Ok, so you want to turn your smart phone into a multimedia Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman/multi-tool of awesome. We got that. We can help. The first step in this process is to put down your phone and get ready with cinema. The second’s just as easy: ignore all of the “thousands of streaming films and tv shows to your phone!” app.

We know its tempting to get all of that, but it is just as likely that they don’t actually deliver on their promise. In fact, unless you’ve got the VLC app before they went all high and mighty with their “we don’t like being part of the system” decree, chances are you can’t watch thousands of videos unless you’re on YouTube.  So instead, let’s take a look at the apps that will actually assist you in your day-to-day film buff-ness.

Ok, let’s get the basics out of the way: Netflix and Hulu Plus are your go-tos for streaming off your phone. Both are “free” in that they’re subscription based and just free to download. But for their variety of options, at the moment, they’re your best bet for a well rounded catalog of media.

Outside of the trivia games, it almost seems like there aren’t any apps worth picking up for your film-related love when it comes to film. But there are a few exceptions: 

Roger Ebert’s Great Movies is an iPhone/Pad only app from the dominant critical voice about what’s worth seeing, his reviews (all of them) and in-app purchase/queueing for Amazon, iTunes and Netflix. ($.99) 

SnagFilms: iPad only app allows streaming of the doc titles under the indie distributor. Think of it like the more realistic and awesome Netflix. (free) 

IMDB is an Apple and Android app that lets you fight out trivia and casting battles while on the go. It also has functionality to find showtimes, but let’s face it–this is basically the app to own in order to call shenanigans on your friend’s claim that Ron Perlman has made like 40 movies when it’s really 100 (please don’t quote us on that).

Flixter, on Apple and Android, is and should be your default app for finding movietimes and theaters. While most of the other features are there for bulk (photos! trailers! uh, more red carpet photos…) the location-based service to find your closest theater can be a godsend when bored and strolling around. Likewise in-app purchasing for select theaters can be helpful, especially good for locating theaters you would’ve never known about–but sometimes, a little too well, i.e. listing a children’s museum as a venue since it once showed a film can be a little much. And opening this in Manhattan without a set theater in mind is like turning to F in the Yellow Pages–which a lot of you will never do.