Google Movies
February 23, 2005 9:27 PM   Subscribe

Google Movies - search for movies using the new "movie:" method, see showtimes and get directions to theaters near you (with Google Maps, of course!), read a summation of critics' reviews (ala RottenTomatoes), and get more information on the cast (via links to IMDb).
posted by falconred (28 comments total)
 
This is on the front page of google for god sakes.
posted by null terminated at 9:30 PM on February 23, 2005


Google: You just keep getting better and better. There's not a thing that I don't adore about you. Will you marry me?
posted by Plinko at 9:30 PM on February 23, 2005


null terminated: There are many of us that never actually see the front page of Google.
posted by Plinko at 9:32 PM on February 23, 2005


I do admit that I haven't seen the front page of Google since I went FireFox.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:34 PM on February 23, 2005


It's not on the front page for me (UK version).
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:35 PM on February 23, 2005


With links to maps for theaters, this essentially promotes, arguably, Google maps from labs. Also related is the video search feature, also in labs.
posted by quam at 9:37 PM on February 23, 2005


Ze googles! Zey do eferyting!
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:37 PM on February 23, 2005


While I applaud Google's zeal to take over the world, I doubt I'll ever use this feature while IMDb is still alive and kicking.

Pretty_Generic: nice.
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:43 PM on February 23, 2005


This "google" you speak of. It vibrates?
posted by spock at 9:54 PM on February 23, 2005


Google Calender next?
posted by billsaysthis at 9:55 PM on February 23, 2005


Might I have had difficulty finding movie reviews and showtimes otherwise? Seems to me that it takes effort to avoid them really.


posted by DuoJet at 10:07 PM on February 23, 2005


It does seem like the new Google way is to provide everything that Yahoo does, but within a search context. Not a horrible idea. I'm surprised results from your GMail account don't come up in your Google searches yet.

Too bad it's not quite smart enough to suggest the Movies data for a normal search -- like it does with news results. That means it's not nearly as discoverable.

Also, I think it's really cool they have a 1940 NYTimes review of His Girl Friday on the relevant page.
posted by smackfu at 10:15 PM on February 23, 2005


movie: total crap
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:16 PM on February 23, 2005


Heh, I just mistyped and found that google has two distinct movie interfaces: movie: 90210 vs movies: 90210
posted by smackfu at 10:22 PM on February 23, 2005


movie: explosions and boobs
posted by neckro23 at 10:23 PM on February 23, 2005


movie: Googlefilter

No movie showtimes or reviews were found for GoogleFilter.

Au contraire, G-money! The showtime is every two days! The theater is MeFi! And the review is:

[tears out eyes]
posted by scarabic at 10:56 PM on February 23, 2005


I'm bummed for Metacritic. They do a great job and what they do can't easily (or at all, any time soon) be "determined automatically by a computer program." Namely, they actually read all of a movie's reviews, and regularize the opinions of the critics into a numeric scale (1-100).

This is the first offering from Google that I find worse than the thing it replaces. Google Maps blew the competition out of the water. Google Movies feels like a cheap hack to me -- and one that is likely to put a great service, Metacritic, out of business. That sucks.
posted by precipice at 11:03 PM on February 23, 2005


Wake me up when they write an OS.
posted by scarabic at 11:52 PM on February 23, 2005


Precipice is right, the aggregate page of movie reviews puts the boot in to Metacritic.

I'm not sure if that's such a bad thing, Metacritic is more than movies. On the other hand, Google seems to be behaving like a supermarket behemoth that rolls into town and undercuts and seduces everyone with their monopoly of talent. Shutting down local stores 'cause they can't keep up. It gives me the creepy weepys.
posted by gsb at 12:14 AM on February 24, 2005


It gives me the creepy weepys.

Lately, I'm beginning to feel the same. I think countdown to the real google-love backlash is scheduled to begin soon, if it hasn't already.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:15 AM on February 24, 2005


In five .. four .. three .. two .. one ..

So what, exactly, is their definition of evil? They can't have a monopoly almost by definition, because they're just a website (for now) and there's nothing stopping you from going to any other website. Yet at the same time, they're quietly duplicating the features of all the useful information retrieval / aggregation sites on the web. I currently use them because their web search engine is still the best, and I have to check Google serp positions because I make websites for people, but how long before millions of us start boycotting them, Wal-Mart style? There really isn't much different to their plan of attack.
posted by bwerdmuller at 1:37 AM on February 24, 2005


Why do Google and IMDB always put Berardinelli's reviews near the top? The guy can't write.
posted by donth at 3:12 AM on February 24, 2005


movie: world domination
posted by jeremias at 4:30 AM on February 24, 2005


movie: total crap

stavrosthewonderchicken: If I may say so, this is good evidence that no searching algorithm is perfect. Or maybe it shows that the searching algorithm is only as good as the data. Those first two results (Pitch Black and Ronin) are far from total crap IMHO. The third, Chicago, won a Best Picture Oscar. After that, it seems more accurate.

Did anyone notice the disclaimer at the bottom of the page? "The selection and placement of reviews on this page were determined automatically by a computer program. No movie critics were harmed or even used in the making of this page."
posted by Plutor at 5:08 AM on February 24, 2005


Hmm, are Google's cache pages not working for anyone else?
posted by Plinko at 6:48 AM on February 24, 2005


This just seems like one more thing on the Google search results page that will force the actual search results farther down the page. Currently we have New, Images, Local, and now Movies.

They seem to be developing themselves into needing an interface.
posted by tpl1212 at 7:26 AM on February 24, 2005


The real news is that it works on Google SMS.

That's where it really counts, when access to the web is limited.

Last time I tried it told me the feature was not yet implemented. Six months later, it is.

Nice. Now I don't have to listen to Mr. Moviefone's increasingly long advertisements before "If you know the name of the movie you'd like to see, press 1 now."
posted by linux at 9:53 AM on February 24, 2005


Hilarity ensues!
posted by casu marzu at 12:47 PM on February 25, 2005


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