Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the idea behind The Great Movie Finder (TGMF)?
Main idea behind TGMF is to provide movie buffs a quick and powerful search engine for finding and discovering movies. TGMF started as a hobby project created for personal use to address the shortcomings of existing movie search engines, which seem either too simple or too complex.
Which movie database does TGMF use?
TGMF primarily relies on data from The Movie Database. Some of the data is also retrieved from The Open Movie Database.
How to search by title or plot?
Search by title or plot allows you to find movies according to keywords present in movie's title, original title (non-english) or plot/overview.
Search results are always sorted by relevance.
How to use the advanced search?
Advanced search allows you to combine multiple search criteria when looking for movies. These can be one or multiple actors, one or multiple crew members (directors, producers, writers etc), one or multiple keywords, genre, decade and rating.
All entered search terms are combined and a match is displayed only if it satisfies all search criteria.
Search results can be sorted by multiple options available in the "Sort by" dropdown. Popularity and Vote Average sorting criteria are based on data from TMDB.
How to specify multiple actors, crew members or keywords?
Just separate them with a , (comma), e.g. Margot Robbie,Brad Pitt,Leonardo di Caprio - take a look at this example.
What do different ratings mean?
Ratings available in advanced search are based on the Motion Picture Association (MPA) film rating system used for films distributed in the United States. Meaning is as follows (source: TMDB):
- NC-17 - These films contain excessive graphic violence, intense or explicit sex, depraved, abhorrent behavior, explicit drug abuse, strong language, explicit nudity, or any other elements which, at present, most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children and teens. NC-17 does not necessarily mean obscene or pornographic in the oft-accepted or legal meaning of those words.
- R - Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian 21 or older. The parent/guardian is required to stay with the child under 17 through the entire movie, even if the parent gives the child/teenager permission to see the film alone. These films may contain strong profanity, graphic sexuality, nudity, strong violence, horror, gore, and strong drug use. A movie rated R for profanity often has more severe or frequent language than the PG-13 rating would permit. An R-rated movie may have more blood, gore, drug use, nudity, or graphic sexuality than a PG-13 movie would admit.
- PG-13 - Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Films given this rating may contain sexual content, brief or partial nudity, some strong language and innuendo, humor, mature themes, political themes, terror and/or intense action violence. However, bloodshed is rarely present. This is the minimum rating at which drug content is present.
- PG - Some material may not be suitable for children under 10. These films may contain some mild language, crude/suggestive humor, scary moments and/or violence. No drug content is present. There are a few exceptions to this rule. A few racial insults may also be heard.
- G - All ages admitted. There is no content that would be objectionable to most parents. This is one of only two ratings dating back to 1968 that still exists today.
- NR - No rating information.
How is it determined to which decade a movie belongs?
A decade is a period of ten years that begins with a year ending in 0. So for example if "1950s" is selected, the search will return movies with release date between January 1, 1950 and December 31, 1959.