Movies is noticeably better now at enabling users to buy tickets online. I didn't like the way the earlier version took me out of the app and into Movietickets.com, which had the worst interface on Earth. The new version is much easier to read and navigate, and you are no longer taken out of the app. But it can still be a chore to buy tickets. Users would do well to set up a Movietickets.com account and have a credit card stored for more convenient purchasing.

The Flixster app compares very well with Cyrus Najmabadi's ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ) and ( Macworld rated 3 out of 5 mice ). Some users, in fact, have noted strong similarities between Now Playing (formerly Box Office) and Movies. Now Playing has a somewhat cleaner interface and also boasts Netflix support, but lacks Movies' strong social-networking component. Flixster's Jeff Grossman says Netflix support will most likely appear in Movies 3.0, along with some other nifty features, such as iTunes Store integration and--hallelujah!--a vastly improved ticket purchasing feature.

Another app that does not compare nearly as well is from . The app downloads movie information just once per week, making for painful load times when you launch the app for the first time--and, indeed, most of the time. The idea is to let users use the app without an Internet connection, but the execution is haphazard at best.

The purpose of is summed up in the app's name: It gives you movies and theater showtimes. But chief among the app's drawbacks is the inability to actually purchase tickets online. The app does offer listings of current and forthcoming films, along with brief descriptions and links to theatrical trailers. Each listing has an average rating from critics and users, but it isn't at all clear what "users" the app is sampling. There is no social networking component and no way for users to add ratings of their own.

Finally, the app's interface isn't very good. Type often appears mangled and the spacing is poor.