Lights, camera, action! Yes, action movies are great to watch any time. But these three action movies on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in July are the cream of the crop right now. They feature some of the best action stars of this generation and generations past, including Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie, and Tom Cruise.
There’s an epic spaghetti Western, an action-adventure movie based on a video game series, and, coming soon, the latest in one of the best long-running spy franchises. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to watch these movies while they’re available as part of an Amazon Prime or a standalone Amazon Prime Video subscription.
A classic spaghetti Western starring Clint Eastwood, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly might not feature as many special effects and gripping fight sequences as the latest action movies. But it’s an enthralling watch nonetheless that reminds you of how well Eastwood performs in front of the screen as well as behind it. That’s not to mention how menacing he can be with a gun in his hand. He’s “The Good,” a drifter who goes by the name “Blondie” and rescues a Mexican bandit named Tuco (Eli Wallach). Also known as “The Ugly,” Tuco is running from bounty hunters. Soon, they become a formidable pair, running their own short-lived bounty hunting, get-rich scheme.
Blondie eventually crosses paths with “Angel Eyes,” or The Bad, played by Lee Van Cleef, a more sadistic mercenary who finds pleasure in torturing and killing his victims. Often considered one of the best spaghetti Westerns of all time, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly will have you reminiscing about movies made during a simpler time.
Stream The Good, The Bad and the Ugly on Amazon Prime Video.
At the height of her on-screen success, Angelina Jolie threw on a tight bodysuit and shorts, tied her hair back in a braid, and wore a belt and gun holsters around her legs to transform into the skilled adventurer and video game character Lara Croft. When she has a dream about her presumed-to-be-dead father and wakes up to a mysterious clock that won’t stop ticking, Croft finds herself in the midst of a dangerous, potentially catastrophic situation. It’s up to her to try and save the world.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is absolute fun to watch. Jolie’s performance was universally praised, as are the incredible action scenes, even if the plot itself falls a little flat. As a bubble gum action flick to entertain you for a few hours while you relax on a warm summer night, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which ranks among the highest-grossing video game adaptations of all time, fits the bill.
Stream Lara Croft: Tomb Raider on Amazon Prime Video.
On July 25, the latest in the long-running Mission Impossible franchise is coming to Amazon Prime Video without the need for an add-on channel. Tom Cruise reprises his role as Ethan Hunt, whose mission (of course he chooses to accept it) is to stop the activation of an advanced AI through a two-piece cruciform key. In the wrong hands, it could be devastating. But when the AI becomes sentient and begins an attack, the Entity, as it’s now called, turns out to be the most formidable, and first non-human, enemy Hunt has ever faced.
With Cruise still performing many of his own stunts, a modern and tech-heavy storyline, and new and returning supporting characters, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will keep you on the edge of your seat through its entire 2.5-hour run. Some of the action sequences will totally blow you away. Our reviewer especially loves “that” motorcycle scene (you know the one!) and the bumper car chase scene through Rome.
Stream Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One on Amazon Prime Video on July 25. You can rent or purchase the movie now.
China just gave Hollywood a cautionary tale about AI filmmaking. Sanxingdui: Future Past, billed as the country's first fully AI-generated movie, hit theaters on October 23 and bombed at the box office.
According to Futurism, the film's reported $1.5 million production budget landed on more than 10,000 screens. Yet it pulled in only about $181,000, averaging roughly $20 per screen, making the budget difficult to recover.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?