'Google for films' site helps Britons find media

A "Google for films" type of search engine site just rolled out this week lets you quickly peruse a database of 60,000 titles to find movies for downloading, in cinemas, to watch online, and on TV, standard DVD, and Blu-ray.

In a quick visit to the FindAnyFilm.com site today, for example, Betanews confirmed that The Dark Knight is available in all of these categories, whereas Slumdog Millionaire -- another box office draw -- can still be seen only in cinemas.

The new search site is sponsored by the UK Film Council. So unless you happen to reside in the UK, the "cinema" section won't do you much good (except for its inclusion of online plot summaries and movie trailers, maybe). Ditto for the "on TV" movie listings.

But there are movies in FindAnyFilm's abundant database in over 60 languages, and the data about where to find movies for downloading, watching online, and on DVD and Blu-ray might be useful no matter where you live. In a few clicks, we determined, for instance, that The Dark Knight can be downloaded through Apple's iTunes.

If you're a US resident, however, you'll need to navigate to the US rather than the UK versions of sites such as iTunes or Borders so as to order films for download, buying, or renting in US currency. In fact, one of the main goals behind FindAnyFilm is to prevent the film industry from facing the same kinds of illegal downloads which have long plagued the music business.

The FindAnyFilm database is searchable by genre, movie title, actor, and cinema. But despite its inclusion of a lot more categories of availability information than the US-oriented Fandango.com, for example, FindAnyFilm.com doesn't seem to provide movie reviews -- not yet, anyway.