ResearchBuzz

There’s an amazing database of old theaters available at http://cinematreasures.org/theater/ . This searchable subject index is part of a larger site but let me talk about this database search first.

You can browse it any number of ways — number of seats, number of screens, architect, chain, status (open, renovating, demolished, etc.) Occasionally stats are incorrect (one theater is listed as having just one seat) but there are lots of commenters pointing out errors and offering information.

I browsed through the most-recently added theaters and found a list from all over the world including Paris, South Africa, and Oil City PA. Theaters are listed in a table showing name, location, and status. I then went and looked at the listing of demolished theaters (over 5300 of them.) Each theater has its own page with a description and sometimes photo, but lots and lots of great comments. For example, the page for the Shawano Drive-In included information from commenters about when the theater first opened, when its screen was knocked over in a storm, and even a pointer to a Flickr account where the opening ad for the Shawano theater has been posted. Other listings, such as the 10th Street Art Theatre in Atlanta Georgia, have lively discussions in the comments about the exact dates of theater operation, when/why it was closed, etc.

As I noted, the database is part of a larger site, Cinema Treasures, at http://cinematreasures.org/ . This site includes theater news, a link list, a FAQ, and a variety of other classic theater information.

I am very bad at going to movies but even I found myself enjoying the nostalgia of going to Saturday afternoon matinees as a little kid. Well worth a visit.

I must admit: I’m really bad at watching movies. I go in with the best intentions to watch them and have a good time, and something ends up bugging me about the movie and I obsess on it for 91 minutes or however long the movie lasts. Sure, Happy Feet was adorable, but Hugh Jackman’s Elvis impersonation drove me nuts for the entire movie. I need to practice more, I think.

Perhaps I can get some good ideas from Flixfind, at http://flixfind.com . Flixfind is a directory of movie- related sites. Sites are divided into several categories, including film genres, reviews, international films, festivals, trailers, and publications.

Categories sometimes are divided into subcategories, and sites are listed one page per category. Descriptions are so bad — a few words and an ellipsis — I thought something was wrong. It was; turns out you get the full site description by holding your mouse over the title of the site and getting the description in mouseover box. This is not a design decision with which I agree. If you’re patient enough to browse the pages by mousing over every site that looks interesting, the descriptions are pretty good.

In addition to the site listing, this site also has a custom search tool that searches 200 different movie sites. I now know way more about Spiderman 3 than I ever thought possible.

When you first visit the site you’ll get dropped into the FlixFind blog, which looks like it updates several times a day on everything from general movie news to trends to poster previews to rants and reviews. The wrangler at FlixFind loves his movies and it shows. Worth a look.

This post came from ResearchBuzz, a site with news and information about online data collections. Visit us at ResearchBuzz.com .

Hey, did you see the Oscars? Me neither. If you need the highlights, check out Backup Brain: Dori Smith blogged the whole thing, as she does every year.

But right now I am not talking about the Oscars, I am talking about movies. Yahoo has introduced a shortcut to allow you to search on movie titles and location and get a nice chunk of information at the top of your search results.

Enter a current movie and a location — city and state or zip code. Sometimes just city will work — “Detroit” worked. A search for Happy Feet 90210 got a listing that showed a promo picture, links to information at Yahoo Movies, ratings from Yahoo and critics (with links to each) and movie showtimes for the area of Beverly Hills. (There was only one.) And hey, there was even a note that Happy Feet won the Academy Award for best animated feature. Hey, that was quick.

In addition to current features the shortcut also works on upcoming features. I did a search for 300 Detroit and got a promo picture, link to a trailer, link to a Yahoo Movies summary, and the release date, and that was about it. No critical reviews as of yet and of course it isn’t showing anywhere.

Occasionally I did a search that didn’t bring me anything — a search for Rocky Balboa New York NY brought me no shortcut, much to my surprise. Also Yahoo doesn’t seem to list all available theaters. I did a search for Ghost Rider Durham NC, and while Yahoo Movies listed a huge number of places where the movie’s showing, it missed the Starlite Drive In.

All in all, though, this is a great place to start your search for current movies — it’s amazing how much information they can cram into one little shortcut! But if you want to make sure you’re getting all the viewing options, you might want to check the theater listings in your local area’s media.

This post came from ResearchBuzz, a site with news and information about online data collections. Visit us at ResearchBuzz.com .