What’s New to Stream on Amazon Prime for June 2023

Crossing the Streams is our series of guides looking at all the offerings hitting the big streaming services each month. This time we’re checking out what’s new to streaming on Amazon Prime in June 2023, including Kevin Costner’s Open Range, a handful of remakes, and more!

Prime Pick of the Month for June 2023

Regular readers of these columns know that there are a handful of films that I will celebrate and champion again and again. Kevin Costner’s Open Range (2003) is one such gem, and sadly, it’s still his last feature as director. The guy made three movies — 1990’s Dances with Wolves remains a fantastic film despite revisionist efforts to knock it, 1997’s The Postman remains a misfire for numerous reasons including that it’s basically a post-apocalyptic remake of his earlier film — and Open Range is his masterpiece. The western takes all the expected beats from the subgenre regarding honor, greed, reluctant gunslingers, and more and delivers an immensely satisfying look at the people who called the frontier home. Costner stars, but he cedes the spotlight to Robert Duvall’s older, wiser cowboy hesitant to get his hands dirty once more in a fight over land. The character work is stellar, the cinematography is beautiful, and the violence, when it comes, is electric and immensely satisfying.

Remakes! Remakes! Remakes!

Some people like to immediately snap back at remake announcements, but if they’re being honest, they know that remakes aren’t inherently bad. There are tons of great ones out there, with some even improving on the previous films. Three remakes are hitting Prime this month, and while none of them surpass their predecessors, they each have something to offer viewers. First up is Jean-Francois Richet’s Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) which makes enough changes from John Carpenter’s masterpiece to feel like its own film. They don’t all work — switching the attackers to corrupt cops is fine, but explaining to those inside the precinct why they’re under attack takes away from the moral quandaries — but Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne make it worth a watch.

James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma (2007) is really more of a new adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s story than a remake of the 1957 film, but just roll with it. The film is a meaty affair that sees Christian Bale’s honest rancher tasked with escorting outlaw Russell Crowe to justice, and the two actors do fantastic work as the mind games escalate to physical violence. It’s all a bit too much, though, as additional plot elements are added pushing the run time past two hours where the first film hits its beats at a tight ninety minutes. Still, big-budget westerns are a rarity, and this is a good one more than worth the time investment watching great talents go head to head.

And then there’s Scott Derrickson’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). As with Richet above, Derrickson was fighting an uphill battle remaking a stone-cold classic from a master — in this case, Robert Wise’s 1951 original — and the result is a mixed bag that’s not all that good while also being nowhere near the disaster that its reputation suggests. Keanu Reeves headlines as the visiting alien, and he’s not quite in sync with the character. Worse, the relationship angle between Jennifer Connelly and her kid takes precedence over the film’s messaging to the detriment of the finale. It’s fine, but this being Hollywood in the 2000s it’s turned into a big, noisy, CG-filled set-piece instead of the emotionally powerful one from the original.

An Edgar Wright Mini-Marathon!

Some directors reach a point where it’s clear they’re done — they may still be making movies, but expectations have dropped so low that it’s almost preferable to think they haven’t. Cameron Crowe, John Carpenter… fantastic directors responsible for some absolute masterpieces, but their last few movies? Eh. Edgar Wright hasn’t reached that point yet, but it’s been a decade since his last banger. Happily, he made more than a few, and thanks to Prime you can now watch three of them back to back. First up is perhaps his most popular film, Shaun of the Dead (2004). I may not love it like the rest of you, but it’s still a fun and bloody zom-com that’s become a beloved, highly quotable good time.

For my money, though, Hot Fuzz (2007) remains Wright’s slice of perfection. It’s endlessly hilarious, even on multiple rewatches, with a combination of sharp wit and broad gags that never fail to delight. The film is a riff on action cinema, Hollywood action in particular, and it embraces the extravagance of it all with both love and laughter for the genre. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are at their best here with banter and reactions that rival the best comedy teams. The laughs keep coming even as Wright delivers some thrilling action beats with the boys tracking down a crazed killer in the small English hamlet. It’s a movie that keeps on giving every time.

One of the more misunderstood films in Wright’s filmography, The World’s End (2013), is a sci-fi/action/comedy with some seriously dark undertones. A group of friends attempts a pub crawl that sees them bump up against an alien invasion, but while the action and laughs are on point, there’s a grim commentary at play on narcissism, addiction, and the limits of friendship. It riles some viewers the wrong way, particularly Pegg’s character, but if you’re on its wavelength, the results are spectacular.

Great Movies, Wholly Unrelated!

You shouldn’t need me to sell you on any of these final films, but just in case… Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960) has a lot going on at once. There are laughs here courtesy of the great Jack Lemmon, but there’s also a hefty dose of pathos as his arc becomes clearer. He’s an office schlub who starts loaning out his apartment to executives for hanky panky in the hopes it’ll get him promotions, but when he falls for one of the women (Shirley MacLaine) being wooed, he’s forced to make some tough calls. It’s funny, sad, and a real emotional ride.

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974), by contrast, is just flat-out funny. The western spoof has stood the test of time with its endless parade of sight gags, dialogue exchanges, and rip-roaring slams against racists. It’s often referenced as a movie “you couldn’t make today,” and to an extent that’s true, but the reason is that this kind of talent pool just isn’t around anymore. Brooks, Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Slim Pickens, Dom DeLuise, and more? Just a classic lineup from top to bottom. Related, Brooks delivered Young Frankenstein that same year, and honestly that’s a double-hitter on par with the likes of Steven Spielberg releasing both Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in 1993.

The laughs continue with Dan O’Bannon’s The Return of the Living Dead (1985), a horror/comedy that posits itself as a direct sequel to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) that really isn’t. A group of punk friends wanders into a cemetery with the misfortune of timing their party to the rise of hungry corpses, and the result is flesh-eating carnage paired with laughs big and small. The film is one of only two directorial features from the late O’Bannon, but his fingerprints are across numerous genre favorites including Alien (1979), Dead & Buried (1981), Lifeforce (1985), Total Recall (1990), and more.

Finally, while the films above are all widely available on physical media, James Cameron’s True Lies (1994) has yet to see a domestic Blu-ray release. There’s a Spanish one floating about, but its legitimacy is suspect (even if it looks fine). So, for now, at least, streaming is the way most people will get to revisit or even discover this action/comedy gem. Sure, some of it is dated — but guess what, it’s nearly thirty years old! — but the action remains a masterclass in excitement and set-piece execution.

The Complete Prime List for June 2023

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