A couple movies that surprised me that are both on Prime:
The Winning Season (2009):
I was expecting some run-of-the-mill underdog story, but with Sam Rockwell in it, I thought 'what the hell'. Basically, a burned out a-hole coach takes a job coaching girls high school basketball. You can write the rest.
I still can't tell if this is supposed to comedy or drama, but it's an odd mix that doesn't really work. However, when it does work there's a pretty good film that's trying to do something beyond another Remember the Titans.
The Water Diviner (2015):
This seemed like VOD fodder, but with Russell Crowe in it and directing I thought 'what the hell'.
It's one of those films where you expected a 1/5 but got a 3/5. A burned out father goes and look for his presumed dead sons after WWI.
Maybe it's because I'm now a father and am a sucker for sentimentality, but the tone of this movie is really great. It doesn't glorify war, there's no good guy in war, very few 'hoo-rah' moments, but still, the film feels like a sweeping adventure piece... albeit with a pretty meandering/pointless romantic subplot. There are not nearly enough true adventure movies made anymore so kudos to Crowe for trying.
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