Netflix’s The Irishman, El Camino, or Roma, but Sound of Metal won an Academy Award.
Video Streaming Services: What You Should Know
Amazon owns MGM, expanding MGM+ and Prime Video’s movie libraries. This means that Amazon is the rare streaming video service that lets you rent or buy MGM movies currently in theaters (like Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice). Dedicated movie streaming services tend to offer more curated selections of titles, along with supporting content. The Criterion Channel and Mubi are both excellent options for cinephiles.
Amazon has cranked out original documentaries over the years; among them are All In: The Fight for Democracy, a documentary about voter suppression, and Citizenfour, which covers NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Lower-budget documentaries about spirituality and non-traditional medicine, such as Food as Medicine, round out its library.
Prime Video offers a good range of animated kids’ shows, though the adult-themed Invincible is perhaps the service’s most high-profile cartoon. Like anime? Crunchyroll is the Editors’ Choice winner for anime video streaming services, thanks to its massive library of series and films (though Hulu and Netflix offer some anime titles, too). Netflix has many animated originals, such as Bojack Horseman and Disenchantment.
