8 Wonderful Ways To Stream Movies For Free

Conservative News DailySeptember 1, 2021

The streaming revolution is both a game changer and a fiscal time bomb.

A few years ago streaming meant seeing Netflix content before your friends and neighbors. Now? If you want to catch the latest streaming fare it requires subscribing to Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV … and that’s a partial list.

What about Shudder? Discovery+? Acorn TV? Exhausted yet, not to mention worried about balancing your budget?

One solution is leaning on the free movie and TV platforms at your disposal. There’s a catch, of course. You’ll need a solid Internet connection and a smart device of some kind.

And, of course, you’ll need to endure commercials like when your parents watched cathode ray TV.

These commercial loads are typically less cumbersome than your average broadcast channel, though. Before long you’re watching the free movie you came to see.

It’s a small price to pay for not having to worry about another monthly fee.

Pluto TV

This ingenious platform offers a visual guide that looks like a DirecTV or Comcast menu. That makes it both familiar and easy to follow. Look closer. Pluto TV serves up a bounty of classic content, from old-school TV favorites to newer fare, like a channel dedicated to “Tosh.0” reruns.

Unsure where to start? Try “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” “COPS,” “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” and “Black Ink Crew.” The guide offers general categories, like Comedy, Reality and Classic TV, scratching the surface of what’s to come.

Plus, the Pluto TV lineup is always changing, growing, and the selection is so diverse there’s something for virtually any consumer.

TUBI

This mighty app offers a crush of first-rate movies, TV shows and more. Just be careful. It could take you a while to surf through the various categories – think “action horror,” “back to school,” “Bollywood dreams” and “found footage horror.” There’s even a fitness channel with recent videos and classic “Jane Fonda” workouts.

The kids category alone offers a robust array of sub-categories, from anime to content with “horses and ponies” and “friendly monsters.”

Tubi originals like “Swim” are for diehard horror fans, but there’s enough content here to delight most audiences.

Crackle

This “veteran” platform made waves by debuting Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” way back in 2012. Now, the service delivers a robust mix of existing TV shows and films, alphabetically assembled for your consideration.

The navigation is clear, although new users will be asked to sign in, free of charge, before getting access to the dashboard. The “Crackle Movie Classics” category could be richer, but it’s a nice alternative for those exhausted by woke storytelling.

Comedy fans get indie and mainstream fare along with plenty of stand-up specials.

Expect a rich variety of films across categories. And, if you’re worried about older films looking, well, old, a quick peek at the 1968 Monkees flop “Head” shows a crystal-clear picture. Results may vary, of course.

The intriguing Crackle wrinkle? You can opt for “Interactive” ads which require the bare minimum of clicking while dramatically reducing the commercial load.

Hoopla

This fascinating platform taps into the country’s vast library system. You’ll be asked to sign up (free of charge) and select your nearest library. Have your library card number handy for a quicker experience.

From there you’re able to digitally borrow movies, music, ebooks, TV shows and more, downloading them to your device du jour. Plus, you can either watch the content instantly or download it for later viewing.

Popcornflix

This app delivers big, beautiful movie posters to let you know what’s available in yet another seemingly endless carousel.

You’ll find the usual movie suspects along with lesser-known titles well worth your time. Think “Memory: The Origins of Alien” documentary or “Casino Jack.”

The “classic” horror channel is more than welcome, as is “Asian Action.” Too bad the latter category has only two titles at the moment.

The emphasis here is on indie and obscure content, which means you’ll make some wonderful discoveries and regret more than a few choices.

Plex

At first, this platform mimics the look and catalogues of its peers. Think movies, TV shows and some colorful categories (“Best of the West,” for example).

We’re also treated to a Pluto TV-style guide that looks like live TV (and is called just that). The guide’s Music tab offers a diverse array of content, from “Party Time Karaoke” to “Qwest Classical.” You’ll also find channels dedicated to specific movie studios, like Magnolia and Lionsgate.

The neat twist here? Plex delivers podcasts on demand, from “Louder with Crowder” to “The Tim Dillon Show.” It’s a shame the video versions of these shows don’t pop up instead of the audio versions.

IMDB TV

The platform brings some serious online gravitas to the game given the namesake’s essential web site. Miss the TV shows of your youth? Chances are you’ll find them here.

What’s missing? You won’t find a cavalcade of classic films here. Most of the content is from the 1980s and up.

Users also can sample a small selection of films and TV shows which are, we’re told, freely available only on IMDB TV. Given all the competition in this space, that matters, but given the brand in play the pickings fall on the slim side.

Filmrise

The platform offers a plain but effective menu along with the standard issue categories. That’s enhanced by clever sub-categories like “True Stories,” “Great Sitcoms” and “Leading Women.”

Once again, the sub-categories fall on the falsely “ambitious” side. The “Great Sitcoms” banner leads to a grand total of five shows, including the satisfying but hardly “great” “Cybill.”

Far better are its niche categories, like the robust “World Cinema” channel. Still, users should expect less mainstream fare when streaming content here.

Not satisfied? Smart devices (TVs, tablets and Roku sticks) offer even more content apps than you can possibly imagine. Some offer the bare minimum of programming. Others focus on titles you’d probably rather skip given their microscopic budgets and sketchy performances.

It’s fascinating to learn just how much content is out there, but after a while you may wish you didn’t set forth on this journey.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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