Tubi: 10 Great Movies You Can Stream For Free!

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Buy Me a Coffee!

Tubi is an ads-supported free streaming service available on your computer, mobile phone or streaming device, such as Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Xfinity X1 set-tops and Sony and Vizio Smart TVs. The Tubi lineup consists of thousands of TV shows and movies from studios such as Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, MGM and Warner Bros. And many of those shows and movies are among the greatest ever made. By example, below are 10 great films that you can stream right now on Tubi – for free! (Even better, the ad interruptions on the Tubi movies are minimal, if there are any at all!)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
The sexy psychological drama from director Stanley Kubrick stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a glamorous couple trying to preserve their marriage amid temptation and deceit. (No, it’s fiction.). The movie, the great Kubrick’s last, delves into the mysterious and secretive world of masked debaucheries and hidden desires.

The Dark Knight (2008)
Director Chris Nolan’s angst and adrenaline-fueled drama with Christian Bale as Batman going toe to toe with The Joker, played deliciously by the late Heath Ledger. Nolan, the director of Oppenheimer (debuting on Peacock on February 16), has made a slew of great and good movies but none (even Oppenheimer) are better than The Dark Knight. The auteur shows that superhero films can have as much psychological nuance than any Bergman movie as well as the usual thrills and chills.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Leonardo DiCaprio stars in director Martin Scorsese’s wild retelling of Jordan Belfort’s la dolce vita as a fraudulent penny stock trader in the go-go late 1980s. This is arguably DiCaprio’s greatest performance as he portrays the excessive lifestyle of his subject in a way perhaps only he could. (Yes, trust me, Leo has had some wild moments behind the curtain.) And Scorsese has never exhibited more freedom in letting his actors and their scenes go wild, all to our delight. The Wolf of Wall Street is funny, occasionally sad, and always incredibly entertaining. The great supporting cast includes Jonah Hill as Belfort’s wingman, Kyle Chandler as a FBI agent, Margot Robbie as Belfort’s wife, and Matthew McConaughey as a financial mentor with some very, very unusual advice.

The Graduate (1967)
The Mike Nichols-directed film stars then-unknown Dustin Hoffman as a recent college graduate whose confused outlook on post-education life is made all the more confounding when he begins an affair with an older woman played deliciously by Anne Bancroft. And his dilemma becomes even more of a pickle when he falls in love with the woman’s daughter (Katharine Ross.)! Hoffman is superbly sublime here as is the pitch-perfect supporting cast including William Daniels as his Dad, Murray Hamilton as Bancroft’s husband and Buck Henry as a hotel clerk. (Henry also co-wrote the script with Nichols.) The Graduate was then and remains today a sharp satire of the inexorable life cycles of the American culture.

Man on Fire (2004)
Denzel Washington plays John Creasy, a former CIA intelligence agent turned alcoholic who’s hired to protect Pita, the young daughter (Dakota Fanning) of wealthy parents in Mexico City. The seemingly easy gig turns upside down when the daughter is kidnapped in a shootout that leaves Creasy fighting for his life. The subsequent events as Creasy seeks revenge, and the return of the young girl, makes Man on Fire one of the best action pictures of this century. Denzel is magnetism personified as the ruthless former government assassin who employs all his skills to set things right. Christopher Walken is also exceptional as Creasy’s former CIA colleague, as is Fanning as Pita, matching Denzel step for step in several pivotal scenes. The Denzel-Dakota chemistry was renewed last year when the now 30-year-old Fanning had a supporting role in Denzel’s The Equalizer 3. (This time, she played a CIA officer!)

Malcolm X (1992)
Spike Lee’s evocative 1992 drama starring Denzel Washington as the 1960s civil rights leader is the director at the peak of his powers (Denzel, too.). The film chronicles the amazing life of Malcolm X from his days as a Detroit drug dealer to his transformation as a religious leader and civil rights icon. Beautiful film in more ways than one.

Mississippi Burning (1988)
The 1988 crime drama was based loosely on the real-life murders of three civil rights activists in the 1960s Jim Crow South. The film captured an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture as did Gene Hackman for Best Actor. While director Alan Parker took significant liberties with the real story, Hackman is the reason to watch. His performance is part Popeye Doyle from The French Connection and part Coach Norman Dale of Hoosiers. A total force of nature as he corrals the people responsible for the murders.

Hoosiers (1986)
Based on a true story, the late great Gene Hackman stars as the basketball coach at a small Indiana high school who inspires his team to dream it can win the state tournament despite being undersized and under-appreciated. One of the greatest sports movies ever made, Hoosiers over the years has also inspired viewers with its simple but powerful message that anything can happen if you just believe in yourself. In addition to prime Hackman, Dennis Hopper is touching as his booze-soaked assistant coach as is Barbara Hershey as a fellow teacher.

Barbie (2023)
The comedy/satire movie directed by Greta Gerwig was the cultural hit of 2023, shoveling in nearly $1.5 billion at the global box office and more than $600 million domestically. The film stars Margot Robbie as the living doll, Barbie, with Ryan Gosling as her male sidekick, Ken. Fueled by its enormous success, Gerwig is already at work on a sequel.

Nightcrawler (2014)
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a psychotic photographer who films (and eventually stages) late night bloody crime scenes so he can sell them to local news stations. Rene Russois a station producer so hungry for ratings that she ignores evidence of Gyllenhaal’s ethical (and criminal lapses) so she can put them on the air. Nightcrawler is a terrific, and sometimes terrifying, commentary on ambition and journalistic corruption with great performances from Gyllenhaal and Russo. (And whatever happened to her!)

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