Features:  

Showtimes’ features include:

• Auto-locates where you are using GPS (3G only)
• Interactive maps from Google Maps
• Modify default location
• View show times for today and up to one week in the future
• View movie trailers
• Quick-sort results by theaters, ratings, and newest movies
• Search using Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
• Save favorite theaters
• Brief movie description
• Embedded IMDb for extensive searches online
• Fastest search using OneTap technology
• Movie posters and trailers on Details page
• Improved favorite theater save (star tap)
• Movie times for nearby theaters
• Ticket sales for most US theaters

Once you’ve performed your search, the results are displayed in a collapsible list so you can look at each movie showing in one theater, one at a time. The results include a list of theaters in your vicinity, movie titles, times, lengths, ratings (G, PG, R, etc.), descriptions, consumer ratings, posters, and trailers.

The only drawback is that it doesn’t allow you to purchase tickets online for a movie you decide to see.

Interface:  

The interface of Showtimes is smooth. The shortcut buttons at the bottom of the screen are intuitive and the “drill-down” approach to organizing the search results helps keep things tidy onscreen.

Graphics:  

The simple graphics on Showtimes’ results pages are appropriate and professionally done—there’s just a lot of purple, which becomes a little distracting because it makes the black text on top of that color difficult to read. The synopsis page is simply black with white text and a movie poster image. It’s fairly easy to read, but the page is not as polished as it could be. It looks like an afterthought.

Stability:  

This version of Showtimes has fixed many of the bugs that caused the crashes in previous editions. It ran reliably during the review process.

Support:  

Showtimes’ developers offer support for the user with a well-developed FAQs page on their website. There is an email form link on the “Contact Us” tab that allows users to report problems, errors and requests for features.

Value:  

Since it’s free, Showtimes is a good value, however, allowing you to purchase tickets would really polish this app and help set it apart from the other movie apps that are available on iTunes.

Showtimes app provides accurate information on theaters, both large and small, located in a specified area. The app’s inability to purchase tickets online limits its usefulness somewhat, but it’s a very user-friendly app that rightly deserves a spot on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Check out our iPhone 3G review, music and movie download reviews as well as our other App reviews to help you get the most out of your iPhone.