The Criterion Channel

No other streaming service out there makes watching great cinema quite so accessible. Mubi is great, Kanopy and Fandor are also good, but the Criterion Channel is exactly what we needed after FilmStruck, the former greatest thing ever, was shut down last year. In many respects, Criterion Channel is better, as it is easier to navigate and more appealing to the eye. The catalog is smaller, but with time I imagine it will expand to the great size of the late FilmStruck catalog. Nevertheless, the catalog currently available is chock full of great cinema, new and old, domestic and foreign, entertainment and artistic. There’s a film in here for everyone, and the app makes finding such films super easy. The way the app features films on the front page is very unique, as rather than an algorithm aggregating a bunch of movies under some generic genre title such as “independent dramas” a la Netflix, the people working on this app create a new themed collection of a few films every days. There are double features, short + feature pairs, director highlights, studio highlights, female filmmaker spotlights, etc. Long live cinema, and love live the Criterion Channel!

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When Criterion announces their streaming service I signed up as a charter member on day one. The day the app went live I was there. I was ready. Then I was extremely disappointed. I’m only going to say what so many others have said in these reviews and what Criterion keeps ignoring apparently. No full list of every title. They instead gave us a list on a separate website?! Then I use that list to add all the titles I’m interested in. Look at the list, switch back to the app, search the app, add the film. This literally took me 90 minutes to do. Then I realized that there was a limit to how many films could be in your wishlist! Are you kidding me?! So half the titles I added pushed out/deleted the other half. Add to this the horrible, almost unusable interface and search function and I sadly deleted my membership and the app. Over the past two months I come here and check the release notes to see if these things have been corrected. Nope. Criterion doesn’t seem to care. As the developers of this app they have the ability to read the reviews here and add their own response. But they don’t. I suppose the reason why is because they have no intention of improving this app. Which is sad. I am a huge fan of film and the criterion collection. It’s been painful to watch this company sabotage it’s own product and ignore user complaints and concerns.

Awesome collection of movies. They group some by interesting themes like the recent ‘caught on tape’ and ‘heist’ lists. They have others lists like women filmmakers or Martin scorcese’s world cinema project or double features with unique themes. There are also short videos of filmmakers talking about their favorite movies. I think generally quite a few of those movies are simultaneously available. I just wish criterion gets hold of more newer movies at least from the past two decades. Like Todd Solondz’s Happiness, or Miranda July’s Me and you and Everyone we know or Richard Ayoade’s The Double or lesser known international gems like a death in the Gunj or so many others I just heard of but never got to see. But that has nothing to do with the app. As for the app please keep grouping movies by themes or moods or tropes, it makes a person like me feel like bingeing those set movies rather than those occasional gems which I heard are good but remain in my to watch list for a long time. And also more favorite movie lists of filmmakers. That’s it, thanks for releasing criterion movies in a streaming app

If you’re interested in the kind of material Criterion puts out, there’s no reason not to get the Criterion Channel. In addition to almost all of Criterion’s films, supplements, interviews, and commentaries, there are also great non-Criterion films added every month for a limited time. For example, they recently featured pre-code Barbara Stanwyck films and are currently featuring MGM technicolor musicals like The Band Wagon and Meet me in St. Louis. This rotating lineup gives subscribers an incentive to stick around and see what new films the first of the month will bring. The app itself works very well, but has a few flaws. In particular, there’s no way to access the complete list of available films, so it can be tough to find what movies that you aren’t already aware of if they don’t happen to be featured. The app supports Picture-in-picture, but the corner screen sometimes goes black and can only be restored by closing the app and firing up the film again. Beyond those nitpicks, the app is easy to use, and everything that’s on the app is available to download for offline viewing.

The Channel is wonderful! Of course I’m loving the enormous library and the ability to experience so many different films from all over the world that I didn’t even know existed. The player is also a big improvement from the one used on Filmstruck. Much easier to use I find. If I had one criticism, it would only be that I wish there were more genre fare. I’m sure the intention is to stick to films that are only the Criterion list, but I do wish that the site featured more Hammer horror films or perhaps Hong Kong action films. I recall Filmstruck having more of a genre selection in its library. This I feel is important not simply for my own benefit but also for those who’ve not yet experienced them and can’t find them on other sites. That aside, I love the site. I love the library. I love the app. Y’all are doing an awesome job and I truly appreciate the effort to bring such great cinema to those living in an increasingly streaming exclusive world. Thank you all! You’ll always have a customer in me.