I've been checked out but thought I'd pop in and see about hosting this challenge again. I gotta be honest, I'd hoped opening it beyond Criterion might cast a wider net and boost participation and discussion, but that didn't really happen. I'd be in favor of reverting to Criterion, allowing anything in 1) the Collection proper, 2) the LaserDisc era, and/or 3) Channel content. That's still quite a pool. I don't feel all that strongly about it, though, so what do y'all think?

I enjoy the challenge, but it doesn't seem to be popular.

I usually participate but my viewing is generally down in all challenges since I’m no longer tied to a WFH desk. I liked opening it up, but there’s tons of Criterion-proper stuff I could choose from.

It never has been, which is why I think the experiment to open it up can be put down as a failure. If we were to pare back down to Criterion, here are the pools as found on Letterboxd lists. I think this is more than enough, and lets us go back to the singular challenge title.

Physical
The Complete Criterion Collection (last updated 20 July 2024)
Criterion Collection Extras & Bonuses (last updated in July, 2024 but will always be in flux as these kinds of things are sporadically added and removed from the database)
The Criterion Collection on LaserDisc (complete)
Criterion Eclipse (complete as of August, 2024)
Janus Contemporaries (updated 1 August 2024)
Merchant Ivory (complete)

Streaming
Criterion Channel (updated through August, 2024)
Criterion Channel on Hulu (2011-2016)
FilmStruck (2016-2018, partnership with TCM)

I would not be opposed to reverting back to a Criterion only challenge. There's tons of materials. I've been getting into different hobbies so I'm participating less in the monthly challenges and had planned to not participate in one until the horror challenge. However, I'm a huge fan of the Criterion Collection so I'm planning to take part if you host. I have quite a backlog of Criterion releases to watch. Just received there release of del Toro's Pinocchio yesterday, and it's beautifully produced.

I'd also be fine in reverting back to Criterion/Criterion Channel only, because the Channel has such a huge selection of great things.

We'll give folks another week or so to provide input. I'll create a list thread once we commit to what the challenge will actually be.

I don't know that my voice needs to carry much weight as I haven't done this challenge in several years (Just get a little saturated after hosting 2 challenges in the summer and need the break), but I think just the Criterion only would be okay. There are a ton of options, new ones every year and are pretty accessible, be it online, owning or using a library.

Also, not to hijack Travis's thread, but just wanted to let people know here that there's a longer double credit window this year with the Animation challenge as I extended it through the holiday weekend (Sept. 3rd).

For anyone wondering what would count in that overlap period, here are the following pools, filtered for animation:
The Complete Criterion Collection (18)
Criterion Collection Extras & Bonuses (21)
The Criterion Collection on LaserDisc (1 [Akira])
Criterion Channel (76)
Criterion Collection on Hulu Plus (5)
FilmStruck (55)

Most are shorts and there's a lot of overlap between lists, but there's still plenty for those who want to segue between challenges with double credit.

Maybe there would be some value to encouraging Criterion films but letting participants watch anything they want - it's just for fun anyway.
I'd personally prefer it be open to any indie films; I'm less likely to watch Criterion only films this year. I've been trying to burn my AMC A-list subscription allowing three theatrical films a week and there are a lot of odd little modern indie films out there.
Regardless many thanks to Travis McClain for hosting duties this year and the past.

Narrowing the challenge to Criterion won't encourage more participation. Most people don't watch movies with subtitles, so it's not surprising that this challenge has a small fraction of the participation that the horror and sci-fi challenges do. I don't consider the challenge a failure because the people who participate do so because they enjoy it. I don't consider the expansion of the challenge a failure because it makes more sense than a challenge built around a corporation.

I left it as "Indie/Art House (formerly Criterion) Challenge". Here's the list thread.

I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to start with. I think I'm going to kick things off with To Die For, a film I've never seen and have wanted to for a long time.

Not sure how much I will get in, but I may give it a shot. I have a small but decent selection of Criterion discs as well as Max which I believe has a Criterion Channel collection. YouTube also has some from what I recall

I have a pile of unopened Criterions and Arrows to get through.

Peter Greenaway's film "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover" is considered one of the most artistically ambitious works of cinema. While critics at the time viewed the film as an indictment of the greed and excess of the Thatcher era, I can't help but see Michael Gambon's performance as the brutish thug Albert Spica as a representation of a certain former president - a man with money but no taste, who flaunts his wealth by cramming expensive dishes into his mouth in an upscale restaurant, surrounded by cronies and sycophants, while subjecting his trophy wife to endless abuse.

Didn't realized it started tonight. I chose to introduce my wife to Longlegs. I could've been watching the new Arrow 4K of Desperado or starting to go through a Criterion box set!

Such a great movie. I'm glad to see it's streaming, but keep hoping Criterion gets the rights to release it. I agree with you about Gambon's amazing performance, and will probably rewatch sometime this month.

I too forgot that the challenge began last night. After thinking what to watch this morning, I went with an old standby on YouTube, Godzilla, King Of The Monsters. It turns out that the Godzilla movies that YouTube has are actually the Criterion Collection versions, because they open with the Janus Films logo.

I didn't realize it started last night, either! I think that was either a typo I never caught or fixed?

I didn't intend to jump the gun but the list thread says the challenge starts on 30 August. And why not start on the Friday night of a holiday weekend?

Marat/Sade is another film that really requires a 4K Criterion release.Peter Brook's adaptation of Peter Weiss's play is a flamboyantly theatrical experience, unfolding as a play within a play within a play. Through his staging, Brook has the actors playing directly to the camera, transforming the film's audience into the 1814 audience who have come to witness the Marquis De Sade's play about the murder of firebrand writer Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday, performed by a cast of schizophrenics and sociopaths incarcerated in the Charenton asylum. The performance about the French Revolution becomes a revolution itself at the film's anarchic climax. Oh, and it's also a musical.

I cannot get into Pierrot Le Fou, a film about a man's individual rebellion against deadly middle class conformity. The script was being written as it was filmed and it sure shows. Either Godard is working at a level beyond my comprehension or it's possible the emperor has no clothes.

I enjoyed Gus Van Sant's To Die For. Nicole Kidman is one of my favorite actresses, and I'm sad I slept on this one for so long. Her performance is so funny and chilling. I also thought Illeana Douglas was fantastic and added some emotional grounding which made the comedy darker. This would make an interesting double feature with May December.

She plays pure evil so well.

I can't see how or why anyone would care anyway.

I still haven't seen enough Godard to have a definitive position, but overall I've found I'm not into his stuff, either. I did like Pierrot le fou, primarily because I enjoyed the performances by the cast. Godard has a way of not bothering with details or substituting his own monologues for characters' dialogue that irks me. His filmography feels almost entirely self-indulgent to me. One of my frustrations with Godard is that invariably, there comes a point where either a character monologues or two characters go through the charade of dialogue for the obvious reason that Godard wants to say those things. Takes me out of the movie every time. I dunno if he lacks the trust in the audience to come away from his films seeing what he sees, or if he lacks the artistic nuance as writer to say those things without bringing his films to a halt in order to say them. I haven't written him off just yet, but I go into each of his films needing him to prove to me I should bother with another. I rarely have that chip on my shoulder.

After walking in my city's Labor Day Parade, I decided to continue celebrating the day by with the commentary track to Matewan (because there's always a good reason to watch a John Sayles film, right?). The track is Sayles and Haskell Wexler, who was the cinematographer, and it's a nice mix of history, technical issues, and lots of Sayles' memories of making the movie with many actors he worked with before and since. I've seen the film several times, but it was revelatory to hear their thoughts.