Prime Video: Best New Shows & Movies This Week (February 21)
This week Amazon’s Prime Video is releasing episodes of the final season of a drama series, an action heist movie, and an Australian comedy series. While some studios are working to return to releasing their movies in theaters, around continuing uncertainty due to the pandemic, some releases are still moving directly to streaming platforms like Amazon’s Prime Video. However, even when movies are receiving large theatrical releases, they are still moving to streaming services much sooner than they once did. As a result, audiences can now reliably stay in the comfort of their own homes and keep up to date with the latest movies as well as ongoing TV show releases on Prime Video.
Last week, Prime Video started releasing The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4, a period comedy that was significantly delayed by the pandemic, with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 3 having released all the way back in 2019. They also debuted LOL: Last One Laughing Canada, a comedy show format that originated in Australia and has already been adapted in in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, India, Brazil, and now Canada. On February 18, Prime Video also released the final three episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina, the animated adaption of the popular Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role.
Amazon’s Prime Video works on a monthly release schedule. Many streaming platforms use a weekly model which means that all of their releases arrive on the same day of the week. However, with Prime Video’s monthly model, their content drops can be spread out throughout the week and the month, with a slightly heavier weighting towards the first day of the month. Amazon’s content releases tend to include three main categories: brand new movies that are releasing for the first time anywhere on Prime Video and may even be Amazon Original content, relatively new content that is now arriving on streaming for the first time after a theatrical release, and some older movies and TV shows which are now making their debut on Amazon’s streaming service. Here is everything that is coming to Amazon Prime Video during the week of February 21.
This Is Us is a drama that explores the lives of the Pearson family. A major part of the This Is Us storyline takes place in the present day while regular flashbacks that reveal family secrets and complexities that the family must work through as they continue on their journey. The huge ensemble cast centers around the two parents and three children played by Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, and Justin Hartley. Creators mentioned that one of the benefits of This Is Us was that the story could potentially continue forever by adding in new time periods; however, This Is Us will be concluding with this sixth and final season as it will end the story that they always wanted to tell and be able to provide closure. This Is Us season 6 began airing in early January but has taken a 2-week hiatus. The show will return for its final three episodes with episodes becoming available on Amazon’s Prime Video two days after broadcast beginning on February 24.
Amazon will add The Misfits to Prime Video on February 25 following its theatrical release in June of 2021. The Misfits is a heist movie that follows a group of criminals that picture themselves as modern-day Robin Hoods. The Misfits stars Pierce Brosnan, Rami Jaber, Hermione Corfield, Tim Roth, Jamie Chung, Nick Cannon, and Mike Angelo
Originally released in Australia, Wolf Like Me is coming to Amazon’s Prime Video on February 25 with all 6 episodes being available at once in one binge-worthy chunk. The comedy TV series follows a single father and his young daughter, Emma, who are struggling to move on emotionally after the death of Emma’s mother several years before. However, things take a different turn when they meet an isolated advice columnist who is dealing with her own emotional complications. Wolf Like Me stars Josh Gad as Gary, the father, and Isla Fisher as Mary, the advice columnist.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Amazon is currently releasing weekly new episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4 on Prime Video. The period comedy follows the life of Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) as she works to pursue a career in stand-up comedy in 1960s New York. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4, episodes 3 and 4 will release on Prime Video on Friday, February 25.
LOL: Last One Laughing Canada: The Amazon Original comedy series debuted their Canadian take on an established format with LOL: Last One Laughing Canada last week. The series sees 10 comedians locked in a living room set for 6 hours and tasked with making each other laugh. If they laugh once, they’re given a warning, and the second time they’re off the show. This season of LOL: Last One Laughing Canada has the comedians competing for $100,000 to be donated to a charity of their choice. LOL: Last One Laughing Canada will release episodes 3 and 4 on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, February 25
As well as adding brand new content and Amazon Originals, Prime Video also regularly bolsters its collection of older movies throughout the month and these are available to Amazon Prime subscribers at no extra cost. This week, Prime Video will add two movies from the mid-2000s with drastically different energies, both on February 21. The first is 2005’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, a science fiction comedy adapted from the novel series of the same name by author Douglas Adams. Adams co-wrote the script with Karey Kirkpatrick, but sadly passed away in 2001 before the film was completed. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy s5tars Martin Freeman, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Anna Chancellor, and John Malkovich. Amazon's Prime Video will also receive the 2007 movie Hitman, based on the video game series of the same name and not to be confused with the other adaptation of the franchise, 2015’s reboot, Hitman: Agent 47. Hitman follows Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant), an engineered assassin, as he gets involved in political conspiracies and finds himself on the run.