The Criterion Collection

Do they have good movies?

Yes, a good mix of classics, art house, and some interesting Hollywood stuff. They cycle in new titles every month. Some of the movies have really great bonus content as well. Well worth the price.

R2 thank you!

R2 IS the Seventh Veil available to watch?

What about The Fallon Idol?

Wings of Desire?

Do you mean The Criterion Channel, OP?

I subscribed (as a charter member) until I got tired of them using the Q-slur to describe gay-themed films.

Also their compression/picture quality can be piss poor a lot of the time. In fact they’re kind of known for it.

They do offer a lot of great films that aren’t available elsewhere, in many cases their own editions and supplemental features (as featured on their Blu-rays). They also include a lot of non-Criterion films (i.e. films that they have not released on their own label, for instance The Last Seduction, and many many others).

It’s a mixed bag in terms of quality of library and quality of viewing experience.

R5 thank you! Can you see if The Seventh Veil, The Fallen Idol, and Wings of Desire are on the Channel please?

Streaming? Fuck no! If I want something from the Criterion Collection it's physical media ONLY (preferably in 4K but blu-ray otherwise). And even then only after I've made sure they haven't fucked up the encoding (which happens more often than it should).

R7 wow why? Because it is not as good quality.

I subscribed last year. Watched a handful of movies. I chose not to renew.

Oh my god i just realized i had a yearly auto-renewing subscription!

... Just cancelled it. I don't think I've ever used it and I've probably had this going for two or three years, bought it on some special offer and forgot about it. I just stream or torrent everything.

Thanks OP. Goddamn subscriptions

sounds classy

Are all of their releases available to stream?

Just to be certain, the Criterion Collection is a $100/year subscription to the Criterion Channel?

I’m R12 - what I meant to ask was does the Criterion Collection channel that costs $100 annually give a subscriber access to all of the movies that Criterion has released over the years on physical media?

Thank you!

R14, no, it doesn’t give you access to every movie they’ve released on DVD. Still fantastic, though. In my opinion it’s the best of all the streaming services.

R8 In my opinion, no it's not as good quality (for reasons like your internet speed, their encoding etc). That's not to say streaming is bad and it's great for casual viewing (and there are of course some excellent quality streaming services). If however there's a film I really like / appreciate, I want it in the best possible quality and that goes for the audio too. Streaming often doesn't come close to blu-ray in that regard. It's personal opinion / choice obviously.

The Criterion streaming service can be a good choice if you just want to watch through some of their collection etc and are not interested in owning the movies. I don't want to put anyone off.

I subscribe more out of a sense of obligation to support it, but don't actually use it very often. It skews too art house/foreign for me, whereas I want more Golden Age studio pictures. Their Halloween picks are usually great, though.

I think part of the Criterion Collection is physically owning the Blu Ray.

The Q-Slur! You fight that fight, R5. You sound like when I complained to my local video store calling the gay section Alternative Lifestyles! I was 16 though and got over it. I love the Q-Slur, the F-Slur, all of it!

Thanks, R19. Don’t care what you think, though.

I recently watched ‘Seance On A Wet Afternoon’ on the Channel at a friend’s place, and the picture quality was very poor. It wasn’t an issue with the internet connection, either. It looked like Criterion were using their standard definition master (DVD quality is, what—480p?) and gave the stream a poor encode on top of that. It was incredibly distracting. But now I know that the film is excellent, and there’s a Blu-ray (evidently a great looking one, judging from reviews) from the UK —not Criterion — that I can import.

Criterion has done a lot of important work over the decades, but they are not the best in the business. I’m talking about their physical media dating back to the Laserdisc days, not their streaming channel. There are so many labels now that do far greater encodes for their discs.

Absolutely R20, some labels like Arrow and Second Sight in the U.K. are really showing Criterion how it’s done in recent years!

Just a friendly reminder: check with your local library first (for university students/staff, this includes your university library) to see what, if any, free streaming options they have available. They may include the Criterion Collection. And you may be able to submit requests for specific films for them to purchase.

You can download a lot the movies, after you’ve subscribed, if you use the app. We have slow internet here, and I always have downloaded Criterion movies in my library. There are many foreign films, but also a lot of golden age Hollywood stuff. . It’s worth $100 a year if you watch a movie once a week at least. I’ve watched Seven Beauties and A Special Day about five times in the last month. I think the quality is great.

I torrent everything and then buy the Blu-rays of what I like. And speaking of Blu-rays, the Criterion sale at Barnes & Noble is coming up.