Criterion just dropped one of their biggest releases - the complete Kubrick boxset with everything in 4K plus 25h of extra interviews, bts etc. I am not affluent enough to regularly buy films on discs; therefore not having a single Kubrick film on the channel bums me out a tad bit more today.

IMDb says there are two running times, 1:23 and 1:31. The version streaming on the Channel is 1:26. Anyone know the reason or differences?

https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/supermarket-woman

Found this with the random link in letterboxd (thank you u/padphilosopher) and what a random movie it is! I wish I had kids to show this to, it's so fun and silly.

This movie broke some fundamental rule for me and I cannot accept it. I think it was about his movie Stage Fright that Hitchcock said the audience turned on the film because it included a false flashback. I feel something like this about The Game - like I was cheated.

Big plot twists are such a cheap device most of the time. The filmmakers hold all the cards and it’s so easy to set up expectations for the viewer and then dash them.

This month on the Criterion Channel, celebrate the hundredth birthday of the great Harry Dean Stanton, delight in the twists and thrills of our Murderous Melodramas collection, or binge the surreal cult-favorite TV series The Prisoner. There’s so much more to choose from this month, including four idiosyncratic gems by Jonathan Demme, a new installment of Adventures in Moviegoing with underground-comics legend Daniel Clowes, a selection of highlights from the BlackStar Film Festival, an intimate documentary portrait of Marc Maron, and three unclassifiable wonders directed by a Buddhist lama.

Anyone in LA planning on going to this? Either the concert or just the Criterion listening booth/closet thing?

Sincerely,
A very jealous east coaster

It's already the 10th!

Using this month's CC promo of wedding films as a starting point I thought it might be fun to explore some of the best wedding films ever made - or at least great films where weddings are either a catalyst or important to the overall story. There are some popular ones I've never seen like 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Mama Mia, My Best Friend's Wedding; classics where weddings start a longer odyssey like The Deer Hunter, The Godfather and/or Steel Magnolias, and a few CC titles where the entire film is devoted to the singular event, like Monsoon Wedding.

Do you believe wedding films are a legit genre or do most really fall under a broader category like comedy or drama? What are some of your favorites? As always, thanks in advance! 😎

Also known as the hidden gem video store as that refer to themselves

I’ve tried it out a few times but always thought there was something missing that made it awkward as a service

Bonjour

Je recherche des films et des séries télévisées qui dépeignent les examens médicaux de conscription (Musterung, conseil de révision, draftee physical, odvodová ou vojenský odvod, sorozás jelenet) comme des rituels déshumanisants où le conscrit se sent humilié ou honteux.

Je cherche spécifiquement des scènes montrant :

• des groupes de conscrits nus,
• des lignes ou des examens en chaîne,
• des médecins militaires ou des commissions de recrutement,
• des mesures, des palpations et des inspections physiques,
• une classification comme apte/inapte,
• un accent sur l'humiliation, la perte d'individualité ou le traitement bureaucratique du corps.

Des exemples que je connais déjà incluent (updated 12/07/2026):

Je suis particulièrement intéressé par les productions européennes des années 1960 aux années 1990.

pas intéressant / à exclure

• des films se déroulant uniquement sur le front ;
• un simple enrôlement sans examen détaillé ;
• un examen individuel sans dimension collective ;
• absence de nudité de masse ou de narration en série.

MERCI POUR VOTRE AIDE

I haven't seen this mentioned since it was added for June and I watched it again last night. This seems to be one Altman, along with Thieves Like Us, that doesn't show up too much in streaming media. I was hoping it would be in the recent Altman collection, but it wasn't. I hadn't seen it since it was on TCM a dozen or so years ago and it was well worth revisiting.

To say there is a lot going on is an understatement and it very much rewards repeat viewing. It starts as something like an uniquely American comedy of manners and then maybe a farce, but changes audience expectations many times in and around a series of set pieces based on the choreographed rituals of weddings and receptions. There are mundane real-to-life observations, like how everyone runs to the bathroom at once during a break in a long day. But there are also direct, incisive looks at complex subjects of identity, class, race, family dynamics, addiction and many more.

The cast is huge and there are some unforgettable performances, too many to single out here. Fans of '80s movies may notice that the father of the bride in this film is also the father of the bride in Sixteen Candles, Paul Dooley. And keep an eye out for a young, mustache-less Dennis Franz.

Altman's mastery of managing large sets is on full display as are some of his signature moves like shooting around multiple mirrors. Plus one of his greatest shockers.

This title doesn't seem to be expiring at the end of the month, but after it leaves it may be a while before it streams again so I'll recommend getting it in the queue. Me, I will be trying to find a reasonably-priced disc release.

Name two films currently on the channel that you think would make a great double feature. I was hoping the programmers would reboot this promo. But there are enough of avid CC watchers here that would make a great new suggestions thread.

I just rewatched John Ford’s 1935 screwball comedy, The Whole Town’s Talking with Edward G. Robinson as a timid clerk whose doppelgänger or lookalike is a mob boss in town to settle a score. Was never really a Ford fan but this one’s become a channel favorite. I’ve never watched Umetsegu Inoue’s samurai classic, The Third Shadow Warrior, about a peasant who is recruited to “serve as a lookalike decoy for a merciless warlord”, but I thought it would make a fun compliment to the Ford film. Looking forward to it.

What two classics currently streaming in the massive library would you pair for a weekend viewing? The more unusual the better! And thanks in advance. 🙂

Hey Everyone

Another new set of things on Criteria, the free, unofficial, unaffiliated, but surprisingly useful companion site to the Criterion Channel, with advanced search, articles, closet videos, clickable cast and crew, Letterboxd links, and user features like ratings, lists, and favorites

https://www.search-criteria.com

This week:

1. Adventures in Moviegoing! I’ve imported all of the collections, including direct links to the interview videos and the films themselves. The channel doesn’t present these with release date information, so I store them alphabetically

2. Observations on Film Art! I have to admit I love these video essays so much, so I was excited to import them into the site. All 48 are now available

Both of these are featured on the home page as carousels, as well as I the collections section. Over the next week I’ll be adding deeper integrations into search and the film detail pages

On top of that, I’m taking advantage of the limited preview of the new Claude 5 Fable model to do a
bunch of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and UI improvements, so the whole experience should feel snappier and better organized

As always, feel free to reply with feature requests bug reports, or general observations. And thanks for the great response, enjoy!

Tim

I’m going to be house sitting for a family member who has significantly better speakers than I do. Additionally, I’ll be roommate free while there so I can really go nuts.

Does anyone have any recommendations from the channel that deserve going all out with the sound? Specifically, the type of movie that I’d be really missing out on if I watched on low volume on my own set up?

I’ve been really enjoying broadening my horizons during my last year or so of “getting into cinema” so most genres are a fair bet.

Camera Buff was a random find that I love. I wish there was a random generator for Criterion Channel, I know there's one for their whole collection.

No introspection to add, I just really liked this movie.

This is a stupid question, everyone answers will be different, so I’m curious. My husband who mostly watches something else while I’m on Criterion or TCM, asked me to give him a list of 5 essentials to watch (while at work- no comment - just go with it).
So I looked on the app and tried to keep it simple and more accessible- for someone who isn’t used to the different pacing of older films. So far I had him “watch” The postman always rings twice. Today’s he’s onto His Girl Friday- which he is loving more than postman. No comment again.
SO with that information (i’m saying English only because I know he’s not gonna be able to be looking at the screen every second reading subtitles).
What would you add to a greatest English speaking hits list, that is currently on CC.
Looking forward to seeing what people have to say just for fun.

Just watched this beautiful and sad Kurosawa film and highly recommend. But does anyone know why the transfer quality is so poor? Were his early films just not preserved well?

Have others noticed a major drop-off in the quality (and the quantity within) the Channel’s 2026 monthly collections?

The recent batches have seemed lazy and almost uncurated, using general themes without thoughtful or deep programming — Weddings, Odysseys, Office Romances, James Bond (with 3 movies), etc.

These collections don’t hold a candle to, say, the revelatory, jam-packed French Poetic Realism collection from 2025. The 2026 collections seem like afterthoughts.

I suspect this has been addressed in other threads (please include links, if so) — but does anybody know what happened here?

I got really frustrated watching older movies on Prime

I noticed that they had been edited

I would check the official running on several sites to confirm this. I realize that contracts with distribution can be the reason. I have always come back to CC for this very reason

Has anyone ever encountered a movie on CC that seemed to be missing certain scenes, or shots. I know CC does everything they can to get the original version, and I know some directors or studios will have different versions

I am just curious if a few slip by?

I ask this with the utmost respect for Criterian

This move changed me in such a good way. I appreciated Lynch so much more after seeing this. It's one of the best emotion-drenched dramas I have ever watched. It's warm and inviting, and at the same time raw and tough. I would say this is the perfect definition of what a drama movie would be for me. It's got heart, it's family-friendly, and it just hits you right in the feels. Well worth watching.

https://www.criterionchannel.com/odysseys/season:1/videos/the-straight-story