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 Five top films with amazing Rotten Tomatoes reviews that you can stream for free in the USA with no subscription

Home> Film & TV> News

Published 20:27 7 Mar 2025 GMT

Five top films with amazing Rotten Tomatoes reviews that you can stream for free in the USA with no subscription

"Wait what? I missed a Margot Robbie movie?"

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck

Sick of breaking the bank over subscriptions and renting movies? This week's UNILAD RANKED has you covered.

With some streaming services costing money and not just that, but their prices seeming to continuously rise, UNILAD RANKED brings you five movies you can watch completely free and with no subscription at all.

Pluto TV - a free streaming service - revealed some of the top movies users are loving on its site which UNILAD RANKED has organized in order of Rotten Tomatoes score - a few picks leaving people questioning how on earth they've not seen them yet.

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Prepare to dive into an oldie but goldie:

5) Labyrinth (1986)

The nostalgic fantasy film which reared its goblin-y head in many of our childhoods was written by Terry Jones and based on conceptual designs by Brian Froud. It was executive produced by George Lucas (Star Wars) and directed by Jim Henson (The Muppet Show).

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Starring none other than icon David Bowie alongside a young Jennifer Connelly (Top Gun: Maverick), it tells the story of 16-year-old Sarah (Connelly) who has to journey through a maze to save her baby brother from the Goblin King Jareth (Bowie).

What you may not've realized when you were younger is the owl in the title sequence of the film is actually computer generated and was 'the first attempt at a photo-realistic CGI animal character in a feature film,' IMBb reveals.

However, one thing certainly not faked by special effects or camera tricks was Jareth's crystal ball skills - although, they weren't actually performed by Bowie but choreographer and juggler Michael Moschen who hid behind the actor's back, impressively performing the tricks completely blind.

With a Rotten Tomatoes tomatometer of 76 percent and popcornmeter of 86 percent - coming in at a median of 81- it's no wonder fans of the movie have praised it as 'GLORIOUS,' a 'comfort movie' and 'a masterpiece'.

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With Robert Eggers officially set to direct a sequel to Labyrinth, there's no better time to get nostalgic and head into the maze alongside Sarah.

Labyrinth stars David Bowie (Tri-Star Pictures)
Labyrinth stars David Bowie (Tri-Star Pictures)

4) Insomnia (2002)

Written by Hillary Seitz, directed by Christopher Nolan, Insomnia is the only film directed by Nolan he's not also officially credited with writing too.

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A remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, the psychological thriller stars Al Pacino (The Godfather), the legendary Robin Williams (Flubber) and Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby).

It centers around a veteran police detective Will Dormer (Pacino) who's sent to a small town in Alaska to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, ending up in a psychological game of cat-and-mouse with prime suspect Walter Finch (Williams).

Nolan previously told TIME Magazine the trio had vastly different ways of working - Pacino wanting long discussions about his character and multiple and intense rehearsals of scenes with numerous takes, versus Williams who wasn't a fan of rehearsal but wanted lots of takes too and then Swank who preferred as minimal takes as possible.

The film premiered at Tribeca Festival May 2002 but the love for it has remained, Insomnia obtaining an impressive tomatometer score of 92 percent alongside a popcornmeter of 77 percent - a median of 84.5 - and one Twitter user branding it 'maybe [their] favorite Pacino performance' despite another admitting they 'haven't seen this one'.

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When interviewed for Tom Shone’s The Nolan Variations, Nolan himself voiced the belief Insomnia is 'probably the most underrated film' and was 'one of [his] most personal films' in 'what it was to make it' - his first studio film, on location and 'the first time' working with 'huge movie stars'.

What a duo (Warner Bros. Pictures)
What a duo (Warner Bros. Pictures)

3) JFK (1991)

A political thriller written by Oliver Stone (Wall Street) and Zachary Sklar (Hanyut), JFK is based on two books from Jim Garrison and Jim Marrs.

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JFK stars the likes of Kevin Costner (Thirteen Days), Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games) and Tommy Lee Jones (Ad Astra).

The film delves into New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison's investigation into the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy and belief there was a conspiracy.

Two locations used during filming were actually the real-life locations where various historical incidents actually occurred - Oswald's arrest filmed in the real Texas Theatre where it happened and the murder of Oswald filmed in the actual basement garage of Dallas City Hall, IMDb explains.

JFK comes in with a median Rotten Tomatoes score of 86 from a tomatometer of 84 and popcornmeter of 88.

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A Twitter user said: "JFK won Oscars for both cinematography and editing, it may play fast and loose with actual facts, but the movie is technically perfect. I love that Donald Sutherland rocks up, delivers a 16 minutes monlogue and steals the entire thing."

"The fact that they put this together before most digital editing options existed is wild. A tour de force of film editing," a second wrote.

Another commented: "Definitely a top 5 scene/film stealing performance!"

You, watching JFK (Warner Bros.)
You, watching JFK (Warner Bros.)

2) The Big Short (2015)

Written by Charles Randolph (Bombshell), Adam McKay (Don't Look Up), Michael Lewis (The Blind Side) and directed by McKay,

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The Big Short stars Christian Bale (The Dark Knight), Steve Carell (The Office), Ryan Gosling (Barbie) with Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez even making appearances and as themselves no less.

The biographical comedy-drama dives into the US housing bubble and how it triggered the 2008 stock market crash, consisting of three different stories linked together in how they run up to the financial crisis.

The film's achieved a tomatometer score of 89 percent and popcornmeter of 88 percent coming in at 88.5 overall.

One Twitter user wrote: "One of my favorite movies based on a true story, such a complex time in history, but it’s explained so well and makes it easily accessible for everyone."

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"Wait what? I missed a Margot Robbie movie?"another added.

What do you mean you've not seen 'The Big Short'? (Paramount Pictures)
What do you mean you've not seen 'The Big Short'? (Paramount Pictures)

1) What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a coming-of-age drama with a screenplay by Peter Hedges, directed by Lasse Hallström.

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Starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception) , Johnny Depp and Darlene Cates (Wolf Girl).

Depp plays the titular role of Gilbert Grape, a young man juggling looking after his mother (Cates) who's struggling with her weight and leaving the house, alongside his younger brother (DiCaprio) who has mental health troubles.

Depp reportedly felt so bad ridiculing Cates' character he would apologize to his co-star, once reportedly telling her, as per IMDb: "Man, I want you to know how much I hated having to say those things about you, or about your character."

DiCaprio was 19 years old when he played Arnie Grape and created a flick of the finger against his nose as a specific movement for his character, dubbing it a 'brain wipe' as if his character was 'massaging the inside of his brain'.

You immediately driving home to watch 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (Paramount Pictures)
You immediately driving home to watch 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (Paramount Pictures)

Despite Depp admitting he 'tortured' DiCaprio and found him annoying, he admitted he held 'a lot' of 'respect' for him and how 'hard' he worked on the film and time he spent 'researching' - 'all his ducks in a row' when he came to set.

Obtaining a seriously strong tomatometer score of 90 and similarly applaud-worthy 89 - a median of 89.5 - What's Eating Gilbert Grape has been dubbed a seriously 'underrated film'.

A social media user wrote: "So far as I know that was the first film with LDC in that I ever saw. I honestly did not think he was acting. Underrated film."

Another added: "I love this movie soo much, I used to have dvd but I lost it, where can I watch this movie?" Well, Pluto TV.

A final resolved: "One of the best movies."

UNILAD RANKED is a weekly series with a new article released every Friday.

Featured Image Credit: Paramount Pictures/ Warner Bros. Pictures

Topics: Entertainment, Film and TV, Rotten Tomatoes, UNILAD RANKED

Poppy Bilderbeck
Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.

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