It’s beginning to look a lot like spring outside, but if you’d still rather spend your weekday evenings cosied up to a good movie (and who can blame you?), head to the best free streaming services for inspiration.
Below, I’ve highlighted five of the best free movies to stream on Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex, and more this week – from beloved music biopics to Oscar-winning animations.
The Doors (Pluto TV) – leaving soon
Release date: March 1991
Rotten Tomatoes score: 56%
Length: 135 minutes
Director: Olivier Stone
Main cast: Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan and Kevin Dillon
We lost Hollywood legend Val Kilmer earlier this month, and what better way to honor the actor’s legacy than to rewatch his full-tilt turn as singer Jim Morrison in The Doors?
Now streaming for free on Pluto TV (but leaving soon!), Oliver Stone’s music biopic traces the origins of American rock band The Doors and their influence on 1960s counterculture. Kilmer stars as the band’s charismatic lead singer, Jim Morrison, and in the myriad retrospectives published about the actor’s life over the past few weeks, it’s his performance in this film, specifically, that repeatedly earns the most praise.
The Conversation (Pluto TV, Kanopy)
Release date: April 1974
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Length: 113 minutes
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Main cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Cindy Williams, Harrison Ford
Gene Hackman also passed away earlier this year, and many of the two-time Oscar winner’s greatest movies are now available on the best free streaming services, including Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation.
This 1974 classic stars Hackman as Harry Caul, an introverted surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his secret recordings reveal a potential murder plot. Praised for its nail-biting tension and Hackman’s career-best performance, The Conversation was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” in 1995, and it remains a must-watch for film fans.
Arrival (Hoopla, Kanopy)
Release date: November 2016
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Length: 116 minutes
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Main cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg
Denis Villeneuve is responsible for some of the best sci-fi movies of the last two decades, and his most understated extraterrestrial project, Arrival, is now streaming for free on Hoopla and Kanopy.
Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, the film follows linguistics expert Louise Banks (Adams) as she attempts to communicate with seemingly non-verbal aliens who have arrived on Earth in a mysterious spaceship. A world away from traditional alien invasion thrillers à la War of the Worlds, Arrival is a cerebral look at the concept of linear time and a fine showcase for Adams’ increasingly underappreciated acting talents.
The Town (Tubi)
![The Town - Official Trailer [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uAjECYnrYks/maxresdefault.jpg)
Release date: September 2010
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Length: 124 minutes
Director: Ben Affleck
Main cast: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm
Another Jeremy Renner special here: Ben Affleck’s heist movie The Town is now streaming for free on Tubi.
Set in Affleck’s real-life hometown of Boston, this tense thriller centers on a group of bank robbers – including one played by Renner – who, after taking a bank manager hostage, keep tabs on her movements to stop her from going to the police. The situation is soon complicated, however, when one of the thieves (played by Affleck himself) begins a secret relationship with the manager.
Spirited Away (Plex)
Release date: September 2002
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Length: 125 minutes
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Main cast: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden, John Ratzenberger
Yes, Spirited Away is undoubtedly the most popular and commercially successful Studio Ghibli movie of the lot, but for good reason: it’s one of the best films of all time.
Now streaming for free on Plex, this powerful animation follows a human girl who unknowingly travels to the spirit world and is contracted to work in a mystical bathhouse to earn her freedom. Whether you watch Spirited Away in its original Japanese or the still-great English dub, the film’s fantastical characters, beautiful score, and moving story are sure to leave you feeling… something, which is all we can ask from the movies.
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axel.metz@futurenet.com (Axel Metz)
