Want to see a movie, but don't know what's playing nearby? Just ask Googleits new movie search feature will help you. Any search that includes the words "movies" or "showtimes" will display movie-specific results, if available, above ordinary search results. For example, a search on "movies 10016" yields a link to a page of showtimes for movies near
PC Magazine's offices in New York. It also lists three popular movies with their length, MPAA rating, and genre, with links to local showings and to reviews.
For a movie-specific search without other Web results, just begin your search terms with "movie:". You can include a city and state or zip code for local listings, add all or part of a movie title, or search for movies with specific actorsfor example, "movie: belushi aykroyd calloway" turns up "
The Blues Brothers" and its sequel. Descriptions and reviews are also indexed, so you can search for a movie based on whatever you remember about it. Searching on "movie: arnold pregnant" successfully locates the 1994 oddity "
Junior." For an individual movie, Google automatically gathers online reviews, averages the star ratings (if available) to provide an overall rating, and presents a page of excerpts with links to the full reviews. Review-page generation is automatica disclaimer reads "No movie critics were harmed or even used in the making of this page."
Google's movie search won't replace movie-specific sites like the Internet Movie Database (
www.imdb.com). For instance, you can't get information about movies that are still in production, or search for the cast members that two or more movies have in common. But for fast access to current movies, local showtimes, and reviews, it's very handy.
