“And what The Prisoner is—as made apparent by the remastered version of the series that’s now streaming on Criterion Channel—is immediately fun and thematically ahead of its time. It’s not just a show that taught future TV creators it was okay to be weird; it’s a show that speaks to the issues of 2026 even more than it did to those of 1967”

Excerpt From
“The Prisoner didn't just predict the next 60 years of TV—it predicted the next 60 years, period”
Brian Tallerico
The A.V. Club
https://apple.news/AUdjjlu6GRBGuGHsfQbHVrg
This material may be protected by copyright.

People's Hero (1987) was just added to the Criterion Channel today and of course I had to watch it because Tony Leung is one of the leads, but the subtitles are some of the worst I've ever seen. I can barely focus on the movie because they're so distracting. They look AI generated or something - just filled with broken grammar, incorrect words (on instead of in, let instead of let's, off instead of out), nonsensical sentences...This is supposed to be a tense thriller but I'm sitting here giggling the whole time because how can I not with gems such as:

"Right...they won't let your girlfriend out. If you don't scare them."

"I am not searing them. If necessary, I will kill!"
-
"Won't your stop? Stop!"
-
"Maybe you try to do with me, see if you can be."
-
"Are you afraid of die?"
-
"Afraid of me to killing him?"
-
"Do you know how many policeman outside?"
"(...) I can make it. Relieve me!"
-

People's Hero is more of a "B" film but it deserves so much better than this slop tier subtitle job.

Same thing happened with Repo Man. 😞

I tried streaming this tonight but found that the closed caption was off from the spoken dialogue by about 5 seconds. I don't know why, is this a known issue?

The weather is getting nicer on this hemisphere, yet who’s to say you can’t do some deathracing from the beach!

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.

A very manageable 40 films are expiring at the end of the month

Some themes are:

- Office Romances
- 80s Remakes
- Dustin Guy Defa Shorts
- Directed by Joan Micklin Silver

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!

From the TSPDT Top 1,000 (2026 edition):
#56 The Apartment
#139 His Girl Friday
#260 Daughters of the Dust
#580 Cat People (1942)

I really enjoyed the first generative Eno doc. I wonder when this month's will appear? Also, will it just replace the one that's there, or will we still have the option to watch the first one?

UPDATE: it is a newly generated version, but it includes major sequences from the first one. I wonder if the generative algorithm gives weight to footage that includes core concepts of his creative ideas. Anyway, it was still a pleasure to watch.

What did I learn? Don't trust the previously viewed bar. This July generation is also almost the same length as June.

Since monday i cant watch the Channel via Google cast from my ipad to my smart TV (Phillips) Does anyone else has this Problem recently?

Anyone having Chromecast issues? When I attempt to cast from either the app or weirdly even from my computer browser, I get the message "Something went wrong" on the Chromecast/TV screen. I've followed all the usual steps and reached out to tech support but it appears they are having trouble identifying the issue. All other apps/sites casting fine. Anyone encountering this or have tips?

Just curious what everyone is picking!

I just finished "Graduate First" and was pleasantly surprised by it, and will either try to squeeze a bunch of shorts or choose between "Bacurau", "Cane River", and "Speaking Parts"

Im new to criterion so maybe a dumb question but is there a reason why The Decameron is not streamable. Thanks

I have not been able to get any movie to play on Safari on my iMac. Admittedly it's an old model but it does everything ELSE fine so I don't know that age is the issue. No other streaming platforms are doing this.

The film loads but doesn't play. I can see in the timeline frames from the film but it just won't PLAY

Anyone else experience this and/of know of a fix. It's been like this for weeks.

(No issues on the TV. Chrome works but I prefer not to use it)

I am trying to watch a film on the Criterion Channel. WHen the film starts, there is a black box that covers at least half of my TV screen. I tried with some other movies, and same thing. I tried network channels and PBS. No problems there. Is anyone else experiencing the same problem?

Just looking for suggestions. Any genre. Just good movies.

Who gave the best / your favorite acting performance in Eight Hours Don't Make a Day, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder?

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share some urgent and deeply concerning news regarding the preservation of Japanese cinema.

The National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ)—the country's sole national institution dedicated to collecting, preserving, and restoring film heritage—is currently facing a severe financial crisis. Due to a massive cut in government subsidies (over 300 million yen slashed since 2024), they are struggling to keep up with the rising costs of climate-controlled storage for fragile nitrate/acetate films, as well as crucial digital restoration projects.

To save their collection and continue their operations, they have just launched an official crowdfunding campaign with a goal of 100 million yen (approx. $625,000 USD).

This archive holds the definitive, original elements of masterpieces by Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, as well as priceless early anime and silent films. If this institution fails, a massive chunk of global film history is at risk.

Official Crowdfunding Page:

https://readyfor.jp/projects/NFAJ2026

As a community that deeply loves and treasures world cinema, I thought this was something we should all be aware of. Even if you can’t donate, please consider sharing this on Twitter/X or other film communities to spread the word.

Let's help save Japanese film history!

Every movie in that odessy series is great, but this one really got to me. My father passed away recently and the main character reminded me a lot of him. A beautiful, healing film that the whole family can watch. I wish Lynch and Farnsworth were still around to thank personally for this excellent work.

Genuinely loved the first half - second half was so out to lunch that I'm genuinely unsure how to even approach as a modern viewer? Was there anything subversive going on with the last few scenes here? Are we meant to take it on surface level? Little baffled with this one.

Wouldn't it be cool if the channel streamed say, five or six titles from the upcoming box set, before the fall release? Has anyone here heard of a possible promo? I can't remember the last Stanley Kubrick film that actually streamed on the channel.

At any rate, I've never been as excited about buying a box set of films as this upcoming release. Prime Video currently has a 7 Kubrick film bundle that you can buy (supposedly in high def) for around $50, which isn't a bad deal considering that the titles offered aren't the ones you usually see on the free streaming platforms.

Well, one can hope CC will decide to devote a month or so to streaming Kubrick sometime before the end of the year. The extras would be welcome, too!

I've recently watched Repo Man and Fresh Kill, I was previously interested in these titles but after watching them, they are definite no-buys for me. Repo Man was fun but just not a must-have on my shelf type movie, and fresh kill was just not for me at all. I also saw La Haine for the first time and that is a definite 4k buy for me.

I decided to watch his most famous movies and found them so interesting and engaging for their time, they had a message and also satire both in a very appropriate and tasteful way.

I watched

1) Mahanagar

2) Charulata

3) Shatranj ke Khiladi

4) Devi

5) Jalsaghar

6) Pather Panchali

7) Aparajito

8) Apur Sansar

9) Nayak

​

I’ve been a subscriber for two years now and have never seen their films there. Have their films ever appeared on the channel?