This free tool will save you from 100 hours of bad movie watching.

And you might hate me for showing it to you.

My husband and I are always at a loss for what movie to watch on Friday nights. Our toddler is asleep, the long week is done, and we are entitled to some fun goddamnit.

But the quest to find a movie that we’ll both enjoy is never-ending and fraught with peril. Over the last seven years of our relationship, we’ve probably burned 100s of hours watching crappy movies.

But cue the angel choir and clouds parting: I have found the perfect movie recommendation engine. I’ll share it with you below. (It’s not LetterBoxd or Flixster or Rotten Tomatoes or any of that garbage).

Why can’t my husband just get behind romantic comedies already?

My husband Tom loves action movies, hates romantic comedies, gets bored with drama, and likes characters that contemplate isolation, war, fatherhood, and the responsibility of scientific advancement (i.e. Oppenheimer, Gladiator, 80’s action flicks starring Bruce Willis, and anything to do with Vikings).

I like comedy, satire, forbidden love, contemporary drama, and mind-bending sci fi (i.e., Inception, Triangle of Sadness, Short Term 12, Jerry Maguire).

Trying to find overlap in our taste is like creating the world’s most pitiful Venn diagram.

We didn’t like Parasite. (Don’t come at me.)

The movie review aggregators don’t work for us. Rotten Tomatoes is a very noisy signal. Tom and I are now suspicious of ultra-high scores. For example, neither of us liked Parasite, a movie with a 99% rating.

Parasite was fine. But we were both put off by the ending—it was so abrupt and unsatisfying. Yes, the movie is very artful and beautifully made and there are layers and symbolism and blah blah blah, but at the end I was like ugh, I wish I had spent that time watching something else.

Whereas a movie that we both love—Ad Astra—only got a 40% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (it got 83% from critics). We have no idea why anyone wouldn’t love that movie. It’s awesome. If you love Blade Runner 2049, watch Ad Astra.

Movie critics need to stop taking themselves so seriously.

We tried to find a movie critic that shared our taste. Then we could watch all their positively-reviewed movies, secure in the belief that we would enjoy those movie too.

We started our critic-search with those who liked Ad Astra. That movie seemed divisive. Any critic that liked Ad Astra as much as us would share our taste, we thought.

We thought wrong. Critics who enjoyed Ad Astra would hate on movies Tom and I loved. For example, one of them gave The Gray Man (which Tom and I really enjoyed) a two-star rating. Whether or not an Ad Astra-loving critic agrees with our overall taste is totally random. We may as well flip a coin.

We also discovered that reading movie reviews is f***ing tedious. Have you ever actually tried to read a movie review? It’s like reading an essay you wrote in high school for AP English, where you explain why the Canterbury tales are great works of literature (I mean are they even?) It’s giving academic.

I don’t have time to hear critics wax on about the director’s vision, or how much weight the actor lost for the role, and whether the move is a true homage to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I have a toddler. Movie time is precious. Am I going to enjoy watching this damn thing or not? At the end of the movie am I going to wish I had used those hours to sleep?

And now, the best movie recommendation tool you’ve ever used.

You might hate me because the solution is AI (surprise). And some people, especially writers and creative types, are really mad at AI right now. Someone’s job is going to go away when you start doing what I’m about to suggest. Probably a movie critic’s (but see above, they’re not helpful).

You might also hate me because all of a sudden all your free time will now be spent watching movies because you’re pretty confident you’re going to enjoy them.

Here’s my solution, it’s very simple: have Claude (or ChatGPT) make you a customized list of movie recommendations based on movies you know you like. Do this:

1. Make a list of 15-20 movies you love.

2. Tell Claude to give you movie recommendations based on that list.

3. Update Claude as you watch more movies to get more and more closely customized recs based on your preferences.

Both Claude and ChatGPT are currently free (up to some number of daily interactions).

Here’s my exact dialogue with Claude and it has worked PERFECTLY:

ME: My husband and I need movie recommendations. Here is a list of movies we both like. Can you recommend some more movies for us to watch based on this list?

Ad astra 
Avengers infinity war 
Avengers end game 
Thor Ragnarok 
All guardian movies 
Oppenheimer 
Dune 1 and 2
The revenant 
The shape of water 
Arrival 
Mad max: fury road 
The Martian 
Inception 
Avatar 
Gladiator 
The Dark Knight 
The Matrix

This is what Claude said:

CLAUDE: Based on your list , it seems you and your husband enjoy a mix of science fiction, action, superhero films, and thought-provoking dramas. Here are some recommendations that align with your tastes:

1. Interstellar - A Christopher Nolan sci-fi epic, similar in scope to Inception and The Martian.

2. Blade Runner 2049 - A visually stunning sci-fi noir that shares themes with Arrival and Dune.

3. Ex Machina - A cerebral sci-fi thriller that might appeal to fans of Arrival and Inception.

4. The Prestige - Another Christopher Nolan film with mind-bending elements like Inception.

5. Edge of Tomorrow - A sci-fi action film with elements reminiscent of Avengers and Mad Max: Fury Road.

6. Children of Men - A dystopian sci-fi drama that shares some themes with The Road and Mad Max: Fury Road.

7. Sicario - A intense thriller from Denis Villeneuve, who directed Arrival and Dune.

8. Gravity - A space survival story that might appeal to fans of The Martian and Ad Astra.

9. District 9 - An innovative sci-fi film with social commentary, similar to some elements in Shape of Water.

10. Logan - A gritty superhero film that stands out from typical Marvel fare, might appeal to fans of The Dark Knight.

Would you like me to elaborate on any of these suggestions or provide more recommendations?

My husband and I were immediately impressed by this list. We had seen and loved these movies, and were surprised we hadn’t thought to include them on our original list.

We asked Claude for more recommendations, hoping to get some movies we hadn’t yet seen. His next round was as follows:

ME: Great list, but we’ve seen all of those and love them, especially 1-3 and 10. What more recommendations do you have?

CLAUDE: I’m glad you enjoyed those films! It's clear you have excellent taste in movies. Let's dive deeper into some less common but equally compelling recommendations:

1. Annihilation - A cerebral sci-fi thriller with stunning visuals, directed by Alex Garland (who also directed Ex Machina).

2. Moon - A thoughtful, low-key sci-fi film starring Sam Rockwell, exploring themes of isolation and identity.

3. Upgrade - A gritty, near-future sci-fi action film with elements reminiscent of The Matrix and Mad Max.

4. Sunshine - A Danny Boyle sci-fi thriller about a mission to reignite the dying sun, combining elements of space exploration and psychological horror.

5. Looper - A time-travel action thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, directed by Rian Johnson.

6. Dredd - A gritty, action-packed comic book adaptation that shares some DNA with Mad Max: Fury Road.

7. Minority Report - A Steven Spielberg sci-fi thriller based on a Philip K. Dick story, starring Tom Cruise.

8. Snowpiercer - A post-apocalyptic sci-fi film directed by Bong Joon-ho, featuring class warfare on a train circling a frozen Earth.

9. Prometheus - While divisive, this Alien prequel shares themes with some of your favorites like Arrival and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

10. The Fifth Element - A colorful, eccentric sci-fi action film that contrasts nicely with some of the more serious entries on your list.

These selections continue to blend sci-fi, action, and thought-provoking narratives. Would you like me to suggest more, or perhaps focus on a particular aspect or subgenre you're most interested in?

Boy, did this list DELIVER. Based on Claude’s recommendations we recently watched Moon, Upgrade, Sunshine, and Looper and have really enjoyed all of them. (We had already watched Minority Report, Prometheus, and The Fifth Element and love those too).

AI is the way to go with movie recommendations. Claude dug up great movies that somehow my husband and I seemed to have missed seeing.

• We probably missed Sunshine (2007) and Moon (2009) because they come out when we were in college and busy studying or drinking.

• Looper (2012) came out when I was in laws school—so again, busy.

• Upgrade (2018) came out at a time when I was primed to watch movies but their marketing just never got to me!

Claude unearthed these movies from the internet black hole where they’ve been hiding from and I am delighted.

I’ll probably branch out into other recommendation categories. (Books! TV! Recipes!) Sky is the limit.

Your turn. Make a list of your favorite movies and ask for recommendations based on them. Let me know how it goes!

—Noor