123movies.la
Finding the perfect movie for Taco Tuesday can be tricky. Going to the movie theater is out of the question, and you already spent 30 minutes scrolling through Netflix, but nothing has caught your eye.
I think that on Tuesday last, things looked at least like that.
So, I turned to free online streaming sites, where you never know if a movie will load or the video has the quality of a potato.
I found 123movies.la and it has a modern look with a very familiar feel to other search engines. I think Google simple. A logo and a search box.
This website is loaded with movies you've never heard of and some new ones too.
A Design That Shines, But Isn?t Gold
I saw that the new car had a shoddy transmission, and it only took me a few minutes to look through the catalog.
I browsed through the movies, and soon found one that I thought would be fun to watch on Taco Tuesday.
The landing page for the movies doesn't seem to care that I might like the films. Instead, the films are in no particular order and half of them don't have an image for me to judge the book by its cover. So, I'm in a sea of meaningless movie titles with no direction on which way is up.
Thankfully, there is a filter option for the amoeba of movie titles.
Are you able to search by genre and year? But those don't help much. Instead, I prefer to listen to users. And they make it easy by offering to filter based on most viewed links and top of IMDB.
Unfortunately, while these filtering methods will give you a list of things people enjoy, it is limited to their library. And worse - it's a randomized list.
Whenever you click "Most Viewed"? it populates a different list every time, although not an entirely new list. For example, the cinematic masterpiece and Charles Band's 2005 magnum opus "The Gingerdead Man" first appeared on the most viewed tab at #1. But when I refreshed the page, it was #7 despite its clever title and obviously compelling plotline. There seems to be a group of top recommendations that appear in no particular order.
And the "Top IMDB" filter option has the same issue.
Besides offering a group of random movies, it offers a group of randomly-selected movies that bear no resemblance to IMDB's actual top lists.
People have different favorite movies, so there's no one definitive list of the best movies.
But I think most of us can agree that Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith should come before a Star Wars: Reviewed.
Yet, 123movies.la has a great algorithm that puts the masterpiece of a review by PlinkettReviews ahead of the actual movie.
The website's layout is easy to navigate, but you will still be lost in a meaningless library.
Surprisingly Clean on Mobile
Most free streaming sites are difficult to use on a phone without AdBlock installed.
Any click might take you down a rabbit hole of ads that may, or may not, be malware for your device. If you're unsure whether an ad is safe to click on, you can always check the site's safety rating.
But 123movies was reasonable. I clicked around before landing on American Dad. When I selected the show, I was given two ads that I was able to back out of. That's impressive compared to some sites that are almost unusable with ads on.
Mobile sites generally have ads over the play button. And those ads will redirect a few times until you are on a landing page that tries to convince you that hot singles in your area are looking for you.
But this website didn't offer that. Instead, the link went straight to a landing page you're able to back out of. I had to do this twice before the show was playable.
The connection was good, and within 20-30 seconds, the show started and didn't pause to buffer through the entire episode.
As far as the mobile experience goes, I think this site should set the standard for free streaming services. They offer a mediocre library with minimal ads that are easy to avoid, fast servers that start your show (or movie) without buffering multiple times, and overall a good mobile experience.
Sometimes, Bad is Good
I could have had a bad time on Taco-Tuesday if it weren't for the randomized movie list that gave no real direction. But luckily, I ended up watching a movie that was so bad I couldn't help but laugh.
I think that this site perfectly sums up my experience.
The site looks good, but the library is horrible. It's not horrible in the ?I?m never eating here again? way. It's awful in the ?favorite-dive-bar-with-bad-service? way.
I'm not going to suggest you invite friends over to watch a movie on 123movies. But if you're bored on a weekday and want to watch a movie, keep an open mind and check out the library. You're not going to recognize most of the movies on the list, but most of them are so bad you won't be able to stop laughing after a few glasses of wine.
This website has the appeal of being unattractive.
If you decide to take a chance on finding something on the site, you'll have a decent experience finding a mediocre movie.
The (not so) Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Whenever I have a chance, I try to give the benefit of the doubt. But there are some things that are inexcusable.
This site can be inaccurate, which makes it difficult to find good titles.
Let's say you give it a chance. You sit down. You've had a few glasses of wine, and you're ready for a bad movie. You know, something like the 2019 Hollywood failure ?Cats.? After convincing yourself a live-action musical about humanized bird murders is worth sitting down to watch, you give it a shot.
You're under a blanket with a big bowl of popcorn and your favorite fluffy socks.
You click on the movie. You are past the ads.
But you?re greeted by a much younger Jeff Goldblum staring in the 2001 movie Cats & Dogs. Let?s leave aside that Jeff?s performance is probably a better theatrical choice than the financial black hole that is the 2019 Cats.
You were promised a movie. But when you checked the site's description, it said there was no movie. 123movies doesn't even list the movie's poster or release date!
I don't think that this is a good idea.
I'm okay with the lack of good movies and the subpar algorithm. But I can't handle a false advertisement. If you're going to be a library filled with bad movies, at least take the time to get the links right.
What Can Be Improved
Sometimes you need to take things at face value.
This website offers free movies with minimal ads and a decent layout that makes it easy to check out their library.
Nail polish and glitter can be used to add sparkle to their turd library.
First, make sure the links are accurate.
Finding something to sink two hours of my life into can be a tough choice. I finally make up my mind and am then redirected to another movie. To me, this seems like the most critical fix for the quality of life.
Make sure the filters are accurate by checking their calibration.
I'm not the biggest tech guy, but I imagine there is a way to get an accurate list of IMDB movies integrated into the site. At the very least, the most viewed movies on the site itself should be easy to find - its data should already be there.
At first, the filters seemed useful. However, when I refreshed the page, I was offered a different list with the same movies.
Verifying each link points to the correct movie might be a hassle, but fixing the quality of the filter seems like a more straightforward fix that makes using the site much more user-friendly.
What?s the Verdict?
This site is not great.
The layout is easy to navigate, but the library lacks compelling movie titles and the links might not be correct.
Some things are worth putting up with on this site, but the downsides make it hard to recommend it to friends.
I'll use 123movies if I need background noise while cleaning the house, but it would be tough to put this site on a list of reliable resources.
This is the McDonalds of free streaming. It's usually disappointing, but when everything else is closed, it's an option to get by on.
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