For me, it's been the opposite. Mostly because a large percentage of their recent announcements have been recognizable titles lately. Unlike the days here at the DVD forum when guys would lose their shit like, "YES!!! FANFAN LA TULIPE!!!!! IT"S ABOUT F'NG TIME!!!"

I'm still not jumping on the 4K bandwagon though. I'm waiting on 20k.

I’m also finding myself less interested in them. Too many titles that are “important” but aren’t really enjoyable or worth rewatches.

Many moons ago when I started building my movie collection, I was big into Criterion. I fell for the number system and at least most of the time, they helped expand my horizons as a viewer.
Those other times however, I found myself buying titles that I felt like I should own. Don’t get me wrong, there are truly outstanding titles there, but how often do I go back and visit the Grand Illusion? Not often.
At some point I saw all the unopened discs I got at a B&N sale and asked myself why am I doing this.
Maybe my tastes changed. At this point I’d rather spend $40 on Action USA or other Vinegar Syndrome titles and get drunk and show them to a bunch of friends.
There are a few titles I passed on though for UHD like Parasite and Crash.
Maybe they’ll come around eventually. Or maybe Arrow and other labels will continue to push forward and continue to put out better product.

Yup. Next month it'll be 5.5 years since the first UHD-BD was released, and Criterion's still sitting on their ass.
Meanwhile other boutique labels are doing it and with titles that are more obscure and have a smaller audience.

Don't worry. We'll always remember that you spend too much on your purchases.

^ that’s all I’m saying!

Hey, get out of my head!

Yeah, too many titles like that. I need to get through a lot more of them and sell them so I can make some space. My collection has spilled over into another room and my wife doesn't like that.

The Criterion Channel has saved me from purchasing their physical copies blindly. Most of their films has been released on their streaming service and I have been able to watch it and see if a purchase is warranted. Often times, it has not.

A lot of us are on the same page. Criterion was a big part of my laserdisc collection and has continued into the other formats. I have a lot of well-earned respect for their product. I have so many that I haven't cracked open, -sometimes because they're so daunting. I'm one of those people who like to complete the blu-ray sets I open, and there's a few Criterions at the top of my list that I'd have to continue on with for a couple of days, so I usually grab something I can do in a weekend night (most Shouts! and Arrows). Also, a lot of Criterions feel like a trip to the museum or my old college Film classes, rather than a showing at a convention (again, Shout! and Arrow, and others); it's a different energy.

"Access" has changed things. I'm less inclined to get those movies that turn up on the TCM schedule every three weeks, and these days the PQ on Turner is generally quite good. Recently a lot of Criterion titles I'm unfamiliar with have turned up on HBO Max as well. Also, I've discovered that my County Library has pretty much all of the Criterion Collection on DVD, so that I can get access to the supplemental features, which look just fine on my Blu-ray player.

Just to reverse the energy in this thread, I'd agree (and have posted multiple times here) that Criterion has started to lag behind the other boutiques in a lot of way, but that didn't stop me from stopping off at B&N the other day and grabbing a bunch of new titles. Looking at my collection statistics I have 154 Criterion blus (and probably a few dozen dvds) and no more than 30 of any other single boutique label. I'd rather watch Grand Illusion (to name a title that was mentioned earlier) over some cheap horror nonsense from Shout Factory any day of the week. I love the work labels like Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome are doing, but I pore through the list of titles whenever there is a sale and I just can't find much that would be worth my time. That just goes to show that everyone should buy and watch what they like. The idea that anyone would feel pressured to buy a certain type of movie for any reason other than that they would enjoy it is crazy pants.

It's almost as if you're suggesting that different people have different tastes.... (I kid)

Peer pressure is a helluva drug. To quote a meme I saw the other day, "I've faced more peer pressure in my life to start animes [sic] than to do drugs."

You have to understand the effect communities like this had on so many of us as all of this amazing cinema from around the world became available on home video, some of it never even on LD or VHS even. We saw all these "important" films and we felt that to be true aficionados of cinema, we had to watch the three hour subtitled essays on the human condition* and force ourselves to understand the imagery and symbolism and all that, plus Criterion made some nifty looking packages. So we bought it.

And yes, it's still important to watch all kinds of films, but I'm past the idea of watching the dreary stuff about people's feelings all the time and I'm much more likely to re-watch a film about giant spiders eating all the townsfolk. Both films are important in one's collection, but I'm no longer falling for the "Bergman's use of light and shadow is so amazing!" for movie I'll watch once in my life. I'll get that from the library going forward.

If Criterion continues to do nice versions of stuff like War of the Worlds and such, I'll probably keep buying (on sale, that is), but I'm absolutely not going for Criterion Complete.


* I did actually end up enjoying Solaris though...

I think that's one of the biggest differences in consumer behavior with regards to purchasing physical media over the last 10 years or so - there's a lot less blind buying.

With Netflix and many other streaming options, there's very little reason to blind buy a movie. It's partially due to getting burned with movies you either don't like or have much replay value, and partially because of the overgrown and pointless collections most people found themselves with. Personally, I don't care if it's a Criterion film or a film from a director I love - I ain't buying shit until I've seen the movie first and deem it worth buying.

I’m just the opposite it seems. I’m blind buying more. Between VS, Severin, Arrow & Shout I’m picking up tons of movies I’ve never heard of or seen. Less so with Shout. Most of those are upgrades of some sort.
Yeah they haven’t all been winners, but I’ve found some really great stuff that I’ve gotten to share with friends.
I collect a lot of my favorite directors as well. There’s some serious duds in those. DePalma comes to mind.

I've been looking at my collection lately and it doesn't help my depression. I think about the vacations that my wife and I could have gone on for every hundred or so unnecessary titles. It really does hurt.

I still think the audio and visual on the discs are just great. I remember remarking on Moonstruck not so long ago. It was gorgeous for nearly 35 year old movie. I have a bunch in my queue. Can’t wait. Streaming can’t replicate same a/v as discs. Certainly the extras are mostly great. The MS ones were fun. Short, but archival of Cher, Cage. New Shanley, Jewison. They are fun. Can’t stream a memory…

Steering the conversation back to Criterion, does anyone know if the Bergman box set drops anything from the movies Criterion had already released?

I believe that the Bergman box does carry over all the extras from the standalone releases, but I do know that it omits the making of that was on the Sony DVD of Saraband and the commentaries from the MGM Bergman discs. I am not sure about the essays though.

It wouldn't shock me if they did do some UHD releases. But a user in a forum? How is that news?

It’s a reposted rumor/information, not reported news.

I was just looking at that forum, they apparently provided proof to a forum mod privately and the mod confirmed they saw that. The user has been over there for five years, so not like the people that sign up here to sell us hot dogs in their first post.

Anyways, someone else guessed Silence of the Lambs because it's a US film just within the 30 year old range and it's certainly a high profile title.

It has to happen sometime, Criterion is getting left behind.

I hope it isn’t something they’ve already released.

I would guess a Wes Anderson movie.

They've all been released by Criterion already except Isle of Dogs. And there's no way their first 4K Criterion title is Isle of Dogs