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It’s the weekend and that means it’s time to make a date with your TV and some of the best new movies on Prime Video. On this page we’ve picked out three terrific films in a range of genres. From a brash new comedy to an action remake, and one of the most unsettling films of the last few years, there’s something for every taste here.
The Running Man speeds onto Prime Video this week. The film underperformed at the box office, but it’s a good action flick and very worth your time. We’ve followed that up with Jonathan Glazer’s haunting The Zone of Interest. Finally, we’ve picked out the latest comedy from Peter Farrelly.
The Running Man
Available: US
Edgar Wright directs this fun remake of the 1987 action classic. Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, a working joe whose daughter is sick. Unable to afford the treatments she needs, he signs up for The Running Man – a deadly high stakes game show where he could win $1 billion, but only if he can survive 30 days while being tracked by elite hunters, as well as murderous citizens.
This is a less gloriously OTT than the Arnie-starring original, but Wright’s film hews a little closer to the satirical intent of the original Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) source material. It’s engaging action fun with a delicious dose of black humor.
Watch The Running Man.
Balls Up
Available: US/UK
Mark Wahlberg stars in this new r-rated comedy from There’s Something About Mary co-director Peter Farrelly. Wahlberg plays slick marketing executive Brad, who is tasked with saving his failing company. Product designer Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser) has come up with a radical new prophylactic that Brad must try and promote as the official condom of the forthcoming World Cup. Things don’t exactly go to plan, with Brad and Elijah eventually finding themselves trapped in Brazil, and in an awful lot of trouble.
Yes, it’s incredibly juvenile nonsense, but there’s some sharp zingers and Wahlberg makes for a solid comedy straight man. If you’re a fan of Farrelly’s previous work you’ll likely get a kick out of this.
Watch Balls Up.
The Zone of Interest
Available: US
This haunting film drops onto Prime Video on Sunday and while it’s a tough watch it nevertheless comes highly recommended. Directed by Jonathan Glazer and loosely inspired by Martin Amis’s novel, it follows the life of Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz, and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller). The film documents their seemingly idyllic home life next to the camp where an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered by the Nazis.
Glazer’s film is stark and powerful, the seeming mundanity of the Höss’s lives drawing attention to the horror that we know is happening just out of shot. It’s a deeply upsetting film, but an important one.
Streaming from April 19 on Prime Video.
Will Salmon
Recommendations for what to watch on Prime Video this weekend have come via Will Salmon, GamesRadar’s Streaming Editor. Will has been writing about film and TV for the last 20 years in the pages of SFX magazine and online here and loves mystery, sci-fi, and horror series in particular. If you still need a hand with what to watch this weekend, here’s a little quiz to help:
