How To Become a Movie Expert With Your iPhone

If you’re a movie buff, your iPhone is an excellent companion to aid you on your quest for cinematic knowledge. Whether you’re looking for trailers, trivia or showtimes, you guessed it; there’s an app for that!

We’ll help you fill your iPhone with every kind of movie application available. The best part: it won’t cost you a cent. To ensure that you still have plenty of cash to drop on tickets and popcorn, today’s post will be comprised of only free apps. Let’s get started!

 

Trailers, Showtimes and More

The first category of apps we’ll look into is the most versatile. Though these apps are built primarily for finding local theaters and showtimes, many of them are packed full of extra features like reviews, box office standings, news, trailers, and more. This is definitely the place to begin your feature film application saga.

Movies (flixster)

Movies has been around since the early days of the app store and is easily one of my favorite movie apps. The huge list of features includes finding and viewing movie trailers, showtimes, local theaters, Rotten Tomato reviews, upcoming DVD releases, and movie quizzes.

Other unique features include Facebook integration, Netflix queue management and the ability to create lists of must-see films. This app simply does it all and should be first on your download list.

Fandango

Another extremely popular movie finding app, Fandango allows you to quickly find movies playing near you within the next hour (and any other time), shows you posters and previews and allows you to buy tickets. Great unique features include recent Tweets regarding a particular movie, user and Metacritic reviews, and movie director/cast lists.

MovieFone

MovieFone is the iPhone companion to the popular MovieFone website and retains most of the great features you find on the full site. Notable features include information caching so you can find showtimes even with no connection, Hollywood news and articles, celebrity bios, and friend invites via address book integration.

OneTap Movies

OneTap Movies is another great app filled with features to enhance movie night. Features include theater and showtime listings (up to five days ahead of time), ticket purchasing, IMDB and RottenTomatoes integration, cached results, detailed movie info (rating, length, etc.), and box-office info.

Showtimes

Same story as the apps above, find movie locations and showtimes, buy tickets, view ratings, and see what’s coming soon. The iTunes app description uniquely takes the form of a narrative; it’s eye-rolling silly but boldly different.

Movies Now!

One last movie finding option with local showtimes and theaters, Facebook integration, movie tweets, and wish lists. Movies Now! has one of the nicest looking interfaces out there for this genre of app so if you like your apps to be both pretty and functional, be sure to check this one out.

Rental Managment

Can’t justify dropping ten bucks to see a movie on the big screen? No problem. Use these free iPhone apps to manage your movie rentals from three of the most popular services.

Redbox

Redbox revolutionized DVD rentals with the crazy but successful DVD vending machine idea. These amazing machines offer $1/night movies that can be returned at any Redbox location anywhere in the US.

With the Redbox iPhone app you can find a Redbox near you, browse available selections and reserve movies. The only lacking feature is the ability to enter free movie promo codes when reserving a copy. If they find a way to add this functionality the app will be perfect.

PhoneFlicks

PhoneFlicks is a free and easy way to manage your NetFlix queue from you iPhone. You can add and remove titles, reorder your list, browse the entire Netflix library, and view recommendations and reviews.

There are a few complaints about the app being a little clunky but it’s a decent free option as it seems there is no official Netflix iPhone app.

Blockbuster

The Blockbuster iPhone app lets you browse their full library of movies, manage your Blockbuster rental queue, find a store near you and view the inventory of specific stores. Many more features, like video game and Blu-Ray inventory support, are on the way.

Info & Trivia

These apps are all about the details. You can look up information about specific movies and actors, see what others are saying or sit back and test your movie knowledge.

IMDB

After years of incessant begging from fans everywhere, IMDB, the ultimate Internet movie information storehouse, has finally released an official iPhone app.

This app is packed with features including full access to movie and cast information, box office results, local TV listings and recaps, theater showtimes, celebrity birthdays, quotes and trivia, popular charts, and just about everything else you love from the full IMDB site.

Flixup!

Flixup! adds a social element to movie reviews by allowing you to see what your Twitter friends are saying about certain flicks. There are also plenty of other features including movie info, trailers, and ratings.

Top100Movies Free

Top100Movies Free is a really simple app that helps you keep track of the top 100 movies in the iTunes store. Useless for some, perfect for anyone constantly on the lookout for new flicks to check out.

Movie IQ

Movie IQ is a simple, no frills movie trivia game with a multiple choice format. You can track your scores and see if you rank in the global leader board, thereby granting you bragging rights to all the people that would be your friends if you weren’t always bragging about pointless accomplishments.

What Movie Is This From?

WMITF is another movie trivia game, but with a few more interesting features than Movie IQ. The questions are setup on a timed reveal (beat the popcorn timer!) so you can play with friends and try to be the first to answer correctly. Facebook integration allows for online play with a “guaranteed fairness” system that takes differing connection speeds into account.

MovieBuff

MovieBuff is a movie trivia game with three modes of gameplay and over 2,000 questions to keep you occupied for hours on end.

Lite Trivia Apps

I always hesitate to list “lite” apps because they tend to be severely limited previews rather than well rounded free app experiences. If the trivia apps above don’t fit what you’re looking for, you might want to check these out to see if their full-featured companion apps are worth purchasing (click app name for iTunes link).

• Movie Challenge Lite
• Do You Know: Movies Lite
• iQuoteMoviesLite
• Movie Quotes Quiz Lite

Movie Studios

These apps will help you stay up to date on the latest offerings from two of your favorite movie providers.

Sony Pictures

The Sony Pictures app gives you access to the latest movie info, trailers, and showtimes from current and upcoming films from Sony pictures.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

This app gives helps you find where Fox Searchlight movies are playing around the country and even gives you special access to free screenings!

Conclusion

That should be enough apps to turn you into a veritable Hollywood aficionado. Remember that these are merely some of the best free apps available, there are plenty more great movie apps out there if you’re willing to pay.