The new year means a more movies have been added to YouTube’s library. Unlike most streaming services, YouTube does not charge customers to watch movies. These films are ad-supported and can be watched for free.
Don’t be skeptical about YouTube’s selection. There are quality movies ready to stream with the click of a button. For example, Prometheus is Ridley Scott’s excellent prequel to Alien. A high-quality movie like Prometheus should cost money to rent, but not on YouTube. If you’re looking for more movies to watch, scroll below for our recommendations.
Looking for more stuff you can watch for free? Check out our guides to the best free shows on YouTube and the best sites for watching free movies online. If you’re willing to pay, read these guides on the best new movies to stream and the best movies on Netflix.
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Prometheus2012 -
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Jurassic World2015
Prometheus (2012)
64%
7.0/10After a 30-year absence, Ridley Scott returned to the franchise he created with an Alien prequel, Prometheus. In the year 2089, archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) believe humanity’s creators, “The Engineers,” are inviting them to a distant moon to discover the origin of life.
Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) of the Weyland Corporation commissions an expedition to this moon to meet the Engineers and discover the secret to immortality. Once the crew reaches their destination, they quickly learn that the Engineers aren’t so friendly. To make matters worse, terrifying alien creatures are on the hunt, with the unsuspecting crew as their targets.
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
7.5/10The first live-action adaptation of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series came in 1990’s The Hunt for Red October. At the height of the Cold War, Soviet captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) controls the Red October, a new ballistic missile submarine. Ramius plans to defect to the U.S. However, the American government is unaware of Ramius’ plans, believing he wants to attack the U.S.
CIA agent Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) deduces that Ramius wants to defect, but he can’t prove it yet. With the U.S. and Russia on the brink of war, Ryan races to confirm his theory and save the world from nuclear war.
Jurassic World (2015)
59%
6.9/10After three films, the Jurassic Park series experienced a reboot in 2015 with Jurassic World. After years of trying to master cloning dinosaurs, John Hammond’s dream comes to fruition with Jurassic World, a new theme park on Isla Nublar. The park’s top attraction is the Indominus rex, a transgenic dinosaur more powerful than a tyrannosaurus.
Like Jurassic Park, life finds a way, as this Indominus rex escapes from captivity and wreaks havoc on the island. More dinosaurs are freed, leading to widespread panic and chaos. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), Jurassic World’s operations manager, and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a dinosaur handler, are humanity’s only hope in keeping the cloned creatures from becoming the dominant species on the island.
Point Break (1991)
59%
7.3/10Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze square off in Kathryn Bigelow’s excellent action thriller, Point Break. Former college quarterback Johnny Utah (Reeves) is a hot-shot FBI agent who teams with veteran agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey) to catch a group of bank robbers known as the “Ex-Presidents.” The duo hypothesizes that the robbers are surfers, so Utah goes undercover within the beach community, searching for more information.
While posing as a surfer, Utah meets Bodhi (Swayze), the eccentric leader of a group of surfers. As Utah spends more time with the surfers, he develops a genuine bond with the free-spirited Bodhi. However, this complicates Utah’s mission, blurring the lines between his new friends and his job.
I Kill Giants (2018)
74%
6.1/10My Friend Dahmer (2017)
68%
6.2/10Someone at YouTube has very deftly picked up on the renewed interest in Jeffrey Dahmer by getting the rights to stream My Friend Dahmer. This serial killer movie is based upon the true story of John “Derf” Backderf (Alex Wolff), a cartoonist who was the closest friend that Jeffrey Dahmer (Ross Lynch) had in high school. In this adaptation of Backderf’s graphic novel, he and his fellow outcasts befriend Dahmer, but they aren’t blind to his bizarre behavior.
However, they couldn’t have predicted that the awkward young man that they knew would go on to become one of the most infamous serial killers of the last century. It’s also a tragic tale, as no one notices how monstrous Dahmer has become until it’s far too late to stop him.
The Illusionist (2006)
68%
7.6/10The Illusionist beat the similarly themed film, The Prestige, to theaters by about two months, but Christopher Nolan’s movie is the superior of the two. Regardless, The Illusionist has its charms, largely in the core trio of Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, and Paul Giamatti. When they were young, Eduard Abramovich (Norton) and Duchess Sophie Von Teschen (Biel) had a passion for each other that her parents forbade.
Upon adulthood, Edward reinvented himself as Eisenheim The Illusionist and reunited with Sophie before she could be married to the malevolent Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). When Sophie is murdered, Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Giamatti) is unnerved when Eisenheim appears to be able to summon Sophie’s spirit at will.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
89%
7.9/10A seminal entry for American horror cinema, George A. Romero’s classic horror movie follows seven people who find themselves trapped in Pennsylvania as the terrifying walking dead surround them. They have to try to survive without understanding the terror that lurks outside.
The movie has been noted as the first zombie film, and its influences can be seen in everything from 28 Days Later to Shaun of the Dead. Romero’s debut — he wrote, directed, edited, and acted in the film — made him into a superstar, quickly revolutionizing the genre on a budget of a mere $114,000.
