If you’ve noticed some really great stuff showing up when you browse the Amazon Prime Instant Video catalog lately, it may be because a bunch of popular and award-winning Miramax films have recently been added as Amazon Prime Instant Videos! Click here for more information about how to start a free, 30-day trial Amazon Prime membership.
Note: all movie descriptions are from IMDB.com.
Good Will Hunting (R, currently FREE for Prime members to view, currently priced at $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy)
A janitor at MIT, Will Hunting has a gift for math and chemistry that can take him light-years beyond his blue-collar roots, but he doesn’t realize his potential and can’t even imagine leaving his childhood Boston South End neighborhood, his construction job, or his best friend. To complicate matters, several strangers enter the equation: a brilliant math professor who discovers, even envies, Will’s gifts, an empathetic shrink who identifies with Will’s blue-collar roots, and a beautiful, gifted pre-med student who shows him, for the first time in his life, the possibility of love.
– Written by Damien Saunders
Amelie (R, currently FREE for Prime members to view, in French with English subtitles, currently priced at $1.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy)
Amélie tries to enrich the lives of those around her by weaving her special brand of mischievous magic. She befriends a neighbor who’s a shut-in, plays pranks on another neighbor, steals a garden gnome and returns objects she collects to their rightful owners. She romantically daydreams in the café she works at and marvels at life’s ironies.
One day she finds a small box containing a child’s mementos and decides to set about finding its rightful owner…will romance blossom for Amélie?
– Written by Mike
My Left Foot (R, currently FREE for Prime members to view, currently priced at $1.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy)
In this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be retarded for the first ten years of his life.
Later, through the help of his strong-willed mother, a dedicated teacher, and his own courage and determination, Christy not only learns to grapple with life’s simple physical tasks and complex psychological pains, but he also develops into a brilliant painter, poet and author.
– Written by David Mullich
Velvet Goldmine (R, currently FREE for Prime members to view, currently priced at $3.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy)
1971: Glamrock explodes all over the world and challenges the seriousness within the flowerpower generation by means of glitter and brutal music. Brian Slade, a young rockstar, inspires numerous teenage boys and girls to paint their nails and explore their own sexuality. In the end Slade destroys himself. Unable to escape the role he created for himself, he plots his own murder. When his fans discovers that the murder is a fake, his star falls and he is forgotten about.
1984: Arthur, a journalist working for a New York newspaper, gets assigned the story about the fake murder of Brian Slade. When Arthur was young and grew up in Manchester, he was more than a fan of Slade. Reluctantly he accepts the assignment and starts to investigate what happened his old glamrock hero.
– Written by Jack Fairy
Cinema Paradiso (PG, currently FREE for Prime members to view, currently priced at $1.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy)
A boy who grew up in a native Sicilian Village returns home as a famous director after receiving news about the death of an old friend. Told in a flashback, Salvatore reminiscences about his childhood and his relationship with Alfredo, a projectionist at Cinema Paradiso. Under the fatherly influence of Alfredo, Salvatore fell in love with film making, with the duo spending many hours discussing about films and Alfredo painstakingly teaching Salvatore the skills that became a stepping stone for the young boy into the world of film making. The film brings the audience through the changes in cinema and the dying trade of traditional film making, editing and screening. It also explores a young boy’s dream of leaving his little town to foray into the world outside.
– Written by Clarisse P.
There are many more great movies from Miramax in the collection: Click here to browse the full Miramax favorites collection, now available in the Amazon Prime Instant Video catalog.