Amazon’ing and chilling this month? There’s plenty to get your teeth into on the site over the next few weeks. Here are the highlights – movies, TV shows and documentaries – from this month's new batch. Circle the nearest calendar with the following dates...
The best TV shows on Amazon Prime
Preacher, Episode 10 – August 1
Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) and his band of misfits have won enough fan love to make the newly-launched Season 1 finale something of a big deal (you can watch a sneak preview here). A second season has been announced and the next batch of episodes lands in weekly instalments on Amazon this month. Expect more gonzo mayhem in the southern states, a reappearance from Graham McTavish’s Cowboy, and Joseph Gilgun’s Cassidy to continue his path to cult hero status.
X-Files, Episodes 1-6 – August 9
We love The X-Files around here – probably more than is strictly healthy – and if the surprise revival wasn't quite as good as hoped for, it was still a lot better than no X-Files at all. The truth comes to your living room this month with all six episodes of the new Season 10 landing on Amazon. There's more Mulder and Scully, more alien abduction and more Skinner gruffness. Even the Smoking Man is back for the reunion.
Mr. Robot – Season 2, Episodes 5-8 (July 4/11/18/25)
A surprise success given that people were worried hacker stories and been done to death. Mr. Robot hinges on Rami Malek's troubled Elliot, backed by a stew of conspiracy theories, difficult friends and the alternately charming and dangerous wiles of Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). Crafted by Sam Esmail, who has taken on the task of directing every episode of Season 2 (starting in July), it's well worth your time. Take a look at our interview with Sam Esmail.
The best movies on Amazon Prime
The Hallow – August 15
Corin Hardy's supernatural chiller packs a punch, placing the equivalent of a clammy hand on your shoulder and leaving it there for 100 minutes of rural spookery. Joseph Mawle and Bojana Novakovic move to the dark Irish woods – Why, people? WHY?? – and find themselves assailed by folkloric beasties. Michael Smiley pops up as a not-unsinister Irish copper. Shut the curtains, dim the lights and enjoy the ride.
Argo – August 21
Ben Affleck's thriller may have been a slighty underpowered Best Film winner but it's still a cracking night's entertainment with a cast (Cranston! Arkin! Goodman!) of middle-aged mavens and a thrilling climax. The plot, firmly from the no-way-is-this-a-true-life-story school of true stories, sees a group of US diplomats escaping Iranian revolutionaries by posing as sci-fi filmmakers.
The Campaign – August 26
If you can handle the idea of a movie based on US presidental politics at this precise moment in human history, Amazon Prime has this Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis caper for you this month. A mix of The Candidate, Being There and Zoolander, it features a Democratic candidate (Ferrell) challenged by the completely unqualified man-child with ulterior motives (Galifianakis). It was released as a comedy, but it's starting to feel more like a documentary.
Bastille Day – August 22
Robb Stark and John Luther team up in a terrorism thriller that puts a US conman (Richard Madden) and CIA agent (Idris Elba) together in an unlikely team-up around the streets of Paris. Expect breakneck action sequences, plenty of grimacing from Elba in a serviceable Bond audition and at least three shots of the Eiffel Tower.
The Dark Knight Rises – August 29
As the Zack Snyder DC-verse continues taking shape, here's another chance to see how the Christopher Nolan Bat-franchise bowed out. Bruised and Bat-tered, in short. Tom Hardy's Bane fills the villain role in laudible, if occasionally muffled fashion, while the set pieces are all you'd expect from a Nolan blockbuster and Hans Zimmer delivers all his customary thunder. Carve out an evening, it's not short.
Find out what you should be watching during August on Netflix.