While watching movies on the various Xbox consoles has long been possible, the arrival of Movies Anywhere to the platform is, for many, a "Finally! moment. For those who may not be familiar with Movies Anywhere, it allows all movies purchased from various digital retailers to be synced across platforms. That's why it's the "Anywhere" in Movies Anywhere.

The app is currently available for Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Just search for "Movies anywhere" in the console's Microsoft Store.

In other words, any movie purchased on iTunes/Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Google Play/YouTube, Microsoft, and Xfinity, Verizon Fios TV, and DIRECTV (for subscribers) will Movies Anywhere app. And once you sign in, they are synced across apps. In other words, titles owned on iTunes can also be viewed on Vudu once the accounts are linked.

Movies Anywhere already had apps on Roku, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV and tablets, Apple TV, LG, Vizio, and Samsung smart TVs; now that Xbox has Movies Anywhere, The absence of PS4 and PS5 consoles is noteworthy.

For those trying to limit the number of streaming devices cluttering up home entertainment, Movies Anywhere is a godsend for consolidating collections.

But Movies Anywhere is huge for me because of how the optical media world has joined the conversation. Many (if not most) of the Blu-rays and DVDs I buy these days also come with a Movies Anywhere code. That way, I can grow my digital collection and watch the movies I buy physical copies of wherever I go.

So if you want to watch a movie you own while traveling, such as "Us," "Parasites," or "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," you don't have to buy it from the hotel PPV system; just connect the HDMI adapter to your hotel TV.

The Movies Anywhere app also has a remote viewing party feature called Watch Together. Selected movies from Movies Anywhere can also be shared even if the other party does not own the movie. Look for "My Screen Pass" eligibility.

Movies Anywhere is simply amazing, in my opinion, in a very "wait, these companies are working together? I am totally amazed that Amazon, Apple, and others would work together on their respective online sales platforms.

Around TG Slack, I found the interest in Movies Anywhere to be strictly bi-partisan. Either you love it like I and one other person, or you have never used it (and probably never heard of it) before.

And I get it, in a way. Movies Anywhere is for people who want to own movies. The collectors out there. And when Netflix, Prime Video, etc. have more movies than we can watch with our existing subscriptions, it goes against the zeitgeist to want to pay to own movies.

But I love Movies Anywhere. Yes, the Criterion Channel is a great streaming service for discovering movies, but Movies Anywhere is the portable movie theater I've always wanted.