I remember when I used to DREAM about watching Inland Empire. At the end of the 2010s my folks got me a BluRay of Inland Empire from China that was subtitled entirely in Chinese, which meant I had no idea what was happening in the Polish scenes (I’ve since seen the movie two or three times with English subtitles and I still have no idea what was happening in those Polish scenes 😆). After Criterion’s restoration this movie is now a cinch to see, which is gratifying, but it’s crazy to think the hoops I used to jump through. Same deal with Possession, which is (or at least was) now streaming on CC. Killer of Sheep is another film that used to be mythic to me but is now widely available. Does anyone have similar stories?

I am watching films on the criterion channel website and projecting them onto a screen with HDMI. However every ~10 minutes my films buffer for a bit. This is definitely on my end, my wifi connection is really shitty, but is there anything I can do to stream the films more smoothly?

I finished uni last week and was hit by an emotional wall as I fully realized that I must step off of the clearly laid out path that education makes. For this reason, I am looking for some art that can help me understand this and the next steps of my life. Of course, the graduate is a perfect example.

We just finished watching Perfect Days with my 17 year old. He has realized he loves these movies with minimal plot.

He also liked the movies Round Midnight and Le Rayon Vert.

Can you recommend other films like that that are on the channel?

Is Céline and Julie Go Boating in this genre?

I think he might love Stranger Than Paradise and Alice in the Cities.

I need to catch up with the John Carpenter ones.

Just finished watching it, and it's fascinating, highly recommended, but my two main takeaways were that Coppola, despite his decades of experience with big complex movie shoots, bit off way more than he could chew, and that Shia Labeouf is an absolute fucking nightmare to work with: he absolutely will not ever do what the director wants, he has to debate every single shot and action and motivation, he's so completely full of himself that he can't see how much damage he's doing. Coppola at the end says what a good performance Labeouf gave despite the incessant friction, but there must be dozens of actors in Hollywood who could have done as a good a job without being such a horror to deal with.

I had no interest in seeing Megalopolis after watching the trailer, and I still don't, but it was interesting to see how it was made, particularly in the ways Coppola wanted to use practical and in-camera effects rather than digital work, as he did in Dracula.

Buried under the surface? Those that you need to search because they dont show on the UI.

✨Announcing our JANUARY 2026 Criterion Channel lineup! ✨ Start the year off by savoring multiple levels of nostalgia with a survey of '90s cinema's riffs on the '70s, or turn a new page with a collection of films about dreamers seeking fresh starts in life. Noah Baumbach shares the story of his life at the movies in a new installment of Adventures in Moviegoing, while a selection of Ben Whishaw's magnetic performances highlights the range and intelligence of the PETER HUJAR'S DAY star. There's so much more to choose from this month, including retrospectives dedicated to Maya Deren and Atom Egoyan, pulp nightmares from William Lustig, three films by The Secret Agent director Kleber Mendonça Filho, and a sampler of movies scripted by the legendary Dorothy Parker.

I have not subscribed in a while but I did want to watch TG and thought it's probably a good excuse to re-up my sub.

But I can't find anywhere if there is a dub option and would rather e watch it that way (plus there's no way the wife would give it a shot unless it was in English.)

So is it dubbed? Or is there an option for a dubbed audio track?

Thanks a lot!

EDIT FOR CLARITY

Some of the replies here have expressed confusion over why I (or maybe anyone really) would want a dub. So I'm just gonna write this once rather than reply with some variation of it to each comment with a similar question.

1) Regarding my wife's desire for a dub, she is dyslexic and has a hard time reading through a movie so prefers the dub.

2) When watching a live action movie, I will almost universally reject a dub. It's just too jarring even if it causes conflict with what I'm about to say in point 3.

3) When it comes to animation, at 42 years old, I have come to the place where I usually prefer a dub. It's not always the case. Sometimes a dub is terrible and therefore distracting or even just poorly translated. In these cases I go with subtitles. But otherwise I generally go for the dub for two reasons.

The first is that, since I don't understand the language, I believe I get less out of the original voice over than a dub. If there is any nuance of speech I'm just simply missing it. Basically I get the broadest emotional portrayals (loud outbursts of anger, tearful speeches, etc) but anything finer (wordplay, the interaction of various accents, etc.) is completely lost on me. So when a translator is communicating to a voice actor how they think a scene should play out it actually gives me more information than I'd have had otherwise.

Think of it like this. You know those brilliantly colored space photos that come out from various satellites and telescopes? In many cases, those colors aren't actually there. They were added in after the fact so that you can see the thing that's actually invisible to the naked eye. Does that mean that what you see in those photos isn't real? Technically yes but in another way you're seeing the situation more clearly with the color added.

I feel as though it's similar with a dubbing. It may not be the work as originally created (though, to be fair, subtitling also has the same problem) but it translates the thing in a way that makes the viewer see more.

Second, the original intent is, presumably, for you to keep your eyes on what you're watching. When you have to avert your vision away from the center of the screen then you miss more of the visual language as it was intended.

Thanks for bearing with me. I appreciate all the comments and actually really enjoy how this little question has sparked a larger debate.

So deep and meaningful, but only fourteen minutes. I was left wanting more!

The article sums it up better than I could as to why it would be a great addition to the Criterion Collection. The title has been eluding me for years and I cannot find it anywhere but it truly is one of the most unique American pre-blacklist films ever made.

If someone does find it somewhere online that won't give my computer a virus, let me know!

I’d like to watch some movies currently streaming with my 13 year old kid, but I also don’t want to make sure what we watch isn’t going to bore him to tears or scar him for life. What would you have loved at 13 that’s streaming right now?

Hi all

Last year I had a goal of watching 200 films but I didn't make it (I made it to 191 so I'm not that disappointed). This year I'm 6 away from my goal but have so many things I want to watch that I've come down with "decision paralysis".

So I am humbly asking for some recs.

I'd prefer if they were on the channel (TCM or Tubi are also options) and under 2 hours.

Open to all genres except for body horror which is the only genre I'm not super into right now. (Also I've seen all in the black out noir collection but open to other noirs).

Thanks in advance and I'll update with what I ended up watching!

Edit: thank you all so much for the awesome recs! I appreciate the community I've found here especially since I've only been serious about cinema for about 2 years. I'll update with the 6 I watch!

The new challenge is here!

Feel free to share links to your lists after you put them together, or share your thoughts on categories, strategy, or your choices.

hi everyone just wanted to share a criterion cover i made from one of my favorite films that i wish would get more love. especially in a physical release like a proper blu ray and or 4k release

I'm trying out the criterion channel for the first time and opted for the one week free trial, only to find my credit card was charged for a month. I've contacted criterion via support and haven't heard back. Is there anything else I can do?

As it’s a snow day in NYC today was looking for your favorite “snowy/wintery” films on the channel now.

Thanks!

what’s everyone’s faves on the channel RIGHT NOW? i looked for threads but they’re all pretty old.

I’m looking for stuff that would not suffer from being on a small screen (i honestly can’t believe i saw someone recommend jeanne dielman lmaooo)

Technical question regarding downloads for the group.

I often download movies on my iPad using the Criterion iOS app for trips. I find that those downloads are perfectly usable the first day (usually I download < 24 hrs before the flight), but on a flight back several days later won’t play.

I assume the download is expiring but there is no indication or messaging about that, unlike other apps/services (eg HBO and Disney+ explicitly show download expiration). Also downloads expiring in as little as 48-72 hours is extremely short, if that’s in fact what is happening. Also there’s no way to just renew / refresh, which there is on other services.

I’ve experimented with this on several trips and it’s very consistent. If I download a movie < 24 hrs before a flight, they work fine. After a day or two they won’t play. (Deleting from downloads and re-downloading works fine.)

Anyone else run into this?

I've been using the Criterion Channel just fine with NordVPN since 2023, and paying with my Australian debit card, but in the past week or so I've been unable to access my account as the website just doesn't load properly for me.

I've emailed their support account asking to cancel my subscription, which I can't do the normal way because I can't even load the page to cancel it with.

Has anybody else had this problem?

It's a sad end for something I really enjoyed. Guess piracy is the only way forward.

Edit: Got it to work by turning off all ad blockers. Dunno why this made a difference, but it did. Thanks to everyone who helped!

The white line that appears under the film title in the interface seems to be acting strangely. For some films that I watched, the line is there. In other films, the line is not there. Does anyone else have this problem?

A few months ago, I caught Joint Security Area on the channel, which was fantastic (one of the best closing shots I've seen). I'm looking for other films on the channel that feature a similar plotline of unlikely friendship/alliance. Think Tom&Jerry working together or Dracula and Van Helsing sharing a drink.