Archive for the 'The Criterion Collection' Category
November 17th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in February to the Criterion Collection: Network, a prescient X-ray of the corrupted soul of a corporate-dominated America, directed by Sidney Lumet; The Man Who Wasn’t There, Joel and Ethan Coen’s existential noir thriller set in 1940s California; Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals, four elegant, bawdy pre-Code movie musicals from Ernst Lubitsch; and, fresh from theaters, Cloud, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s darkly comic, gonzo revenge thriller. Plus: now on 4K UHD—3:10 to Yuma, a psychologically complex western directed by Delmer Daves, and PlayTime, Jacques Tati’s nearly wordless comedy about confusion in an age of high technology—and, on stand-alone Blu-ray, A Woman Under the Influence, a benchmark of American independent cinema from John Cassavetes.
Continue reading ‘Lubitsch, Kurosawa, Coen Brothers, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2026’
September 16th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in December: Return to Reason, four swirling surrealist dreams from Man Ray, set to an ethereal score by SQÜRL; Salaam Bombay!, Mira Nair’s kaleidoscopic portrait of Bombay’s teeming street life; Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, an eccentric 1980s pop-culture comedy touchstone directed by Tim Burton; and David Byrne’s American Utopia, Spike Lee’s ecstatic documentary capturing the transcendent power of song. Plus: His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks, one of the fastest, funniest, and most quotable films ever made; and I Know Where I’m Going!, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s windswept enchantment in the Scottish Hebrides—now on 4K UHD.
–
Continue reading ‘Tim Burton, Spike Lee, Howard Hawks, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection December 2025’
August 18th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in November from the Criterion Collection: Eyes Wide Shut, a tantalizing labyrinth crafted by Stanley Kubrick, one of cinema’s greatest visionaries; Él, a warped tale of wayward love from surrealist master Luis Buñuel; House Party, Reginald Hudlin’s feel-good comedy snapshot of 1990s hip-hop culture; and Hell’s Angels, a high-flying feat of adventure filmmaking, directed by Howard Hughes. Plus: The Breakfast Club, John Hughes’s era-defining pop-culture phenomenon, now on 4K UHD; and Burden of Dreams, Les Blank’s extraordinary document of a fearless director, now on 4K UHD and Blu-ray. Also this month, Eclipse from Criterion presents Abbas Kiarostami: Early Shorts and Features, a selection of early works from a legend of world cinema.
– Continue reading ‘Eyes Wide Shut, House Party, Breakfast Club 4K & More Coming to the Criterion Collection November 2025’
July 15th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in October from The Criterion Collection: A History of Violence, a provocative deconstruction of the American action hero from David Cronenberg; Deep Crimson, a deliriously perverse portrait of obsessive love, directed by Arturo Ripstein; Altered States, a mind-expanding cinematic head trip, directed by Ken Russell; and Nightmare Alley, Guillermo del Toro’s noirish vision of the world as a carnival of corruption. Plus: Eyes Without a Face, an influential horror masterpiece directed by Georges Franju, and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, David Lynch’s resurrection of a tortured, enigmatic heroine—now on 4K UHD. And from Criterion Premieres: The Shrouds, Cronenberg’s heady thriller about grief, mortality, and love.
Continue reading ‘Cronenberg, Del Toro, Lynch, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection October 2025’
June 16th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in September from The Criterion Collectoin: Born in Flames, a DIY fantasia of female rebellion from Lizzie Borden; Flow, Gints Zilbalodis’s Academy Award–winning animated international sensation; Read My Lips and The Beat That My Heart Skipped, two tour-de-force thrillers from modern French master Jacques Audiard; and—now on 4K UHD—This Is Spinal Tap, a legendary mock rockumentary directed by Rob Reiner, and High and Low, Akira Kurosawa’s highly influential police procedural. Plus: The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years, our previously announced twenty-disc collector’s set celebrating a true American original, alongside two of his spellbindingly intricate adventures, Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun.
Continue reading ‘Spinal Tap, Wes Anderson, Kurosaw and More Coming to The Criterion Collection September 2025’
May 28th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
From The Criterion Collection – Wes Anderson’s first ten films represent twenty-five years (1996-2021) of irrepressible creativity, an ongoing ode to outsiders and quixotic dreamers, and a world unto themselves, graced with a mischievous wit and a current of existential melancholy that flows through every captivating frame. This momentous twenty-disc collector’s set includes new 4K masters of the films, over twenty-five hours of special features, and ten illustrated books, presented in a deluxe clothbound edition.
–
– Continue reading ‘Criteron Collection Presents The Wes Anderson Archive (1996-2021) On 4K UHD This September’
May 16th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in August from the Criterion Collection: A Confucian Confusion / Mahjong, a pair of sharp satires from one of Taiwan’s most celebrated directors, Edward Yang; Cairo Station, Youssef Chahine’s noir-melodrama set on the streets of Cairo; Shoeshine, an Italian neorealist fable of innocence lost directed by Vittorio De Sica; Compensation, Zeinabu irene Davis’s portrait of Deaf African Americans and the complexities of love; and Saving Face, Alice Wu’s queer romantic comedy set in multicultural New York City. Plus: Fires on the Plain and The Burmese Harp, two powerful works from Kon Ichikawa, one of Japanese cinema’s most versatile filmmakers—now on Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
Continue reading ‘Cairo Station, Shoeshine, Compensation, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection August 2025’
April 15th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in July from The Criterion Collection: The Big Heat, a hard-boiled tale of vice and retribution directed by Fritz Lang; Carnal Knowledge, an unnervingly frank look at American masculinity in the postwar era, directed by Mike Nichols; and Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me, a soulful study of the complexities of a sibling relationship. Plus: Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick’s sumptuously crafted vision of a pitiless aristocracy, and The Adventures of Antoine Doinel, the celebrated saga from François Truffaut that chronicled one of the most indelible characters of the French New Wave—now on 4K UHD.
– Continue reading ‘Kubrick, Truffaut, Lang, Lonergan, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection July 2025’
March 16th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
It is truly a great time to be a Godzilla fan. The 70+-year-old character is as popular as it ever was. That appreciation has led to spectacular new films and the release of older ones on modern formats. Godzilla vs. Biollante is one of my favorite Godzilla films, let alone my favorite of the 80s/90s Heisei era. Still, it was also known for a long time as one of the more difficult entries to get a hold of. Thanks to the Criterion Collection, this 4K UHD release delivers this wonderfully strange addition to the franchise onto a disc that has allowed for an excellent new transfer, some fun bonus features, and more.
– Continue reading ‘Godzilla vs. Biollante – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
March 14th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in June to the Criterion Collection: The Wiz, a dazzling soul spin on a landmark tale, directed by Sidney Lumet; Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser, an intimate record of a jazz visionary from Charlotte Zwerin; Midnight, a topsy-turvy screwball comedy directed by Mitchell Leisen; William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, a pulse-pounding, hallucinatory thriller; and François Girard’s Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, an unconventional portrait of an iconoclastic pianist. Plus: Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, a visually stunning biopic of a controversial Japanese author, and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, a dystopian epic about a daydreaming bureaucrat—now on 4K UHD.
–
Continue reading ‘Sorcerer, The Wiz, Brazil 4K and More Coming to The Criterion Collection June 2025’
February 14th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in May: Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, a quiet revelation of American independent filmmaking; Withnail and I and How to Get Ahead in Advertising, two indelible comedies from maverick British writer-director Bruce Robinson; Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us, a meditative masterpiece set in rural Iran; and The Three Musketeers/The Four Musketeers, a two-part swashbuckling spectacular directed by Richard Lester. Plus: Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time, and In the Heat of the Night, a Hollywood classic from the civil rights era directed by Norman Jewison—now on 4K UHD.
Continue reading ‘Burnett, Lester, Kiarostami, Demy, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection May 2025’
January 15th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in April: Anora from The Criterion Collection, a whirlwind anti–Cinderella story, and Prince of Broadway, a moving exploration of the illusory nature of the American dream, from the singular modern auteur Sean Baker; Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring, a sprawling tale of greed and betrayal amid the French countryside, directed by Claude Berri; and Basquiat, Julian Schnabel’s impressionistic portrait of the celebrated artist. PLUS: Ugetsu, an exquisite ghost story directed by Kenji Mizoguchi; Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, a defining work of 1990s cinema; and Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, one of the funniest, most beloved films of all time—now on 4K UHD.
Continue reading ‘Anora, Basquiat, Chungking Express 4K, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection April 2025’
December 27th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Sitting as one of the premiere entries in their filmography, if not the greatest one they’ve made, No Country for Old Men is an incredible film from Joel and Ethan Coen. Adapted from the 2005 novel by the late Cormac McCarthy, this neo-noir western thriller finds the brothers exploring fate, self-determination, nihilism, and circumstance, not unlike many of their other features but handled brutal sincerity and pitch-black humor. The film would go on to be one of the Coens’ biggest successes in terms of both box office and critical acclaim, as it would go on to win many major awards, including Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The Criterion Collection has now seen fit to bring this masterpiece to 4K, complete with a terrific new transfer and a few new extras. That’s good enough for a coin toss.
Continue reading ‘No Country for Old Men – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
December 13th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in March to the Criterion Collection: A Woman of Paris, Charlie Chaplin’s long-overlooked silent masterpiece; Godzilla vs. Biollante, a high point in the mythology of the King of the Monsters, directed by Kazuki Omori; Night Moves, Arthur Penn’s haunting 1970s neo-noir; and Choose Me, a seductive neon dream about human desire, directed by Alan Rudolph. PLUS: Michael Mann’s Thief, the American auteur’s stylish debut, and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear, one of the greatest thrillers ever made—now on 4K UHD.
–
Continue reading ‘Godzilla vs. Biollante, Night Moves, Thief 4K and More Coming to The Criterion Collection March 2025’
December 1st, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Like Godzilla, the other Criterion Collection film recently released on 4K UHD, Seven Samurai also turns 70 this year. It’s been treated to a full-on 4K restoration that was toured worldwide in theaters. Often regarded as the “Best Japanese Film of All Time” and one of the greatest and most influential films in cinema history, Akira Kurosawa’s epic samurai action classic is easily one of my favorite films. Whether it’s the story, the characters, the action, the grand sweeping nature of the film, or just the excitement and fun that comes with this story, it is satisfying in pretty much any way I look at it, along with being as essential as plenty of other classics, be it Citizen Kane, The Battle of Algiers, or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now presented with a new restoration, the film looks better than ever at home, with the continued presence of the terrific extras that have accompanied previous releases.
–
Continue reading ‘Seven Samurai – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
November 29th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
At this point, it’s pretty clear that I’m happy to talk about anything Godzilla-related. I’ve written my share of posts on Why So Blu regarding the King of the Monsters. The original 1954 Gojira was previously released by the Criterion Collection on Blu-ray over a decade ago at this point, followed by a massive Showa Era collection release for Criterion’s #1000 spine. A 4K upgrade for director Ishiro Honda’s classic made plenty of sense. Fortunately, it delivers as well as it can. Along with maintaining the fun extras from the previous release, this newest version has stomped its way onto a UHD disc and looks and sounds excellent as a result.
–
Continue reading ‘Godzilla – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
November 18th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming to the Criterion Collection in February: King Lear, Jean-Luc Godard’s radical anti-adaptation of Shakespeare; Crossing Delancey, a love letter to 1980s Manhattan directed by Joan Micklin Silver; Drugstore Cowboy, Gus Van Sant’s lyrical Pacific Northwest addiction drama; and Performance, a transgressive journey to the dark side of London bohemia, directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg. Plus: Cronos, Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy about the seductiveness of immortality, and Punch-Drunk Love, the giddily off-kilter romantic comedy from Paul Thomas Anderson, now on 4K UHD.
– Continue reading ‘Jean-Luc Godard, Gus Van Sant, Paul Thomas Anderson and More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2025’
October 15th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in January from the Criterion Collection: The Mother and the Whore, the long-unavailable 1970s magnum opus from Jean Eustache; Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, a lacerating self-portrait by legendary comedian Richard Pryor; The Grifters, Stephen Frears’s pulpy, dark-hearted neo-noir; and Winchester ’73, Anthony Mann’s landmark, genre-redefining western. Plus: Yojimbo/Sanjuro, two of the most iconic and influential samurai films, by Akira Kurosawa, now on 4K UHD.
–
– Continue reading ‘The Grifters, Winchester ’73, Yojimbo 4K, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection January 2025′
Coming in February to the Criterion Collection: Network, a prescient X-ray of the corrupted soul of a corporate-dominated America, directed by Sidney Lumet; The Man Who Wasn’t There, Joel and Ethan Coen’s existential noir thriller set in 1940s California; Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals, four elegant, bawdy pre-Code movie musicals from Ernst Lubitsch; and, fresh from theaters, Cloud, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s darkly comic, gonzo revenge thriller. Plus: now on 4K UHD—3:10 to Yuma, a psychologically complex western directed by Delmer Daves, and PlayTime, Jacques Tati’s nearly wordless comedy about confusion in an age of high technology—and, on stand-alone Blu-ray, A Woman Under the Influence, a benchmark of American independent cinema from John Cassavetes.
