App: Movies by Flixster — with Rotten Tomatoes

Available for iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad

Price: Free

Download bars: 4/5

Movie tickets at Carousel Mall are far from cheap. High box-office receipts are only more frustrating after a movie turns out to be an absolute bomb.

To plan ahead and ensure you get your money’s worth, download the ‘Movies’app for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Designed by Flixster, a website that allows anyone to rate and comment new releases, the app allows users to read about upcoming movies in the palm of their hands.

The app opens to a scroll menu, listing movies opening that week, what’s topping the box office ranks and other movies still in theaters. Every movie listed has information on its starring actors, time duration and the movie’s rating given by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Tapping on a small icon of a specific movie’s poster brings up its trailer, which can be viewed with a Wi-Fi connection. Tapping on the movie title shows a plot synopsis, along with actors’ names, their biographies and fan reviews. Users can search for a movie based on its title or its popularity rating from both Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes. Both sites are public forums where moviegoers can post reviews and thoughts on films they’ve seen.

Along with providing a list of current films being shown, it also has an extensive list of movies on the horizon. The information available for upcoming releases is the same as the current list, including actors and ratings. This feature has a surprisingly long forecast, listing not-yet-released movies all the way to 2012.

‘Movies’not only gives extensive information on films in theaters but also has a detailed list of movies coming out soon on DVD. This menu is just as detailed as the others in the app.

The app embraces social media with pretty successful results. Facebook users can post their own reviews on their walls, read reviews from their friends and keep track of a list of films the users want to see in the future.

While the extensive list of future movies is great, the most important feature is a list of current movies. ‘Movies’ does a great job showing that with its theater listing. A Wi-Fi connection activates the app’s built-in theater locator. A list of the movie theaters closest to the user’s present location will pop up. This setting can be changed to show theaters as far as 100 miles away.

Once the user has selected a preferred cinema, a menu appears with the theater’s address, phone number and show times. A user can see a theater’s show times up to seven days in advance. Scrolling further down also reveals a list of nearby restaurants and nightlife, just in case the movie is not the only thing you had in mind for the night. To see these attractions, however, the user must download an additional app, which is a setback. Downloading a separate app just to enhance another one — in this case, one called ‘Yelp’ — can undermine the original app.

The number of advertisements can also make ‘Movies’ frustrating at times. Since it’s free, the app is filled with advertisements on nearly every menu, and they can get in the way of trying to find a movie to see. Charging for the app would be a better alternative to dealing with the numerous advertisements.

Despite a few setbacks, this app has all the information needed to decide which movie to spend that hard-earned money on. It sure beats wasting time through a Hollywood flop, so give it a try.

nerivera@syr.edu

Published on November 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm