Though it may not seem like an essential, must-have app, Flixster is the top-user-rated Windows Phone app in the app store, so we figured it deserved a look. If you're not familiar with the Flixster app or site, it gives you one of the best ways to answer that burning question in life: What movie should I go to tonight? Integrating the respected Rotten Tomatoes ratings, the ability to find what's playing nearby, and trailer views, the app is well-poised to answer that question.

I downloaded Flixster from the Windows Phone apps+games store, installing it on a spiffy Nokia Lumia 928 The app uses a characteristic Windows Phone interface: After its splash screen, it shows you a large, clear, simple text title for sections that you swipe through. The first is the main menu, offering box office, theaters, DVDs, and more. Swiping to the right brings you to featured movie posters, and the third and final page is your favorites.

If you really love movies, you can actually have Flixster adorn your phone's lock screen with a current movie poster of your choice. You can also make the app's home page tile live, displaying a current movie graphic rather than the app's simple tile. A final cool interface feature is one that you can't see: hold down the Windows button and say "Flixster show me top movies"

Finding Your Flick
The Box Office page shows a list of what's opening this week, along with top box office hits. Each entry here includes a thumbnail of the movie poster, its Rotten Tomatoes rating, MPAA rating, running time, and main actors. I'd rather see a one-line blurb describing the plot and a genre indication, but tapping on any entry gets you all that and more, along with a full synopsis. 

Swiping right on a movie's page takes you to cast info, critics' verdicts, audience rating, and local show times. At the bottom of all these pages, three buttons let you view the film's trailer, share it via email, or pin it to your Start screen. Some of the show-time entries had a ticket icon next to them, but I couldn't tap that or a time entry to start a ticket purchase.

Choosing Theaters and then diving into a local cinema offered more options: I could add a movie palace to my favorites, call the box office, see a map, and even find nearby restaurants (courtesy of Yelp).

Another way to find a movie is simply by seeing what's playing at the local theater. Since you give the Flixster app access to your location when you install it, it can locate nearby theaters. Settings let you adjust how far "local" should be: you can set it to 10, 25, 50, or 100 mile radii.

The app's My Movies section lets you keep track of movies you want to see and your ratings of those you've already watched, either by hooking up to your Facebook account or a Flixster account. Happily, I noted that using this feature didn't add any undesired posts to my Facebook wall.

DVDs

Not only does Flixster offer help with the dilemma of what to watch at the mall or on Main Street, it also help with your living-room viewing decision. Its DVDs section shows big pics by recent release-to-disc date. While the app doesn't directly sell videos, the "Visit Flixster" choice from the … menu leads to options for purchasing the movie on Vudu, iTunes, and more. Unfortunately, the website isn't very well laid out for mobile viewing, and buying a movie on iTunes isn't much use to a Windows Phone.

Closing Credits

Flixster offers a good way to determine your optimal cinematic entertainment option, with helpful ratings by pros and the general movie-going populace alike, trailer showings, and local theater show times. I'd only like to see the ability to purchase tickets and directly link to Internet-based movie sources from the mobile phone. I do see the advantages of this being an app, but in some ways I almost wish Flixster had simply created a powerful mobile-friendly version of their website.