YouTube free movies: The best (and the rest) that you can watch completely legally
There are obscure documentaries and schlocky action thrillers, but also some pretty major films
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Your support makes all the difference.YouTube has started testing the waters of ad-supported movies, allowing viewers to watch a film as they might on a free TV channel, but at a time of their choosing. A bank of titles have appeared under a “Free to watch” heading on the YouTube Movies channel, and more are expected to be added if the ad strategy is a success.
At the moment, it’s a pretty mixed bag. There are obscure documentaries and schlocky action thrillers, but also some pretty major films like Rocky I–V and Four Weddings and a Funeral – all available to people in the US (or at least people browsing from a US IP address).
Here are a few titles of note, followed by the rest of the list available at the time of writing:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Certainly the best doc ever made about sushi and possibly the best doc ever made about food, Jiro Dreams of Sushi centres on 85-year-old Jiro Ono, the owner of a Michelin three-star restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. Jiro is one of the highest-regarded chefs in the world, but no level of acclaim seems to be enough for this perfectionist.
Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde should have been a throwaway romcom, but by mildly subverting the genre (much like Mean Girls) and carrying a feminist message, it has had real staying power. The fact that Legally Blonde 1 and 2 are streaming for free makes it easy to recap on the series ahead of the third instalment, which is slated for release in 2020.
The Man in the Iron Mask
This wasn’t exactly Leonardo DiCaprio’s finest hour – even earning him a Razzie – but The Man in the Iron Mask is an interesting failure. DiCaprio plays twins and is supported on the cast by John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons and Gérard Depardieu. Loosely based on two separate Alexandre Dumas novels, it was probably a bit too ambitious, but there’s enough swashbuckling and masquerade ball switcheroos to keep the action moving.
Jesus Camp
With so much talk of balance and bias these days, this 2006 documentary is interesting in that it claims to come with no “prepackaged point of view” and attempts to be “an honest and impartial depiction of one faction of the evangelical Christian community”. Nevertheless, organisers of the Charismatic Christian summer camp it focuses on were furious with the film, and the camp eventually had to be closed due to vandalism.
The Terminator
What synopsis is really necessary for this iconic movie? Deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress, this film about a cyborg killer was preserved in the National Film Registry in 2008. A blueprint for sci-fi thrillers in many ways, the 1984 Schwarzenegger classic’s influence was felt well into the 1990s.
Four Weddings And A Funeral
The internet may not be able to cope if Love Actually is made available for free on YouTube, but for now it’ll have make do with this earlier Richard Curtis movie. A Best Picture nominee and box office smash, it’s a frightfully charming romcom about an er, umm, bumbling gent who, well, gosh, meets a fine filly from America.
Hackers
Nineties nostalgists need look no further than this cult classic. Made before the general public was familiar with the internet, the film’s depiction of the web and hacking hasn’t aged well and makes for a pretty funny watch so many years later. Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller and Jesse Bradford star as a gang of high school hackers caught up in a corporate extortion conspiracy.
I Wish
If you enjoyed Richard Linklater’s ode to growing up, Boyhood, then Hirokazu Kore-eda’s might appeal too. It didn’t get a proper UK or US release, but was loved by critics, following two young brothers (played by real-life brothers) who live in separate cities and dream of reuniting.
Bio-Dome
Bio-Dome is one of those movies so universally loathed that it’s stuck around in the collective consciousness as an object of fascination, and there may even be a sequel on the way some 22 years later. Stephen Baldwin and Pauly Shore star as a couple of stoners who stumble across a closed ecological system in which scientists are hermetically sealed for experiments. Expect the dumbest toilet humour and sexual innuendo imaginable.
Experimenter
If you can get past that awkward title, this a pretty engrossing watch. It stars Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder, and is based on the 1961 Milgram experiment, which highlighted humans’ obedience to authority figures. Participants were coerced into administering increasingly large electric shocks to others that, had they been real, would have been fatal.
Rocky
Rocky I, II, III, IV and V are all streaming on YouTube, but Rocky I remains the best in the series (not counting Creed, which you’ll have to pay for). A special mention for Rocky III, though, which marks Mr T’s film debut and sees Hulk Hogan play a character named Thunderlips.
Igor
Agent Cody Banks
Great World of Sound
Rocky IV
Sleepover
Zookeeper
What’s the Worst That Could Happen?
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
Kano
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White And Blonde
Rocky III
Rocky II
All Dogs Go to Heaven
The Magic of Belle Isle
Rocky V
Uptown Girls
The Pink Panther 2
A Guy Thing
Out of Time
Flawless
The Wrath of Vajra
Blackthorn
Return to Me
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
Saved
Throw Momma from the Train
Dino King
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Sorcerer and the White Snake
Monsters
Kung Fu Killer
Trail of the Pink Panther
Good Boy!
Very Good Girls
Son of the Pink Panther
The Hero of Color City
Slightly Single in LA
McCanick
Tai Chi Hero
The Timber
Curse of the Pink Panther
A Company Man
Special ID
The Assassins
Drug War
Tai Chi Zero
Mystery Road
Ip Man: The Final Fight
The Great Buck Howard
Europa Report
New World
Main Street
The Pirates
Memories of the Sword
Police Story: Lockdown
The World’s Fastest Indian
White Haired Witch
The Suspect
Wu Dang
Rejoice & Shout
Painted Skin: The Resurrection
The Woods
The Lost City
The Thieves
Countdown to Zero
Vengeance of an Assassin
Dumbstruck
Commitment
Skating to New York
Into The White
The Assassin
A Place at the Table
FrackNation
Venus and Serena
Swelter
Legendary Amazons
Grand Piano
And While We Were Here
The Truth About Emanuel
A Long Way Down
Muay Thai Giant
Good Ol’ Freda
Ocean Heaven
Ballet 422
I’ll Follow You Down
The Good Heart
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
The Last Tycoon
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