Raise Your DVD Rental IQ

Have you ever gotten a movie rental on the recommendation of a movie critic or a close friend and found yourself feeling sorry you did? Or how about when you rent a movie to watch as a family and have to turn it off half way through due to explicit material?

Fortunately, there are a lot of resources available online to help you make smarter, more informed movie rental choices. Here are just a few:

Movie Rental Critical Reviews

• TopTenREVIEWS.com - You don't even have to leave this website to find one of the most complete collections of movies in existence. We have information about movies from the 1920's through the present including the newest releases. We rank movies based on their overall critic's reviews, awards and a number of additional material.   
• Rottentomatoes.com- The "DVD/VHS" section of this site not only gives you each movie rental's 'freshness rating' (based upon a wide range of professional movie reviewers), but also lists top grossing movie rentals for the week. This site also lists which movies will be released to video soon.
• Metacritic.com- The "DVD/Video" section of this site offers you a movie rental's 'Metascore' (an average of all of the scores assigned by critics to that movie). The Metascores are color coded: Red = low critic approval, Yellow = medium or mixed approval and Green = high critic approval rating.
• RogerEbert.com- Roger Ebert is one of the most respected movie critics; he rates the quality of movies with stars, ranging from zero, for lowest-ranking movies to four, for highly recommend movies. Ebert's "New on DVD" section provides a week-by-week DVD release list, his star rating and a link to his written movie review.
• MovieMom.com- This unique site reviews movie rentals from the perspective of a parent. This site's "New to DVD/Video" section gives grades from 'F' to 'A' for each movie along with a suggested audience age and a full movie review.

Movie Rental Content Reviews

• Screenit.com- This site is designed to help parents learn about movie content. The "New Videos" section lists each recently released video and a descriptive rating for each movie from "Mild" to "Extreme" in 15 separate categories, including 'Sex/Nudity,' 'Blood/Gore,' 'Profanity' and so on. You can click on each category for specific content descriptions.
• KidsInMind.com- This site's "New on Video" section helps adults determine whether a movie rental is appropriate for children. The site assigns three ratings to each movie on a scale of zero to ten for 'Sex and Nudity,' 'Violence and Gore' and 'Profanity.' This site also gives a detailed synopsis of each category and a summary of the movie's plot and message.
• FamilyStyle.com- This site is designed to help parents concerned about family entertainment standards. The site gives ratings in five categories: 'Profanity,' 'Nudity,' 'Sex,' 'Violence' and 'Drugs/Alcohol,' ranking each from 'None' to 'Abundant,' followed by a very brief synopsis of each.

Movie Rental General Information

• VideoETA.com- A useful site that can tell you when a movie is planned to be released to video.
• Movies.com- The "DVD/Video" section of this site is divided into tabs which include 'Movie Details,' 'Trailers and Clips,' 'Photo Gallery,' Cast and Crew,' 'Technical Details' and 'MarketPlace,' which contains reviews written by members of the site on the latest movie rentals.
• IMDB.com- The Internet Movie Database is a giant collection of movie information, giving you access to information about who wrote, directed and acted in a particular movie. It also offers specific information about people in the film business, including filmographies, a mini-biography and notable television appearances.
• AllMovie.com- This site is a movie database that provides general information on movies, such as the director, genre, themes, plot synopsis, cast list, and information on actors.

As you venture out for your next movie rental experience, these sites can help you pick a movie that's a perfect fit for your family's taste, mood, and opinion of great cinema.

Other articles of interest: Mailbox vs. Drop Box—Comparing DVD Rental Choices