I take my movies very seriously. I love watching them. The genres don't matter, bottom-line is the movie should be good. But soon enough I had exhausted most of my of friends' recommendations. There was only one thing to do, I decided to venture online.Now IMDB, Rotten Tomato and Metacritic, are seriously excellent stores for reviews and information on the movie you have made up your mind to watch. However, their user interface or data-mining isn't geared towards handling more user-based listings. Even basic questions like for instance would I like this movie often remained unanswered.
A critical review just couldn't cut it anymore. To my dismay many a movie from similar genres and with high recommendations left things to be desired. The information I had was simply inadequate. And when you think of it in terms of time you could have put to better use, it piles on quite a lot. There must be a better way. So I went through many a different search engines and recommendation portals in the past 2 years, and after all of this, these are the three recommendations engines I have come to use regularly and here's why you might like them.
Its not enough to ask for say a movie similar to Ronin. Would you like to see something "secretive, intriguing, convulated" or about "driving, stunts, car-chase", etc. As you can see, these specific detailing open up a lot of new possibilities. Because it often happens you like a movie only for a specific part of it. Now you can sub-sect that part and go hopping-skipping onto the next movie that gets you all of that, and more.
The only problem as of now is that is there is no way to add a movie to a watch-list or anything similar. Social features are definitely on their way. But we need to wait a while longer. As for not needing a sign-in to access quick movie bytes, the site gets a thumbs-up for that.
Whilst Nanocrowd was all about getting to results at warp speeds, Jinni is to do with deliberation. So you want a "stylish, upbeat, action filled, cop thriller with a great plot based around gang wars" and would love to see it with a bunch of guys whilst chasing down the beer. If there is a movie meeting that exact criterion, believe you me, Jinni will find it for you.
They divide movies and TV shows into more than genres, plots or awards. This recommendation engine tags the movie based on plot, genre, the type of audience most suitably watched by (date night, guy's night, girl's night, etc) , awards it won, time and place where its based and most importantly mood. What's the point of watching Dead Poet's Society when you were more in the mood for something like School Ties or Mona Lisa Smile. You get the picture.
It has also options to provide recommendations, after you have taken a Taste Test. These are a set of questions based on how you like certain movies. Yes, it takes more than 5 mins to get through the test, but I would say, its worth those minutes. Not only do you get recommendations but your searches are also optimised with this information (its dynamic by the way, so the more movies you rate, the better it gets. Therefore, the movies most guaranteed to please you whilst meeting your search criteria are shown in larger boxes over the ones you are not as predisposed to like.
Caveat is, that whilst you get excellent results, sometimes it is a little lonely to use Jinni. Social features are non-existent. Its all about making the search engine better as of now. Plus, it is still in private beta. You either have to request an invite or get an invite from someone else. However, even with these shortcomings this is the best cumulative criterion based movie recommendation page out there.
Clicking on a user would show you, how similar your movie tastes are. I have noticed, when showing these results, they tend to pay less significance to the more famous movies. Everyone likes Godfather, but how many out there loved Sideways and hated 2008's teen-sensation Twilight. These subtleties count. When you follow a person, you can see the movies they liked and these movies will also be available to you in your searches.
On the other hand, if you are just starting out, you might want to search for movies that meet your niche criteria (of taste, genre, release year, language or awards). Doing that will present you with movies from a few broad lists:
- All movies
- Movies you haven't watched
- Movies you want to watch
- Friends want to watch
- Friends Liked
- Movies that you have hidden (in case you want to reconsider)
Last but not the least, clicking on a movie will provide you extensive ways (free or otherwise) in which you can get to watch them. This site provides the most comprehensive list of available methods to watch a movie. So go ahead and get ready to watch them.
Honourable mention:
TasteKid: I know there are people who swear by this . It is a great recommendation engine, not only for movies, but also for music and books. However, the combination of the cluttered interface along with the site's ridiculous obsession with presenting every information with a preview sample is a little annoying. Hence I have stopped using it. Though if you prefer things that way, you would be interested in giving this site a try.
Well that's it. My three favourite movie recommendation engines. Do let me know which one I should have used otherwise. And please take the pole in the comments sections.
Cheers!
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