The Best of 2020 So Far: Amazon Prime
2 shows and 2 movies
Dear friends,
This is a second yearly recap for those of you who have more time to watch streaming than earlier in the year. This one is for Amazon Prime.
2 shows and 2 movies, all streaming on Amazon Prime U.S.. Unfortunately, since Amazon is more restrictive with geographic availability, only The Farewell is available on Amazon Prime Canada.
Best of 2020: Escape at Dannemora
On Amazon Prime U.S.. 🍅 rating: 89%.
This TV show is based on the true story of a dramatic escape from a prison in Upstate New York. Patricia Arquette as a prison employee, and Benicio Del Toro and Paul Dano as the inmates who escape, are an unbelievable trio.
Arquette is almost unrecognizable in the role of a frustrated middle-aged woman who gets romantically involved with the inmates. Dano plays the young one, a smart but quickly excited guy. Del Toro plays an experienced, clever, boss-type prisoner.
Best of 2020: Counterpart
On Amazon Prime U.S.. 🍅 rating: 100%.
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) plays two characters in Counterpart, which could seem like a recipe for disaster (cf. Gemini Man). But watching this excellent thriller it’s easy to understand why so many actors take the risk to play two characters: when it pays off, it pays off big time.
And what better setting to risk it than playing two completely different personalities: Counterpart is about a world that is parallel to ours. There are two versions of each one of us, living in separate and different timelines. The link between the timelines is in Berlin, both Simmons characters (Simmonses?) work in the institution that manages this bridge.
Best of 2020: Honey Boy
On Amazon Prime U.S. 🍅 rating: 94%.
There is so much power to this story based actor Shia Laboeuf’s childhood. While filming popular shows like Even Stevens, he lived on the road with his dad, a war veteran and recovering alcoholic, who suffered from anger issues that would in turn cause Shia to suffer from PTSD.
Putting Laboeuf’s fame aside, this story is universally recognizable in its portrayal of emotionally abusive parent-child relationships. With Shia Laboeuf as his father, Lucas Hedges as current-day Laboeuf and FKA Twigs in a supporting role.
Best of 2020: The Farewell
On Amazon Prime U.S. and Canada. 🍅 rating: 98%.
This story of strong family bonds was one of the best movies of the past year and having missed the Oscars (except in embroidery), it was one of the biggest snubs of the awards.
The Farewell is based on the true story of a grandma who gets diagnosed with a fatal disease and her family who keeps that information from her. They organize a fake wedding in China where she lives to say goodbye.
That’s it for today, I hope one of these is for you.
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Talk soon,
Bilal
I think sending them out more often is better, unless there’s nothing worth updating.