In response to the disapointing Criterions thread, I'd love to see what people really enjoy from the colllection. I'm desperately trying to find great titles to pick up in the Barnes and Noble sale. I think my favorite would have to be Blast of Silence. This movie is all about what the CC stands for. An obscure film given the A list treatment. Wonderful extras too!

by Brakhage. Its a *bunch* of obscure films by who is arguably the most important non-Hollywood film maker in American cinema. That's one of my favorites, and probably the Criterion discs I've popped into my player the most. Though its certainly not for everyone.

I also dig the Eric Rohmer box, and really wish they'd put out more of those. Or Perceval le Gallois! That'd be sweet.

I'll have to think about others, but one that immediately comes to mind is Le Trou.

While they're not the most obscure choices, I don't think any collection should be complete without:

Seven Samurai: 3 disc
Brazil: 3 disc
Army of Shadows

A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds
John Cassavetes: Five Films
Jules and Jim
Mouchette
Pandora's Box

Dazed and Confused, Do the Right Thing and Chasing Amy

^DO the Right Thing is easily one of my favorite movies in the CC but I would prob. recommend the new cheaper universal 2-disk cause of the new extras.
I wold recommend:
Night On Earth
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2-disk)
Fanny and Alexander (5-disk)
Walker
The ICe Storm
Amarcord

The Rock

Armageddon

I recommend The Vanishing, Missing, Spirit of the Beehive, The Third Man, F for Fake, Tokyo Olympiad, La Strada and can go on and on.

There are so many great titles--in addition the ones already mentioned, I'd have to add The Seventh Seal, Le Cercle Rouge (anything Melville, really--a terrific director), The Passion of Joan of Arc and M.

My personal favorites, out of the ones I've managed to watch:

Notorious (out of print, unfortunately)
Chungking Express (also on Blu-ray)
The Double Life of Veronique
Repulsion (out next week)
Ran (also OOP, but still easy to find - I'd grab it now)
Eyes Without a Face
Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau)
Videodrome (really cool packaging)
In the Mood for Love
Contempt (also OOP, but still easy to find)

Grey Gardens / Beales of Grey Gardens
Ice Storm
Dazed and Confused
The Royal Tenenbaums (my favorite movie!)
Videodrome
Sálo (if you can enjoy it)
Picnic At Hanging Rock (my second favorite movie!)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

anything Dreyer
Wages of Fear
Divorce Italian Style
Sword of Doom
Onibaba
Youth of the Beast
Battle of Algiers
Bob le Flambeur

Au hasard Balthazar is my favorite Criterion.

Solaris
8 ½
Rififi
Videodrome
Straw Dogs
Au Hasard Balthazar
Le Samourai
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Pickpocket
Eisenstein : The Sound Years
That Obscure Object of Desire
Fassbinder : The BRD Trilogy

Yojimbo (Re-issue)
Brazil
Flesh For Frankenstein
Do The Right Thing
Gimme Shelter
Slacker
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Out of my (admittedly small) personal collection of Criterion discs, I love the French horror film "Eyes Without a Face" and the awesome Orson Welles documentary/magic trick "F for Fake."

"Peeping Tom" is great also.

Army of Shadows is a must have and definitely my favorite Criterion.

not sure I could pick out favorites but great blind surprises were Spirit of the Beehive, Le Cercle Rouge and Winter Light

It would be easy to list a bunch more, but for now I'll go with these 6:

Bicycle Thieves
Grey Gardens
M
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Wild Strawberries

The Killer...but sadly, it is mine no more

Videodrome. Both in terms of loving the film and the DVD having great features. The Cronenberg commentary is excellent as expected, but there's a 2nd commentary with James Woods that has to be the most interesting & insightful commentary I've heard by an actor. I actually understood more about Marshall McLuhan from James Woods than Cronenberg.

There's also a great 80's archival featurette on disc 2 called "Fear on Film" where Mick Garris conducts a roundtable interview with Cronenberg, John Carpenter & John Landis.

In the Mood for Love

I love a lot of the titles in the collection, but some of my personal favorites are:

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel (I love "The 400 Blows", but I'm also quite fond of the rest of the films in the series too)
The Battle of Algiers
Ballad of a Soldier
if...
I Vitelloni (possibly my favorite Fellini, though I like or love nearly all of his films)
Naked (certainly not for everyone's tastes, but I've been kind of obsessed with it since first watching it last year)
Le Notti Bianche
Sawdust and Tinsel
Seduced and Abandoned
The Shop on Main Street

A few I can remember...

Eyes Without a Face
Le Samourai
Le Cercle Rouge
Pickup on South Street
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
Youth of the Beast
Fiend Without a Face
Videodrome
Dazed & Confused