Finding A Movie To Watch Is Made Easy With MovieQuest Pro
MovieQuest Pro - Discover Great Movies ($2.99) by Alexandru Halmagean is an app that aims to help you discover the right movie for your current situation. Whether you need a comedy to cheer you up, a romance to gush over, or an action movie for some crazy, er, well, action (explosions, anyone?), you are bound to find something for your mood in this app.
The thing about MovieQuest Pro that caught my attention was the fact that it is a beautiful little app. From the icon to the matching splash screen, I could already tell that the developer put a good amount of time into this app. I also wasn’t disappointed with the rest of the app either.
My biggest surprise is probably the leather texture – normally, I am not a fan of leather at all (I don’t like the skeuomorphic UI that Apple chose for iCal and Address Book in OS X Lion), but MovieQuest Pro is an exception. The leather texture is fairly subtle, and I believe that having it in dark gray helped a lot. The red “stitching” part compliments the dark gray color, and is definitely not ugly, as compared to something like iCal. So personally, I give props to the developer for having a very nice UI – it’s leather done in a good way (not an easy feat).
Once you get in the app itself, you’re presented with several categories to search for a movie. In addition, there is a button in the top left to access settings (just change the country for the iTunes Store), and one on the top right (accessing My Movies).
The categories for finding a movie are: iTunes Charts, Greatest Movies, Best Movies by Genre, Best Movies by Year, Best Movies by Theme, Movie Awards, and Worst Movies Ever Made. Selecting some of these categories (such as iTunes Charts, Greatest Movies, etc) will bring up another subcategory section. Once you pick the category or subcategory, a list of movies will appear, in numerical order. A thumbnail will appear on the left with movie information to the right of it.
When you tap on a movie, you’ll get an info screen, along with an image of the movie poster or cover. Information will tell you Genre, Director, Release Date, Copyright, and a quick synopsis of the movie. At the top are tabs that will take you to YouTube videos or the Wikipedia page. If you’re interested in the movie, there is a convenient link to iTunes, where you can either buy or rent the movie.
When viewing a movie title, there will be options to favorite it (star), or add it to your Seen or Want To See lists. I found this part to be inconsistent though, as these options appeared for movies in some lists but not others. I’m not sure why this is, but I would suggest that it be uniform in a future update – it would make it easier for the user.
To view your movies, go back to the main screen, and tap on the top right button. This will take you to “My Movies,” where you can see your Favorites, Movies I’ve Seen, and Movies I Want To See lists.
I found MovieQuest Pro to be a nice way to find a movie to watch. There are some suggestions I would like to see implemented in the future though. For one, I would love to see Netflix (or Qwikster) integration to add a movie to your queue. Also, the app seems pretty good at getting U.S. movies, but not really foreign films. If more foreign films could be added to the database, then this app will definitely be a keeper.
On the iPad, the app presents an even nicer interface, complete with theater curtains for that cinema feeling.
The app is currently $2.99, which isn’t bad considering that this is a universal offering. I hope that the developer can take my suggestions to heart though, as I think it would add more functionality (Netflix is still a must, despite their recent bad decisions) and make the app stand out from the rest (with more foreign films).
If you’re a movie fan though, and want an app to help you decide what’s good to watch (or bad, depending on what you feel like), then give this app a try. There is also a free version to try it before picking up the Pro version.
