I’m a fan of Rotten Tomatoes, the popular movie review site, which is where Boctor’s Hot Popcorn derives its movie reviews. That’s one of the first places I check before heading out to see a movie. Now, all I have to do is reach into my pocket and pull out my iPhone (or iPod touch).

Hot Popcorn puts movie reviews (new and old), lists of movies playing at theaters near you (current and upcoming), DVD rentals (current and upcoming) and trailers (current) into the palm of your hand. Hot Popcorn also has a search bar that enables you to search for titles and reviews.

Tap a title from the list of theaters or DVD, and you’ll get a screen that provides information such as run time, cast, Rotten Tomato rating, synopsis and a rating of 1-to-5 stars given by people who have seen the film. The list of theaters is based on the location you enter into Hot Popcorn, but you can widen your search if you don’t find the movie you’d like to see playing at a nearby theater.

Rotten Tomatoes aggregates the reviews of movie critics at major publications and sites and based on the number of positive and negative reviews, assigns a percentage rating to the movie. I find the ratings a little tougher than most movies deserve — or maybe it’s because I have low standards — but generally, any rating over 50 to 60 percent is okay with me.

With Hot Popcorn you also have a one-tap option to see a trailer, go to Amazon.com to buy the title on DVD or go to a list of theaters — with addresses, phone numbers and showtimes — to buy tickets. The latter feature is quite handy, especially if you’re a regular movie goer, or you sometimes spontaneously decide to go to the movies while you’re out. Film fans will like Hot Popcorn a lot.

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category: Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Movie Locators