The best free movies on YouTube right now (May 2024)

Guitarist Dewey Finn (Kung Fu Panda 4‘s Jack Black) loves everything about rock and roll. However, his overt enthusiasm and passion got him fired from his band. With no job and little money, Dewey’s rock dreams are fading quickly. However, the rock gods give Dewey a lifeline, as he pretends to be his roommate (Mike White) and pose as a substitute music teacher at a private elementary school.

At first, the job is a way to make money. But Dewey realizes some students are gifted musicians, and he decides to form a rock band as a class project. With only a few weeks before the local Battle of the Bands competition, Dewey must whip the kids into shape and create a makeshift band to keep his music dreams alive.

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” That’s the famous tagline for Alien, Ridley Scott’s terrifying sci-fi horror set in deep space. Pitched as “Jaws in space,” Alien follows the crew of the Nostromo on their way home to Earth. Notable crewmembers include Dallas (Tom Skerritt), the ship’s captain; Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), a warrant officer; and Ash (Ian Holm), the Nostromo’s science officer.

While in stasis, the crew is awakened early to investigate a distress call from a nearby moon. During their investigation, the crew discovers a desolate alien ship home to hundreds of eggs. The nightmare begins when one of the eggs hatches and attaches to a crewmember’s face. Once the alien boards the Nostromo, all bets are off. The alien is now the apex predator. With nowhere to run, the crew must act quickly and figure out how to escape before they meet their end at the hands of the alien.

Before helming the No. 1 movie at the box office in 2023, Barbie director Greta Gerwig excelled in quieter coming-of-age films, with her solo directorial debut, Lady Bird, being her standout. Set in 2002, Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, an angsty high school senior who dreams of escaping Sacramento in favor of the big cities on the East Coast. Lady Bird’s mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf), loves her daughter but tries to ground her in reality, causing friction between the two.

The ambitious Lady Bird uses her senior year to open up and experience new things, even if that means pretending to be someone she’s not. Thanks to Gerwig’s keen writing and directing, Lady Bird is a charming and beautiful story about adolescence at an important time in one’s development.