iPhone App Reviews

Movies

Michael (Admin) | Aug 28, 2008 Entertainment

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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I’ve been a fan of Now Playing (formerly called BoxOffice) since it came out, mysteriously went away, and then came out again. It tells me what’s in theaters, shows trailers, and that’s about it. Jeffrey Grossman’s Movies, however, aspires to be more than just a movie theater guide which it is… and it isn’t.

In the what’s-playing-in-theaters department, Movies does pretty much everything Now Playing does. It lets you browse by what’s opening this week, what’s leading at the box office, movie titles, and ratings provided by the app’s new owner, Flixster. You also get movie trailers, browsing of theaters by name or location, and you can also designate your favorite theaters so they always appear at the top of the list.

Something Movies does that Now Playing doesn’t do right now is show details and trailers for upcoming movies which is a nice feature. Did you know that Kate Hudson has a movie coming out on September 19th called “My Best Friend’s Girl”? I haven’t even watched the trailer and I can already tell it’ll be her worst chick flick yet, but I wouldn’t have known about it if Movies hadn’t clued me in.

Movies also provides closer looks at movie posters which I like, and thanks to the power of Flixster’s growing database there’s also a feature that lets you search for older movies now on DVD. There’s no way to buy the DVDs or add them to a Blockbuster or Netflix queue (yet?), but at least this feature might help you settle a bet or two. Flixster, IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes web links for each movie is also a nice touch. Gotta admit, Movies is looking pretty good right now.

But here’s what Movies doesn’t do… it doesn’t provide direct links to buy tickets from Fandango’s iPhone site. Sure it gives you Fandango’s number, but I don’t need a movie app to call them.

Much worse, though, is Movies’ inability to display one of the larger movie theaters which is literally within walking distance from my place. I gave Movies my zip code and it didn’t find the Kerasotes Webster Place theater that I was hoping for. I turned on the Current Location function, still nothing. There are only two movie theaters I go to with any regularity, and if one of them isn’t featured in this app that’s enough to make me not want to use it at all. How can it not know about this missing theater? It’s not like I live in Mayberry… I live in the middle of Chicago.

But wait, there’s more!

I saw Dark Knight from the very front row which sucked. Great movie, bad seat, so I wanna see it again. When I found the movie in the listings, I tapped it to see showtimes and it only displayed showtimes at three theaters, two of which aren’t even in Chicago. I know for a fact that Dark Knight is still playing all over the place, including both of the theaters near me (one of them being the theater that Movies doesn’t list), and I know this because (a) Now Playing told me, and (b) I double-checked with Fandango’s website.

If I look for the movie theater instead of the movie, then I’m told that Dark Knight is being shown. That’s really nice but, if I’m supposed to believe what this app is telling me, the info has to be in both places.

Movies has some cool features that Now Playing lacks, but the #1 thing I want from a movie app is to find out what’s playing where, and right now I don’t trust Movies to provide that.

Tags: free, movie listings