4 mo. ago • 96%

20 Movies You Can’t Find in 2024 (and How to Maybe Watch Them Anyway)

lifehacker.com 20 Movies You Can’t Find in 2024 (and How to Maybe Watch Them Anyway)

Even in the streaming era, not every movie is easy to find on streaming—and some aren't even available on DVD. Here are 19 major movies you can't easily watch in 2024, and how to maybe watch them anyway.

39 comments

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Starbooty/Starrbooty (1987/2007)

Dogma (1999)

Swimming Pool (2003)

Kids (1995)

Lagaan (2001)

Sleuth (1972)

It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012)

Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)

The Panic in Needle Park (1971)

Longtime Companion (1989)

Making Love (1982)

Raintree County (1957)

Titus (1999)\

Fire (1996)

Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

Porgy & Bess (1959)

The Fall (2006)

Duel in the Sun (1946)

Cocoon (1985)
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- The fall is so fucking good. Well iirc because it's been nearly 20 Yeats since I saw it
  
  On a wild hair I checked archive.com
  
  11
  
  20 Yeats
  
  0.o that's a lot of irish drama.
  
  joking aside, I need to rewatch this because I recall it being gorgeous. it and The Cell are both wedged in my 'even if it's not a great film, it's a feast for the eyes' category.
  
  6
  
  It's literally my favorite movie!
  
  Do you know that scene where they blew up a cliff? Well to get that shot, they blew up a cliff. Zero special effects!
  
  2
- Dogma is on YouTube.
  
  7
- A couple of years ago I saw Sleuth, on one of those unofficial Roku apps that don't work anymore, it had commercial breaks with no commercials in them, the screen went black for a second or two before resuming.
  Same with Dogma.
  
  Making Love! My oldest brother, a friend of his and I - just barely a teenager then - saw it in the theater! My brother picked that film when at the ticket booth because it had the nearest screening hour, and ironically (considering the film's subject matter), because of Kate Jackson, whom he called "the underrated Charlie's Angel".
  
  1
Is it me or is it strange that the article doesn’t mention piracy?

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- Because the writer doesn’t want some huge corporation buttfucking them into legal oblivion because they can’t afford lawyers to refute?
  
  38
  
  People forget sometimes these basic limitations.
  
  If you are gonna threaten other peoples money flow, don't let them know who they are. They will retaliate to up to killing you... Ex Epstein and Boeing whistleblower.
  
  7
  
  Ok ok, but hear me out. What if sexual oblivion?
  
  1
- Because it’s Life Hacker, the site that was about life hacks a long time ago, and who’s now making shitty lists.
  
  6
- If you find a way to get this movie, Operation sandman, please let me know!
  
  4
  
  It looks like the movie was only ever aired on TV with a single VHS release later.
  
  I could find zero evidence that anyone has ever digitized it.
  
  6
  
  I found it, but I’m pretty sure it’s been dubbed into Russian.
  
  2
  
  I'll add Gothicmaid to the list of hard/impossible to find. That one was theater only. Never released.
  
  I hate that even if home theaters are way better than 2012's big screens, the producer still insist the movie is not meant to be seen at home.
  
  2
- We're not sure what you believe. Why are you asking us?
  
  -1
Dogma is so great! For the last several years I've watched it on Good Friday after assisting at our church's 3pm service as I wait around for the 6:30pm service. Our parish priest loves it too!

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- A Holy Driver!
  
  5
  
  Not to be confused with A Holy Diver
  
  7
I'm pretty happy to never see Kids again ever in my life, but Grave of the Fireflies being unavailable is basically a crime. Everybody should see that at some point, regardless of how heartbreaking it is.

21
- Yeah, kids is/was a difficult watch. But that's kinda what made it worth watching. Some really raw performances by young actors that deserve recognition at the very least.
  
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  I am glad I saw it as a young teenager. Probably every teenager should. It's traumatizing in just the ways they need in order to learn to be extra careful and also that not everything bad that happens to you is your fault even if you are.
  
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I think when IP becomes abandoned like this it should enter the public domain in some way. I could even see there being a streaming service specifically for this type of IP..

20
- I run a plant nursery and in my field it does work this way. When plants varieties are bred they can be protected like other IP, lasting 20 years to give the breeder a chance to realise the benefits of their work. This is conditional though, the protection is only valid as long as growers/the public have reasonable access to the variety. If this is not met the protection can be revoked and it becomes public domain again, so anybody can commercially propagate the variety. Glossing over a few details, but this is true here in Australia at least.
  
  12
It's such a a beautiful day by Don Hertzfeldt is available on Vimeo from NA so I'm not sure that it quite fits the "can't find anywhere" label. As is World of Tomorrow, which is a modern sci fi favorite of mine.

As another user mentioned, piracy is an option but so is a casual internet search?

14
- World of Tomorrow
  
  This is still on Youtube as well.
  
  4
How can Grave of the Fireflies not be available? I thought Studio Ghibli had a streaming contract with one of the big players 🤔

Edit: Turns out distribution rights are a mess because it's not the studio that owns them but the original writer...

13
I mean, maybe you can't find them. 🏴‍☠️

12
- The high seas and pleasant meadows of the free cultured world are what preserves humanity and it's knowledge.
  
  7
  
  Sad, but true.
  
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“Titus” shows up on streaming every now and then, and might be available on public library services like Hoopla and Kanopy.

10
Kids, man. That movie was such a gritty take. It's forever scarred in my brain I don't think I'll really ever have to watch it again. Newer generations should see it though.

9
For those who want to feel empty and numb inside, I would suggest this triple banger of back to back films…

Kids

Requiem for a dream

Import/Export
9
Dogma is literally on YouTube

4
I would like to add the criminally overlooked "Zorro; the Gayblade". Please find this (I last saw it on the Internet archives) and treat yourself to one of the best Zorro adaptations of the last century.

3
Some of my White Whale movies that are either unavailable or way overpriced where I live:

Citizen X (not to be confused with "Malcolm X")

Basquiat

Downtown '81

Also, "Poser" was dropped from my streaming service very quickly and before I had a chance to watch it, and for many years, "7 Years in Tibet" was impossible to get by either streaming or hard copy. I used to think that it was due to Chinese influence, but maybe it was something far more mundane.
2
I've been wanting to watch Masterminds again, but it's not available anywhere and I can't even find it on the high seas.

It's not a super good movie, but it does have Patrick Stewart and it's nostalgic.

1
Cacoon? I can login to Amazon and get a bluray copy from Germany within a week for £15.

1

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