Going to the Movies: Hollywood.com and IMDb

I am such a research hound that I can't even go to the movies without doing a bit of digging first. My routine is to check the local fare using Hollywood.com to find my local area's movie listings. Hollywood asks for my zip code then automatically gives me the showings within a 15 miles radius, closest first. Rather than bother clicking on the movies and reading Hollywood's lame reviews and customer comments, I just open another window and use IMDb to check out my choices.

BTW -- I use the Groowe Toolbar in Firefox, which lets me quickly toggle between search tools like Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, Dictionary.com, Clusty, IMDb and a bunch of others.

The trick with IMDb is to pick a movie and go right to the External Reviews, either on the left under Top Links or at the bottom under Related Links. For comparison, have a look at Zack and Miri Make A Porno at Hollywood.com and IMDb. Hollywood leaves you with little. IMDb maybe has too much information on the main page for a particular movie, and its contributor reviews are only marginally better than Hollywood's, but it offers a nice collection of external reviews. (Watch out for the trailers and clips across the top of the main page of any movie -- they have ads that have to run first. Go to the Top Links on the left and tap the trailers and videos link there. (There are presently five offerings on that page, each the same as the last. Oops! But at least there are no ads that I could find.)

IMDb is of course valuable for its cross-linking database of actors and films. In our current example, Seth Rogen is Zack and Elizabeth Banks is Miriam. (I'd say Ms Banks is associated with the more illustrious list of movies, but neither of them is getting a block of sidewalk yet.)

I have to say, while I'm on the theme of movie reviews and research, that I'm sorely disappointed that At The Movies (the former Ebert and Roeper nee Siskel and Ebert show) has degenerated to a movie promo show. Two thumbs way down for the new show. Lucky I have the Internet to help me out, but what ever happened to sitting on the sofa for my weekly half-hour of film criticism? The show wasn't perfect by any means, but I miss it.