CardiffGiant

Trevor started this challenge back in 2009 and much of the language and spirit of the challenge has remained. Others, like MinLShaw, have made significant contributions.

Think of this as an un-Challenge. The only goal is to watch Criterion content and share your experience with the rest of us. There is no specific number goal, no winners, no losers, no prizes.

This is not about bulk watching. Just watch however much you would normally watch in a month, but concentrate it on Criterion content as much as you can/want. In fact, bulk watching is discouraged, as that will limit your time for discussion and for immersing yourself in a film. Fully exploring a film is highly encouraged. Instead of racing through films and watching three or more in one day, why not fully experience each Criterion disc? Watch the film a second time with the audio commentary. Watch all of the special features on the disc. Read the insert booklet. Go on Criterion's website and read some of the essays for that film.

There will be a separate thread to include your lists as linked above. Be creative and personalize it however you wish - use one post for the whole month, daily posts, weekly posts, give reviews, provide IMDB links, add YouTube videos, add images, etc. It's recommended that you provide a link to your list(s) in your signature for easy access.

What qualifies? Any film, short, video or DVD supplemental feature that has been released by Criterion qualifies. The film does not have to watched on an actual Criterion disc. You may watch the film on any format imaginable, provided that it is the same film that Criterion has released. For example, the film Silence of the Lambs was released by Criterion on DVD/BD. But you don't have to watch the movie on that particular DVD/BD. You can watch it on VHS, on broadcast TV, on the internet, UMD, iTunes, or any of the various DVD/BD releases SOTL has had. Additionally, any title released by Criterion exclusively on streaming is eligible for this challenge.

Discussion and debate on how to change the Challenge is encouraged. We may not make changes in this current year, but there's always next year.

A daily journal sort of entry is recommended for your list. Since counting is not required or "scored" in any way, you are free to be as creative as you wish in how you list items. Bolding of your item titles is encouraged, if only to make them stand out to allow others to quickly see if they have seen the same items and wish to comment. Give reviews. Even if it's just a mini-review, a simple /, or a one word description.

In the inaugural challenge, Fist of Doom suggested a daily summary. Many did this; some did not. Now that we have examples from the previous years, it may be best to look at what has been done during 2009 for inspiration.

Check out the full list of Criterion and Eclipse DVD and BD releases here. Criterion's website allows for sorting by Brand, Format, Director, Country, Decade, and Features. This will allow easy searching for working through needed checklist items.

There are some titles currently streaming on Netflix, including a number of OOP titles. At this time last year, it appeared as though all Criterion/Eclipse titles would be gone from Netflix, but there are still some lingering.

There are many Criterion titles available on Hulu Plus. Last year we decided to count any title available on Criterion's Hulu Plus site. These include titles that Criterion has the rights to, but has yet to release on DVD/BD. Hulu Plus is offers a standard 1-week free trial. Additionally, Criterion regularly rotates new titles for "free" viewing on Hulu (usually 3-4 titles). Criterion regularly updates the free titles on Facebook.

Criterion titles occasionally appear on broadcast television. Keep an eye on this discussion thread for upcoming broadcasts.

Wikipedia list of Criterion Laserdisc releases.

For inspiration on how to format your own list check out the 2009 List Thread and the 2010 List Thread.

Optional Checklist

The checklist is completely optional. It is just a "fun" inclusion to give one a sense of accomplishment, to help one diversify viewing, or to use as a guide on what to watch next.

Watch one film from every decade covered by Criterion.
--- 1920 - (insert film title here)
--- 1930 -
--- 1940 -
--- 1950 -
--- 1960 -
--- 1970 -
--- 1980 -
--- 1990 -
--- 2000 -
--- 2010 (Optional) -

Watch films in at least five languages.
--- First language, (insert language), (insert title).
--- Second language, (insert language), (insert title).
--- Third language, (insert language), (insert title).
--- Fourth language, (insert language), (insert title).
--- Fifth language, (insert language), (insert title).

Watch films from five different directors in Criterion’s top 10 (Kurosawa, Bergman, Ozu, Malle, Fellini, Renoir, Powell, Godard, Truffaut, Melville)
--- First Director, (insert title)
--- Second Director, (insert title)
--- Third Director, (insert title)
--- Fourth Director, (insert title)
--- Fifth Director, (insert title)

Watch a film from five different “themes” on Criterion’s website
--- First Theme name, (insert title)
--- Second Theme name, (insert title)
--- Third Theme name, (insert title)
--- Fourth Theme name, (insert title)
--- Fifth Theme name, (insert title)

Watch something from spine number range:
--- 001-050 -
--- 051-100 -
--- 101-150 -
--- 151-200 -
--- 201-250 -
--- 251-300 -
--- 301-350 -
--- 351-400 -
--- 401-450 -
--- 451-500 -
--- 501-550 –
--- 551-600 -
--- 601-650 -
--- an Eclipse title -
--- Watch a title not released on DVD by Criterion -

--- Watch a film which won an Academy Award -
--- Watch a film with commentary –
--- Read an Essay -
--- Watch a short -
--- Watch a Criterion disc completely. Every part of it. -
--- Watch an entire Criterion Collector's Set/Eclipse Box Set -

(One film could fill multiple items. Example: Fanny & Alexander would qualify for a decade, language, spine number range, theme (Blue Christmases), Academy Award, and possibly more.)

(Change "---" to "-X-" or some similar mark when you have completed that line item.)

The challenge officially begins August 31 at dusk in whatever location you are in at the time, and ends on October 1st at dawn in whatever location you are in at that time. Also, feel free to time your final Criterion film(s) to coincide with the start of the Horror Challenge.

Last year, MinLShaw provided the following links, which are quite helpful.

Criterion.com
Twitter - @Criterion
Flickchart - The Best Criterion Collection Films
Flickchart: The Blog - Criterion Commentaries
ICheckMovies.com - The Criterion Collection
Flickchart - Criterion Collection on Hulu
Flickchart - Criterion Eclipse Titles
Flickchart - Criterion Collection

CardiffGiant

I started this a bit early this year, I had a few free moments and I thought it would be good to put it on everyone's radar.

I only made a few slight changes to last year's list:

1. I added Jean-Pierre Melville and removed Roberto Rossellini. I actually changed it because I was counting "Criterion" (not Eclipse) films and thought Melville had surpassed Rossellini. If you include Eclipse, Rossellini is at 9 films; Melville at 8. I can change it back, but I kind of like having Melville in there. In the end, it doesn't really matter, but I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.

2. I changed the spine number range from 50 to 60. It's an incremental change, but one I feel had to be made because of the ever-increasing size in the number of films. Again, your opinions would be appreciated, but I think it's best to encourage depth rather than breadth and I think expanding the range helps (ever so slightly) with that goal.

Looking back at last year's thread, it looks like discussion really took off for a while there and I think that's one of the best things about this challenge: discussing the films with each other, whether in a mini-review in your List Thread post and/or in the Discussion Thread. I'll wait a while before starting the List Thread (somewhere in the mid-late 20s of August).

smurr05

I guess I'm a liitle late on this one as I recently have been watching many of the Criterions I purchased from the recent B&N sale. And I will keep watching them as I thoroughly enjoy the films this company consistently puts out!

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Here's the challenge where I try and watch Criterions I haven't seen before and realize how many foreign films, and their directors, I really don't like. If I'm lucky, I'll get a couple that are decent enough but I've seen some awful smelling turds.

If the horror challenge does go through with the overlapping day, then I'll be happy. I have some that count. Even though I've seen all those before, I haven't watched the discs I bought. Off the top of my head, I'll watch Fiend without A Face and The Devil and Daniel Webster. I don't own The Blob but that's one I've been really waiting to come out on blu-ray.

shadokitty

I have a few Criterion titles, and a few movies that aren't Criterion but have been released as a Criterion, such as Gojira.

Ash Ketchum

I have tons of Criterion/Eclipse box sets, only one of which I've watched all the way through. A few of the sets contain films that are pretty short (an hour or so each), so I should be able to get through those. (The Silent Naruse box is like this, and, I think, the Travels with Shimizu set.)

The difficulty for me is getting through long movies that require a lot of attention, e.g., Kobayashi's THE HUMAN CONDITION trilogy, which is, like, 9 hours long. Or TOKYO STORY, which is, like, two-and-a-half hours. Or some of the long Kurosawas. They're too long to watch in evenings after work (I fall asleep pretty quickly) so I have to start them early on a weekend and skip various chores.

I can't wait to retire. It's only a couple more years.

Trevor

Awesome work, thanks CardiffGiant!

The only minor things I'll offer as suggestions only are:

1 - Add 2010 as a decade, perhaps marking it optional since the choices are few.
2 - Lengthen the Challenge by starting it at dusk the night before, and ending it at dawn the morning after. Most of our other Challenges have been adding extra time, some even an entire day; and this encourages more dual-Challenge combo watches.
3 - The purist in me hates counting by 60. I understand why you changed it, but it only reduces the number of items by two. And if one is going to complete the entire checklist, that part of it is probably completed by default, without even aiming for the ranges.

Not trying to sound nitpicky, just the inner Monk in me speaking.

CardiffGiant

Or early! I wholeheartedly agree, while I don't love everything Criterion puts out, my satisfaction rate is pretty high. Even in those films that I didn't love, I usually found something insightful about film history/production in the supplemental materials.

Which ones do you like? Perhaps some on here can give recommendations. Don't forget: films like Rosemary's Baby, despite its late October release still counts for this challenge as all Criterion films, past, present, and future count for this challenge. If you time it right, you can get a double-count during the overlap between this and the horror challenge.

Yeah, there's really something for everyone. Even films like The Princess Bride, King Kong, Help!, 12 Angry Men, North By Northwest, The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, The Blob, The Graduate, Blade Runner, 2001, Ghostbusters, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Dr. No, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Carrie, Tootsie, Boyz n the Hood, Spartacus, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Silence of the Lambs, RoboCop, Menace II Society, Halloween, Seven, Trainspotting..., etc. have gotten the Criterion treatment. This really is a challenge for everyone. You need not be a foreign film/art house lover to participate and enjoy yourself.

I feel your pain with the length, content, etc. While I'm not nearly as close to retirement, a very busy life, that only seems to get busier, makes participating in the challenges much more difficult than in years past. I still have a lot of unwatched content from my Criterion purchases. I'm hoping to work through the Jean Vigo box set or the Three Colors Trilogy during the challenge.

No problem!

1. What do others think about this? I looked at the number of films in the 2010 decade before updating the checklist, but they were rather sparse. Seven titles will be available during the challenge, The Forgiveness of Blood comes out in October. I contemplated pairing it with 2000, but I decided against it...for no particular reason.

2. No problem. I'll do that in a few minutes here.

3. My reason for #1 and #3 was that zero people, IIRC, completed the checklist last year. If we want to keep a goal of immersion within a title, then having a lot of checks dedicated to spine numbers seemed to me unnecessary. I know the 60 seems odd (it is), and I have no problem changing it, but I wanted to try and reel in the runaway train of spine numbers for the challenge.

Also, it's just shaving the numbers off by two, but that's only from last year. I think we had the conversation about changing spine numbers, but decided against it.

Like I said, I don't look at this as a dictatorial position, so if people want it back to 50, then I have no problem putting it back. Full disclosure: the odds of my completing the checklist are probably in the single digits, so I'm willing to change it to what type of goals others are thinking anyway.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

So my Ghostbusters LD counts, right?

Greg MacGuffin

Yes. You can also watch it on DVD or Blu and it would count (or any other format, come to think of it). As long as it once had the Criterion treatment, it counts.

shadokitty

Does anyone know if the Criterion release of Godzilla has both Gojira and Godzilla King of the Monsters? Or is it Just Gojira, or just Godzilla King of the Monsters?

Chad

^It has both versions.

shadokitty

Cool, so I can watch my Classic Media copy of both Gojira and Godzilla King of the Monsters.

Travis McClain

I'm very excited for this challenge! Earlier this year, I switched from Netflix to HuluPlus partly because I had grown frustrated with Netflix's tumultuous, boneheaded policy changes and partly to further explore The Criterion Collection. A couple months ago, I cashed in my Amazon credit and bought a Sony streaming player, so I'm rarin' to go!

For what it's worth, I'm in favor of keeping the spine range at increments of 50. As Trevor noted, it only saves two checks and with this challenge, it's relatively easy to finish most of the checklist just by completing the spine ranges diligently. Plus, it's easier on my brain to scan groups of 50. Let's not overlook the importance of pandering to my laziness!

Over at Flickchart, we've just created an entire filter of The Criterion Collection on Hulu. You'll find a list of every film and short film available as part of The Criterion Collection's Hulu channel, 100% up to date as of yesterday. It can be a handy guide for recommendations, as well as an easier index to navigate than the Hulu pages since on Flickchart you can then filter by Director, Year/Decade, Genre and even by Actor (provided he or she is one of the top-billed cast tagged; our database isn't comprehensive about casts at present). I think this can be a very helpful resource to challenge participants this year. There's also a filter for Criterion Eclipse and The Criterion Collection proper, covering the official DVD/Blu-ray catalog. At present, we don't have a franchise filter for the Laser Disc era, though I'm hopeful I can convince them of the use for such a critter.

P.S.: Thanks for the shout-outs, CardiffGiant!

Travis McClain

I just checked over my post from last year, and saw I only got to 14 titles. Part of that was because of the loss of The Criterion Collection from the Netflix library. I had the HuluPlus free trial last year, but I had to stream that to my laptop because there was no Wii channel and it was much less convenient for me to watch that way. This year, I'm all hooked up and able to stream directly to my TV.

Of course, the other part was that my depression really was getting entirely out of hand by September and it was hard for me to enjoy or concentrate on much of anything this time last year. I sincerely hope that factor was unique to me and not an issue for anyone else!

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I'm basically just going down a checklist, watching what I haven't seen in order. At a bare minimum, I like plot driven stories that aren't preachy or trying to be quirky/trying to be clever but just coming off as completely unrealistic and pretentious. Lots of French films seems to have qualities I hate.

CardiffGiant

I think the last point is the most important one. It's too difficult for people to inherently know what to check off when breaking it down by 60. I changed it.

Added the links to the first post.

No problem. I like to give credit where credit is due. You and Trevor have had a big hand in the challenge.

The loss of many, but not all titles on Netflix is a factor for me as well. There are still a number of titles out there, so people should check out NF if they still have it. I've contemplated getting Hulu Plus, but I just don't watch as much TV, or movies, that I used to. I'm lucky if I watch more than 7 or 8 movies in a month now.

I hope things are going better this year!

I know what you mean. I like those films, but when friends ask if they should blind buy Pierrot Le Fou, one of my favorites, I tell them no. I like the existentialist films of the late 50s and 60s, but I'm aware that the format and approach isn't for everyone.

Of the top of my head, many of the war-related Criterion titles fall into the plot-driven category, not that they are action-packed, but that the linear storytelling may only occasionally delve into more philosophical exploration.

I'm also thinking of Wages of Fear, which is a high-stress film that stays plot-driven.

It probably means staying away from Bergman, Fellini, and Godard (except maybe Alphaville). Incidentally, three of my favorite directors, but I'm aware that they aren't for everyone.

shadokitty

I just renewed my Netlix and Hulu Plus subscriptions

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I'm kind of at the point where I've seen most of the titles I really enjoyed and already went through most of Bergman, Fellini, and Godard. You're also forgetting about Brakhage.

The plus side for Brakhage is that his stuff counts in the slight overlap between this and the Animation challenge. Not that I could stand watching his stuff during that time. For the most part, it all looks similar to me.

Travis McClain

There's a Hulu Special sale right now; four selections are free to stream this week, and you can also order them on disc at 50% off. Obviously, the free streams will have expired by the time the challenge starts, but for anyone who might be looking to pick up a disc from the assortment, now'd be a good time.

The Fire Within
Japanese Summer: Double Suicide
Pale Flower
Under the Volcano

It looks like this is going to be an ongoing thing, so that means there'll be more 50% off chances before and during the challenge, as well as a handful of free streams during the challenge available to non-subscribers.

NoirFan

I'm going to try to watch all of my remaining unviewed Criterions, most of which are part of Eclipse sets.

CardiffGiant

Yeah, I mentioned this in the first post, it's buried in amongst many other items from years past. They started this a few months ago (maybe around 6 months ago?). They regularly announce them on their Facebook page, which I always find convenient.

They rotate pretty regularly. It's nice to have 50% off items popping up throughout the year as well.

I actually haven't seen any of the titles...always been interested in Pale Flower though.

Travis McClain

What, I'm supposed to read now? Isn't this challenge hard enough as it is?

Trevor

I somehow read that as even numbered and thought about watching only odd numbered titles in solidarity. Or is that polarity?

CardiffGiant

A couple of new titles were just announced for November. Remember, you can watch these on any format...they need not be a Criterion/Eclipse disc.