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The 10 Best Movies and Shows to Stream for Free in October
Save money by catching these free offerings on streaming platforms including YouTube, Tubi and Kanopy
5-minute read
David Tennant stars in Season 3 of "Doctor Who," now streaming free on Hoopla, Kanopy and Plex.
BBC/Courtesy Everett Collection
While the monthly costs of major streaming services like Netflix and HBO Max continue to climb, a host of streamers like YouTube, Tubi, Pluto and Plex offer first-rate content at a more affordable price: free. Most of these services are supported by ads, so expect a longer runtime and the occasional untimely interruption midscene. Some services, like Kanopy and Hoopla, are available through your local public library, while others ask you to sign up for a free account. Here are some of the choicest offerings you can stream for free in September.
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50/50 (2011, R)
Who’d have thought that a cancer comedy could be this funny, or have this much heart? Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a sweet 27-year-old doormat of a guy whose fun-loving bestie (Seth Rogen, in a performance of surprising depth) goes into glass-half-full overdrive when the former is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. Gordon-Levitt’s Adam learns to open up for a change, while Rogen’s Kyle finds new opportunities to mature.
Watch it: 50/50, on Plex
All the Money in the World (2017, R)
Ridley Scott’s fact-based drama about the 1973 kidnapping of rich kid John Paul Getty III had its own drama behind the scenes. Two months before its release (and a few weeks before hitting the festival circuit), Scott and the film’s producers removed actor Kevin Spacey, who was playing the teen’s reclusive, multimillionaire grandfather, in the wake of accusations of sexual assault. Replacing Spacey with Christopher Plummer, Scott reshot all of Spacey’s scenes (except for one, where he’s seen only from the back from a distance) and delivered the film on time — albeit $10 million over a $40 million budget. Ever the pro, Plummer delivers a casually cruel performance as the titan who refuses to pay a handsome ransom for his teenage grandson despite the pleas of his increasingly desperate daughter-in-law (Michelle Williams) and the ex-CIA security expert (Mark Wahlberg) hired to resolve the crisis. It’s a fascinating story, well told.
Watch it: All the Money in the World, on Tubi
The Boys in the Boat (2023, PG-13)
George Clooney, 61, directed this stubbornly old-fashioned charmer, a feel-good story about the hardscrabble rowing team from the University of Washington that pulled off upset wins over better-financed Ivy League crews and then further defied the odds by beating the Nazis at the 1936 Olympics. Sometimes formulaic storytelling just works, especially when the project boasts a star turn from British actor Callum Turner as a penniless collegian for whom a seat in the boat means a crucial scholarship.
Watch it: The Boys in the Boat, on YouTube
Doctor Who (2005-2022)
The cult British sci-fi series had been dormant for 15 years when Russell T. Davies rebooted the show in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the battle-scarred time traveler and Billie Piper as his compassionate sidekick. The combo of pulpy sci-fi thrills and genuine human emotions earned the show a new generation of mega-fans that has thrived through multiple recastings of the title role (including David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi). You can catch up on the fun on several streamers, many of which are releasing additional seasons on a weekly basis through the fall.
Watch it: Doctor Who, on Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex
Eve’s Bayou (1997, R)
“The summer I killed my father, I was 10 years old.” Kasi Lemmons’ soulful directorial debut hooks you right from the beginning. The young heroine (Jurnee Smollett) has a childlike understanding of her messy, complicated world, particularly where it concerns her womanizing father (Samuel L. Jackson), a prominent Louisiana physician. Every frame of this Southern Gothic drama practically drips with the humidity of the bayou and the shadows cast by voodoo-practicing fortune tellers.
Watch it: Eve’s Bayou, on Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex
Frasier (1993–2004)
This sitcom spin-off — one of the best — follows one of Cheers’s more minor bar habitues, psychiatrist Frasier Crane, in a move from Boston to Seattle. His highbrow interactions with his persnickety brother, working-class dad and dad’s quirky live-in housekeeper are comic gold. The show remains a consistent delight, even if we still don’t know what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs from the theme song (sung by star Kelsey Grammer).
Watch it: Frasier, on Roku Channel
Ghosts (Season 5)
Five seasons in, this sitcom remains a delight as young couple Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) settle into running a bed-and-breakfast in a bucolic country home that’s haunted by several centuries of pushy ghosts that only Sam can see. Like The Office, this is an Americanized version of a British show whose stateside version is enjoying a well-deserved longer run.
Watch it: Ghosts, on PlutoTV
The Italian Job (G, 1969)
Cool Brittania was never quite so cool as in this comedic caper starring Michael Caine as a Cockney criminal who assembles a ragtag team to pull off an elaborate heist of gold bullion from a security truck in Turin, Italy. The film features a hilarious supporting cast that includes Benny Hill and Noël Coward (in his final film appearance) as well as a jaunty score by Quincy Jones. Watch this instead of the middling 2003 remake with Mark Wahlberg.
Watch it: The Italian Job, on Hoopla, Tubi
Looper (2012, R)
Rian Johnson, the auteur behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the Knives Out mystery franchise, first broke out with this twisty sci-fi thriller set in a world in which a time-traveling assassin (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is sent into the past to kill his older self (Bruce Willis). The film also boasts a compelling turn from a pre–Devil Wears Prada Emily Blunt.
Watch it: Looper, on Plex
The Social Network (2010, PG-13)
Aaron Sorkin’s razor-sharp dissection of the launch of Facebook remains a gripping drama about the cutthroat world of tech start-ups — and one that helped cement the complicated public image of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It’s a good time to revisit the film ahead of Sorkin’s latest film, The Social Reckoning, a kind of sequel about the company whistleblower who released damning internal documents about the company’s shadier practices regarding youth, human trafficking and misinformation.
Watch it: The Social Network, on YouTube
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