If you’re old enough to remember brick-and-mortar video rental places, then you are familiar with the anxiety of choosing a movie to borrow. If you didn’t have a specific movie in mind, it was not uncommon for you to spend a lot of time browsing the impressive collections. It was easy to get frustrated and anxious scanning shelf upon shelf full of titles spanning virtually every genre and every year.
One would think that with the advent of movie streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, picking out a movie to watch would be quick and easy. Unfortunately, with the sheer number of movies available to stream through these services, it’s quite possible you’ll spend more time browsing than watching. Luckily, there are a number of websites that aim to help you pull the trigger on what to watch.
Date Night Movies
We’ve all been there before. You settle into the couch with a friend or significant other with the intention of popping some popcorn and watching a movie. The only problem is neither one of you can seem to agree on what to watch. Maybe you feel like a mid-90s action film. Your friend on the other hand is in the mood for a light-hearted romantic comedy. Normally, one of you would have to concede to the other and send the rest of movie night begrudgingly watching something you have no interest in. However, thanks to Date Night Movies, you can easily find a compromise both of you will be happy with.
To get your recommendation, simply enter the title of the movie that you want to watch and select it from the dropdown box that appears. Do the same for your friend. Date Night Movies will then compile a list of movies that strikes the right balance between your two picks. The site gives you a synopsis of each film it recommends and even has links to the various platforms where the film is available to watch. Of course, for Date Night Movies to be effective, you and your viewing partner need to have a movie in mind!
What Movie Should I Watch Tonight?
If you have absolutely no idea what you want to watch, but you know what kind of film you’re in the mood for, What Movie Should I Watch Tonight? can help. The team at WMSIWT curates lists of films based on hyper specific categories that cater to virtually every taste. Categories include “Beautifully Terrifying Horror Films,” “Badass Bank Robbers” and “Bacon Bits” (which, appropriately, consists solely of Kevin Bacon movies).
To help you make a selection, What Movie Should I Watch Tonight? provides a concise, spot-on one-line synopsis of each movie along with embedded trailers. Once you’ve decided on a what to watch, WMSIWT conveniently provides a link to a streaming service that offers the film.
Flickmetrix
If you’re the picky type and want to have more control over your movie recommendations, Flickmetrix might be for you. Flickmetrix allows users to set a variety of parameters that will narrow down the recommendations it provides. For example, you can exclude certain genres and even narrow results to movies available on specific streaming cervices like Netflix or Amazon Prime.
In addition, you can filter the results by their scores on review sites like RottenTomatoes and Metacritic. So, if you’re the type of person who obsessively checks the scores awarded to movies before deciding on whether or not they are worth your time, FlickMetrix will enable you to be more judicious in your selection.
Movie of the Night
All of the websites mentioned above are great to help you narrow down your options. But what if you’re just a really indecisive person? The problem that all of the previously mentioned websites have is that they all recommend multiple titles. For some, having a handful of titles to choose from can be equally paralyzing as having a near infinite list to scroll through. This is where Movie of the Night comes in handy.
Movie of the Night allows users to determine a variety of parameters such as release year and run time. Once you pop in all of the parameters, hit the “Get Recommendation” button. Movie of the Night will then provide users with one, and only one, suggestion. eliminating the stress and indecisiveness that comes with multiple options.
Do you find it difficult to decide on what movie to watch? How do you figure out what to watch? Do you use any recommendation websites that we haven’t mentioned? Let us know in the comments!
Ryan Lynch –
Staff Writer
Ryan is an English & Film Studies teacher. He splits his time between Australia and the United States. He passes the time on long haul flights by playing retro video games from his youth.
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