If you love movies and just want to travel to some of the beautiful places they showcase (it’s called movie tourism these days), hop on to these ten sites which are all about locations where movies where shot.

Where Was It Filmed (Beta)

What looks like a simple search engine for movie locations around the world is actually a user contributed website that helps you find movie locations. You can also contribute and earn points by your own inputs and also by approving the ones of the other contributors. You can also check out the alphabetical index on the site which is gradually being built up. As the screen shows, you get the location on a Google Map too.

Movie Locations

It touts itself as the ultimate travel guide to film locations around the world. Behind the business like façade, there’s quite a lot of data on with the site being constantly updated. The site is enriched by original location photographs, trivia, links and travel details. There’s also a world map which goes with it (screenshot above). You can browse through the site with the name of the movie or search with an actor’s name.

Movie Locations Guide

The almost similarly named site to the above one is not as rich, but it includes a few extras like the Google Earth mashup to see the location on the virtual globe, and a location quiz to jog your grey cells. The list of movies covered is not huge and the site doesn’t seem to be getting any updates. But it’s an interesting read nonetheless.

Film Maps

We have covered Filmmaps in our directory and it is certainly one of the more focused sites on movie tourism. The stats say that the site covers 4304 film locations from 1861 films. You can log-in with Facebook connect and add your own films. Check out Popular Locations, Featured Films, or drill down to locations by country. The last option could really help you plan out places to visit when you land in a foreign country as each country is again divided by the regions and the films shot there.

IMDb

We return to our old favorite when it comes to all things movies. There are other movie sites of course, but IMDb is like an encyclopedia. It helps that it has a search engine (go to the Advanced Search page) which lets you search for movie locations. IMDb also has a location matching link which shows you all the other movies that have been shot at a particular location.

Wikipedia

Search with Google with a movie’s title will usually turn up IMDb first and Wikipedia second. Many movies get a complete look through here and that includes detailed information on the locations used for a movie. You might have to do a bit of reading as sometimes the locations might not be plainly mentioned under a Wikipedia heading like ‘Production’. Check out the screenshot. I guess you know which film is being talked about there.

If you want to get a complete overview of movie locations that covers 100 years of set locations with data taken from IMDb, then check out this mashup – 100 Years of Set Locations – 2,001 Films Mapped.

Investigating famous film locations is great fun if you are a movie buff. It’s all the more so, if you happen to be a travel buff too. Are you one? Which are your favorite movie location spots? Have you ever deliberately planned out a trip that took you to one? Do let us know.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

I don’t know if the guy behind the counter has updated his system, but I certainly have. I used to be a disgrace to the fraternity of digital packrats. Not anymore, because I have tidied up my act. From movies to songs, you ask it”¦I can bring up all the information you might need with a click. Thanks to a bevy of collection managers I have tried out.

Ant Movie Catalog is the latest open source movie organizer that I am sieving my movie collection through. And I have been pleasantly surprised by the efficiency of this Open Source software. Ant Movie Catalog is a free open source movie organizer that you can download and install or download, unpack and run without an install. I opted for the later. The download size is a tiny 3.5MB.

When you take the first look at the screen, you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of fields that need to be filled out. For a true movie lover, that’s candy for the eyes because all he wants are details and details about his favorite movies. But for him also, it would be a migraine inducer if he had to fill it all up by himself. But then why should you when the web can do it automatically for you.

Here’s how I did it for the first bunch of film titles I put into the collection.

In 3 clicks, get all the information on your movie

Ant Movie Catalog not only goes into a lot of details for a movie but it makes it easy to get all that from a host of film databases. To fill out all the fields for a movie, you need to just click on Movie ““ Add”¦Put in the name in the Original Title field box and then either click on the Get Information toolbar icon or go via the menu (Movie ““ Get Information ““ From internet using a script).

The scripts are where all the riches of Ant Movie Catalog lie. You have about 238 scripts at last count. You can try any one of them. These scripts are nothing but codes that help the software get specific information from online movie websites and online DVD stores. Familiar biggies like Amazon and IMDB are there of course.

Run the any of the scripts; for similar named titles. Select yours and let Ant Movie Catalog collect all the values for the fields. You can customize which fields to include in your database.

You can add a bunch of titles in one go and complete your collection with a few clicks. Ant Movie Catalog also facilitates import of movie titles from other file formats.

Ant Movie Catalog also connects any movie to online movie info sites like ““ IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, DVD Empire and DVDZone2. You can add more sites from Preferences.

So many ways to visualize all that information

Ant Movie Catalog is an information hound’s delight. There are many ways to order, categorize and display all the movie information collected in the database.

You can group movies by any of the field values. For instance, group it by borrower to see which of your friend has begged, borrowed or stolen which title. Or by Media Type to give you an idea of the format you have used to archive the movie.

For the guy who has an eye for pie charts and bar graphs, the Statistics feature is an information mine.

Ant Movie Catalog has an added Loan Management feature. Using it, you can manage the movies that your friends have borrowed from you. You can add borrower names and keep tabs by checking in and checking out the titles that you lend out.

The feature that I use most often is the Export to another file format. You can use any of the six available formats to send out a detailed list of your movies. For instance, I use the HTML format to send out the titles I have to my friends.

And of course, you can print out your entire movie list with lots of customized templates to choose from.

Ant Movie Catalog may lack the glamour but it catches the grammar of an efficient and comprehensive collection manager. Some extra bits like a feature to track movies by how many times we watch it would have helped.

But it squeezes in all the information it can find and presents it straight. For the sake of having all the movies info at your fingertips, that’s all you want in the end.

Ant Movie Catalog version 3.5.1.2 is compatible with all Windows versions up to Win XP. The site says that – the compatibility with Windows Vista and 7 is not perfect, but that does not prevent the program from running normally.

Do you use any open source movie organizers? Which is the one for you?

Many movies that we download for viewing on the computer don’t have hardcoded subtitles. Sometimes they are included in the subtitles download as a SRT or a SUB file. If not, there are lots of online sources where you can download subtitles in your preferred lingo. Then, there are several methods to include them with your movie. Including the subtitle file in the same folder and letting the media player recognize it is probably the simplest.

But there is a little piece of free software that takes away the pain of manual scrounges on the web and makes watching movies with subtitles as easy as a click.

Sublight is a must have freeware for movie junkies. The simple tool is a desktop search tool to download movie subtitles and a bit more. Let’s ditch the manual locate and download method for once and try out the Sublight way.

Post installation, the Sublight settings wizard takes you through five screens. Three screens are important ““

Choice of default media player

Let Sublight know your preferred media player for playback. Right now, the wizard provides only two choices but you can set your own by giving the custom paths in Settings.

Choice of subtitle search plugins

Let Sublight know which search engines it should use. Check all for better results.

Choice of file types for Explorer integration

Let Sublight know which file types should bring up a subtitle search feature in the right-click context menu. Check all for complete cover.

The Sublight interface itself

1. Using the main interface of Sublight is as simple as choosing the video file which needs subtitles. Sublight automatically detects the title of the movie and on your green light (the green checkmark) Sublight fills up the details like the exact name and year, format information like codec info, resolution, running length etc.
2. Then it takes you to the next step. Click on Search Subtitles and within a few seconds the results are displayed with all accompanying details like language and media type. If you think that the auto-search isn’t accurate, you can perform a manual search and even combine the two searches.
3. Linked subtitles marked in orange are subtitles which are connected with the selected video by other Sublight users. They should ideally be synchronized with the video file you selected. (If you download a correctly synchronized subtitle file, contribute to its rating by clicking on Valid Link).
4. Right click on any of the search results and you will see a lot of options that take you beyond the subtitle into what else the movie is about. For instance, the IMDB page on the movie or the subtitle preview which can help you find out the quality of the translation.
5. You can click on Properties too and get the complete dope on the subtitle file.
6. After selecting the subtitle you can play the video with a click on the Play with subtitle on the toolbar or on the right click menu. The second option is to download the subtitle file to your computer. The default destination is the same folder where your video is present.
7. A set of filtration options let you narrow down your choice by language, rating, number of discs and publisher.

Sublight ““ Is it worth a download?

Hey, it’s free! Sublight gives a lot of control over the way you handle your subtitles. The Settings let you control some of them like changing the default formatting. A registered user also can collect points for contributing pro-actively. A registered user is rewarded with higher priority service, especially downloads.

Some drawbacks like subtitle synchronization need to be handled on a case by case basis. More search engines would certainly help (especially with foreign films), but these hiccups aside, Sublight is a software worth checking out if you are a movie junkie.

Sublight is a good choice for not only the English-speaking movie lover but also for the guy who speaks and watches in another language. In the end, the freeware makes subtitle search and download a quicker, more controlled process.

Sublight v1.7.0 is compatible with Win98/98SE/XP/7 and requires Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0.

How do you go about watching a movie in a different language?

If you are a movie addict and scavenger of cinema information, then you must give these Firefox add-ons a first look. These Firefox add-ons save us time and effort by bringing movie information within a hover or a click.

1. IMDb Movie Review

IMDb is the preferred destination for anyone who wishes to know more about a movie title. The IMDb rating often is an indicator of movie quality. Along with the cast info and plotline, it’s a precursor to the whole show. The add-on makes researching IMDb a short right-click affair. Highlight any text which mentions the movie title, right-click and select the IMDb Review button. The relevant IMDb page will open in a new tab or reuse an already opened IMDb tab.



The add-on is labeled as an experimental add-on compatible with Firefox 1.5 ““ 3.0+.


2. IMDb Preview

The add-on gives a quick preview with a mouse-over any IMDb link on any website. Hover your mouse over any IMDb movie link and a pop-up informs you about the cast and the plot along with a small poster on the side. Take it over any cast name and you get his picture with some profile info.





The add-on is compatible with Firefox 1.5 ““ 3.0+.

3. IMDB Ripper

This add-on lets you rip movie information from an IMDb page and export it to either a NFO (ASCII text) or a XML file. Access the add-on from Firefox’s Tools menu when browsing an IMDb movie page. Apart from movie tags, the add-on also rips thumbnails and posters thus enabling a user to easily catalogue a movie using the internet’s largest movie database.



The add-on is labeled as an experimental add-on and is compatible with Firefox 1.5 ““ 3.0+.

4. IMDb Pirated Version

On the first run after installation, a configuration window appears, asking the user to set choices regarding torrent search sites. The add-on “˜adds’ a small script on an IMDb page. The script appears like a toolbar on the movie info page. With its help, you can search directly from the IMDb page for subtitles (from Opensubtitles.com and All4divx.com), torrents and downloads from server sites (Rapidshare, Megaupload, DepositFiles, etc.) and the quality of the movie file available from VCDQuality.com. Also of help is the option to view a trailer right from the IMDb page.

After installation, this is how it looks like:



Click on the little black arrows to expand the results for the particular category.



The add-on is labeled as an experimental add-on and is compatible with Firefox 2.0 ““ 3.0+.

5. Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes finds mention with IMDb as the two websites that can be called the online Bibles for movies. This add-on installs itself as a search engine in Firefox’s search bar. The functionality is simple ““ use the search plugin to search for movie info on the Rotten Tomatoes site directly from the browser instead of going to the site and then using its search feature.



This too is an experimental add-on.

6. Hollywood

Another search engine add-on which lets you query the Hollywood.com site for movie listings and reviews.



This add-on works with all versions of Firefox.

Add-ons thus, are the shortcuts to the movie information we are looking for. By eliminating a search step or two, they increase our productivity and save us time. Time we can spend on watching our favorite flick with a bagful of popcorn.

A movie buff like you shouldn’t also miss out on our treasure trove of posts on all things movies.

Which one of these is a must-have on your browser? Or do you prefer the direct approach rather than to use the help of an add-on? Let us know about the movie buff in you, in the comments!

Thumbnail: I am Charley

While movie reviews, advice from friends and box office ratings are very important, only a good trailer makes a story come alive and transports the atmosphere of the story it’s going to tell. Movie trailers are powerful tools of the movie industry, but with a little bit of experience you can tell by the trailer whether or not the movie is as good as they’re trying to make it sound.

Other than at the movie theater, you can browser movie trailers on the internet. Here are the best sites to watch movie trailers online.

Hollywood.com

Here’s a fantastic site for browsing movies randomly, although they do provide a search feature. The Trailers section is kept very basic, with a playback window on top and a block of 4 x 4 snapshots from different movies below which you click to play the trailer. This way you can stay on a single page to watch several trailers and don’t have to move back and forth between pages.

Other than the title of the movie, there is no information provided and that’s at once both the biggest drawback and advantage. On the one hand there is no way to know what kind of movie is hidden behind that little preview image and you may hate a certain type of movie. On the other hand, this is the best way to discover something new. However, the search will locate actors and movie titles. So there is a way of filtering.

TrailerSpy

TrailerSpy features trailers for movies, TV, games, books and music. On the main page it’s got a little frame where you can browse through movies opening this week and in the movies section you can browse the most popular movie trailers. In a menu on the right you can pick types or trailers, such as mainstream, independent or classic.

Each movie trailer contains a small description and is tagged. Of course you can search trailers that way, which works very well. The code for each trailer can be copied and embedded elsewhere. Users can leave a comments and related trailers are shown on the side.

The site allows you to sign up, save favorites, create playlists, add your own videos and join groups.

Yahoo! Movies

The major advantage of mainstream sites such as Yahoo! is that they often offer custom sub-pages for different languages and/or countries. Thus Yahoo! movie trailers also come in Deutsch, Français, Español, Italiano and certainly more.

The site is mainstream and thus contains a ton of material and information, yet it’s clear and easy to navigate. The top of the Trailers & Clips section contains featured premieres, below you can browse through trailers of movies that are coming soon. Furthermore you’ll find recently added and most popular trailers as well as trailers for movies opening this week. This description refers to the US page and the site organization may be different for local versions.

IMDb

If you’re looking for the trailer of a specific movie, for example an old or foreign language movie that may not be available on the mainstream sites, head over to the Internet Movie Database. It’s not a great resource for browsing trailers, but IMDb has an incredible database which includes trailers, featurettes, interviews or links to sites that provide trailers for countless movies.

Once you have picked a movie, you will want to know about its show times. Ryan recently wrote an article on 3 Ways to Check Movie Show Times in Your Area. This will work if you’re in the US, Canada or UK (maybe). Outside these countries, try your local Google, for example with these links:

Australia: http://www.google.com.au/movies

Germany: http://www.google.de/movies

Austria: http://www.google.at/movies

France: http://www.google.fr/movies

UK: http://www.google.co.uk/movies

Canada: http://www.google.ca/movies

US: http://www.google.com/movies

Enjoy your movie and let us know whether and how you managed to pick wisely! If you’re aware of any other good movie trailer sites, share them in comments.

For the uninitiated, Greasemonkey scripts provides a way for customizing the look and/or functionality of sites according to your needs. Firefox users would require this addon to add and manage Greasemonkey scripts. While it is possible to run user scripts in other browsers, it is a completely different topic. So may I suggest that GIYF (Google is Your Friend) here.

IMDB – Pirated Version

IMDB is the mother of all sites when it comes to information on movies, documentaries, video games and similar content. How cool it would be if you could watch trailers of the movies you are searching for, search for torrents and other download links, right from the IMDB page for the particular title? All with a cool ajax interface that doesn’t get in your way of browsing IMDB. This script allows you to do just that. You can get torrent link, VCDQuality reports, Rapidshare links and trailers right from the IMDB entry for a particular title.

VCDQuality Tor v1.03

This script works on VCDQuality.com and adds links to torrent searches on Mininova and Torrentz. On clicking the icons you are taken to the search results page on the appropriate site. There was a minor glitch when I tried this script and I had to add http://*vcdq.com/* to the included pages section. Hence forth the script performed as advertised.

Rotten Tomatoes Popular Torrent Search Linker

The script adds search links to popular torrent sites on all RottenTomatoes movies pages. You get a bar just above the tomatometer. Click on the icon for the torrent site of your choice and bam, you are already staring down the available torrents for the title.

Pirates of the Amazon

Pirates of the Amazon is a Firefox Add on and created much hype recently with Amazon having to step in with legal issues. The site was down for some time and when it came up it was not hosting the addon anymore. The internet however is a wild wild place and the addon is already available on ‘n’ number of torrent sites and some ftp directories. Just Google Around.

The addon searches for torrents of anything that you search on Amazon.com and provides you direct links for the torrent file if found. Of course it works with things that can be converted to digital formats. You can’t get teddy bears on The Pirate Bay. Ahem.. or can you?

The Pirate Bay Enhancer

Very useful for users of The Pirate Bay. It adds – seeder/peer ratio which, if you don’t already know about it, is the ratio of the number of seeders to the number of peers. Higher the ratio better are the chances of getting good download speeds. So it’s wise to consider the ratio as the basis for choosing torrents over the number of seeders.

The script also has a command to remove dead torrents from listing. It has some bugs in that the headings remain the same as without the script and some text overflows into obscurity. However you get used to what is what, and it’s easy to hack as well!

Don’t use The Pirate Bay? Search for a similar script for your favorite tracker on User Scripts.

What user scripts do you all use? Are there any specific scripts for torrent users that are really cool and were not covered here? Share them with us in the comments.