By Richard Wells in Lists — May 26, 2023

5 Top Free Movies/Shows on Pluto TV - May 2023 - Volume 2

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You may also Like: 5 Weekly Movie Suggestions - Volume 1

Pluto TV is a popular streaming service that offers a vast array of free, ad-supported television channels, delivering a diverse selection of content across various genres. With its user-friendly interface and no subscription fees, Pluto TV has become a go-to platform for cord-cutters and entertainment enthusiasts seeking a cost-effective way to access live TV channels, movies, and on-demand content. Whether you're a fan of news, sports, comedy, or niche interests, Pluto TV offers a unique and engaging viewing experience that sets it apart from other streaming platforms.

Here at The Rewind Zone we do some of the Heavy Lifting for you! Check out this weeks top 5 picks from us to you.

Pluto TV has limited availability right now, with only a handful of countries enjoying access. However, what makes the service stand out is that it didn't just open its doors to other countries but also molded the content to those specific areas. For instance, users in Germany can watch local shows and movies as well as dubbed content.

At the time of writing, Pluto TV is available in the following countries:

USA
UK
Austria
Canada
Germany
Switzerland

**VPNs can be used to watch from Outside these territories

W.

W. is a 2008 American biographical political drama film based on the life of George W. Bush. Directed by Oliver Stone and written by Stanley Weiser, it stars Josh Brolin as Bush. The supporting cast includes Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, and Richard Dreyfuss. Filming began on May 12, 2008, in Louisiana, and the film was released on October 17, 2008.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 58% based on 222 reviews, with an average rating of 6.01/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of the 43rd American president, W. is fascinating in spots, but merely rudimentary as a whole." At Metacritic, the film has an average weighted score of 56 out of 100, based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

In his review, Roger Ebert wrote that it was "fascinating" and praised all the actors, noting that Richard Dreyfuss was "not so much a double as an embodiment" of Dick Cheney. In contrast, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called the film "a rushed, wildly uneven, tonally jumbled caricature." Film critic James Berardinelli negatively compared the film with Saturday Night Live skits, saying of the actors that "None of them are as dead-on as Tina Fey as Sarah Palin."

The Bush administration never officially commented on the film. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who is portrayed in the film, called the sibling rivalry portrayed in the film "high-grade, unadulterated hooey" and said that Stone's exploration of the family dynamic could have benefited from actual conversations with the Bush family. Slate magazine's Timothy Noah, however, noted that "most [of] the film's more ludicrous details" are actually directly taken from non-fiction sources, and argued that the film was too kind to Bush in omitting certain historically recorded dramatic events, most notably Bush's alleged mocking of murderer Karla Faye Tucker, a woman put to death during his tenure of the Texan governorship. However, the incident is disputed by Bush himself, and as such is also unconfirmed. In a March 2010 "Screen Test" interview with The New York Times Lynne Hirschberg, Josh Brolin claims Bush did in fact watch the film. Brolin said Oliver Stone met with Bill Clinton in China and Clinton told Stone he'd lent his copy of W. to Bush. Reportedly, Bush himself "liked it very much" and "thought there were sad moments."

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Justified

Throughout its run, Justified received largely positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregation website Metacritic, all seasons except the first received a score indicating "universal acclaim." Author Elmore Leonard ranked Justified as one of the best adaptations of his work, which includes Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, 3:10 to Yuma and Out of Sight. Leonard also praised the casting of Olyphant as Raylan, describing the actor as "the kind of guy I saw when I wrote his lines."

The first season was positively received. The critical consensus for the season on Rotten Tomatoes reads, "A coolly violent drama, Justified benefits from a seductive look and a note-perfect Timothy Olyphant performance." TV Guide critic Matt Roush said, "The show is grounded in Olyphant's low-key but high-impact star-making performance, the work of a confident and cunning leading man who's always good company." Chicago Tribune critic Maureen Ryan stated, "The shaggily delightful dialogue, the deft pacing, the authentic sense of place, the rock-solid supporting cast and the feeling that you are in the hands of writers, actors and directors who really know what they're doing—all of these are worthy reasons to watch Justified." Jesse Damiani of HuffPost referred to the show's dialogue as "best-in-television," explaining, "What this quality of dialogue accomplishes...is crafting Harlan County as its own character, a place where wit and strategy are currency, weaponry, and protection in a bleak economic landscape." Mike Hale of The New York Times noted the show's "modest virtues", but was critical of the first season's pace and characterization, writing: "Justified can feel so low-key that even the crisis points drift past without making much of an impression... It feels as if the attention that should have gone to the storytelling all went to the atmosphere and the repartee."

Eric Dodds of Time suggested the first episodes were too procedural to "crack the upper echelon" of prestige television dramas. Critics did note that the characters played by Jacob Pitts and Erica Tazel, Tim Gutterson and Rachel Brooks respectively, remained underutilized throughout the show's run.

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Arlington Road

Arlington Road is a 1999 drama film directed by Mark Pellington and starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope Davis. The film tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film was heavily inspired by the paranoid culture of the 1990s concerning the right-wing militia movement, Ruby Ridge, the Waco siege and Oklahoma City Bombing.

Ehren Kruger wrote the script, which won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' (AMPAS) Nicholl Fellowship in 1996. The film was to have been originally released by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, but the film's United States distribution rights were sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment for $6 million. The eventual release was the second title for Screen Gems (and its first wide theatrical release) while PolyGram (now part of Universal Studios) handled foreign rights. Tomandandy composed additional music in the film.

Box office

Sony paid $6 million to acquire the film's United States distribution rights. It opened at #6 in its opening weekend with $7,515,145 behind American Pie, Wild Wild Wests second, Big Daddys third, and Tarzan and The General's Daughters fourth weekends. The film eventually grossed $24,756,177 in the United States theatrically.

The film made a worldwide gross of $41 million on a budget of $31 million.

Critical response

The film holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 91 reviews. with the site's consensus stating; "A suspenseful thriller led by strong cast performances built around a somewhat implausible story." and a 2/4 rating by Roger Ebert, who wrote of the film:

Arlington Road is a thriller that contains ideas. Any movie with ideas is likely to attract audiences who have ideas of their own, but to think for a second about the logic of this plot is fatal.

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Bottle Shock

Bottle Shock is a 2008 American comedy-drama film based on the 1976 wine competition termed the "Judgment of Paris", when California wine defeated French wine in a blind taste test. It stars Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, and Bill Pullman and is directed by Randall Miller, who wrote the screenplay along with Jody Savin and Ross Schwartz. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

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One-Eyed Jacks

One-Eyed Jacks is a 1961 American Western film directed by and starring Marlon Brando; it was the only film he directed. It was originally planned to be directed by Stanley Kubrick from a screenplay by Sam Peckinpah, but studio disputes led to their replacement by Brando and Guy Trosper. Brando portrays the lead character Rio, and Karl Malden plays his partner, "Dad" Longworth. The supporting cast features Pina Pellicer, Katy Jurado, Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

The film was released on March 30, 1961 in New York City. The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes screening was that of a 4K restoration supervised by Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and The Film Foundation.