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Movies.app Gets Acquired and Releases Major Rewrite

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Apr 12, 2001
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Jeffrey Grossman's Movies [Free, App Store] has been acquired by Flixster and been rereleased last night as a complete rewrite.

Version 1.5 adds a number of new features:

- Expanded list of movies and theatres
- Movie posters and descriptions for all movies
- Trailers for all Box Office leaders and upcoming movies
- Search of over 50,000 movies with posters, description, cast and dierctors
- Support for Canada and UK

It may be worth looking at this free application again: App Store

Article Link
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/26/movies-app-gets-acquired-and-releases-major-rewrite/
Is Flixter the one with the paper bag puppets? I don't think they are, but if they are, I may switch back to movies.app or ... well, now I'm completely confused.

OK, THIS is movies.app -- the other one i switched to was BoxOffice that used to be called something else...

man....I need a chart.

- and why does updating an app switch the order of all the icons.
 
mainstreetmark said:
OK, THIS is movies.app -- the other one i switched to was BoxOffice that used to be called something else...
Click to expand...

BoxOffice is now called Now Playing -- presumably some powerful entity bitched about the name? Anyway, its the one I use, I find it close to perfect, I don't really have time to try anything else.
 
Ted13 said:
BoxOffice is now called Now Playing -- presumably some powerful entity bitched about the name? Anyway, its the one I use, I find it close to perfect, I don't really have time to try anything else.
Click to expand...

This new Movies.app has replaced BoxOffice/NowPlaying for me. It just blows it out of the water. I used movies.app on the web since last summer, but found it's appstore version to not be as strong. But this is an amazing movies application.

Plus, BO/NowPlaying links to fandango for online ticketing, which i've NEVER found a theatre that uses. Every theatre around me uses Moviefone.com and movietickets.com.

Downloaded the new movies.app on my way to work and promptly deleted Now Playing :)
 
One of the reviews says it used to link to rottentomatoes reviews, and now links to flixster instead, whatever that is... that's already a show stopper for me. I don't see the point of a movies app that doesn't link to rottentomatoes.
 
How about Fandago's iPhone optimized site?

Ive been using Fandangos site for years and now use their iPhone optimized web site. It has always seemed good enough to get times and dates; on the iPhone the web site is very useful.

So I have to ask what's with the movie apps? Maybe I'm missing something here but generally I only want the basic info when choosing a theater to see. I especially don't want reviews making up my mind for me. Maybe I'm missing something here but what else does a movie app do for you?


Dave
 
I like that this App actually lists all avalable Theatres near me... I am assuming that the "box office / now playing" was more designed for someone from the USA as it only listed 2 "major" theatres in my area..

Also this Movies app inculdes DVD releases as well which is quite exciting..


does anyone else notice that it is choppy when scrolling through the lists?
 
This app has direct links to IMDb, my site of choice. That sealed BoxOffice's fate instantly (that is what I used before). It would be perfect if it showed IMDb ratings instead of Flixster, but I can live with it the way it is now. Not to mention that would probably never happen since this app is now owned by Flixster.
 
I'll have to give it a shot. I've been using Showtimes and it's a pretty nice app with imdb link, which I really like. Only thing that is missing is a quick link to trailers.
 
Lopes said:
This new Movies.app has replaced BoxOffice/NowPlaying for me. It just blows it out of the water. I used movies.app on the web since last summer, but found it's appstore version to not be as strong. But this is an amazing movies application.

Plus, BO/NowPlaying links to fandango for online ticketing, which i've NEVER found a theatre that uses. Every theatre around me uses Moviefone.com and movietickets.com.

Downloaded the new movies.app on my way to work and promptly deleted Now Playing :)
Click to expand...

I downloaded "Movies" again (which I previously deleted), just to see if it was indeed better than "Box Office"/"Now Playing" -- but I think I'm going to stick with "Now Playing."

Sure, "Movies" is slicker looking -- but I have the opposite problem as you in terms of ordering tickets. Fandango ticketing serves MOST of the theatres that I go to in my area (NYC), whereas movietickets.com only serves a few. That alone makes me want to keep "Now Playing." But there's a few other things that also make this app better than "Movies" for me:

  1. Choice between Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes ratings. I actually prefer Metacritic (which "Movies" doesn't even have). Plus, in "Movies," you have to press a separate link that takes you to the Rotten Tomatoes page in order to get a score -- it's not built into the app like "Now Playing." I HATE having to go outside an app for anything, so I wouldn't even bother with scores.
  2. Reviews. "Now Playing" gives short blurbs of reviews, with links to longer articles if you want to read them. Not super necessary, but it's come in handy a few times.
  3. E-Mail listings! This is one of the coolest hings about "Now Playing" for me. I'm always designated as the one to find movie times for my friends, and this makes it SOOO much easier to let everyone know what times the movies are -- instead of having to write them down or memorize them, and then distribute to however many friends are going.

"Movies" has a few cool things too, like the ability to "favorite" theatres, and a link to a movie's IMDb page -- however these are apparently coming to "Now Playing" in a future update. (Not sure if current box office info is coming, though -- which would be another cool thing "Movies" has). It has Flixster ratings too, but they are kind of lame, if you ask me. And I could care less about DVD info.

So in the end, while both apps are cool, "Now Playing" edges out "Movies" for me -- for built-in Metacritic/Tomatoes scores, the ability to e-mail showtimes, and because it links to Fandango instead of movietickets.com (which is better for me).
 
bob_hearn said:
One of the reviews says it used to link to rottentomatoes reviews, and now links to flixster instead, whatever that is... that's already a show stopper for me. I don't see the point of a movies app that doesn't link to rottentomatoes.
Click to expand...

Yeah same here. Its a shame, because I like this app more than BoxOffice, but having the RottenTomatoes rating right next to the movie is a dealbreaker for me.
 
I liked the old movies.app better. This one seems a little bloated and has jerky scrolling because of all the movie posters. I also liked the simple movie listing with the tomato icons. They have also now buried the 'next day' schedule in the settings panel. It used to be right up front.
 
I do like the "new" look, however, not all the movies have trailers available, for example the movie Traitor that opens tomorrow. BoxOffice/Now Playing has a trailer available to see, Movies.app doesn't have a trailer available.. There was a few other movies I noticed that didn't have trailers as well..
 
I love both movies.app and showtimes. I love showtime's layout, but i love all the extra stuff that comes with movies.app such as many reviews and trailers and movie posters and other misc. info. If only these two combined...it would be like the ultimate movies application!!:D
 
jarrodtb said:
Generally, I find the movie apps easier to navigate and quicker than surfing to fandangos pages via safari.
Click to expand...

Well faster is always nice. I might give it a try if I get to the point where I want to install apps again. Right now every thing works on my phone, waiting patiently for a real update to Mobile OS.

One thing I'm surprised by (in this thread) is the number of people here that are so concerned about having reviews available to them. I prefer to go with as little biasing of my opinion as possible.

The other thing is the preordering of tickets. Whatever happened to walking up to the box office with cash in hand?


Dave
 
wizard said:
One thing I'm surprised by (in this thread) is the number of people here that are so concerned about having reviews available to them. I prefer to go with as little biasing of my opinion as possible.
Click to expand...

Yes and no.
In most cases, I ignore reviews and just see what I want to see.
But sometimes if I'm on the fence, and it's a choice between two movies, and one has a metacritic score of 85, and the other a score of 48, then well... it's nice to know what the overall critic response is so you can make a better choice in these type of situations.

wizard said:
The other thing is the preordering of tickets. Whatever happened to walking up to the box office with cash in hand?
Click to expand...

Sadly, that's nearly impossible to do in New York City anymore (at least on opening weeks). If you want to see a movie right away in this city, you HAVE to order tickets in advance. It was pretty much the same when I lived in L.A. too. The only time "walking up with cash in hand" works is if a movie's been out for a while...
 
I hope this apps sorts out the lack of Vue cinema information in the UK. Kind of crippling this app for me at the moment. But showing true promise.
 
I just at least temporarily replaced Showtimes with this one. The trailers are the feature I wanted the most, that was lacking. But I haven't played with it much yet. Thanks for the heads up! :)
 
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