Prime Day is here again, but the best value at Amazon is its Prime Video streaming service.
For a reasonable price, you can stream Hollywood’s biggest hits of the past and present.
The broadcaster recently added a few more inspirational titles in June, with an action horror film, Escape Roomat the top of our list of hobbies.
Watch With Us also recommends checking out this ’90s action thriller Unseen Jackalstarring Bruce Willis and Richard Gereand an Oscar-winning ’60s musical West Side Story.
‘The Jackal’ (1997)
Richard Gere in Jackal.
EverettThe international artist known only as Jackal (Bruce Willis) is the best at everything he does. When the FBI receives a tip that he’s been hired to kill a well-known unknown American, they need to act fast before the Jackal strikes. Desperate, they turn to jailed IRA gunman Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere), who says he knows the Jackal – and how to get him out. Declan will help the FBI find his man so he can be freed, but the Jackal isn’t about to be caught, and will take down Declan and anyone else who gets in his way.
Hollywood remake of the 1973 classic thriller It’s a day of celebration, Jackal it is less political than its predecessor and places more emphasis on action. The result is a pretty basic movie that involves one man chasing another for most of the picture. It works, though, because Willis is terrifyingly good as the titular eponymous henchman, and the supporting cast is classic, including Oscar winners. Sidney Poitier again JK Simmonsit gives the film a surprising intensity that it would have lacked. If you can get past casting the suave American Gere as a tough and righteous Irish gangster (!), you’ll be in for a treat Jackal in all its simple charms.
Jackal is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Escape Room’ (2019)
Taylor Russell, Jay Ellis, Logan Miller, Tyler Labine in Escape Room
David Bloomer / © Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett CollectionSix strangers from Chicago are brought together to play a mystery game: if they can escape the different themed escape rooms, they will win $10,000. That is a gift too tempting not to accept, so they all eagerly accept the challenge. But what they don’t know before starting the game is that if they fail, they will die. And to make matters worse, these escape rooms are designed in such a way that no one can solve them – or escape with their lives intact.
Followers of Saw the franchise will have a lot to enjoy Escape Roomwhich puts its characters in similarly detailed situations that almost always end in tragic death. Escape Room it is nothing more or less than a horror film designed to confuse and gag you. But it works, and the various deadly escape rooms, including an upside-down billiards room that would have made MC Escher proud, are a sight to behold. The film has released a sequel, in 2021 Escape Room: Tournament of Championsbut it repeats the first film to little effect.
Escape Room is streaming on Prime Video.
West Side Story (1961)
Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno in ‘West Side Story.’
Mirisch-7 Arts/United Artists/Kobal/ShutterstockSome classics never go out of style, either West Side Story you are one of them. The 1961 movie musical, based on the popular 1957 Broadway show, was remade by. Steven Spielberg in 2021, but not beyond the original. Then again, is there a movie?
If you are educated William Shakespeare‘s Romeo and JulietYou probably know the story: a boy and a girl from rival camps fall in love, and disaster results. In this case, the boy, Tony (Richard Beymer), is a reluctant member of the gang, the Jets, and the girl, Maria (Natalie Wood), has friends and family who are members of the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. Neither of them likes the idea of Tony and Maria getting together, and they will do anything to separate the two lovers.
That “anything” includes singing and dancing, and if you think the idea of gang wars performed as a musical is funny, you need to see some Broadway shows. Some classic Hollywood musicals like My Fair Lady can feel on stage too and wooden, but this West Side Story you feel important and alive. Director Jerome Robbins it features more dance sequences, and looks and feels more modern than the ’21 remake. With popular songs like “Tonight” and “Somewhere” on the soundtrack, West Side Story your feet will move and your vocal cords will sing. It is one of the very few old musicals that can be considered as timeless and relevant today as it was all those decades ago.
West Side Story is streaming on Prime Video.
