“To me, it’s a core memory and forgotten treasure.”

Short summary: Nothing in this world can save a feisty old New York couple (played by Hume Crown and Jessica Tandy) fighting to keep their apartment from the ruthless land developer out to evict them...until aliens show up.

Available to rent on YouTube, Apple TV, and/or Amazon Prime.

Short summary: A rich kid (played by Anton Yelchin) expelled from every private school possible lands in public school, where he's relentlessly bullied. When he starts listening to his peers' problems and selling them prescription drugs he gets from his family's on-call psychiatrist, he becomes rapidly popular and attracts the attention of his classmate Susan (Kat Dennings)...and her suspicious father (Robert Downey Jr., who's also the school principal. 

Available for free on Fandango, Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Pluto TV.

"I saw this in theaters as a kid with my grandparents. I just saw it again a few weeks ago for the first time since it was released, and it still felt magical."

Short summary: An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son (played by Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel) across 30 years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences.

Watch it free on Tubi, PLEX, and Sling TV.

"I thought this would start a movement of people speaking their minds more. I guess we had to wait until podcasts made that cheap enough."

Short summary: An intelligent but shy teenager (Christian Slater) who has just moved to Phoenix, Arizona, from the East Coast, uses a short-wave radio to set up shop as pirate deejay Hard Harry, who becomes a hero to his peers while inspiring the wrath of the high school principal. When one of Harry's listeners dies by suicide, inspired chaos breaks out at the school, and the authorities are called in to put a stop to Harry's broadcasts. 

Available for rent on Fandango, Apple TV, and Prime Video. 

"We used to get sooo high in college and watch this movie over and over. The weird numerology stuff and the implication about conspiracies and patterns everywhere is really great nightmare fodder after like three bowls."

Short summary: A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.

Available for rent on YouTube, Prime Video, and Apple TV.

Short summary: A UFO is stranded on Earth and impounded by the US government. Its pilot, a cat with a collar that has special powers, including the ability to communicate with humans, has eluded the authorities and needs the help of three scientists to reclaim, repair, and return his ship home before the army or foreign spies catch him. 

Available for streaming on Disney+ and for rent on YouTube or Apple TV.

Short summary: A high-school senior comes to visit Port Chester (aka Politically Correct U) for the weekend, and the admissions department mistakenly sets him up to stay with Droz (played by Jeremy Piven), a seven-year student and party-animal who lives in The Pit, the most offensive anti-PC house on campus. Also featuring Jon Favreau and David Spade.

This film is not available for rent or streaming on all major platforms — watch it here.

"It doesn’t get as much recognition as it deserves outside of film buffs. It predated The Matrix and set the tone for a lot of other dystopian fiction that followed. Christopher Nolan cited it as an inspiration for Inception."

Short summary: A man (played by Rufus Sewell) wakes up alone in a strange hotel to find that he has lost his memory and is wanted for a series of brutal and bizarre murders. While trying to piece together his past, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of beings known as The Strangers, who possess the ability to put people to sleep and alter the city and its inhabitants. Now, Murdoch must find a way to stop them before they take control of his mind and destroy him. Also featuring Kiefer Sutherland and Jennifer Connelly.

Available for free on Tubi and PLEX or for rent on YouTube, Prime Video, or Apple TV.

Short summary: In a post-apocalyptic society where food is scarce and used as currency, there is an apartment building with a delicatessen on the ground floor. The owner also owns the building and needs a new maintenance man, as the previous one "mysteriously" disappeared. A former clown applies for the job, and the butcher intends to have him work for as little as possible. The clown and the butcher's daughter fall in love, and she tries to foil her father's plans to harm him by contacting the "troglodytes," a grain-eating sub-group of society who live entirely underground.

Short summary: A young girl named Mimi unearths an alien gemstone that binds a cosmic warlord to her will, forcing a galaxy-scouring killer to endure suburban childhood while rival factions converge to reclaim or destroy him.

Available for streaming on AMC+ or for rent on Google Play and Apple TV.

Short summary: A successful coke dealer (played by Daniel Craig) wants to quit while he's ahead. But before he can retire and enjoy the fortune he has made, his boss has two large requests: find the missing drug-addicted daughter (Sienna Miller) of crime lord Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon) and bring her back. Also featuring Tom Hardy.

Available for rent on YouTube, Apple TV, and Prime Video.

Short summary: A mockumentary chronicling the rise and fall of N.W.H., a not particularly talented — or particularly bright but always controversial — hip-hop group (played by Larry B. Scott, Mark Christopher Lawrence, and Rusty Cundieff).

Available for free on YouTube, Tubi, Pluto TV, and The Roku Channel.

Short summary: Reeling over his breakup with Desiree (played by Leslie Bibb), Zia (Patrick Fugit) cuts his wrists and goes to an afterlife reserved for people who die by suicide — a high-desert landscape dotted by old tires, burned-out cars, and abandoned sofas. He gets a job in a pizza joint. After learning that Desiree died by suicide a few months after he did, he sets off with an electrocuted Russian rocker and an in-denial hitchhiker to find her. Also featuring Will Arnett and Nick Offerman.

Available for free on Tubi, Philo, Fandango, and Prime Video. 

Short summary: Two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet (played by Gary Oldman and Tim Roth) ponder the meaning of their existence as they quest to Elsinore Castle, by order of the King of Denmark, to discern what troubles Prince Hamlet. Also featuring Richard Dreyfuss.

Available to watch for free on YouTube, Tubi, and Pluto TV.

Short summary: After a tragic car accident that kills his wife, a man (played by Michael J. Fox) discovers he can communicate with the dead, and uses that gift to con people by "exorcising" their homes. However, when a demonic spirit appears, he may be the only one who can stop it from killing the living and the dead.

Available for streaming on Shudder or for rent on Apple TV.

Short summary: A computer hacker (played by Robert Redford) and his team of specialists test the security of various San Francisco companies. He helps two National Security Agency officers who ask him to steal a newly invented decoder that could have catastrophic consequences if it fell into the wrong hands...only to discover that the NSA officers are rogue agents who have now framed him for the murder of the device's inventor. 

Available for rent on YouTube, Apple TV, and Prime Video. 

Short summary: When residents of their nursing home start dying of dubious causes, an aged Elvis (played by Bruce Campbell) and a Black older adult who claims to be President John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) discover that the perpetrator is an Egyptian mummy with murderous intentions.

Available for rent on Fandango and Apple TV.

"My goodness, just rewatched this a few months ago for the first time in probably two decades, and boy does it hold up. Most underrated Coen Brothers film."

Short summary: When the head of hugely successful Hudsucker Industries jumps off a building and dies, his board of directors (led by Paul Newman) comes up with a brilliant plan to make a lot of money: appoint a moron to run the company and let the stock fall low enough to buy it for pennies and take over. They chose the idealistic Norville Barnes, who had just started in the mailroom. Norville (played by Tim Robbins) is wacky enough to drive any company to ruin, but soon, a reporter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) smells a rat and begins an undercover investigation of Hudsucker Industries.

Available for free on Tubi and The Roku Channel or for rent on YouTube and Apple TV.

[Directed by Terry Gilliam] 'Oh yeah, that tracks for sure.'"

Short summary: A harried technocrat (played by Jonathan Pryce) in a futuristic society that is needlessly convoluted and inefficient dreams of a life where he can fly away from technology and overpowering bureaucracy, and spend eternity with the woman of his dreams. While trying to rectify a wrongful arrest, Lowry meets the woman (Kim Greist) he is always chasing in his dreams. Meanwhile, the bureaucracy has accused him of being responsible for a rash of terrorist bombings, and Sam and Jill's lives are put in danger. Also featuring Robert De Niro.

Available for rent on YouTube, Apple TV, and Prime Video.

Short summary: In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer (played by Alexandre Rodrigues) and the other a kingpin (Leandro Firmino).

Short summary: A 32-year-old photographer (played by Patrick Wilson) has been grooming a flirtatious fourteen-year-old student (played by Elliot Page) via an internet chatroom. When she finally agrees to meet him and suggests they go to his place, Jeff believes he is in for a treat. He has no idea that the young girl isn't who she says she is... and that she's been baiting him, too. 

No longer available for rent/streaming on all major platforms — watch it here.

Short summary: American Wallace Ritchie (played by Bill Murray) gets a ticket for an audience participation game in London, England, and is mistaken for a spy who must stop a plot to assassinate international leaders at a banquet. As chaos unravels around him, he continues to think it's part of a game and it's all an act. 

Available for streaming on Prime Video and for rent on YouTube or Apple TV.

Short summary: In their quest for free beer, bumbling Canadian brothers Bob (Rick Moranis) and Doug McKenzie (Dave Thomas) wind up working at the Elsinore Brewery. The hapless pair uncovers a sinister mind-control plot spearheaded by Brewmeister Smith and must stop the scheme, which also includes a member of the Elsinore family. As Bob and Doug try to prevent Smith from taking over the world, they also manage to drink plenty of their favorite sudsy beverage.

Available for free on Tubi, PLEX, and The Roku Channel.

Short summary: Secret Service agent Richie Chance (played by William Petersen) exhibits reckless behavior, which, according to his former partner, will probably land him in the morgue before he's ready to retire. With his new partner, Chance is more determined than ever to nab a known long-time counterfeiter (played by Willem Dafoe)...to the point of obsession.

Available for free on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Prime Video.

"Never released on Blu-Ray, barely released on DVD. Not on any subscription streaming services. It's a shame it's so hard to see, because it's fantastic and so quotable."

Short summary: Daryl Zero (played by Bill Pullman) is a private investigator. Along with his assistant, Steve Arlo (played by Ben Stiller), he solves impossible crimes and puzzles. Though a master investigator, Zero is a total basket case when he is not working, which drives Arlo mad. In their latest case, Zero must find out who is blackmailing a rich executive and why his client won't tell him. The only problem with this case is that Zero has done something he's never done before: get emotionally involved.

Available for rent on YouTube, Prime Video, and Apple TV.

"I still think about the way they showed him learning their language — sooo well done!" —u/marnimum

Short summary: A Muslim man (played by Antonio Banderas), exiled for falling in love with the Sultan's wife, is sent by the Sultan himself on a diplomatic mission to a distant land as an ambassador. Stopping at a Viking village port to restock on supplies, he finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a quest to banish a mysterious threat in a distant Viking land.

Available for rent on YouTube, Prime Video, and Apple TV.

Short summary: Jack Crabb (played by Dustin Hoffman) is 121 years old. A collector of oral histories asks him about his past. He recounts being captured and raised by Native Americans, becoming a gunslinger, marrying a Native American, watching her be killed by General George Armstrong Custer, and becoming a scout for him at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Available for free on Pluto TV or for rent on Prime Video and Apple TV.

Short summary: In 1943, the crew of a B-17 based in the UK prepares for its 25th and final bombing mission over Germany before returning home to the USA. Featuring Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Sean Astin, Harry Connick Jr., and John Lithgow.

Available for rent on Apple TV or Prime Video.

Short summary: After his irresponsible mother leaves him with his two bachelor uncles (played by Michael Caine and Robert Duvall) on their farm, a young male (played by Haley Joel Osment) spends the summer getting to know them and learning about their past. He even learns that they fought together. As summer rolls on, they finally begin to understand the meaning of family and sticking together.

Available for rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube.

Short summary: Jim Craig (played by Tom Burlinson) has lived his first 18 years in the mountains of Australia on his father's farm. The death of his father forces him to go to the lowlands to earn enough money to get the farm back on its feet. Kirk Douglas plays two roles as twin brothers who haven't spoken to each other for years, one of whom was Jim's father's best friend, and the other of whom is the father of the girl he wants to marry. A 20-year-old feud re-erupts, catching Jim and Jessica in the middle of it as Jim is accused of letting a prize stallion loose.

Available for rent on YouTube, Apple TV, and Prime Video.

Short summary: Two unemployed actors (played by Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann) decide to leave their squalid Camden flat for an idyllic holiday in the countryside. But when they get there, it rains nonstop, there's no food, and their basic survival skills prove somewhat limited. 

Short summary: Hoops, an aspiring teenage cartoonist (played by John Cusack) and his friends are on their way to Nantucket for the summer when they pick up a singer (played by Demi Moore) chased by a motorcycle gang and are recruited by her to help save her family property from vulture-like developers. Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story, and maybe a real one of his own.

Available for free on Tubi and The Roku Channel.

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.