What’s New to Stream on Prime for February 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 February 2023, including Downhill Racer, two Rambo films, a new Dave Franco directorial effort, and more!

Prime Pick of the Month for February 2023

Robert Redford and Gene Hackman are big names, but their single onscreen pairing is a film that doesn’t quite get the attention it deserves these days. Downhill Racer (1969) is a sports drama about downhill skiing with a focus on one talented athlete who’s recently joined the U.S. Olympic team. Redford is that athlete, a singularly focused man whose sole purpose is the descent, and Hackman is the team coach trying to hold them together and bring them to victory. Director Michael Ritchie resists the urge to make this a traditional sports movie, and instead, we spend a surprising amount of quiet time both on and off the slopes. It’s a film about the sporting mindset, the mental focus required to achieve greatness, and the toll it can sometimes take on the person striving for that greatness. This is a beautiful and compelling film, and it belongs in the rotation for sports movie fans.

A Prime Original I’m Recommending Despite Dave Franco’s Involvement

Look, I can’t explain it, but Dave Franco just grates me the wrong way. (James is obviously the true villain of the family, but I’m not letting Dave off the hook.) He’s recently made the jump into directing, and while I am no fan of his debut (The Rental, 2020), I’m hopeful about his follow-up. Somebody I Used to Know (premieres February 10th) once again stars Alison Brie, this time as the lead instead of part of an ensemble, as a young woman who returns to her hometown to discover truths about herself. It looks to be a rom-com, and thankfully Franco is keeping himself behind the camera. His absence won’t be felt as he’s wisely stacked the supporting players with talents like Kiersey Clemons, Jay Ellis, Danny Pudi (Community reunion!), Haley Joel Osment, and Julie Hagerty.

Horrors!

Jack Finney’s novel has been adapted numerous times to the screen, but while most of them are good, only Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) exists as a goddamn masterpiece. Aliens invade as spores and copy humans in an attempt to take over the Earth, and the result is a stunning exploration into paranoia, fear, and doubt. Everyone rightly praises the final scene, but the whole damn movie is executed with such a precise eye for character and suspense that not even multiple rewatches can dampen the experience. Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Art Hindle, Veronica Cartwright, and more deliver an ensemble of friends and strangers forced to confront an ominous threat, and the horror is palpable.

On the far less beloved side of 70s horror films sits John Frankenheimer’s Prophecy (1979), but I still count myself a big, big fan. Robert Foxworth and Talia Shire star as a couple investigating the environmental impact of a logging company’s actions, and what they find is something monstrous. Mutated animals are found, including a mama bear hell-bent on tearing her way through anyone she crosses — a kid trying to escape in a sleeping bag gets knocked into a rock where he explodes in a flurry of feathers, and it is glorious — see scientists and activists joining forces. It’s a silly film despite the serious commentary, but for fans of 70s horror, eco-horror, and creature features should give it a spin.

Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder (1990) flips the critical acclaim meter once again with a terrific film about facing mortality. Tim Robbins gives a powerful performance as a Vietnam veteran suffering flashbacks, delusions, and worse as he processes the death of his son. Elizabeth Peña gives an equally affecting supporting turn, and Lyne fills the film with dark wonder, fantastical imagery, and ambiguity. You can only see the ending for the first time once, but rewatches reward with a more detailed focus on the nightmarish imagery and empathy that builds for Robbins’ character. The film was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and produced in the same year as his other supernatural gem, Ghost. That romantic comedy was the bigger hit, but this box-office bomb is every bit as memorable.

Bullets!

Speaking of films that haven’t gotten the love they deserve, Antoine Fuqua’s Tears of the Sun (2003) is a banger of an action movie with a surprising amount of heart. Bruce Willis headlines as leader of a Special ops team sent into Nigeria to rescue a doctor (played by the great Monica Bellucci). She refuses to leave locals to the violent whims of the marauding army, so the team reluctantly agrees to move them all out on foot. Cole Hauser, Eamonn Walker, Johnny Messner, and more make up the team, and there’s a strong sense of honor and courage to their endeavor. A high body count, some strong action set-pieces, and a commanding performance by Willis make this one a great time.

While some franchises never get a foothold, Sylvester Stallone milked the success of First Blood (1982) into a nearly four-decade series. Rambo (2008) was something of a triumphant return for the character — it wasn’t beloved critically, but audiences flocked to theaters and were rewarded with a mean, bloody, and straightforward action picture. John Rambo heads to Burma and turns the army into so much chopped liver — a scene with Rambo manning a .50 caliber machine gun exploding bodies into chunks — as part of a rescue effort. It’s a grim and gory action picture, and Stallone gives an angry but somber performance. 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood is also streaming this month.

2013 saw two movies hit theaters about terrorists targeting the White House, and I am a big fan of both. White House Down (2013) is the more blatantly comedic of the two and cost twice as much as Olympus Has Fallen — meaning it’s also the one that failed to make a profit. Blame Roland Emmerich’s penchant for excessive spending, but that doesn’t stop the film from being a blast with fun action set-pieces and entertaining turns from Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. It’s arguably Emmerich’s best and most rewatchable film, with action focused more on pure thrills than making any kind of statement or brutal impact.

The Complete Prime List for February 2023

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