If you’re hunting for the best free movies to stream this week, you’re in the right place. We’ve rounded up five top picks across a mix of genres – including eerie indie sci-fi, big-budget action, a romantic historical mystery, and a dark, noir-tinged political thriller. Whatever you’re in the mood for, something here should hit the spot.
All of these films are available to stream for free on the top ad-supported platforms, like Pluto TV, Plex, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, and more. Yes, you’ll have to sit through a few ads. But with no subscription fees and often no sign-up required, the best free streaming services are a smart, easy way to stream great films for free. Read on for our five best free to stream movie picks this week.
1. Tangerine (Fandango, Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex)
Release date: 2015
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Length: 87 minutes
Director: Sen Baker
Main cast: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanian, James Ransone
Age rating: R
Shot entirely on an iPhone 5S, Tangerine is technically impressive. But it’s also a bold and brilliant film that feels like it’s bursting with life in every frame.
Set on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, it follows the story of Sin-Dee, a trans sex worker recently released from prison, who discovers her boyfriend (and pimp) may have been cheating on her. What follows is a raw, vibrant, often hilarious journey through LA’s underbelly. It’s part revenge story, part tale of friendship.
Director Sean Baker captures the city with frenetic energy, stunning lighting and lots of empathy. Tangerine is about resilience, love and the unfiltered reality of life lived loud. It’s also funny at times and there’s real emotional weight along with the chaos.
2. The Ghost Writer (Fandango, Plex, Prime Video, Samsung TV Plus)
Release date: 2010
Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%
Length: 129 minutes
Director: Roman Polanski
Main cast: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton
Age rating: PG-13
If you’re in the mood for an icy thriller with political intrigue and a creeping sense of paranoia, then The Ghost Writer delivers all of that and more.
It follows the story of a ghost writer (played by Ewan McGregor) who is hired to polish the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister (played by Pierce Brosnan). But as he digs into the work, he uncovers dark secrets that turn the job into something far more dangerous.
Ghost Writer is set against bleak coastal landscapes and muted tones, which is one of the reasons the whole movie manages to hum with tension. It’s a smart and stylish thriller that’ll keep you guessing until the very end.
3. Primer (Prime Video, Pluto TV)
Release date: 2004
Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%
Length: 78 minutes
Director: Shane Carruth
Main cast: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan
Age rating: PG-13
If I asked you to picture a time travel movie, you’d probably imagine chrome machines, space suits and epic battles across centuries. Primer does none of that, and that’s why it might be one of my favorite time travel movies.
Directed by Shane Carruth (who also stars in one of the leading roles), this indie gem follows two engineers who accidentally invent a time loop machine in their garage. What starts as a scrappy experiment quickly spirals into confusion, suspicion and a whole lead of existential dread.
Primer is low-budget, cerebral and brutally realistic. It treats time travel like a messy, math-heavy sort of glitch rather than a cinematic spectacle. You may need to pause, rewind and maybe draw a diagram or two, but the payoff is immense. It’s a cult classic that proves sci-fi doesn’t need polish and spectacle – it just needs great ideas.
4. The Illusionist (Fandandgo, Fawesome, Hoopla, Plex, Prime Video)
![The Illusionist (2006) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p] - YouTube](https://i0.wp.com/img.youtube.com/vi/QngdF-55AGc/maxresdefault.jpg?w=696&ssl=1)
Release date: 2006
Rotten Tomatoes score: 73%
Length: 110 minutes
Director: Neil Burger
Main cast: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Marsan
Age rating: PG-13
The Illusionist is a historical mystery with a magical thread running throughout. If you like your period dramas with a touch of romance, political intrigue and actual illusions, this one’s for you.
Edward Norton stars as Eisenheim, a magician whose childhood love Duchess Sophie von Teschen (played by Jessica Biel) is now engaged to a powerful, dangerous prince. Using his skills to win her back (and expose some corruption along the way), Eisenheim walks the line between trickery and the supernatural.
The Illusionist is packed with rich visuals, smoky stages and a story full of sleight of hand. It’s as much about spectacle as it is about power, love and belief. It arrived around the same time as The Prestige, and while the latter might have had more buzz, The Illusionist has also held up very well.
5. I, Robot (Tubi)
Release date: 2004
Rotten Tomatoes score: 57%
Length: 115 minutes
Director: Alex Proyas
Main cast: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Chi McBride, Alan Tudyk
Age rating: PG-13
Look, the Rotten Tomatoes score here isn’t great, we can all see that. But, I will argue that in many ways this is a sci-fi must-watch and a nice gateway for people to think about artificial intelligence and our relationship with it.
I, Robot is loosely inspired by Isaac Asimov’s short stories. It’s part sci-fi action movie, part philosophical thought experiment with Will Smith in full action hero mode. It’s set in 2035 where humanoid robots are a normal part of life. It follows the story of a detective (played by Smith) investigating a murder that may have been committed by one of them. But robots, of course, are programmed never to harm humans, right?
It might be glossy, Hollywood-ified sci-fi, but the ethical questions it raises are still relevant. Maybe even more so now than when it first hit screens.
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