TheReelBox
Consumer and social
movie showtimes
SHOW HN2012
81points
59comments
#292of 1,677 in 2012
Top 18%of 2012 by points
How HN took it
RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical
3 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 6 mixed, 24 critical, out of 42 comments about the project. Thread score -0.45.
Execution: 0 for, 12 againstDesign: 1 for, 7 againstPerformance: 0 for, 3 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 2 againstIdea: 2 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Simple, clean UI that is easy to understand
From 3 comments
Definitely think you're on to something here. Contrary to other commenters, I actually like that you're taking advantage of the geo location api. You should include an option for…
geuis on HNThe UI is very cool! The Google Maps window loads very quickly when hovering over various show times. I immediately understood how this app could be useful. I also like the big…
breakall on HNThis solves a problem that I have all the time. Existing movie aggregators are a pain to navigate the filled with ads. I like the Rotten Tomatoes integration. Nice work.
jamest on HN
Solves a real problem of navigating ad-filled movie listings
From 2 comments
This solves a problem that I have all the time. Existing movie aggregators are a pain to navigate the filled with ads. I like the Rotten Tomatoes integration. Nice work.
jamest on HNI love it. I go the movies all the time. I wish you had a way for me to put my email address in so I could get an email every Friday to remind me this site exists. Cool idea and…
chrismanfrank on HN
Objections
Automatic location detection is often wrong; no way to enter an address or zip
From 5 comments
The UI is very cool! The Google Maps window loads very quickly when hovering over various show times. I immediately understood how this app could be useful. I also like the big…
breakall on HNI like it, but it has my location wrong by about 50 miles. There absolutely needs to be a way to enter the local address.
dlf on HNWhat it thinks is my location is not my actual location. You should give me an option to enter an address.
true_religion on HNGood site idea, but my location is totally wrong and I don't see a way to manually enter it so it is more accurate.
vlucas on HNWell done! This fits the bill perfectly for me. The only problem I see is requiring location access. It miscalculated my location.
simpsond on HN
Fails to load or stalls on spinning popcorn
From 3 comments
Unfortunately, it doesn't load past the spinning popcorn for me, and I see some failed GET requests in the network log.
dzlobin on HNSomething to do with gamma.firebase.com and firebase.js isn't loading. I kept it going for two minutes and it kept buttering the popcorn. Maybe HN shot over your daily API quota?
artursapek on HNTook forever loading on Android---I'm surprised how much that matters to me; I just got a smartphone for Christmas and I'm already spoiled.
invalidOrTaken on HN
Location permission prompt is confusing and asks for permanent access
From 2 comments
Please don't try to guess where the location permission chrome will be. Also, your site is completely useless if I don't want to give you permanent permission to access my…
Sephr on HNAlso, it says "dl.dropbox.com" wants to track your physical location, this doesn't match the site's domain name.
krelian on HN
Showtimes only show midday, not later tonight
From 1 comment
Lots of neat stuff here. "Event listings"--movies, music, etc.-- can still improve a lot in terms of ease of use, so I'm very happy to see people work in this area. A few…
aamar on HN
Finds no movies nearby despite theaters being close
From 3 comments
"We couldn't find any movies nearby." Now, I am sad.
jlgosse on HNSame here. There are two theaters within 5 miles but it found nothing.
tnorthcutt on HNDidn't work in Firefox even after allowing (the suggestion to "Allow" lined up in Chrome, though). Loaded the site in Chrome, and no movies were found in my area despite being…
PonyGumbo on HN
Requests
Let users enter a zip code or address manually
From 4 comments
Please don't try to guess where the location permission chrome will be. Also, your site is completely useless if I don't want to give you permanent permission to access my…
Sephr on HNLet me put in my zip code. There's no reason why I should _have_ to share my location through the browser.
switz on HNWhat it thinks is my location is not my actual location. You should give me an option to enter an address.
true_religion on HNsorting: "closest" "rating" filtering: "start times" "location" (don't assume geo-log, let me enter zip) neat idea, needs a lot of polish.
chadillac on HN
Show later showtimes and tomorrow's listings
From 2 comments
Lots of neat stuff here. "Event listings"--movies, music, etc.-- can still improve a lot in terms of ease of use, so I'm very happy to see people work in this area. A few…
aamar on HNMy user story: I got excited that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was still playing, but didn't want to see it tonight because I have other plans. I clicked on the link to buy tickets,…
gee_totes on HN
Support movies outside the US
From 1 comment
guessing this is US only?
thehodge on HN
Let users pick preferred theaters
From 2 comments
Nice. Slow to load, but worked. I wish I could specify preferred theaters. In my area, there are many theaters nearby, and the closest isn't the best.
jkkramer on HNJust needs a way to mark a theater as terrible and that I would never go there.
smackfu on HN
Fix Rotten Tomatoes rating display
From 1 comment
This is a pretty neat idea. One thing I'd consider changing is your use of the Rotten Tomatoes rating icons. You're using the Tomatometer Critics icons, but the % score you're…
_sentient on HN
Questions
Where does the movie times data come from?
From 1 comment
Where are you pulling the movie times data from? I've been trying to make a local application but couldn't find an API anywhere, it came down to web scraping, which isn't very…
itstriz on HN
Why do people object to sharing location in the browser?
From 1 comment
I'm curious, but why are so many people against sharing their location through the browser? You already give up your OS, browser version, and IP address (which can give a rough…
sskates on HN
Alternatives named
Google, Yahoo movie listings and Rotten Tomatoes
From 1 comment
I'm curious about that as well. I know of two companies that sell movie theater schedule datasets (through data dump or API): Tribune Media Services…
Timothee on HN
Apple trailers
From 1 comment
Can you hook into another movie trailer service? Perhaps Apple trailers? I imagine that since trailers are Ads, there might be a service that provides some sort of affiliate…
Arelius on HN
IMDb
From 1 comment
Imdb
revorad on HN