Over the past several months, we’ve examined and recommended severalstreamingservices for the discriminating movie lover — sites and apps for those whose tastes run toward titles a bit more esoteric than the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Our latest entry spotlights a robust film and television streamer with a throwback feel.

Much like Plex, one of the streaming platforms previously featured in this space, Pluto TV began as a different kind of service before moving into the ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) space. The streamer primarily offered up blocks of Internet-originated programming when it launched in 2014, before expanding the following year to nearly 100 channels of categorized, curated movies and television shows in a manner that sought to remind viewers (especially older ones) of terrestrial television.

Even the look and layout of its “Live TV” section are driven by nostalgia, utilizing the kind of live, channel-guide grid that became familiar to viewers in the 1990s, when the capacity of even basic cable services exploded, allowing more choices than could be contained by the weekly TV listings. The throwback nature of the enterprise is further augmented by the element that makes Pluto TV a free service: commercial advertisements, inserted during existing break spots for the service’s copious television offerings, and at regular intervals for movies.

In 2017, Pluto added a more traditional video-on-demand library; like those of Plex, Shout TV, Tubi and their ilk, those films are also played with ad breaks to keep the service free. To their credit, Pluto uses ads sparingly and carefully, dropping in two or three minutes of spots at ten to twenty minute intervals (the rotation varies from film to film), and taking pains to insert them at scene breaks, unlike some of the more careless streamers, who’ll cut to ads mid-scene (or even mid-dialogue).

Their library is impressive, boasting a fine array of mainstream hits (December’s new additions included “Interstellar,” “John Wick,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “Pulp Fiction”), indie favorites (“Fast Color,” “Frida,” “The Crying Game”), genre movies (“Evil Dead 2,” “Studio 666,” “The Mist”) and classics (“Harold and Maude,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “Repulsion”), though the discovery aspect of the interface leaves something to be desired; discerning cinephiles may prefer to use a third-party aggregator like JustWatch to build a watchlist.

But Pluto excels in another kind of discovery: the decidedly 20th-century thrill of stumbling upon some random thing you’ve never seen, and locking in. The movie channels of the Live TV vertical offer up selections from the expected genres (comedy, horror, romance) — but also a fine rotation of classics, video store-style “staff picks,” a “Flicks of Fury” channel for martial arts mayhem and a showcase for cult films. Our viewing habits these days tend to be so destination-driven that there’s a real throwback pleasure in just seeing what’s on, even in progress, and going wherever it takes you.