Flixster - Showtimes + Tickets Reviews

My experience with Flixster has been great up until recently. I hope they fix the problem I'm about to address, but I'm likely moving on to a theater specific app and will be keeping a lookout for improvements.

I went with a friend to a showing of Spiderman Homecoming. We had both seen the movie in 2-D and regular 3-D. I noticed on the Flixter app that my local theater was showing it in IMAX & IMAX 3-D. We chose plain IMAX (no 3-D). At least that was our plan. We drive out to the theater and ask for tickets to the IMAX showing. She hands us tickets while telling us there is no IMAX showing at this theater. We asked the manager to explain. It turns out the (company) theater's app only advertised Real-D 3-D and 2-D showings. We were already there and wanted to not waste our time, so we just went with it and saw it in 2-D again. Very frustrating to get excited to see a movie in IMAX only to be let down by a faulty app. Whether it was wrong information retrieved by Flixter from the company the runs the theater, or some other reason, I'm tempted to just dump it altogether. I ask Flixter to get its act together so I don't have to be disappointed like this in the future. Choosing a 3 star rating until I see something is done. I'll check back.
-Signed SG

Please add the Rotten Tomatoes “Full Review” links back into the this app app. They are gone now for no apparent reason. This feature alone was one of the most useful and simple reasons I used Flixster and now it’s gone. After watching a movie or before preparing to watch a movie I would scroll through all of the Rotten Tomatoes “reviews” (or as many as I had time for), diving deeper into the reviews where the quote seemed to encapsulate my feelings about a movie if I had seen it or intrigued me if I had not. I checked the Fandango app, and the “Full Review” links are in there, but only for a few screens worth before Flixster forces you to the mobile website for Rotten Tomatoes, which is not nearly as efficient for scrolling through the reviews. Please, please, please fix the Rotten Tomatoes aspect of this app to how it was before, as it was the easiest way to see what movies were coming out, check reviews and find movie times. Now a significant part of the simplicity of Flixster is broken (seemingly in an effort to make the UX Design more minimalist), but its form over function and really frustrates me that is was taken away. For film lovers and movie buffs that loved the this app experience before, this is a significant step backward.

I initially wrote this as feedback after the update, but unfortunately that seems to have been a waste of time.

“You guys really dropped the ball here. What was wrong with the old app? For someone who watches tons of movies but rarely sees them in theaters the old app was perfect. Literally perfect. The layout was great for endless scrolling through box office movies and DVDs. Now I’ve got to navigate a Redbox rip-off menu which never loads, go into the movie, and close my eyes while clicking on the “details” option in order to avoid seeing movie times nobody cares about. If l wanted to buy movie tickets I’d use an app for that. Oh wait, that already exists. Guess how many times I’ve used it. Never. Not once! The least you could do it make “details” the default menu with “buy tickets” the clickable option. Please, at least change that. Please! Honestly, I'm not that mad. It’s more that I’m just completely flummoxed as to who thought this was a good idea. l can’t say I’m speechless, clearly, but it’s taken me the better part of the last 30 minutes trying to find words fitting for such a disaster.”

Worse than the Snapchat update that’s how bad this is

For over a YEAR after the update erasing all my sees and want to see was released I have tried unsuccessfully literally DOZENS of times to get this app to let me regain access to my profile, which by the way is still viewable on the internet. It is linked to my Facebook but for some reason now when I sign into this app with the SAME FACEBOOK ACCOUNT I have had for a decade all of my 800+ ratings and reviews are gone. There is no way to log on to the profile that I KNOW is there that still has all my ratings and reviews from the years. Absolutely pathetic. Numerous requests to this app support have been ignored, or met with empty promises. How difficult can it possibly be, guys? I have the user id, I can literally show you where my profile is, but your worthless update removed my ability to log in to the account I’ve been using for nearly ten years. Absolutely absurd. The profile even has my updated Facebook profile picture on it. But Flixster thinks that my Facebook login - THE SAME ONE I HAVE ALWAYS USED - is a brand new account or something. Months go by and nothing. Absolutely infuriating.

The changes to Flixster are awful. It used to be a great app to get lots of information about the theaters around you quickly and easily. It wasn’t perfect, but it provided exactly what I needed when I used it. I tried looking for others, but didn’t find anything that worked as nicely as this. Unfortunately, this new redesign has changed that.

After the recent update, it forgot all of my favorited theaters, it hid some theaters because tickets couldn’t be purchased without explaining why or how to get them back, and they added so much stupid white space that it’s impossible to get an overview anymore like you used to. They drop you to a new “Box Office” tab instead of nearby theaters, with no way to change it, just to make it all that less useful for you when you first open Flixster . The timing information for theaters that you can’t purchase tickets for is presented as if all of the times are in the past, making it just that much more difficult to easily get the information you’re wanting at a quick glance for the movie you’re looking at.

Used to login to app with FB account an now it says error has occurred everytime. Even tried password reset and that didn’t fix anything. I would mainly use it to track movies I wanted to see/had seen and buy tickets, even had regal & AMC rewards linked. This new interface is overrated as well. The point of box office tab was to see a snapshot of what the box office $$ were for that top movies each week. Now you have to click like 3 more things to find out what 1 movie made. Also begs one to wonder what’s the point of having a box office and theater tab when first thing you see from clicking on movie under box office is showtimes rather than a description/cast listing of the movie. Was optimistic that Fandango buying RT wouldn’t affect Flixster to much, but it clear that they made changes to push you towards you buying tickets (if you can login) right away rather than being able to learn more about the movies your interested in seeing. After waiting over a month for the Flixster to be fixed, it’s time to delete it.

I've been using Flixster for years to get information about movies before I go to see them. This recent redesign has now made it hardly worth using. For a particular movie, I could see all of the theaters that it was playing in (and Map them – to see where they were located). If there's a way to see them on a map now, I haven't found it. The format of the prior version was so much more useful. On the left was a list of movies, with a bit of info. It was easy to scroll through the list quickly to see what was available. No longer. Selecting one would show more information in the panel on the right. Now all I see are large icons, with the NAME of the movie barely legible underneath. Let me clue you – it's the name that is important (and what I know), NOT the icon. This used to be a great app. It was the only one I used for finding movies in theaters. Now I have to start exploring other apps. Frustrating. You guys had a great layout. Didn't you KNOW that? I really wish I could revert to the old app.

I have used and have loved Flixster for at least 8 years. For the past few years however, they have added in a lot of Indian films to their database. There’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever! But I’m not a fan of those movies and I would like the ability to filter them out based on either “language spoken” or “country of origin”. I have submitted this request to them years ago to add this feature. They already have a filter button on Flixster so why not simply extend it to be able to filter by these film attributes. I create reports from data for a living and filtering is by far one of the most important and also one of the easiest things to do. However since my initial request to be able to filter by these attributes has been ignored, I will probably go elsewhere. It’s a real shame though as Flixster used to the be the pinnacle of movie ratings and reviews.

Went from my go-to app for cataloging movies to whatever this trash is now. Upon the update, ALL 500+ films I added over the last several years were lost, all in Fandango’s pursuit to buy the competition and rebrand—completely water down— Flixster to a more terrible version of finding movie tickets. Just check their update history during the year after it was bought out by Fandango— “you can now buy tickets with Fandango... Going to the movies just got easier!... We’ve made it EVEN easier to find showtimes and tickets!” Noticing the money trail? It couldn’t be more obvious. The greatest part of these updates they’ve neglected to mention: “Did you use our app as a way to track the movies you’ve seen and want to see? Well, screw you! You weren’t making us any money! So we did away with that, and you, unless you really are dumb enough to keep using this after we cheated and screwed you over!” So, guys. Let’s continue to shift the movie conversation away from Rotten Tomatoes. Those folks don’t deserve our consideration.

But then again I suppose it depends on how you use it. Some features might be 1-star horrible and others 5-star great.

The only thing I use it for is to see what’s playing at the local theaters and the showtimes. The reason I like Flixster best is when you tap the theater it shows the list of movies playing and the Rotten Tomatoes and user score right there to see. And if you then tap the movie you can then read the aggregated and reviews just like you can on the Rotten Tomatoes website. You can also play the movie preview.

The other apps have these features too but you have to dig deeper to find them (e.g. in the Fandango app you have to individually tap each movie before it will show the scores). Apparently there’s something horrible about Flixster, but for my use it’s a 5-star app.

I use to love Flixster and used it all the time to research and rate movies, and keep track of movies I “want to see.” I switched from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 6s in Nov 2016 and when I went to login, my whole movie history was gone! Hundreds of films that I had rated, written reviews on, and, most importantly, kept file of wish-list movies to see.

The idea of Flixster is excellent - get trailers, movie cast and synopsis all in one place, however it is it dire need of improvement. Another frustrating ongoing issue for years, is that when you are scrolling through a list, say “upcoming movies,” and you click on one for more info, when you go back Flixster takes you all the way back to the top of the list! (Which can be very irritating if you’ve scrolled quite a ways down, and then have to wait as each page continues to load in order to get back to where you were).

Please fix, this app! I want to love Flixster and website again!

Everyone in my group of friends and family has used Flixster for years and have loved it. However they keep doing pointless updates to “improve” and it seems like they want to be more like another social media site or something. It is horrible. My wife and I were the last two who have kept Flixster after multiple updates that have stripped all functionality of Flixster . I enjoyed keeping track of movies I wanted to see and had seen (which used to be easily added by a + or rating system) and she loved seeing new films coming up and their trailers (which used to be listed by when they were opening and all could be seen on one seamless screen scrolling up and down which has been replaced by being able to see only 3 movies which forces you to go into another screen to see more). Tonight I’ve had it. We wanted to see what movies opened up tonight and I was met with more frustration with an app that is not listening to its users. We are done.

Flixster has been really good for a long time but the recent changes have resulted in a cluttered layout, have buried the movie info that I used Flixster for, and eliminated the links to the full review content. It’s obvious Flixster is being optimized to increase ticket purchases rather than be used as a reference tool. While I think that was a mistake it could have been executed much better than this.

I was never interested in buying tickets from Flixster, I’ve always preferred Fandango or just buying directly through the AMC app. I used Flixster to plan what I wanted to see and then I would buy the tickets somewhere else. It didn’t have to be this way, but in trying to make me buy my tickets through Flixster, the things that I actually used Flixster for have been muted or eliminated entirely. Sorry folks but it’s just a really poor re-redesign.

Flixster just doesn’t do it for me anymore. It’s really sad because for a long time this was one of my top 5 most favorite apps and today I’m going to delete it.

So Apple forced me to update Flixster to work with ios11 which was also a forced update if i wanted my watch to work. now my phone, which worked perfectly before, is painfully slow and apps crash all the time.
Flixster update in particular makes Flixster completely useless for me. it used to say where the theater was below the name. now it does not. it just gives distance. Thanks for that but there are 9 theaters around that distance all with similar names and all in totally opposite directions... so, what theater are we talking about? I used to know based on the location description that’s now gone. Also, a theater that used to be listed and that’s well within the distance parameter no longer show up in the list. when i search for it in the search box... OH THERE IT IS! why didn’t Flixster just list it in the first place? means if you don’t know about a theater, Flixster could just not provide any hint of its existence even if it’s the best option... making it completely useless if you travel.

This is the absolute worst update in the history of updates! You managed to take one of my very favorite apps and turn it into something I CANNOT STAND using. I HATE Flixster now. What were you thinking??? It's awful, you took away so many cool features, you can't see the want to see or the ratings on the corner of the pic anymore, the layout is terrible, and why force us to use it in landscape position?? And many other complaints. I reduced my rating from 5 to 1 star, I would give Flixster a half of one star if it would let me. I'm out. Looking for a new movie app now!
This was my last review, gave it 5 stars: "Awesome in every way! Please make it so you can keep a convenient list of "movies I want to see" ...that is all :). I use Flixster all the time, it's great" ...and you did give us that list I wanted and I loved Flixster. Please put it back to the way it was or I just cannot and will not use it anymore. Fire the person responsible for this hideous update!!!

I have used Flixster for years. Never had a problem other than one time the show times were not correct. But something has changed with Flixster lately. It seems like the original movie trailers were loaded in Flixster in the past, which gave you a better idea about the movie. For some reason it seems that lately it is a very short segment of a trailer. This is very misleading to what a movie is really like. For example, the movie The Upside and Cold Pursuit - the trailers in Flixster were pathetic. I ruled both movies out bc of it. I had a friend who went to see The Upside and told me how great it was. I googled the original trailer and it looks great! Absolutely nothing about the trailer in Flixster would have ever convinced me to see that movie. Now since I researched and saw the original trailer we are going to see the movie today. I will no longer depend on Flixster to help me make my final decision.

I wish I could count in the ways this application tries to be similar to the imdb but unless you are looking for the newest movie in theaters, Flixster is garbage. Unfortunately sometimes the application doesn’t even place the movies in the right category of upcoming or in theaters which makes it confusing and difficult to find the movie you are looking for especially since the search engine is complete garbage. I would say the worst functionality of the entire thing is the search function. It has absolutely no metrics for predictive or autocomplete search. I keep thinking “well, maybe one day it will be fixed.” But alas, it never is and I’m doubtful it ever will be. I’d have to say the only reason this application is still in existence or thinks it is successful, based most likely on traffic, is the tomatometer. Without that, this is as generic and poor an app as there is. Pick it up. I’m rooting for you to improve.

When attempting to purchase tickets through here you have the chance to be taken to a sort of search engine in their site/app, all by only clicking the button to choose your seats, or to confirm your information, or when trying to confirm payment, which is an incredible annoying bug. You then have to go back and start all over again and hope that this doesn’t keep happening. So good luck getting the seats you want. I had to go on their site on a computer for it to work, though this problem still arose. Furthermore, even though I closed Flixster completely after their seat selecting/ticket purchasing processes failed, the seats I wanted were not there anymore, as if they were bought already. Yet almost immediately after I purchased different seats, those ones I originally chose were available again.... so it seems they were on hold because of my earlier attempts... I suggest finding another app.

At first blush the new update looks lovely and more modern, but is practically unusable. Aside for the plentiful amount of bugs that causes data to not load half the time, it’s just a navigation nightmare. The cool thing about this app was it was very easy view movies in order of release, and track what you want to see, along side with what you’ve already seen. I would literally go through this app to find films months in advance. Now I find myself spending more time trying to figure out how to confirm if I’m seeing all the movie releases or not then actually seeing movies.

this app is basically only useful now if you know exactly what you’re looking for already and this can use the search tool, or are only looking at what’s playing at one theater. I exact reason I dislike fandango for anything other than purchasing the tickets to films I’ve already decided to watch. At least in fandango you can sort films in order of release.

The flow of Flixster is lacking. It’s all flash and less substance in this update. Actually getting to the information I want is now more difficult and I’d consider myself a power-user.

On the iPad:
They’ve rendered Flixster practically unusable. For VIEWING purposes landscape orientation is fine but when using Flixster to search, scroll, tap and consume information landscape mode is awkward at best and unusable at worst. For me, locking into landscape mode renders this useless and I have large hands. I don’t want to put my iPad down to use it. I hold it the entire time. In landscape mode there are areas of the screen I can’t reach without significantly altering my grip. Sure, in portrait mode I can’t reach the entire screen either, like the top, but I can reach the center of the screen with either hand. It’s much easier to slide your hand up and down the side of the screen to reach all the areas you need while in portrait mode.

I get that there are more than one Tom Hollands in the world, and sometimes you might get some information mixed up but still can fix later on (for instance Tom Holland, actor 23 now, his profile picture had also shown on another Tom Holland, a director known for his movie “Tom Holland’s Twisted Tales,” but from long ago had already been fixed) however, it’s gone too far now. Tom Holland aka Spider-Man, HE HAS NO PROFILE PICTURE AND THE MOVIES HE HAS STARRED IN DOESN’T SHOW UP IN HIS MOVIE LIST. Like, what’s up with that, huh?! How could you do that to a beloved actor?! He deserves a lot more than that, and that error needs to be fixed RIGHT NOW. I get all actors/directors need recognition and not trying to be rude, but Tom Holland is a VERY well known actor, especially to this day for his amazing talents, and he 3000% deserves to get his profile picture and show his list of movies
he’s starred in back again. Thank you.

P.s. - Also, Tom Holland has gone through a lot lately after Spider-Man is officially out of the MCU after Disney and Sony couldn’t reach an agreement. This another reason why Tom Holland’s profile picture and movie list should be restored, as an apology for even removing those features only from him in the first place, as well as a way to show that we all love and support Tom no matter what, and let his stardom increase even more.