Fall doesn’t officially start until September 22, but we won’t blame you if you’re already bedding in for an extended period of hibernation. The season for cozy movie nights is just around the corner, and you’ll find plenty of great subscription-free options on the best free streaming services.
Below, I’ve highlighted five of the best free movies to stream on Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV, and more this week – from beloved indie romances to searing action thrillers.
1) Call Me by Your Name (Tubi)
Release date: January 2018
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Length: 132 minutes
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Main cast: Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar
Call Me by Your Name, the indie movie-turned-cultural phenomenon that put actor Timothée Chalamet on the map, is streaming for free on Tubi this month.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino, this André Aciman novel adaptation centers on a precocious American teen (Chalamet) who, while vacationing in Italy, develops feelings for his father's temporary research assistant (Armie Hammer). Call Me by Your Name is rightly considered one of the best films of recent years for its touching story and authentic performances, but it’ll also leave you longing for long summer days and al fresco dining (though you may never see peaches in the same way again).
2) Collateral (Plex)
Release date: August 2004
Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
Length: 120 minutes
Director: Michael Mann
Main cast: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo
I recommended Michael Mann’s Heat earlier this month, and another of the director’s neo-noir thrillers, Collateral, is streaming for free on Plex this month.
This 2004 movie follows a ruthless hitman (Tom Cruise) who gets more than he bargains for when he decides to take a Los Angeles cab driver, Max (Jamie Foxx), hostage for an evening of location-hopping 'work'. Come for Cruise’s silver hairdo, stay for the film’s frenetic nightclub shootout and Mann’s ahead-of-its-time digital cinematography.
3) The Babadook (Plex)
Release date: November 2014
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Length: 94 minutes
Director: Jennifer Kent
Main cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney
Also streaming on Plex this month is Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, which remains my favorite Australian-made movie and one of the best directorial debuts of recent years.
Best described as a psychological horror, The Babadook follows a widowed single mother (Essie Davis) and her son (Noah Wiseman) as they reckon with the presence of a mysterious, storybook-dwelling monster in their Adelaide home. Light on jump scares but heavy on unsettling terror, this is a smartly-made movie about the effects of grief and burnout on the human psyche.
4) The Godfather (Pluto TV)
Release date: March 1972
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Length: 175 minutes
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Main cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
The Godfather Part II is rightly considered one of the greatest movies of all time, but personally, I think Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 original – which is now streaming for free on Pluto TV – is the best of the trilogy.
Adapted from Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel of the same name, The Godfather centers on the fraught relationship between an aging crime boss (Marlon Brando) and his morally upstanding son (Al Pacino), who stands to inherit his father’s empire. This film has it all: iconic characters, iconic quotes, an iconic soundtrack, and one of the best Marlon Brando performances ever put to screen. But you knew that already.
5) The Prestige (Samsung TV Plus)
Release date: October 2006
Rotten Tomatoes score: 77%
Length: 130 minutes
Director: Christopher Nolan
Main cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine
In our ranking of the best Christopher Nolan movies, The Prestige sits above the likes of Tenet, Oppenheimer, and The Dark Knight Rises – and for good reason.
This psychological thriller-cum-fantasy adventure follows two warring magicians (played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) who will stop at nothing to outdo one another in 19th-century London. The Prestige features so many twists and turns that watching it feels like a magic trick in itself (at one point, David Bowie appears), and if you can guess the ending first try, you’re a smarter viewer than me.
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