Tubi is about to get a major boost as the streaming home of Super Bowl LIX — and a hotly-anticipated half-time show by Kendrick Lamar (with SZA, no less). Fox’s ad-supported streaming service has gained popularity in recent years as a subscription-free alternative to the ever more-expensive streaming giants, and this month, it’s not just your streaming destination for the big game, it’s got also got a library full of great movies you can stream for free.
From iconic ’90s dramas to one of the best — and one of the freakiest — sci-fi movies of the 2020s so far, here are the best movies on Tubi in February.
“Set It Off” (1996)
If you’ve seen GloRilla and Latto‘s latest collab, you might be in the mood to revisit the 1990s gem “Set It Off.” And if you’ve never seen it before, now’s the perfect time to rectify that. What is the procedure when you’ve got one of the all-time best heist movies streaming free? You watch it, obviously.
Directed by “Friday” and “The Italian Job” (2003) helmer F. Gary Gray, “Set It Off” stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox, Queen Latifah and Kimberly Elise as four friends, each systematically disenfranchised and desperate for cash, who decide to rob banks so they can get the hell out of town and start fresh. It’s totally engrossing from start to finish, with unforgettable characters (and an unforgettably debonaire Blair Underwood).
“Paddington 2” (2017)
You’d be hard-pressed to find a film more universally beloved than “Paddington 2.” Paul King’s celebrated sequel that puts the ever-polite bear and the Brown family up against an expert thief — played by a hilarious, delightfully hammy Hugh Grant. Framed for the thief’s robbery, Paddington heads to prison and has to prove his innocence in the unfailingly charming family-friendly sequel, which still holds a 99% Rotten Tomatoes score eight years after it first hit theaters.
“Dune: Part One” (2021)
Denis Villeneuve’s follow-up is currently up for five Academy Awards, and with the Oscars ceremony rapidly approaching, it’s a perfect time to revisit the 2021 film that kicked off the franchise. Frank Herbert’s seminal science fiction epic finally got the adaptation sci-fi fans dreamed of with “Dune: Part One.” Starring Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, House Atreides heir and messiah in the making, who travels to the dangerous desert planet of Arrakis as his family gets swept up in machinations political, religious and otherworldly. It’s a sweeping stunner, with Villeneuve’s meticulous eye fully fixated on crafting an expansive, textured, tactile world you feel like you could step right into.
“Eve’s Bayou” (1997)
Kasi Lemmons gorgeous Southern Gothic “Eve’s Bayou” was a critically celebrated indie hit when it hit theaters in 1997 (Roger Ebert called it one of the best of the year, saying, “For the viewer, it is a reminder that sometimes films can venture into the realms of poetry and dreams.”) It seems it has only grown in estimation since, rightfully looked on as a modern classic, a yearning, prickly portrait of what lies beneath the picture perfect surface of an affluent Black family in 1960s New Orleans.
Jurnee Smollett stars as 10-year-old Eve Batiste alongside Meagan Good as her older sister Cicely, Samuel L. Jackson as their womanizing father, Lynn Whitfield as their graceful mother and Debbi Morgan in an unforgettable performance as their broken-hearted aunt, who can see everyone’s future but her own. Eve shares her gift/curse and “Eve’s Bayou” untangles a knot of deception, half-truths, misunderstood visions and possible witchcraft, weaving together a stunning tapestry of the Batiste family with the threads.
“Blue Beetle” (2023)
There are several DC films hitting Tubi this month, including “Justice League” and both “Shazam” films, but “Blue Beetle” is one of the more entertaining recent installments you might have missed.
Starring “Cobra Kai” and “Parenthood’s” Xolo Maridueña as the title hero, “Blue Beetle” had unlucky timing, releasing with little fanfare after a strike-curtailed press tour. But it’s an entertaining, feel-good superhero origin story with humor and heart, so if you’ve been craving a new superhero movie and missed this one when it hit theaters, now’s your time.
“Bill & Ted Face the Music” (2020)
Like so many things from the peak early-pandemic era, “Bill and Ted Face the Music” has kind of recessed into a memory void, but if you’re looking for a flamboyantly silly feel-good movie that unapologetically looks for the good in everyone (and you don’t mind some low-fi production value), it might be a good time to dig this one up.
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter return as the iconic pair of dudes, who have washed up in their pursuit of writing the song that will unite humanity, but when time starts fritzing, they have to go galivanting throughout space and time once again — this time with the help of their daughters (scene-stealers Samara Weaving and Jack Haven). It’s clumsy, but so sweet and sometimes a dose of earnest optimism is just what you need.
“Titane” (2021)
Most of the movies on this list hit the service on Feb. 1, but a little later in the month (on Feb. 16) you can catch one of the gnarliest, most unhinged and singular body horror movies of the 2020s, “Titane.”
The sophomore feature from Julia Ducournau, who wowed with her coming of age cannibal debut “Raw,” “Titane” is very tough to sum up, but loosely, it follows a murderous car model (who’s got a plate in her head after a childhood car crash), who experiences an inexplicable, body-shredding pregnancy while discovering a new home with a grieving father while assuming a fake identity. See? It’s a lot. Fascinating, completely one-of-a-kind and so assured in its vision, “Titane” is a must watch for horror hounds, but beware those with soft stomachs for pregnancy horror.
