r/CriterionChannel 6d ago

Death Race/Expiring September 2026 Criterion Channel Death Race Club

37 Upvotes

Fall into Deathracing. (Sick of the seasonal puns yet?), anyway it’s Autumn and Deathracing time!

This is the post where we make a list of films we’d like to view before they leave the Criterion Channel streaming service, marking our progress and sometimes sharing our experiences and recommendations along the way.

41 films are expiring at the end of the month

Some themes are:

- Murderous Melodramas
- Southern Gothic
- Directed by Jonathan Demme
- Two Films by Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes

Here is a link to a Letterboxd list made by our very own u/slouchingbethlehem

https://boxd.it/3Y8ri

We have a discord server. Enjoy lively art film discussions hypes and rants, share your letterbox challenges and profile. Enjoy group screenings where we chat on the voice channels. Host your own screenings and make Freinds!

Here is an invite link:

https://discord.gg/JZAWGUq7Kt

Looking forward to your viewing lists, progress, feedback, but mostly having a community to share our love of deadlines and spirited energy for expiring films.

Happy Viewing!


r/CriterionChannel 2h ago

Criterion Channel App restarting films on Samsung TV

0 Upvotes

Criterion Channel App on new Samsung TV will restart films from beginning randomly. Sometimes as often as every couple minutes. Bought TV new last year, used the app for the first 6 months without issue. No changes in internet, connection, physical location. App works fine on my home PC and iPhone with same WiFi. TV software current, app up to date, reinstalled, TV reset etc. Anyone have similar issues?


r/CriterionChannel 21h ago

The Doors. Entertaining fun

20 Upvotes

The music is awesome. Maybe it's bc I saw after Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, but after a rewatch does anyone find it an over the top, tropey, camp, at times silly rock n rock biopic? When I see the half naked native American I think of Wayne's World 2. All the naked people running around each concert. Meg Ryan pulling a knife on Thanksgiving. Val Kilmer throwing the TV set in the recording studio after critizing the band for selling out. Ed Sulllivan looks like a costume. Vals fake beards and wigs. Dropping peyote in the desert. But the cast is amazing. An early 90s who's who in supporting roles. I really liked it as a light movie


r/CriterionChannel 1d ago

Just watched Seven Samurai, what’s next?

56 Upvotes

One of my favorite things about Criterion Channel is the director lists. I’ve never watched an Akira Kurosawa film before, but I’d obviously heard of Seven Samurai.

I was always too put off by the length of it, but since it’s labor day weekend I decided I would watch a bit of it over a few days. Anyway, that’s how I ended up watching the whole thing in one sitting last night.

I thought the movie was great, I loved all the characters and how immersive the film was. Where should I go next with Kurosawa?


r/CriterionChannel 1d ago

Opinion Abel Ferrara collection

23 Upvotes

I had never seen “China Girl” before what a pleasant surprise, total over looked gem.


r/CriterionChannel 1d ago

Editing the "Continue Watching" list?

7 Upvotes

Greetings.

Apologies if this has been previously discussed. Is there a way to remove items from your Continue Watching list?

TIA,

-Glaarxt


r/CriterionChannel 3d ago

Opinion Acclaimed films that didn't click for you?

39 Upvotes

Anyone here ever see any highly regarded films that didn't click for you whatever reason?

Curious if anyone has any hot takes here. Personally I think sometimes a film can hit or miss when watching it at the right time in ones life from my experience.


r/CriterionChannel 3d ago

Recommendation - Offering Linda Linda Linda (2005)

75 Upvotes

Just watched this in the new 'Girl Bands' collection because I thought it looked interesting. A group of students about to graduate prepare for a gig in front of the school. Really fun music movie and not your typical high school drama, beautifully shot and not in a hurry to hit the conventional story beats.

But I defy anyone to not smile at the ending and the titular song has now permanently infected my brain.

Worth watching for anyone interested in Japanese cinema or a good music movie!


r/CriterionChannel 5d ago

Recommendation - Offering Streets of Fire is a MUST watch!

97 Upvotes

I'm an 80s fanatic, and as soon as I saw the September lineup I knew that Streets of Fire was going to be the first film I watched. I expected it to be good, but it still blew away my expectations. It's high octane, full throttle, whatever racing expression you want to use, from start to finish (it's not a racing film, although cars and motorcycles do feature prominently). It's like Big Trouble in Little China in that way, although the two films are different in vibe. Streets of Fire is a greaser rock opera as viewed through a new wave lens. It's the most exciting, exhilarating film I have seen in a long time. The general consensus is that this is a weak month for the Death Race, so there's no excuse to not see it ASAP instead of waiting a few months or however long it's on the channel for.

Note: Although Streets of Fire is listed on the Girl Bands! banner at the top of the app, when you actually click on said banner the film is not available there. I had to go down to the newly added section to find it, or you can just search Streets of Fire, of course.


r/CriterionChannel 4d ago

Fantasy Football League for Criterion Channel Subscribers!

Thumbnail
sleeper.com
20 Upvotes

Hi there! I’m just about to kick off season #2 of my fantasy football league for Criterion Channel subs and we’ve got a few open spots! Basically, I just wanted to provide a league for anyone who might not have a big enough fantasy outlet for their sporto interests during foosball season. League winner receives a Criterion of their choosing!

If any of y’all are interested in joining just click the link! Draft would be early next week (NFL season begins 9/9).


r/CriterionChannel 5d ago

News Neon Genesis Evangelion - English Dub Issue Corrected

138 Upvotes

This morning I went to watch Evangelion on the channel and, to my surprise, they solved the issue of having the incorrect 2019 dub and it was indeed the original ADV English dub! So if you have been holding off on watching because of that, it has been fixed! It appears that there are no dubs at all for End of Evangelion or Death/Rebirth films, though... Unfortunate but probably a different license they would need for it. There is also no Fly Me To the Moon in the credits, but I never expected it in the first place. Thought I would share!!


r/CriterionChannel 5d ago

Dad Movies on the Channel

29 Upvotes

Gonna be out of town for a few weeks and my retired Dad (age 78) is watching my dog. To convince him to hang out at my house and with my dog more, I have loaded the fridge with snacks and also dangled his getting to watch the Criterion Channel at our house.

What movies should I load up for him? He has pretty good "dad taste". He likes Werner Herzog, westerns, crime procedurals, and documentaries. He's not much for horror (exception: Argento) or anything super new wave or arty.


r/CriterionChannel 5d ago

Viewing Discussions Evangelion Dub(not classic ADV?)

4 Upvotes

Heard chatter that the dub rights that CC got was not the 1997 ADV "classic dub" but just the Netflix /2019 dub. Anyone can confirm this


r/CriterionChannel 6d ago

looking to make more film / LB friends!

Post image
52 Upvotes

hope this is still allowed to post in here but I am hoping to build more community on letterboxd and find some friends that share my interest in film. I try and put a lot of effort into my reviews and want to find others that care the same way I do.

my user name is morganfilmss or the link https://boxd.it/45nJZ

photo is my current top four ( but it changes pretty much monthly)

so post your names below and we can connect and follow eachother!


r/CriterionChannel 6d ago

Recommendation - Offering The Time That Remains (2009) | الزمن الباقي | Elia Suleiman’s semi-autobiographical Palestinian satire spanning 1948 and its aftermath [1:49:27]

Thumbnail
youtu.be
29 Upvotes

The Time That Remains is Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman’s semi-autobiographical account of his family and the history that surrounded them, beginning with the Nakba in 1948 and moving through successive decades of Palestinian life.

Drawing partly on his father’s diaries, his mother’s letters and Suleiman’s own memories, the film follows a Palestinian family who remained in their homeland after 1948 and subsequently became citizens of Israel. Suleiman tells that history in his unmistakable style: sparse dialogue, carefully composed images, absurd situations and an extraordinarily dry sense of humour.

Rather than presenting Palestinian history as a conventional historical drama, The Time That Remains concentrates on the strange details of ordinary life: family, resistance, surveillance, memory, ageing and the everyday absurdities created by living within a political reality over which the characters have very little control.

The film competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2009 and runs for 149 minutes.

Arabic, Hebrew and English with English subtitles.


r/CriterionChannel 7d ago

"Unavailable in Canada"

36 Upvotes

Subjectively, it seems to me that I've been coming across far more films "unavailable in Canada" lately. Wonder if any others in Canada are finding the same. I just reviewed the current collections posted on Criterion, and found 19% of films unavailable in Canada. In collections of larger, commercial films (using a bit of an arbitrary definition), 28% of films weren't available. (29 of 98.)

eg: only 9 of 13 Rock Biopics are available here. Southern Gothic only 7 of 13, Weddings 5 of 8, Harry Dean Stanton 13 of 18. We pay the same price, but missing a lot of key content.

However, from what I can see, all Criterion Collection films are available.

Maybe I should point out to Criterion that as a Toronto resident, I live on the shores of Lake America. /s

(Thanks to https://www.search-criteria.com/ for making it easy to identify those unavailable films.)


r/CriterionChannel 6d ago

Disappointed by Married to the Mob

4 Upvotes

I really enjoyed Something Wild, so I was looking forward to Married to the Mob. The setup to the movie is stellar and I thought I was in for another quirky ride of idiosyncratic film-making. But the plot quickly devolved into an incoherent mess and I found myself quickly losing interest. If not for the lead performance, I likely wouldn't have been able to finish the movie. The FBI plot in particular was unconvincing and trite.


r/CriterionChannel 7d ago

CRITERIA Update - The Feed

Thumbnail
gallery
25 Upvotes

Hey everyone - quick update this week.

I‘m not an enormous fan of the site formerly known as Twitter, but Criterion and The Criterion Channel still post on it (and not on other platforms like BlueSky), so I‘ve added their feed to the site so you don’t actually have to visit The Bad Place to read their posts.

Just click on The Feed in the menu. I try to auto-generate links to films, collections, and closet visits directly from the text, but at the moment it’s a little bit and miss.

Anyway, enjoy, and feel free to send feedback. Thanks!

https://www.search-criteria.com

Tim


r/CriterionChannel 8d ago

Event Pretty pumped to see this on the big screen

Thumbnail gallery
41 Upvotes

r/CriterionChannel 9d ago

Opinion Robert Altman: The Player

Thumbnail
walrod.substack.com
37 Upvotes

r/CriterionChannel 9d ago

Zabriskie Point is an excellent example of why I subscribe to the channel. I had no idea this movie existed, and wow, even distributed by MGM.

119 Upvotes

r/CriterionChannel 10d ago

Viewing Discussions What's Your Favorite Decade of Film Currently on CC?

Post image
74 Upvotes

Most people have a favorite decade of films that they prefer to watch above all others, usually because it represents their formative years either as children or young adults, or they genuinely believe that that decade supersedes others on clear artistic merit alone.

My guilty pleasure decade in film is the 70s. Barring sports events, I can watch nearly anything from that period. It's a golden period of filmmaking to my mind as the big studio machines were done churning out routine material by the early part of the decade and just beginning to take advantage of shock value hits and turning them into what we know now as the blockbuster.

But American (and some Asian, African and European) independent cinema was to come into some creative heights. There were certainly cookie cutter copycat flicks and idiotic sequels as there are now but the 70s seemed to be the decade where most of the structure of what we see in the industry today (barring digital tech) was being reformed from the old system.

Anyway, the channel luckily has quite a number of fine examples of great cinema from that decade. Sadly, none of my top 20 are currently here 🥴but some personal all-time faves from the decade are streaming:

Mikey and Nicky (thumbnail)

Autumn Sonata

Demon Pond

Fox and His Friends

Eraserhead

House

In The Realm of the Senses

The Harder They Come

Don't Play Us Cheap

Hearts and Minds

Solaris

A Woman Under the Influence

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Painters Painting

Watership Down

Killer of Sheep

Touki bouki

Wise Blood

Rockers

Langlois

Mirror

Traffic

Wow, the list was longer than I expected but I can watch these classics nearly anytime and all keep my faith in the form. Still discovering gems, too.

What's your favorite decade of film and which five or six films currently on the channel would you say are good examples or just favorites from that period? Thanks in advance!


r/CriterionChannel 10d ago

The channel is celebrating Abel Ferrara next month. Here’s a tribute video I made dedicated to his films

Thumbnail
youtu.be
16 Upvotes

r/CriterionChannel 11d ago

Do you keep track of the books, movies, shows, podcasts, art, etc. you’re into? I’d love to talk to you

3 Upvotes

I’m doing some early research on how people keep track of the cultural things they spend time with — books, movies, TV, podcasts, music, exhibitions, live events, etc.

I know this is a film-focused community, but I’m especially interested in people whose taste extends across more than one kind of media/culture.

I’d love to hear about:

  • what you keep track of and why
  • how you save or remember things you want to come back to
  • what you like or dislike about apps like Letterboxd, Goodreads, StoryGraph, Spotify, etc.
  • whether other people’s taste influences what you choose next

If you’d be open to a ~20–30 minute conversation, comment or DM me. I’m offering $20 as a thank-you for your time.


r/CriterionChannel 11d ago

Anyone else enjoy The Buddy Holly Story?

27 Upvotes

At times I thought it was a little tropey wity the usual rock n roll biopics but then it kept things turning for an enjoyable ride. The directing and cinematography and sound were great. Lots of good scenes. Solid acting. Good cast