What's The Deal with The Criterion Collection? 

Let me know your thoughts on the criterion collection and which ones should I get next!

The Criterion Collection is perhaps, in my definition, the saving grace for cinephiles who are becoming sick and tired of sequels, remakes, reboots, and superhero movies. Not saying we aren't getting anything cinematic anymore, but if you really want to get some fresh air, willing to put down the phone down for a bit, and immerse yourself into in depth pieces projecting iconic imagery and sometimes universally themes than I couldn't recommend Criterion more. Here are a few I'd recommend. -Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa) -Brazil (Terry Gilliam) -Come and See (Elem Klimov) -8 1/2 (Federico Fellini) -Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick) -High and Low (Akira Kurosawa)

Criterions are always between $20 -$35 on Amazon year round. Barnes & Noble has terrible prices on ALL of their physical media.

The $50 for a criterion is because of all the effort that goes into making the extras and packaging. Expecting a criterion to be the same price as a regular bare bones blu ray is a little unrealistic. Although I do agree $50 is a bit much and that it should be $30-$40 at the most.

Most people buy criterion discs during the 50% off sale because of the absurd regular prices I think they did that on purpose because it sort of feels like an event because you have to wait months to get them

I have the criterion collection for a night to remember and it's a standard blue ray case but came with a pretty thick booklet on the real history of the ship and movie and the actual sound quality and visual quality of the movie looks timeless

Criterion Collection created the concept of boutique brand for blu-rays, much like how people pay a premium just for a Hugo Boss branded T-shirt. The market has the choice of going for something special, over something standard. Also, Criterion has a group called Janus that is involved in film restoration, so Criterion can ensure quality in their releases.

Stumbled onto this video randomly so this will probably get buried, but I’m going to try to explain the appeal Criterion to me. -First off one of the big things they do is restoration. You don’t really need this for their newer films, but having a restored version of older and rarer films is so nice. Especially foreign movies that don’t have good and readily available translations. -The physical copy is apart of the appeal. It’s like people collecting Vinyl records it’s outdated but it’s nice. the amazing picture and aesthetic is lovely to see on a shelf. They aren’t just movies they are collectors items. They also come with plenty of bonus features like you mentioned which are great to further analyze/understand the film. -Also like you said, nobody I know buys these at full price unless they have money they can just throw around. Criterion has regular sales throughout the year and then some flash sales which is when most people get them. -Also I feel physical media is becoming more popular lately with streaming services going to shit. And while criterion’s expensive it has a guarantee of quality. Sorry if this came out a mess

Criterion streaming is only $11 a month. IMHO, it's a much better bet monetarily than the physical objects--not to mention it has a lower carbon footprint. You've experienced the awe of buying and opening a well-produced DVD. Now you can use method acting to put yourself in the mindset of total focus when you stream. I'm an old lady. I was introduced to classic foreign movies when PBS had a Criterion series when I was a teen in the early 70s. I own Criterion's Les Enfants du Paradis and M--gorgeous!--but I did buy them before streaming became available.

It’s the same that when people pay $300 for a pair of tennis shoes when they can pay $20 for a pair at Walmart

A movie critic who hasn’t seen Citizen Kane or Seven Samorai

I use the Criterion Collection as a resource for films I should watch. I've never purchased one.

What is the song in the background just before the outro?

As someone that owns around 800 Criterion releases (collected over 10 years), always, always, always shop the sales.

The way I see it, the $50 price is to cover for all the interviews, commentaries, and the restoration process that a lot of these films have to go through. I personally just wait for the bi-annual half-off sale, but I think the msrp is entirely fair with how much work goes in to these packages. Fast Times at Ridgemont High is one of my dad's favorite movies and I loved getting the Criterion edition for him so we have something to share.

The restoration and film scanning process is why they are $40. For some films they literally travel around the world to bring together copies of the film (some that could literally burst into flames in not properly stored), find the proper equipment to scan them digitally, and piece together the film from all the copies to make a cohesive visual look (because all physically film will be developed slightly different, so they look slightly different). Then, they painstakingly remove any other defects digitlaly, frame by frame. Its quite remarkable. I recommend watching one of their restoration docs on youtube. They are doing the film worlds most grueling and necessary work.

This video was really informative, well done man! if you have a chance to pick up that "Y Tu Mama Tambien" criterion blu ray, definitely get it, it's such an awesome film, and the packaging is great too. Have a great day

This was a really well done video

One of my friends introduced me to The Criterion Collection in 2020 since I wanted to rebuild my dad's movie collection. Now I have a bookshelf full of them. Thanks, Dumbs.

Great video. Individuals love a post that articluates what you yourself think. There is however one huge issue with the Criterion collection and that is to do with its half price sales. The reason being that it is only ever available to those in the U.S. Folk in Australia and I assume nywhere else outiose the U.S. never get this option. We therefore are stuck with ebay which these days seems even more expensive than shop prices. Criterion if they love film should give all citizens of the world a chance to see them in the incredible quality and beauty they are presented in.

The $40 price pales in comparison to the old laserdisc days where some very special editions of titles like Akira, Hard Boiled, The Killer, Se7en, Pulp Fiction and Goldfinger could cost you a whopping $80-124

What music did you use?

I usually get the dvd versions and sometimes on eBay to save money

brand new movies are 25 bucks yet for Blu Ray new big studio ones tho

Arrow and Vinegar Syndrome have already far passed them.

Honestly, what a fantastic video.

Onibaba was wild

tbh thats their bread and butter. Thee are countless movies i have foumd out on their collection. It can be a stange but why shed light on already well acclaimed films when there are many that dont get their proper dues?

I don't know why it's so hard for them to put out quality releases. My biggest issue is that they're just reissuing the same movies again in 4K now. But my Wong Kar Wai box set had a few bad pressings. I heard they want people to pay for the return shipping to fix, what is clearly their issue. Their Blu-ray releases are ridiculously overpriced. Kino Lorber only charges ~$15 for new Blu-rays where Criterion is 2x as much. Then the whole editing issue with Citizen Kane and A Hard Day's Night. Why pay so much for these releases vs pirating them? Really wish they would reopen the USA and Japanese pressing plants and close this garbage Mexican factory that keeps scratching discs. Or press them all at the German one.

A review of Seven Samurai and/or Citizen Kane in the works?

Currently I have 17 criterions so far Just bought Midnight Cowboy for £12 + free delivery

They are way too expensive, probably why I have none of them in my collection. Prefer to buy blurays from Indicator and other labels. I suspect that Criterion will be keeping their premium prices so if I get one, it will be via CEX or from a charity shop. Or when they have a sale.

I payed 140 for the zatoichi collection

I used to purchase some Criterion movies (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Paths of Glory to name a few), but the prices in Canada are now around $60. The shipping cost even with the 50% sale still make them too expensive. I also find the titles now more miss than hit, but your mileage may vary. But I find the description of movies on the Criterion website cringy. It seems that every movie is the greatest movie ever made, but I find it overly pretentious.

Great cinema is priceless

Well said. For arts sake.

Freddy got Fingered just got added to the collection.

30 dollars a blu ray. 40 is for 4k

The DEI collection

I don't think you should blind buy anything really unless it's a box set. We have the criterion channel that has almost every physical equivalent. If you really love something then I think it MIGHT be worth getting the physical copy with all the supplements to consume.

What's the deal with.... those youtubers who talk so fast?🤔 Have to slow down speed to follow your talk at human speed. I also dislike those image fillers, this never changes. Thank you very much, I said it

Barnes and Noble are just overpriced. I spend $18 to $25 a release.

I feel that the selection is a little weird, i was browsing the collection they have 24 ZATOICHI sequels movies but no movie's by Steven Spielberg and Quinton Tarantino. The only Francis Ford Coppola movie they have is Rumble Fish not Godfather, or Apocalypses Now. The only Christopher Nolan movie they have is the Following. The only Ridley Scott movie they have is Thelma and Louise, not Blade Runner, Alien, or Gladiator. they focus too much on unknown movies and to little on genre movies in my opinion. I'm a intermediate film lover, i scrolled through all 1,600 movies they had and i have heard of/watched less then 50 of them

Haha you should check out the criterion out of print that go for $600 and you worried about paying $40

The DEI collection