THE DESCRIPTION:
With Now Playing, watch trailers, see movie listings, and read reviews for movies in your area.
THE GOOD:
You can set your location to auto-update on opening, so you don’t have to keep entering a zip code. Movies are shown by default in order of when they came out, and each movie is listed with its Rotten Tomatoes tomatometer reading. At the listing for each movie, you can play the trailer, read reviews, get listings emailed (to yourself or someone else), change the date, look at the movie’s website, see where it’s playing, and then go to listings for a particular theater. Now Playing also includes listings of recently released DVDs, access to Wikipedia, imdb, and Amazon.com to buy movies. In addition, you can access Netflix and add movies to your queue from inside the app.
THE BAD:
To email from the app, you have to be logged into Mail on the iPhone (so nobody can use it for you).
THE BOTTOM LINE:
It has all the functionality of Fandango, but without being corporate. The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are much more useful than the ratings on Movies by Flixster, which are based on the percentage of people who want to see a movie, not those who liked it. Now Playing is fun, absorbing, and thoroughly impressive.
