The 20 best movies on Freevee (2024)

Amélie (2001)

This French language romantic comedy tells the story of a Parisian waitress (Audrey Tautou) whose life takes on new purpose after she discovers a box of childhood treasures under a floorboard in her apartment and reunites them with their owner (Maurice Bénichou). A whimsical, playful film that charmed French moviegoers, international audiences, and critics alike, Amélie the character ends up having much more depth than her Manic Pixie Dream Girl counterparts, and the movie itself is endlessly enjoyable. EW’s critic at the time writes, “While Amélie the plucky girl beguiles, Amélie the charming movie, already an international success, seduces.” —Ilana Gordon

Where to watch Amélie: Freevee

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Cast: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta

Related content: Amelie: EW stage review

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

In 1994, three student filmmakers trekked through Maryland’s Black Hills Forest to shoot a documentary about a witch, only to disappear without a trace. A year later, their footage is discovered, offering insight into the events leading to their vanishing. When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, it helped redefine the horror genre by creating a market for found footage films, thanks to an online advertising campaign so believable that audiences assumed the actors to be truly dead. The film's premise — while terrifying — is ultimately superfluous. In true Hitchco*ckian form, the actual terror in The Blair Witch Project lies in the unseen and unexplained moments, inviting audiences to fill in the blanks. The film producers understood that the unknown is always the scariest option, and their film proves them right. —I.G.

Where to watch The Blair Witch Project: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard

Related content: The Blair Witch Project: 5 things you didn't know about the scariest low-budget horror movie ever

But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

Jamie Babbit’s cult classic may have received some heat upon its release, but that's just because it was ahead of its time. Natasha Lyonne heads a superb cast in the gleefully queer dark comedy, as her soft-mannered, do-gooder cheerleader is sent to a candy-colored conversion therapy program that holds a mirror up to society’s most absurdly binary stereotypes. Given how revolutionary the film comes across now, one struggles to grasp how radical it must have felt in 1999. —Declan Gallagher

Where to watch But I’m a Cheerleader: Freevee

Director: Jamie Babbit

Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, RuPaul, Melanie Lynskey, Michelle Williams

Related content: Meet your maker: High School creator Clea DuVall on her pop culture inspirations

Candyman (2021)

Charade (1963)

Stanley Donen's playful comedic thriller stars Audrey Hepburn as a widow pursued by the gang of violent thieves who murdered her husband. In the face of danger, she's aided by Cary Grant in prime late-era form. Often dismissed as a Hitchco*ck wannabe, Charade is, in reality, a very knowing and well-plotted nail-biter, featuring gorgeous international locations and some terrific chemistry between Hepburn and Grant. The film was remade in 2002 as The Truth About Charlie, with Mark Wahlberg in Grant's role and Thandiwe Newton standing in for Hepburn, though it doesn't hold a candle to the classic original work. —D.G.

Where to watch Charade: Freevee

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Stanley Donen

Cast: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, James Coburn

Related content: Legacy: Audrey Hepburn

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Meteorology meets the Midas touch in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, a computer-animated comedy based on the 1979 children’s book by the same name. Cloudy tells the story of Flint (Bill Hader), a struggling inventor who — while living in Swallow Falls, an island with a predominantly sardine-based diet — creates a weather machine capable of turning water into food. But when Flint loses control of the machine, what began as a tasty treat for the citizens of Swallow Falls soon turns into a climate disaster unlike any they’ve experienced before. With a sequel and a two-season spinoff series (airing first on Cartoon Network and later on Canada’s YTV) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is a franchise capable of offering plenty of second helpings. Also featuring the voices of Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, Neil Patrick Harris, and Lauren Graham, this light-hearted film is fun for the whole family (but best enjoyed on a full stomach). —I.G.

Where to watch Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: Freevee

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Al Roker, Lauren Graham, Will Forte

Related content: Anna Faris talks Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Dan in Real Life (2007)

A romantic comedy about a single father trying to have it all, Dan in Real Life was one of the first opportunities for Steve Carell to prove that his acting and comedic chops run so much deeper than what he showcased on The Office. Carrell plays Dan, a widowed advice columnist struggling to parent three daughters. During a family reunion in Rhode Island, Dan meets Marie, the woman of his dreams (Juliette Binoche) — as well as her boyfriend, who happens to be his younger brother (Dane Cook). Determined to support their relationship, Dan attempts to suppress his romantic feelings for Marie, concentrate on his relationship with his daughters, and get out of his own way. EW's critic writes, "The whole movie spins around Carell's inspired performance as a man who is going quietly nuts because the universe has decided to toy with him." A romantic comedy for both realists and optimists, Dan in Real Life is the perfect film to watch with family. —I.G.

Where to watch Dan in Real Life: Freevee

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Peter Hedges

Cast: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, John Mahoney, Emily Blunt, Dianne Wiest

Related content: Dan In Real Life director to make The Odd Life of Timothy Green

The Forever Purge (2021)

The most recent of the five movies in The Purge franchise, The Forever Purge is here to break all the rules. Set in Texas in 2048 after the titular tradition has been reinstated, the film follows the events surrounding the 2049 Purge, in which a group of masked killers intends to racially purify the country indefinitely. When the violence fails to stop after the formal Purge ends, two families must band together to escape the anarchists by crossing into Mexico, but with the United States under siege, surviving the Forever Purge will be much more difficult than just surviving the night. Creator James DeMonaco previously implied that this would be the final installment of the franchise, but he appears to have had a change of heart. But until a formal release date is announced, this horror movie is here to keep fans engaged and terrified. —I.G.

The Invisible Man (2020)

If you’re going to remake one of the most iconic, foundational horror movies (and novels) of all time, this is how to do it. Director Leigh Whannell, who’s come a long way from co-creating the Saw franchise that made him a household name, modernizes the premise to empathetically explore an abusive relationship and the ways in which the specter of a violent partner can resurface even after a split. Elisabeth Moss is fantastic as the ex of a monstrous tech mogul who can’t find rest until she knows he’s out of her life for good.“A lot of the story’s grip-hold is owed to Moss’s performance: raw, jittery, almost unbearably tense,” EW's critic writes. “She’s a woman whose own body is a prison, as long as her ex walks around without one.” Speaking to EW, Whannell also addresses the film’s most shocking scene, which unfolds where you’d least expect it. “I wanted something that felt very safe to the audience, so that when [it] happened, the audience would be knocked on their arse.” —Kathryn Vandervalk

Where to watch The Invisible Man: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Leigh Whannell

Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Related content: Watch a deleted scene from The Invisible Man

Ip Man (2010)

Eight years before Donnie Yen portrayed a stoically deadly warrior in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Hong Kong superstar played the titular martial arts master most famous for teaching Bruce Lee. Ip Man takes place long before that, though, with Yen's Wing Chun master reluctantly proving his superior skills against rival martial arts schools, and, eventually, the invading Japanese. Playing loosely with the biography of the very real Ip Man, Wilson Yip's film is a jingoistic mix of anti-Japan sentiment and stunning action set pieces. Yen, already a global martial arts star, studied Wing Chun under fellow Hong Kong action star Sammo Hung, and makes the unassuming Ip Man a riveting blur of jackhammer punches and balletic movement whenever anyone proves unwise enough to disturb his quiet life. You might guess the outcome, but the spectacle of Yen's real-life prowess will still knock you on your heels. —Dennis Perkins

Lake Mungo (2010)

Given that everything natural on the continent is designed to kill you, Australia seems an ideal setting for a horror movie. But in the psychological horror film Lake Mungo — set in Ararat, Australia — the fear isn’t born from external foes, but rather from the terror required to succumb to the depths of human feeling. Lake Mungo begins with the accidental drowning of 16-year-old Alice Palmer. Upon returning home, her brother Matthew believes he sees Alice’s ghost, but further investigation from the Palmer family reveals that Alice was seeing premonitions of her death. Far from providing closure, the family begins to realize that the more they learn about Alice’s personal life, the less they understand about what happened to her. Shot in mockumentary style and incorporating elements of found footage, Lake Mungo is, at its core, a horror movie about human behavior and navigating grief. —I.G.

The Last Five Years (2015)

Jason Robert Brown’s 2001 stage musical loosely based on his own failed marriage is notable for its use of time; the show tells a love story from two perspectives, with each starting from a different place in the narrative. The character of Jamie (played in the film by Jeremy Jordan) remembers the relationship chronologically, while Cathy (Anna Kendrick) tells the story starting from the ending and going in reverse; the two characters’ stories only intersect in the middle, during a song about their wedding. The film version of The Last Five Years adapts the source material with a light touch, allowing the show's structure and music, and the movie's two talented stars to take center stage. —I.G.

Where to watch The Last Five Years: Freevee

Director: Richard LaGravenese

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan

Related content: Anna Kendrick serenades Jeremy Jordan in The Last Five Years clip

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Edgar Wright takes viewers on an aesthetic, murderous journey through England's swinging ‘60s in his psychological thriller, Last Night in Soho. When aspiring fashion designer Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) moves to London for school, she finds herself fixated on Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a blonde bombshell she meets in her dreams. But the more time Eloise spends asleep and observing Sandie’s glamorous nightclub life, the more she finds herself thrown into a decades-old mystery that has her questioning her own sanity. A stylistic caper featuring Diana Rigg's final role before her death, EW’s critic says, “An original Avenger and former Bond Girl, she might have actually come closest to embodying the mad, mod world Wright so lovingly recreates here on screen.” —I.G.

Where to watch Last Night in Soho: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg

Related content: How Edgar Wright's '60s playlist conjured the 'lucid dream' of Last Night in Soho

Lion (2016)

Finding your way home is impossible when you don’t realize you’re lost, as is the case for Saroo (Sunny Pawar). Raised in Tasmania by adoptive parents who found him as a 5-year-old in Calcutta, twentysomething Saroo (Dev Patel) has a revelation: He was discovered there after being separated from his biological mother and brother. This prompts him to embark on a journey to locate his birthplace and reunite with his long-lost relatives. Based on the autobiography by Saroo Brierley — the author’s birth name, Sheru, translates to "lion" — the film offers outstanding, compassionate performances from its cast, coupled with a visually captivating odyssey. Described by EW's critic as "a complicated true story has been airbrushed into a postmodern legend," Lion is praised as "a celebration of global citizenship." —Sammi Burke

Where to watch Lion: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Garth Davis

Cast: Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, Nicole Kidman, Abhishek Bharate, Divian Ladwa, Keshav Jadhav, Priyanka Bose

Related content: Lion: How Nicole Kidman's own experience with adoption informed her performance

Margin Call (2011)

Set in a fictional Wall Street firm and transpiring over a 24-hour period, Margin Call offers a fast-moving, high-stakes retrospective into the 2008 financial crisis as told by the perpetrators who enkindled it. Stanley Tucci plays the company’s risk assessment manager who, after suffering a layoff, passes a zip drive containing an unfinished project along to his co-worker (Zachary Quinto). The information on that drive is enough to incite a panic, driving the firm’s key players back into the office as they strategize late into the night, plotting a way to save the company from bankruptcy — moral and economic implications be damned. Also featuring Demi Moore, Paul Bettany, and Jeremy Irons, and showcasing an impressive debut from writer/director J. C. Chandor, Margin Call offers up an ensemble cast “at the top of their game,” EW’s critic writes, capturing “with a reality that can’t be shaken off, how our financial institutions became secret havens to a selfishness so undiluted it was sociopathic.” The movie is all the more impressive when you consider the turnaround: Principal photography began in June of 2010, less than two years after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September of 2008. —I.G.

Where to watch Margin Call: Freeve

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: J.C. Chandor

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci

Related content: Stanley Tucci's Margin Call monologue: Watch here!

The Mist (2007)

The average reader doesn’t open aStephen King book expecting a whimsical romp, but even the most emotionally impenetrable of King fans will find themselves sucker punched by the ending to 2007’s film adaptation of The Mist. Starring an ensemble cast that includes standouts Thomas Jane and Marcia Gay Harden, The Mist follows the residents of a small town in Maine as they resupply on groceries after a storm, only to find themselves trapped inside the store as a supernatural mist — and whatever’s lurking inside — descends upon them. Distinguishing The Mist from your standard meat and potatoes sci-fi fare is the thematic suggestion that religious fanaticism is as dangerous of a threat as mutant creatures. Per director Frank Darabont’s preference (he also helmed stellar King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile), the film was shot in black and white, but released in color for theatrical audiences. It’s a King film that is not to be missed — but enter into The Mist at your own peril.—I.G.

Out of the Furnace (2013)

Life in the rust-belt after the recession and end of the Iraq War is desolate, but the one thing folks in Braddock, Pa., have going for them is a love of family and a thirst for justice. Such is the case for steel worker and ex-convict Russell Baze (Christian Bale) whose Iraq War vet brother Rodney goes missing after an illegal bare knuckle fight. A crime thriller that pits a sociopathic drug dealer (Woody Harrelson) against a man with nothing left to lose, Out of the Furnace is violent, vengeful, and completely intoxicating. While the film made EW critic Chris Nashawaty’s list of the 10 best movies of 2013, Out of the Furnace slipped under the radar for most people, but remains a dominant achievement. As noted in the review, “All of the actors (including Zoe Saldaña as Bale’s ex) are remarkable. But it’s Bale, and his almost biblical quest for justice, who burns his way into your soul.” — I.G.

Where to watch Out of the Furnace: Freevee

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Scott Cooper

Cast: Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, Zoe Saldaña, Sam Shepard

Related content: Christian Bale seeks justice in Out of the Furnace trailer

Secretary (2002)

In recent years, Secretary’s marketing campaign (or whatever you call it 20 years later) has rebranded it as the original Fifty Shades of Grey. Unfortunately, that is both a hack assessment and a wholly accurate one. The difference is that Secretary has crackling dialogue, is gorgeously shot, and actually works as a story. You care about the two lost souls — James Spader as the deviant boss literally named Mr. Grey, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as his willingly submissive assistant — at the center, and root for them to connect rather than wonder if you should call the authorities to report what you’re seeing. It’s kinky, but it isn’t empty. —D.G.

Stillwater (2021)

If Taken was written as an ethically nuanced thriller instead of a campy action movie, it would be Stillwater. The drama from Academy Award winner Tom McCarthy follows an Oklahoma father who moves to France to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Allison — and to attempt to spring her from prison where she is serving a murder sentence for a crime she claims she did not commit. A story reminiscent of Amanda Knox’s cursed study abroad experience — Knox does not approve, by the way — Stillwater benefits from the performances of its cast, led by Matt Damon in the role of Allison’s tortured father, Bill Baker. EW’s reviewer writes the film is a “slow-churn character study of a man who is arguably more lost than the incarcerated daughter he's so desperate to free will ever be.” —I.G.

Where to watch Stillwater: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Tom McCarthy

Cast: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin

Related content: Matt Damon on the surprising life lessons he learned shadowing roughnecks for Stillwater

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

One of the forebears of the horror genre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre built the sad*stic road map followed by many modern films — the Saw and Hostel franchises among them. A movie that inspired nine sequels, the most recent being 2022's X, this ‘70s torture film only needs a chainsaw and a leather facemask sewn from human skin to drive its viewers into spasms of terror. Following a group of young hippies who visit an old family farmhouse and end up encountering the home’s murderous next-door neighbors, EW deems The Texas Chainsaw Massacre the “template for modern horror.” As EW's critic writes, “What Chainsaw channeled, far more than any other horror film of its time, was the dementia, the terrifying insanity, of violence. It made you feel like you were really experiencing what it was like to be murdered.” —I.G.