Bob Tedeschi

Of the more than 5,00,000 apps on the major mobile platforms, I?m aware of fewer than ten with an average user rating of five stars?not counting apps that have been reviewed only by the developer?s closest friends.

Of those garnering legitimate raves, Flixster (free on Apple, Android and BlackBerry), which helps moviegoers choose films and find nearby theatres, may have the widest appeal of all. It absolutely deserves a spot on the phone of any cinephile or casual movie buff.

Unfortunately, while it?s great, Flixster is not perfect. Movie lovers who occasionally like to buy tickets in advance, for instance, should also consider Fandango (free on Apple, Android and BlackBerry), and people with a much deeper interest in movies and actors may also want to download IMDb and Moviefone in addition to Flixster.

For most people, though, these extra apps are unnecessary, because Flixster already covers so much ground.

Flixster works both for people with a free hour to review the current slate of films, and those who decide at dinner time that they want to make the next show.

People with more time on their hands can peruse features like the Ten Commandments for Movie Audiences or the Summer Movie Preview, which includes video previews of the major releases.

Those with less time can jump straight to the Box Office section, which shows movies according to their popularity or their titles.

Each movie includes a Get Showtimes link that finds the closest theatres within a geographic range you specify. You can look up the theatres on a map, and find show times for movies on specific days.

Ratings from Flixster users are included, but the content from Flixster?s Rotten Tomatoes service, a digest of published reviews from media outlets, is much better. Movies with positive ratings from 60% of their reviewers get a red tomato icon, while others receive a splattered tomato icon. Percentages are listed, and users can read reviews. My only complaint about Flixster?s reviews is that you can?t easily find your favourite reviewers. It?s not surprising that Flixster also includes a Facebook element. Every mobile app developer, it seems, is trying to hitch its wagon to the social networking star. In the case of most other apps, the Facebook connection is useless, since, thankfully, not everyone wants to share everything with their friends.

In some cases, users who are interested in seeing a particular movie can click a Buy button for tickets for show times. Too often, though, Flixster can?t complete the deal. Either you must deal with the theatre directly or Flixster will send you to the mobile website of MovieTickets.com to complete the purchase, at a cost of $1 a ticket.

Fandango which was conceived as a website in 2000 by a consortium of movie chains offers recaps of professional movie reviews, but its user reviews are more terse, and less polished, than the user reviews on other apps.

If you would like to gather your Facebook friends for a movie, Moviefone, which is produced by AOL, is another worthy add-on. Once users log into their Facebook account from within Moviefone, they can use the Invite Friends feature. This isn?t a stress-free process. Before connecting to Facebook, the ?permissions? page informs you that Moviefone will now have access to your data ?any time.? Another link, to AOL?s privacy policy, tells users that their data is used ?to improve our services.? If this is acceptable, you can use it to invite friends to specific theatre and show times, and include a message with the invitation.

IMDb, from the website of the same name, Internet Movie Database, is another good supplement. There is a lot of trivial information that will enthrall some people. In the movie X-Men: First Class, for instance, IMDb tells you to watch for the moment when Charles moves his legs on the beach??despite the fact he is newly paralysed.?

Elsewhere, though, the app shows X-Men user ratings ?8.2 out of 10, based on roughly 27,000 votes.

Based on those reviews and the recent box office receipts, users are clearly happy to overlook those hiccups. The same situation awaits those who want to load up their mobile phones with movie software. If they can accept a few trivial flaws, they?ll enjoy a solid experience.