Don't know what to watch? Today we'll tell you about unusual online services that will help you choose a worthwhile movie or TV series. The Internet is full of sites based on a simple algorithm: they offer movies and TV series to watch depending on what you liked. This method works, but it can't be called the most effective.
The services listed below recommend movies based on a variety of criteria: what films influenced your favorite movie, what famous directors or other viewers recommend in discussions, what lessons you will learn from a particular work.
Cinetrii will find similar movies
Cinetrii offers a completely new approach to finding movies. Instead of recommending movies that other users liked, the service recommends watching works that inspired the chosen movie, as well as films that were inspired by it. This way, you can find movies that are close in meaning, which you have not heard of before.
The service is based on an algorithm that analyzes articles by film critics. In their reviews of films, critics often refer to other similar works, mention other directors, and make comparisons. Based on this, Cinetrii creates a tree of related films, at the top of which are listed earlier films that served as inspiration, and below are the works that were influenced by the original film. If several film critics refer to the same film, the connecting branch will be expressed more clearly.
Click on any movie to read an article about it, go to its IMDb page or to the same Cinetrii and find even more recommendations for viewing. This is a very effective way: after all, if you are delighted with a movie, you will probably want to check out movies that have something in common with it.
What to Watch on TV will tell you what season the series will slide to
It is known that IMDb users can rate both the series as a whole and its individual episodes. Service What to Watch on TV It collects episode ratings for TV series and creates a graph where you can see how the rating changes with each episode and season.
Each series has a chart that shows the rating of all episodes, the overall rating, and the total viewing time. In addition, the service shows the three best and worst episodes of the series compared to the overall rating.
Enter the name of the series you want to watch in the search bar, or study the rating published on the site. You can set up a filter so that only series with a rating of 6 stars or more are shown in the recommendations, sort them alphabetically or by rating. You can also trust random recommendations by clicking the Random button. Fun fact: the series with the highest rating is Breaking Bad.
Flixi Predicts Your Score
Flixi — a great mobile app for getting movie and TV show recommendations. Like many similar apps, you first need to indicate what you like and what you don’t. In a Tinder-like interface, to rate a TV show, swipe right to bookmark it, or swipe left to remove it from recommendations for three weeks.
After you rate 25 different shows on a scale of one to ten, Flixi’s AI kicks in. Instead of just making “recommendations,” it predicts how you’ll rate other shows. So when a friend tells you you should watch something, you can search for it on Flixi and see how you’re likely to rate it.
Head to the Discover section to get tons of random recommendations. In one panel, you'll see what's on this week, trending shows, recently ended shows, and new and popular series in your chosen genres. You can also follow series on Flixi and get notified when the appearance of new episodes.
Flixi also lets you specify which online movie theaters you subscribe to. It works with catalogs all over the world, not just the US.
Download: Flixi is available for Android and iOS.
Show Skimmer Finds the Best Episodes
"Watch a few episodes and you'll love it." How many times have you heard that? Not every show is addictive from the first episode. When a friend or an app recommends a show, look for it in Show Skimmer.
This website will list the top five or ten episodes of any TV series (with at least 35 episodes). The episodes are listed in chronological order, as this is the best viewing option. However, you can sort the list of episodes by rating. Show Skimmer does not specify what sources it uses, but it is likely TVDB, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, etc.
You can use Show Skimmer to find the most popular episodes and rewatch them. Or you can skip straight to the best episodes of a new series to decide whether it's worth watching or not.
Director Alerts will send a notification
If you love movies but don't have time to keep up with new releases in theaters and on streaming services, Director Alerts will become your faithful assistant. Just indicate the directors whose works you like, and the service will send you a notification by email as soon as their next new release comes out. This is the only function offered by the site. And it is also completely free.
AFI Movie Club makes a daily selection
During the pandemic on the site American Film Institute A virtual film club was launched – now film fans from all over the world can simultaneously watch films and discuss them without leaving their homes.
Every day, the AFI Movie Club website features a new recommendation for viewing, as well as a video in which actors and directors talk about the film. In addition, with the help of the search aggregator Reelgood, the site offers streaming services where you can watch the selected film.
After watching, you can join the discussion on Twitter or other social networks using the hashtag #AFIMovieClub. You can also take a quiz or learn interesting facts about the film on the site.
Every Movie Has A Lesson will tell you what a movie can teach you
Don Shanahan, a Chicago high school social studies teacher, believes that every movie has something we can learn from. In a world where film critics nitpick every little detail, this positive outlook on cinema should serve as an example for everyone.
On his blog Every Movie Has a Lesson You can read articles about cinema (they are in English, but no one forbids you to use the translator built into your browser), as well as film reviews, where he writes about the lessons that films teach us.
To see what lessons Don learns from the films he watches, click on the Blackboard Gallery tab. Here, each lesson is written in chalk on a blackboard, just like in school. Each film typically contains several lessons.
No-Brainer Watchlist (closed)
The No-Brainer Watchlist has three columns: Suggested, Selected, and Watched. Just like Trello or any other Kanban board, move series between the three columns.
Next to Suggested there is a drop-down arrow that you can use to further customize your recommendations.
You can choose a minimum rating on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. But the biggest filter is by genre. It is possible to exclude certain genres.
After No-Brainer Watchlist presents you with a list of recommendations, drag any interesting options into the other columns. If you hover over any title, you'll see its synopsis and ratings. Next to the title of each series, a small number indicates how many seasons have been released.