If you’re looking to cut back on streaming services this month, check out some of the many great movies streaming for free on the Roku Channel. This month’s offerings include a Keanu Reeves action movie, a pre-“The Mandalorian and Grogu” flick from Jon Favreau and one of the greatest cinematic romances ever made.
Here are the seven best movies streaming for free on Roku in May.
“Blow Out”
In Brian De Palma’s “Blow Out,” an audio technician captures a sound effect he was never meant to hear. John Travolta stars in the 1981 Neo-noir as Jack Terry, a man who inadvertently overhears proof of a gubernatorial assassination while out recording ambient sound for a low-budget slasher. It’s a flat-out masterpiece from De Palma, featuring an ending worthy of a watch alone.
“Chef”
On Friday, Jon Favreau returns to a galaxy far, far away to take fans on an interplanetary adventure with “The Mandalorian & Grogu.” If that megablockbuster isn’t your speed, go back and check out Favreau’s “Chef,” a film big on vibes, light on conflict and of overall high quality. Just don’t watch it on an empty stomach.
“The Host” (2006)
Some filmmakers love to play in the same genre, while others can’t be contained by a single kind of movie. Bong Joon Ho belongs to the latter camp, as evidenced by his 2006 creature feature “The Host.” It’s a strong early effort from the eventual Oscar-winning “Parasite” director (co-written by Bong Joon Ho, Ha Joon-won and Baek Chul-hyun), one that features excellent monster action without losing an emotional family story at its center.
“Memento”
Before “The Odyssey” hits theaters this summer, go back and revisit one of Christopher Nolan’s smallest films to date, “Memento.” The 2000 thriller features an inventive structure (alluding to Nolan’s future films that would play around with time) by cutting between two tracks of narrative for the audience: one progressing forward, the other progressing backward until they eventually meet in the middle. It’s structurally thrilling with a strong screenplay and performances to boot.
“Point Break” (1991)
What if you were a college quarterback named Johnny Utah and then you became an FBI agent and infiltrated a gang of bank-robbing surfers but actually ended up becoming good friends with their leader (and maybe even secretly fell in love with him?), and then he killed your partner who asked you to get him two meatball subs, and you found yourself torn between your heart and the law? This question, asked since the dawn of time, lies at the center of Kathryn Bigelow’s “Point Break,” an action film that stands among the ’90s greats. Written by W. Peter Iliff (with story by Iliff and Rick King), “Point Break” is big, it’s campy, it’s proto-“Fast and Furious,” and it’s exhilarating from start to finish.
“Prey”
The “Predator” franchise had been somewhat stalled out when Dan Trachtenberg took over for “Prey,” completely rejuvenating interest in the series of alien hunter flicks. In “Prey,” Trachtenberg’s story (which he co-developed with Patrick Aison, who wrote the screenplay) was simple and effective: What if the Predator was dropped into the Great Plains in the 1700s? With modern weaponry off the table, Trachtenberg and Aison redefine what a “Predator” movie can be, creating one of the franchise’s strongest entries (with two stellar follow-ups helmed by Trachtenberg so far).
“Titanic”
Could Jack have fit on the door?
It’s a question that’s plagued the conversation around James Cameron’s “Titanic” for decades, with many pedantic viewers believing that the film’s central couple (played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio) could’ve both survived if Rose simply had made room atop her makeshift float. Cameron had to contend with this question once again recently, as Billie Eilish humorously brought it up on the press tour for their co-directed tour doc.
But the great door debate does a major disservice to Cameron’s 1997 masterpiece, a romantic historical epic about a young couple that finds love shortly before the tragic sinking of the Titanic. Throughout the massive 195-minute runtime, Cameron carefully lays out the story of these star-crossed lovers and the beautiful, almost magical connection that they find. By the time they get to a single door floating in the water (one that they struggled to even get Rose onto alone, by the way), viewers have had hours to understand why Jack would sacrifice everything to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Rose has a chance to find happiness and live her life.
After everything else we see in “Titanic,” how could that character choose anything else?
The 7 Best Movies on Paramount+ in May