"Come on, Flixster. We know you can do better than that."
Those are the words I wrote on Friday to sum up a review of Flixster's movie app for BlackBerry phones. The trouble is, I goofed. I was apparently a day early, reviewing the previous Flixster for BlackBerry, which did deserve the critiques I dished out, and not the Flixster update that was set to release on Saturday (we still don't see it in the BlackBerry App World as of Sunday, but keep checking the store and this post for an update). A re-review--or rather, a preview of the forthcoming Movies app, version 1.1.6--is only fair.
The updated Movies app by Flixster for
(Credit: Flixster)Flixster's free Movies 1.1.6 for BlackBerry is a pronounced improvement over version 1.0, which served more as a shortcut to Flixster's mobile-optimized Web site than it did a native application. The movie app's navigation looks similar to the previous version, but is now stylized and fixed in place, with only the content refreshing as you move from tab to tab, not the entire screen as before.
As with many mobile apps that sync content from a master Web site, the application's speed is still contingent on the quality of your data connection. If you have a slow connection, the showtimes and theater lists will load slowly. This is especially true when it comes to launching previews. It appears that movie previews call on the browser to initiate a download, and then play on the BlackBerry's built-in media player--at least in the case of my test phone, the BlackBerry Bold 9700. An error message that the wireless connection broke appeared after each trailer finished playing. Pressing the phone's "back" arrow key twice restored Flixster's app.
While the guts of the Flixster app are identical to the previous version, and mostly still linked to the main Web site itself, the updated visual wrapper transforms the user experience from basic Web browsing to a cohesive launchpad where you can read reviews, scour showtimes, and buy tickets by way of Movietickets.com. Flixster's Movies app is one I'd now readily, not reluctantly, use on BlackBerry when that urge to stare at the silver screen sets in.
Updated 11/8/09 at 9:15 pm PT: This post evaluated Flixster's Movies 1.0 app for BlackBerry phones. It turns out, we got a little bit ahead of ourselves on this review--but here's the hands-on review for the update to the app described below, Flixster's Movies 1.1.6 for BlackBerry.
Flixster 1.0 sure didn't look this good on our BlackBerry Bold--but the next version will.
(Credit: Flixster)We were excited to hear that Flixster's popular iPhone movie app was making the jump to BlackBerry. Unfortunately, not all apps dive as elegantly into other mobile platforms. Flixster's Movies app is one of them.
The free Movies by Flixster app for BlackBerry has all the essentials: a tab for box office hits, an area to enter your Zip code to find movies near you, a list of upcoming titles, and movies that have come out on DVD. You can even purchase movies via movietickets.com. Yet this movie "app" is not so much a native application as it is a shortcut to a BlackBerry-optimized version of Flixster's mobile Web site.
While a nicely formatted mobile site routinely delivers a better experience than navigating the site through a browser, winding up with a not-app after downloading an application feels like a cheap trick. To top it off, Flixster Mobile looks like a mobile site on BlackBerry and reloads every screen as you navigate. In contrast, the iPhone version, pulls show times and theater information into a stylized interface that in no way resembles the Flixster.com site, apart from the information it downloads.
Users aren't fooled by the bait-and-switch, either. Flixster's movie app on BlackBerry rates 2.5 stars out of 129 votes at the time of writing. The program's average iPhone rating scores higher, with a 3.5-star average for the current version out of about 16,000 user reviews.
Come on, Flixster. We know you can do better than that.
If you're a film buff, you might be happy to know that Facebook apps are available that will help you stay up-to-date on the industry, while giving you the option to tell all your friends what movies you love. Some of the apps are better than others, but one thing is certain: if you're a real movie fan, you need to add at least some of them to your profile.
Social film going
Blu-ray Collection Blu-ray Collection provides an extremely useful way to track and share your Blu-ray collection.
Once you find what you're looking for through the app's search field, you can add it to your listing. Those movies can then be viewed by other app users. The app lists over 1,000 films. And since you can rate your listings, you can see how much you liked a movie, compared to your friends.
Blu-ray Collection keeps all your movies in one place.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Flixster Movies Flixster Movies connects you with other movie fans to talk about your favorite films. The app also lets you update your Facebook status with the movies you want to see in theaters.
Flixster Movies is like having the full Flixster experience in Facebook. You can review films, take quizzes to test your knowledge, connect with other app users, and research films you're interested in. It's a full-featured product that works quite well.
Flixster Movies provides a full social movie experience.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Connecting with other movie fans and discussing films you select from Netflix can be fun. Although sites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes have become important parts of the online experience for movie buffs, they aren't exactly the forums for engaging movie chat and social networking that the sites in this roundup are. Below are some of the best I've found.
Movie social networks
Filmcrave Filmcrave lets you create lists of all the movies you love, rate films, and discuss those ratings with friends in the site's forums. You can also find other members who might have similar movie tastes by comparing their reviews to yours. Filmcrave is designed well but doesn't stand out from the competition.
Create your own movie lists on Filmcrave to share with others.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Flixster Once you sign up for Flixster, you'll immediately be asked to find friends who are already on the service. It takes only a few seconds, so it's worth trying.
When complete, you can take a test that will help determine how compatible your movie tastes are with your friends'. You can check out movies, tell others what your favorite films are, use widgets that let you add voice comments to Flixster, and more.
The site even has a chat function, so you can instant-message with others while reading up on films. And unlike the other services in this roundup, Flixster is available for mobile phones, including the iPhone and BlackBerry. It also has applications on MySpace and Facebook. It's everywhere for good reason--it's the best movie social network on the Web.
Flixster lets you see how compatible you are with your friends.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)There are dozens of movie recommendation engines on the Web. Some require little or no input before they give you titles, while others want to find out exactly what your interests are. I've been using 10 movie recommendation engines on both sides of the equation. They're all different, but some are definitely better than others.
The Top 10
Netflix makes recommendations pretty, but...
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)10. Netflix Netflix asks you to rate movies to determine which films you'll want to see next. And although it does make it easy to rate movies and it does return huge lists, there's too much duplication in the results and the ideas it gives you aren't all that strong. It's easy to use, but it's not the best way to get movie recommendations.
9. Rotten Tomatoes Instead of telling Rotten Tomatoes which films you like, you can tell it what kind of films you enjoy, which actors you want to see, and other criteria to help it find the best movie for you. There's a lot of variability in the quality of Rotten Tomatoes recommendations but it's also a nice way to find the right film for any mood.
8. Movielens Movielens is ugly. But what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for with a great recommendation engine that evaluates your tastes based on ratings to films you've seen before. Once you rate 15 movies, it returns recommendations that, based on my testing, were quite accurate and certainly more relevant than results from Netflix.
7. Flixster Flixster is the pretty version of Movielens. The site allows you to rate films and it returns recommendations that are about as good as Movielens. Beyond beauty, Flixster beats out Movielens because it offers extras like film quizzes, the capability to monitor friends' ratings, and more. It's good for people who want more than just movie ideas.
6. IMDb Instead of asking you to input ratings or to tell it what movies you like, IMDb automatically recommends similar films to the movie you search for. At the bottom of the page, a "Recommendations" section explains that if you liked a respective film, you'll like the handful of other films being displayed, based on information gathered from an IMDb database, which examines films to find similarities and differences. It's a great way for people who don't have time to rate movies to find some films worth watching. Even better, the recommendations are solid.
Yep, Iron Man was a good movie.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)5. Criticker Criticker is another one of those sites that places no stock in design, but it does a fine job of finding movies worth watching. Instead of just allowing you to rank films, the site compares your ratings to those of other users and employs something called the "Taste Compatibility Index" to see how closely your tastes match these other users. Once the service finds matches, you can view other users' profiles and see which movies they like. When I tried it, the other users' preferences were in line with my own on almost every film. Combining community and functionality, Criticker is a unique, yet worthwhile service to check out.
4. Clerkdogs Input the name of a film you like and Clerkdogs will return similar films. It's that simple. And it works. For both major movies and small films, it always found relevant recommendations when I gave it a starting point of a film I liked.
3. Nanocrowd At first glance, Nanocrowd looks like every other film search engine: you input the name of a film you like and it returns results. But the site goes well beyond a simple results page. Nanocrowd allows you to drill down into a more refined search with the help of a "three-word nanogenre." On the results page, you click which three-word category you prefer, based on keywords related to the movie you input into the search field, and Nanocrowd immediately refines your search to get the best film for you. Even better, the films it displays aren't always blockbusters.
2. Taste Kid If you want more than good movie recommendations, Taste Kid is the site for you. It's simple enough--you input a film you like and it returns results that offer similar action to your favorites. But it goes beyond just movies. If you really like "The Godfather," Taste Kid fills you in on what kind of bands you'll like to listen to, books you'll want to read, and "other stuff" that's related to that film. Taste Kid is a full entertainment recommendation engine.
Semantic search on Jinni is incredible.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)1. Jinni Jinni is the best movie recommendation engine on the Web. Period. Whether you want to search for films in the search field or you want to find films based on your mood, time available, setting, or reviews, the site has it all. I searched for movies based on my mood and followed that with a search based on my plot preference. Each time, films that I've watched and loved in the past, or that I haven't watched but definitely want to see popped up.
But perhaps the most compelling feature that Jinni offers is its semantic search. You can input terms like, "movies that have gangsters" or "films that show Chris Farley yelling" and the site will return films that match your query. It's mind-blowing.
Go use Jinni. You won't regret it.
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