How To Start Collecting THE CRITERION COLLECTION 

Check out my Criterion Collection Sale Guide here -> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JFCN2mAkj5U.html

Follow your gut, discover your taste and then explore other tastes and branch out from there at your own pace. Let your collection grow according to you. I find the growth of a film collection to be deeply personal and I love it. There is no right or wrong way to collecting criterion, just your own way.

People should really talk more about Come and See, one of the best movies ever.

You said "we need a film to just chill-" and I knew exactly what was coming. Dazed and Confused is such a vibe.

Just bought my first criterion movies today: Seven Samurai and The Irishman!

I think better advice for people new to Criterion would be to start first with films that they know and love. After all, restoration is their forte.

I would say Kurosawa is a great way to get into older movies. Makes you realize not all B&W are boring, his early B&W stuff rivals anything made today. Great suspense, humor, heart.

I find your voice very calming 🙂

I saw the thumbnail and just thought, "You have to get both"

I'm an aspiring filmmaker and I've been collecting films for study material but didn't have much guidance on that sort of thing. I am now so glad I stumbled upon your channel. I was aware of the existence of most of the films but your explanation was so well done on these it gave me even more of an understanding of cinema history. Love the content, man!

Me, with like 40~ criterion’s already “Well if Elliot posts a criterion video I gotta watch it”

I just received some Criterion Collection movies for Christmas. I wanted Barry Lyndon and Come and See because of your recommendation. I got Rififi as well. I know this has already been said, but your voice is relaxing. Your videos make me want to get a cup of coffee and relax.

I am so glad to find someone who loves "Barry Lyndon". It is in my top 5 of all my favorite movies and you listed all the reasons why it is so wonderful.

This video is perfect. Because Criterion spans so many films in so many genres it can be a hard place to start

Excellent video! I only have the Godzilla set and Pan's Labyrinth but I absolutely adore them. Looking forward to collecting more Criterion, especially Memories of Murder.

This was very informative. I’ve been acquainted with the CC for about a year now but I still feel lost at times. Many of the films you’ve mentioned I have either seen, own and seen or own from the CC. Yet I still loved how kind and not pretentious at all you were with your recommendations. Thanks

Criterion's film noir catalog alone is staggering. From hits like The Third Man all the way to Billy Wilder's Ace In the Hole. Absolutely essential; if it weren't for Criterion I would be a monk in Tibet

Great video Elliot! Really enjoyed this showcase of films that have different aspects to look at for those just beginning in the collection or even those who have collected for a while. Good work my friend, keep it up!

Excellent video as always Elliot, it was great to hear your thoughts on these great films. For me it’s certainly been the month of criterion, I’ve bought quite a few! Even some from the US sale, including come and see. Thanks for making great videos mate!

Hi Elliot. Great intro to the Criterion Collection. I am a big fan of PTA so glad you selected one of his movies for your video. One of my favorites and I love the soundtrack from Jon Brion. 8 1/2 is such a classic. I'm hoping to pickup the Fellini set before the end of November. Hope you are doing well.

Elliot, awesome video! Love those recommendations, and yes, Wes Anderson indeed has a unique style. I love Some Like it Hot as well, and Come and See is one of the most visceral war films I’ve ever seen. Dazed and Confused is a classic. Cheers!

Cheers for the shoutout and you nailed the pronunciation of my surname! I'm impressed ;-)

Thanks for your video, I think that you suggested excellent movies in an excellent range for the serious movie viewer starting out. I began collecting seriously about five years ago and concentrated on films with a "pedigree". After a while I noticed that I was favouring certain publishers, and this included Criterion. Since then I have looked out for Criterion material because they are reliably good. I have watched many films that I may never have come across had they not appeared on Criterion.

Having seen A Matter of Life and Death recently, I absolutely agree with you, Elliot! It certainly is a brilliant story that I would definitely keep in my collection!

It's an amazing coincidence that you use a Wes Anderson film as the first to introduce us to The Criterion Collection, as I was just watching an unboxing of the "Fantastic Mr Fox" Criterion box set and I fell in love, making me search up about Criterion and want to start collecting! I have just started collecting Bluray's and 4K UHD Blurays since about a month ago and can't get enough! Thank you for your selection and this wonderful video

This is a great idea for a video. Some of the people I’ve spoken to online say they have no idea where to start when it comes to collecting Criterion discs. This video will prove to be very helpful, Elliot. Well done! For me, I started off collecting just the classic Hollywood titles because those were the ones I was most familiar with. From there, I started to dip my toes into international cinema and more modern stuff too.

Couldn't agree with you more on The Grand Budapest Hotel! Forever I was leery of Wes Anderson. His synopsis and subjects were just TOO weird for me to get into. Taking a chance on getting a cheap used DVD copy of The Grand Budapest, I was more than pleasantly surprised. And have since bought and cherish Criterion's release! A funny fantasy that flies right along! For me though with Criterion, it started with the love for Terry Gilliam's Brazil. I knew a bit about the different cuts and controversy beforehand. But to get Criterion's extensive 3 disc set, what a terrific entry! Whether one's a fan of Gilliam and/or the movie. Never heard of him or knows the backstory. Or even hates fantasies and bonus crap about movie making - Brazil is a MUST just to see how a simple idea can flourish, the pains to make it come to life, and the fact it can be 'Frankenstein-ed' while it's still alive to take on another life for better or for worse is so much worthwhile knowledge to this day! And not to diss Criterion, but they've broken the set down now I believe, and not sure if the full scope is still covered? But if one doesn't know much about movies, Criterion, or Terry Gilliam - go for the FULL set of Brazil I'd say!

Thank you this is super helpful! I just bought my first Criterion film, Blood Simple, because I really enjoy that movie and it was it was cheaper than most of the other ones. La Haine, Come and See, Barry Lyndon, In the Mood for Love, Persona, Bicycle Thieves, Paths of Glory, and many others are on my priority purchase list!

I honestly don't clearly remember what my very first Criterion purchase was. I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that it was Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" three disc set. I'd already seen the film a couple of times and just could not get it out of my head. Another contender for first purchase is the four disc edition of Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor." Again, it was a film I'd already seen. I was blown away by its sheer beauty and historical scale. Early additions include Kubrick's "Spartacus" 2-disc set, and Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Then came "The Man Who Fell To Earth" deluxe edition with the book, "Watership Down" (oh, God, they're killing each other! Probably the most traumatizing animated film I've ever seen), another Gilliam - "Time Bandits" (his films should just go direct to Criterion), a few by Wes Anderson, some Kurowawas......"The Complete Lady Snowblood," which I need to dig into. I just visited the Criterion website and created a list of films I want to add to my collection - 26 individual movies and three box sets. I need to win a big lottery jackpot. Criterion is a drug.

Thoroughly enjoyed this video! There's so many things here that I'd just love to throw my own hat into the ring on. Great job!

paid for stalker today as my first personal criterion selection (was gifted grey gardens a while ago and wasnt too into it). so excited to watch it :)

Technically, my first Criterion Collection was All That Heaven Allows (which I will watch soon hopefully) that I got for free at my college library since they were getting rid of all their DVDs, and I found it so interesting that the packaging looked nothing like the packaging now. I asked for Some Like It Hot on Criterion for Christmas but I think my brother got scared of the 40 dollar price, so I was gifted a regular one, which is understandable. I will get it on Criterion one day 😤But I couldn't resist Parasite and Portrait of a Lady on Fire during their last flash sale. There's so many more that I want now. 😅

Thank you for the suggestions. I will take you up on these.

I started my collection years ago. My first two were #11 Seventh Seal and #164 Solaris. Almost at one hundred movies in my Criterion Collection and I love them all.

Great video! Just started my collection last month, and can’t wait to get my first Criterion film. New sub, and you’ll get to 10K subs in no time!

My top 10 criterion picks are 1. In the Mood for Love 2. Army of Shadows 3. Good Morning 4. Ivan's Childhood 5. Bottle Rocket 6. Y Tu Mama Tambien 7. Au Revoir Les Enfants 8. M 9. Rashomon 10. Badlands. I think those are great buys for a first time collector. I'd also recommend Cold War, Charade, Yojimbo/Sanjuro, Brazil, The Devil's Backbone, and The 400 Blows

Great channel Elliot! Really enjoyed watching your content ...You have a collection to die for and have so much passion! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 #subscribed

Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris. Brian De Palma's Blow Out. Black Narcissus by Pressburger and Powell. Gojira by Ishiro Honda.

I started with my favorite movies that received the criterion treatment like The Philadelphia story, Leave her to heaven and They live by night. Those are movies that I’ve already watched a bunch of times and now I want to experienced the criterion special features 😊

Very well presented video, keep it up dude!

My favorite lesser known Criterion collection film: Le Samurai My least favorite Criterion collection film: Salo😆😆😆 And yes, I did briefly own it and watched it just to say I had seen it. Brutal to sit through and the allegory was completely lost on me😬😬😬

Awesome video idea! So many great recommendations here for anyone wanting to get into collecting the Criterion Collection 👍 cheers pal

I think I’m going to pick up films I’m familiar with first,then look into getting some of the ones you’ve recommended. Thanks.👍

I also did a video of which film in the criterion collection is accessible for beginners before they go to bigger films. Anyways great selection that is great to start entering the world of criterion since I started collecting criterion in the year of 2014 (first one is Godzilla and I bought cause is Godzilla and I knew nothing of criterion going in and it open my mind as a film fan). Keep up the great work. Take care. P.s. I picked 11 titles in the November sale. -bernardo cisneros

such an underrated channel, just bought Beau Travail and La Haine, can't wait!!

Great video Elliot! Would be great if you could this kind of video for other boutique labels, maybe one for Indictaor or Eureka too

Great vid, Elliot. I'm still new to the CC and have been wondering where to start. Appreciate the suggestions.

Interesting video Elliot! 👍🏻💿

Thank you. As always i find your videos very informative and very thorough. I will watch out for some of these that you reccomend. I hear the gunfighter from 1950 has just been released on blu ray by Criterion. I have never seen this film but reading up on it this sounds really inpressive. I feel criterion blu rays are going to be more worth the purchase in future as 4ks are not tending to lean towards such great box art and insert so I think blu ray is the way forward for alot of these titles

Great selection also your voice is very soothing. You just gained a new subscriber, thanks

Frankly, I usually have a pretty good idea of what to buy next in regards to criterion releases. Most of the collection's world cinema is what personally interests me the most, thus I try to watch or buy accordingly. I'm sure this video is helpful to many, but I suppose I'm just used to jumping into something at full force by just doing it Hopefully I don't sound rude or anything. I'm happy to have come across your channel :) I'd love to see more Korean and Taiwanese films in the collection, as it's highly lacking

Good list. I’m fairly selective and often go for cheaper BFI, Studiocanal or non boutique major releases. But I’ve got Midnight Cowboy, Stalker, Night of the Living Dead and The Cranes Are Flying and I swear by all of them. I think Criterion are brilliant but don’t demolish the competition to the extent of the price difference.

After viewing this video I am now another step closer towards becoming a more sophisticated film afficianado of yesteryear...👌🏼😌💯✔

I just ordered Wild Strawberries and Eraserhead and my firsts, great video!

My Criterion picks, Top 10 to get into The Criterion Collection... - Seven Samurai - Brazil - Yojimbo - Paths of Glory - The 400 Blows - Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Barry Lyndon - The Royal Tenenbaums - Come and See Honorable Mentions: - The Grand Budapest Hotel - Eraserhead - Good Morning - Rosemary's Baby - On the Waterfront - Moonrise Kingdom - High and Low - Citizen Kane - Quadrophenia - The 39 Steps

Boutique Blu-rays with Elliot Coen HECK YEAH, Punch-Drunk Love!!! Great pick. That one is my 6th favourite movie ever. Not only is Sandler fantastic in that movie, but for one of his movies to even be on Criterion is quite an accomplishment.

I'm looking to buy The Tree Of Life on Criterion, I have the standard version, curious to see the extended version. Would also like The Age Of Innocence.

These are really good suggestions. Yes, there are many more which could have been mentioned, but no doubt, these are all gems.

I bought my first criterions a couple days ago: The Godfather trilogy, the Irishman, and marriage story. Also, does it count if you get it off Amazon?

Nice video! Thinking of buying Scanners, The Grand Budapest, Uncut Gems, and Brazil

I recently got The Irishman, even tho I have it on my Netflix, but I love Scorsese and have almost all his films so I couldn't help but have a tangible copy. Can't wait to get Secrets and Lie when released next March

Great video Elliot. As someone wanting to explore more of what Criterion has to offer do you know how I can go about finding a region free Bluray player?

Wow man just saw come and see. Amazing film. Thanks for the recommendation

Tarkovsky stalker criterion and his other films are worth getting into criterion as it is

I first saw Barry London on a scratchy 35mm print a few years ago at my local art house cinema, The Belcourt Theater in Nashville. I went out and bought the blu-ray right after.

I’ve been collecting for about 3 years and these are all great picks. My first Criterion picks were Seven Samurai, Solaris, Eraserhead & Scanners

Got Marriage Story half off during the sale and I’m in love with it. Next up is The Elephant Man for sure.

Picked up my first Criterion movie yesterday and got The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, never seen it but I love the novel and pretty much every book by John Le Carre!

Barnes & Noble is having their 50% off Criterion sale right now, too. The average sale price is $19.99 per title. I just picked up War Of The Worlds and Night Of The Living Dead yesterday.

Just added three titles to check out. Thanks so much!

Just a few hours ago I bought my first Criterion BluRay (L' Avventura by Antonioni) and now I see this video... What a coincidence, HAHA!

Been trying to delve into more art house films within the criterion realm. Just grabbed two movies during the 50% sale at Barnes and Noble. Hope to collect more in the future. Thank you so much for sharing your suggestions to us.

You did a great job my friend.

Feeling validated about my past criterion purchases from the past because a lot of them made this video

It felt like a mixtape of movies. Not just a great selection, but they're also arranged with a very nice flow. Like making a mixtape/playlist for a friend. Thanks!

Great recommendations!🤓

Brilliant video!

Top stuff Elliott

I jumped and screech like a little girl when you mentioned A Matter of Life and Death. I saw it in class and I love it and have it in my collection

Great video. Taken the plunge and ordered my first three discs from the CC. I’ve gone for Klute, Something Wild and Anatomy of a Murder. Ordered them from Amazon UK so hopefully they will be here tomorrow or Wednesday. I’ll post any thoughts.

Some Like It Hot is one I find funnier on every rewatch!

If you can order from Target, they are having a buy two get one free sale. And most of their blu ray prices are $25-30, so they come to $18-20 per disc. So I got 8-1/2, Revanche and Wages Of Fear... And no, I dont work for Target... Lol

My first one (of many more, I hope) has been Parasite. I’m saving for the nexts, because it’s more expensive un Spain, because of the taxes. I’ll go maybe with Punch-drunk-love. I love that movie. Thanks for the video.

Hey man love your yt channel ! I was wondering how do you purchase criterion blu rays as in their website they say that they only ship to the US/Canada ? I'm French and I'd love to get some movies from their website. Those editions are so beautiful...

Should I start with Blu rays or just dvds?

The first Criterion I had seen was The Seventh Seal. The first one I bought was 12 Angry Men. It becomes a gateway drug where you spend hundreds of dollars at Barnes and Noble twice a year.

I just bought repo man growing up as a old school punk kid it was one of my favs..

Got my first Criterion recently, The Irishman. It's not the first Criterion I bought though. My first was Come and See, but thanks to everything going on right now, it's been exactly a month since I ordered it, and I still haven't received it. Knew I had to see it though after watching the video titled "The scariest movie ever made isn't a horror film". I honestly want to collect more of these.

M was the first one I ever bought. Great introduction to the films of Fritz Lang. Perhaps my favorite film maker of all time.

I still need to pickup the CC Wes Anderson films. I love him!

my first purchase was Seven Samurai, then I followed up with other Samurai films. I also have the very first DVD spine 1 Grand Illusion.

I'm guessing rights issues regarding PEEPING TOM keep it from being a Criterion bluray. Nevertheless, the standard DVD from Criterion for that is a MUST. TOKYO DRIFTER, WAGES OF FEAR, KUROSAWA...all good starting points.

I was in college and working at a video store when Punch Drunk Love came out on dvd. People rented it think it was a Happy Madison film, and they would return it incredibly pissed. I had to start giving customers full disclosure when they brought it up to the counter. " Just to let you know, this is a P.T Anderson film. NOT an Adam Sandler film." 😂

Very varied and well described list

Currently have 11 films in my collection, and have preordered The Irishman from HMV. I’ve started by looking at directors I’m already familiar with, Scorsese, PTA, Linklater etc. All the recommendations here are great! I look into the ones I don’t own

I don’t have many, but I was happy to start my collection off with my favourite movie! (Mishima: A life in Four Chapters)

Hey can you do a video on 4K discs Vs Criterions. Something I've been wondering is why Criterions are more expensive than the 4K versions of films because at the end of the day the most important thing definitely for me is getting the best picture quality of the film itself as I can find tons of special features online.

“The Barry Lyndon and Other Blu-rays Channel with Elliott Coen”

I also live in England and I wonder how you get so many Criterion’s that aren’t available in England and if you have to use a multi region blu-ray player?

What is the quality of the DVDs? I want to know if they are of 720p and not 480p