Your friends say you are a cross between a cineaste (movie lover) and a cinephile (passionately interested in cinema). You’ve been treating popcorn and soda as your best friends, and you have a very intimate relationship with your couch. You’ve even shot your own short film with your buddies in the Film Society, and filled your smartphone with tons of movies.
They say there is always an app for everything, but for Android users, which ones would specifically suit movie junkies like you? Here are some apps worth checking out:
IMDb: Must-Have
Sometimes, you just ask yourself questions like, “Wait, who was that guy from Titanic that I’m seeing now in this movie called Inception?” or, “What’s this new movie all about?” This always happens to me, and I’ve developed the habit of looking up celebrities, movie synopses, and trailers on IMDb to see if I’ll really get interested in watching these movies that people are recommending. The IMDb mobile app has all the basic info you need to know about a movie. Plus, you can also buy movies from Amazon with it. You’ll see show times and play dates in your local theaters as well.
Crackle
When you want to go back in time and see free old movies and you’re patient enough to watch them with advertisements, then go download Crackle. It offers a library of a few hundred movies (I’ve warned you, they are older titles) and if you browse long enough, you can dig for some gems out of it. There are also some TV shows that you can stream and watch using the service.
Netflix
Netflix still offers the best service when it comes to streaming movies and shows; but if you want to really enjoy it, it’s definitely not going to be free. The available mobile app for Android allows you to view all the TV shows and movies that you want, but an obvious downside is the limited streaming library which is not as extensive as the DVD library. Video quality is excellent, however, and $7.99 can be considered cheap, if you can view heaps of content on your smartphone.
HBO Go
If you are not really concerned about below par video quality and you love HBO shows, this app will do you good. HBO Go lets you watch all the movies, documentaries, and shows that you want; the best part is, mobile streaming comes free if you are already subscribed to HBO’s premium service with your existing cable subscription. You can check out featured content or browse titles based on your preferred genre. The app’s watchlist keeps you on track of the shows and movies you want to watch later (it functions almost the same as a bookmark).
VLC Direct Pro Free
The popular VLC media player for PCs has always been a lifesaver, and it’s only gotten better with the Android version in the offing. Like the desktop version, VLC Direct Pro has some tricks up its sleeve as well, including the capability to stream movies, photos, and music from your Android device to your computer, and the option to control the running VLC software on your computer using your phone or tablet. Additionally, you can launch it on your device simultaneous with other Android apps – without ever having to stop other running apps like RingCentral or Evernote.
VLC Direct Pro supports files with avi, flv, mp4, mp3, mkv, wmv, jpg, mpeg, mpg, rmvb, m4v, mov, 3gp, ts and vob formats on your Android device. Now you can rack up your extensive video library and watch videos anywhere.