The 22 best documentaries on Amazon Prime in July 2024

A night in with a good documentary is a night well spent.

While Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control is the title of a great documentary by Errol Morris, we could also apply these words to the current influx of "documentaries" flooding our screens. News flash y'all — cutting and pasting a bunch of clips alongside a talking head and slapping on some music does not a doc make. A true documentary is a unique thing: It pulls at your heartstrings like a drama, piques your interest like a mystery, unfolds like a thriller, and yet… it's all true. Here are a handful of the best documentaries on Amazon Prime that do all of the above and then some.

The Aristocrats (2005)

An 88-minute exploration of a single joke, The Aristocrats is one part history lesson, one part hangout. The brilliant thing about Penn Jillette's passion project is how it uses a famously dirty punchline as an excuse to hang out with 100 of the funniest people on the planet, with each improvising their own version. Featuring a murderer's row of renowned comedians (including Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget, and George Carlin), this is the closest to backstage at the Comedy Store that most of us will ever get. It’s a must-see for comedy nerds with strong stomachs; not to spoil the joke, but it’s quite out there… and undeniably funny. As EW’s critic remarked, “It’s at once a comedy, a horror film, and a hilariously unsettling testament to the deepest reality of what comedians are: rim-shot madmen, driven to seek out and destroy all that’s taboo.”

Where to watch The Aristocrats: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza

Related content: The Aristocrats: Dirty movie leaves writers tongue-tied

Best Worst Movie (2009)

One of the best parts of being a movie nerd is sharing your obsessions, and the Troll 2 cult is no exception. Oh, maybe you didn't realize there's a cohort of fans who watch the film together, shouting out memorable lines ("You can’t piss on hospitality!”) and throwing bologna sandwiches at the screen (if you know, you know). While the film itself is a mess — EW’s critic mentioned its “poor special effects, stilted dialog, laughable acting,” and conspicuous lack of trolls — its fans include Patton Oswalt, Conan O'Brien, and members of the UCB, who hosted screenings. Heartened by this late-in-life resurgence, Michael Paul Stephenson (who starred in the movie at age 10) set out to trace the journey of the little film that could. The result, Best Worst Movie, is a celebration of fandom, community, and underdogs, a sweet, rough-around-the-edges appreciation.

Where to watch Best Worst Movie: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Michael Paul Stephenson

Related content: The Troll trilogy: Is this really the 'Best Worst' movie franchise of all time?

Blue Angels (2024)

It's your lucky day, flyboys and girls — you can now get up close and personal with the legendary pilots in this soaring documentary produced by J.J. Abrams and narrator Glen Powell. As detailed in an EW exclusive, the film was shot with IMAX cameras rigged to a helicopter, marking the first time a civilian aircraft has been permitted to fly inside the performance space known as "the box," letting the audience in on just how hair-raising some of the maneuvers were (F-18s flying within inches of each other). “It's the closest I think any of us will come to being in the cockpit with these pilots,” Abrams said. “It's a remarkable thing to see.”

Where to watch Blue Angels: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Paul Crowder

Related content: Glen Powell and Top Gun: Maverick pilots give exclusive look at Blue Angels IMAX doc

The Booksellers (2020)

If your idea of a perfect day is wandering through funky, cozy used bookstores in magnificent cities, have we got the doc for you. Yes, this film explores the world of rare book dealers, but it also serves as a wonderful, worshipful tribute to books as magical objects. The filmmakers’ decision to let this smart, obsessive group of people expound on their favorite topic at length was the right one — the effect is like spending a rainy afternoon in a comfy chair in front of a fire, eavesdropping on some quality conversations. Literature-loving celeb sightings (Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean, Parker Posey) also add extra chapters of fun.

Where to watch The Booksellers: Amazon Prime Video

Director: D.W. Young

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

There’s nobody in Hollywood (or on the planet) quite like Penelope Spheeris. From growing up in the circus to working with Richard Pryor as a film student to preserving music history, the director has honed a distinct corner of cinema. In addition to helming Wayne's World and Suburbia, her greatest cultural impact arguably came with this documentary, an examination of L.A.’s punk scene circa 1980. It’s a jarring collection of compelling fan/musician interviews interspersed with jaw-droppingly cool concert footage of genre legends, from X to the Germs, that feels like discovering buried treasure. It isn't just that Spheeris was in the right place at the right time; she had the brains to recognize the importance of the movement, and the skills to capture it in all its gritty glory.

Where to watch The Decline of Western Civilization: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A- (read the review)

Director: Penelope Spheeris

Related content: Wayne's World director explains 'Bohemian Rhapsody' scene, Mike Myers tension

The Endless Summer (1966)

For all the times the word "iconic" is bandied about, here's a film that actually earns it. For six years, surfer/filmmaker Bruce Brown traveled the world with his 16mm camera, chasing (and surfing) the planet's most epic waves. From Africa to Australia, New Zealand to Hawaii, Brown's narration is the perfect blend of awe-struck observer and California dudebro. Worth it for the surf soundtrack alone, Brown's gorgeous film (the sand! the sunsets! the waves!) was likely responsible for the world's obsession with "surf culture," inspiring people from all walks of life to grab a board and hang 10.

Where to watch The Endless Summer: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Bruce Brown

Frida (2024)

Like its vibrant subject, Frida overflows with color, life, and energy. Using a variety of ways to tell her story, including animation (watching her paintings move is a lovely treat), archival clips, and what seems to be the voice of Khalo herself (Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero, reading Khalo's words), the painter's story leaps off the screen. We don't just watch, we experience it with her — from the bus accident that resulted in a lifetime of health problems to her relationship with Diego Rivera (plus her affair with Leon Trotsky), and most of all, the joy she found through her paintings, which reflect the glorious palette of her singular life.

Where to watch Frida: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Carla Gutiérrez

Generation Wealth (2018)

This isn't director Lauren Greenfield's first rodeo; she's been documenting the lives of the ruling class since the mid-‘90s, from her still-influential book Fast Forward: Growing up in the Shadow of Hollywood to her fabulous 2012 documentary, The Queen of Versailles. With her reporter's instinct for story — and an artist's knack for fascinating visuals — Greenfield once again takes on the wealthy and digs deep. From oligarch's wives to ex-beauty queens, everything is filtered through her unique, often raw POV. As EW’s critic wrote, "Like Greenfield’s photographs, her storytelling has a distinctive style, one that feels hard to separate from the undeniable but often queasy thrill of voyeurism."

Where to watch Generation Wealth: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Lauren Greenfield

Giannis: The Marvelous Journey (2024)

Still mourning the end of the NBA season? No worries, we've got you covered with this heartwarming, gut-wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale of Greece's most famous figurehead since Zeus. Sure, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the genial and mega-talented "Greek Freak," is unforgettable on the court, but his dramatic origin story is even more compelling. The future Milwaukee Bucks star was born and raised in Athens; his parents, having emigrated from Nigeria, struggled without work permits, and Giannis' young life was an often-terrifying test of survival (among other things, avoiding violent anti-immigrant groups in the streets). But then he found basketball, and with it, the ultimate way out (and up) for him and his family. The film doesn't hold back on the hardwood action, either, spending plenty of time on the game, the league, and the team that helped turn this under-the-radar Greek prospect into an all-time great.

Where to watch Giannis: The Marvelous Journey: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Kristen Lappas

Gimme Danger (2016)

"Upsetting people wherever we went" is how Iggy Pop describes his time in the Stooges, one of the most groundbreaking rock bands to ever stalk the Earth. Without the Stooges, punk wouldn't exist as we know it, given how they inspired the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and many more seminal acts. And who better to tell the story of the coolest punks than another cool punk, Jim Jarmusch? Crammed with live footage, killer photos, interviews, and eye-popping clips (Pop chatting amiably with Dinah Shore?), this documentary tries to explain the unexplainable: How a pack of Midwestern nerds (close your eyes and you'll think you're in a very loud 4-H meeting) created the nuclear explosion we're still recovering from today.

Where to watch Gimme Danger: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Related content: Stooges doc Gimme Danger was almost 10 hours long, director says

Good Night Oppy (2022)

The human instinct to assign personalities and souls to inanimate objects reaches new heights in this documentary about the Mars Rover (a.k.a. "Opportunity"), a sophisticated machine that was built to last 90 days and ended up "living" for 15 years. Yes, it's ridiculous to cry about a lonely robotic camera cruising the red planet, so let's just say it's narrator Angela Bassett's fault. She's that good. Or perhaps the thing that's pulling at our heartstrings is the beauty of science and the spirit of exploration exemplified by the team at NASA who put this together. Good Night Oppy makes a perfect double feature with Pixar’s sob-fest WALL-E, plus a few packs of freeze-dried space ice cream and a big box of tissues.

Where to watch Good Night Oppy: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Ryan White

Grizzly Man (2005)

If you haven't seen it, we won't spoil it, except to say if you're expecting a soothing nature documentary, this ain't it. The dark, bizarre, sometimes funny, sometimes beautiful, often troubling film is dominated by its subject, the eccentric Timothy Treadwell, who took his love of bears so far as to live with them, for months at a time, for over a decade. As EW’s critic put it, "What at first seems to be the deconstruction of a troubled crusader becomes an elegy on the nature of performance with Treadwell as the director’s unlikely muse," going on to say "Herzog pulls the rug out from every convention we’ve come to recognize as the documentary form." His famous German-accented narration guides us along an ever-worsening path, like a fairy tale gone very, very wrong.

Where to watch Grizzly Man: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Werner Herzog

Judy Blume Forever (2023)

As the OG Y.A. queen, Judy Blume deserves a documentary that's as good as her books, one filled with dramatic ups and downs, twists and turns, and plenty of laughter and tears. In Judy Blume Forever, she gets exactly that. In telling her life story, this doc reveals a juicy tale that even her most die-hard fans might not have known. From her time as a stay-at-home mother of two to being an outspoken, fearless pioneer writing about "real" teen topics (including frank descriptions of sex, periods, and all of the awkward stuff), Blume's warmth, kindness, and respect for her readers shines through like a flashlight at a slumber party. Seeing her going through boxes of hand-written letters from fans — many of whom she corresponded with, some for years — cements her status as the cool aunt we all wished we had.

Where to watch Judy Blume Forever: Amazon Prime Video

Directors: Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok

Related content: Judy Blume on feminine hygiene product accuracy, book bans, and all the Hollywood love

Lucy and Desi (2022)

Amy Poehler's documentary directorial debut is as uplifting as a pep talk from Leslie Knope. Telling the tale of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (the original Hollywood power couple) in a fresh way was no easy task, but Poehler was aided by a big discovery: a box of audio tapes containing interviews with the stars. In addition to exploring their partnership (business and personal), the film provides a fascinating look at how the pair fit into — and dominated, for a time — an era of vintage Hollywood, including Ball's communist scare court appearance and the birth of Desilu studio. As the voice-over says, "At the core, it's all about unconditional love."

Where to watch Lucy and Desi: Amazon Prime Video 

Director: Amy Poehler

Related content: Lucy and Desi documentary from Amy Poehler offers fans the real love story behind I Love Lucy

My Best Fiend (1999)

A demented buddy pic variation that's worth it for Werner Herzog's uniquely memorable narration alone, this is a highly entertaining, slightly terrifying trip down memory lane. Herzog, known for his enigmatic films and single-minded commitment to achieving the impossible (pulling a boat over a mountain, for one) found a worthy artistic partner in Klaus Kinski. The square-jawed, demonically charming, bug-eyed Kinski found his ideal collaborator in Herzog. EW’s critic called this a "fascinating, rambling, love-hate documentary about their friendship and creative partnership, and in its discursive, anecdotal way it gets at the essence of one of cinema’s indelible crackpots." In conclusion? "It’s impossible not to be moved by the oddball purity of what Kinski and Herzog, high on their lust for extremes, achieved."

Where to watch My Best Fiend: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Werner Herzog

Related content: Remembering Klaus Kinski

Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters (2019)

The name might not sound familiar, but his films definitely are. Earning Oscars for his work on Star Wars and Jurassic Park (the 3-D chess game and the dinos, to be exact), his other credits include the Tauntauns in The Empire Strikes Back, the bugs from Starship Troopers, and some exceptionally cool work on RoboCop (building and animating the robot unit ED-209). Tippett also spent decades working on his own film, the stop-motion nightmare Mad God, which finally saw the light of day in 2022. The master of scary cinematic menageries has a style all his own, and watching this soft-spoken, gray-bearded artist work magic with pencils, cameras, and clay is a true inspiration.

Where to watch Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Alexandre Poncet and Gilles Penso

Sunshine Hotel (2001)

This compelling doc about the last "flophouse" on Skid Row (NYC's the Bowery) takes viewers inside a seldom-seen world, a hotel where a 4x6 room with a chicken-wire ceiling (amenities include a light bulb, locker, and bed) goes for 10 bucks a night. Gracefully and honestly narrated by the longtime manager, Nathan Smith (who died of cancer the year after the film was released), Sunshine Hotel won several awards along with critical praise. Smith's obituary in The New York Times described him as a rock, a man who got along with everybody, whether he was handing out toilet paper, answering the single phone, or learning Yiddish so he could speak to some of the oldest residents.

Where to watch Sunshine Hotel: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Michael Dominic

Super Size Me (2004)

While any time's a good one to watch this indie classic, the recent passing of Morgan Spurlock (director, star, and test subject) may move it up the priority rewatch list. Tune in to remember Spurlock's wit and willingness to "go there," stuffing his face with Big Macs and fries until his body rebels, calling out America's love affair with fast food in the process. Following in the personality-driven documentary tradition of Michael Moore (albeit with a decidedly less politically inflammatory schtick), Spurlock made such a farce of the portion-size upselling McDonald’s was famous for, the company got rid of the very sizes that gave this film its name. Of course, McDonald’s denied the doc had anything to do with it, so let’s chalk it up to a super-sized coincidence.

Where to watch Super Size Me: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Morgan Spurlock

Related content: Morgan Spurlock, Oscar-nominated Super Size Me director, dies at 53

Time (2020)

A story that's heartbreakingly familiar — an imprisoned father missing out on his children's lives — gets pulled into sharp focus in a documentary EW’s critic said "gracefully addresses the looming issues of mass incarceration, race, and justice in America without ever feeling preachy." Shot in luminous black and white with a gorgeous score, this intimate film earned Garrett Bradley the 2020 Sundance Documentary Prize for Directing, making her the first Black woman to win. Bradley's portrayal of this family's desperate fight to reunite creates something, according to our critic, that’s "as urgent and beautifully human as almost anything on screen this year."

Where to watch Time: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A- (read the review)

Director: Garrett Bradley

Related content: How Time director Garrett Bradley captured 'hope in cinematic terms' for her Oscar-nominated documentary

Val (2021)

Far from a typical celebrity bio documentary, this collage-style piece about the life of Val Kilmer is something special indeed. Narrated by old home movies (Kilmer filmed everything) and his son (a vocal twin), the film paints a picture of a unique life. And while the reason for the unorthodox format is tragic — throat cancer stole his ability to speak — the effect is magic. Kilmer's filming habit — capturing everything from his SoCal childhood to his time at Juilliard to the sets of Top Gun and Batman — plus appearances by fellow stars (young Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon, an imposing Marlon Brando) creates a compelling scrapbook. As EW’s critic writes, "The result is undoubtedly a canny mediation on the vagaries of fame, but it feels more intimate and essential than that: a lifetime of searching and self-regard distilled, somehow, into a state of grace."

Where to watch Val: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Leo Scott, Ting Poo

Related content: The 20 best Amazon original movies streaming on Prime Video

The Wolfpack (2015)

This is one of those documentaries you have to keep reminding yourself is real — even as it unfolds before your eyes. One of the most talked-about movies of 2015, winning over audiences, festival juries, and critics, everything about The Wolfpack feels like a miracle, from the subjects (film-obsessed, super-creative brothers virtually trapped in their home since childhood) to the director's discovery of them during a rare escape. With little experience of the outside world beyond what they see in the media, the brothers reenact their favorite cinematic moments using makeshift props and homemade costumes. EW’s review argued that the boys “appear to be remarkably sane and well-adjusted, considering their circumstances,” ultimately concluding that this doc is a “stunning, stranger-than-fiction story told with sensitivity, intimacy, and compassion.”

Where to watch The Wolfpack: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A- (read the review)

Director: Crystal Moselle

Related content: The Wolfpack: The story behind the unbelievable new documentary

The Wrecking Crew (2008)

"California Girls." "Mrs. Robinson." "Be My Baby." "River Deep, Mountain High." "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin’." What do these songs have in common? All of the music was performed by a group of session musicians known as "the Wrecking Crew." Starting as Phil Spector's house band (realizing his Wall of Sound production style) and going on to record hits with Sonny & Cher, the Mamas & the Papas, Frank Sinatra, the Byrds, the Monkees, the Beach Boys, and countless others, these (formerly) unsung musical heroes finally get their due in a doc made by one of the member's sons. Fascinating but heartbreaking tidbits abound, like the story behind the pop hit "Windy" by the Association, a band who didn't play a thing on their own album. (Even though all of the music was performed by the Wrecking Crew, they received none of the credit.) Music nerds who love knowing how the sausage is made have a veritable feast here, a toe-tapping tribute to the true backbone of the music biz.

Where to watch The Wrecking Crew: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Denny Tedesco

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.