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I’ve been told that some of our readers need to be reminded every time Barnes & Noble holds its semi-annual Criterion Collection sale. As requested, I’ve compiled the latest list of all the Blu-rays that Criterion has released since the last sale.
Because Criterion discs typically retail for higher prices than the average Blu-ray (especially catalog titles), many fans wait for these Barnes & Noble sales each July and November to build their collections.
The following is not intended to be a comprehensive listing of every Criterion Blu-ray. This is merely a reference to those discs issued since B&N’s previous sale ended on July 28th of this year. If you plan to buy older Criterion releases during this sale, vote “Other” and tell us which ones in the Comments section.
From now until December 1st, all in-print Criterion Collection titles are 50% off MSRP, both in stores and at barnesandnoble.com. The discounted price applies to upcoming titles that will be released through the end of the sale period, but not to any preorders scheduled for after the sale ends. (Unfortunately, that rules out ‘Time Bandits’ or ‘Tootsie’.)
Loading ...The Criterion output has slowed down a bit over the last six months. This list is about half as long as the one I put together for the last sale. Nevertheless, Criterion has put out a number of great discs in that time.
I already have ‘Eraserhead’, ‘All That Jazz’ and ‘La Dolce Vita’ in my collection. If I had any money right now (which I sadly don’t), other titles I would personally prioritize include ‘L’Avventura’, ‘The Complete Jacques Demy’, ‘F for Fake’, ‘The Innocents’, ‘It Happened One Night’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!’, ‘The Vanishing’ and ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’. Plus, I wish I could afford to catch up with dozens of older releases. As it is, I’ll have to pick just one or two discs for now.
What will you buy at this month’s sale?
Csm101
I love the last option.
Polanski’s Macbeth is at the top of my Criterion wish list. If I only get one this sale, that will be it.
Tie Me Up Tie Me Down
The Vanishing
Older titles- Thief, Insomnia, the Devil’s Backbone, Fear and Loathing…
My m.o. For Criterion shopping during their sales is very unstructured and spontaneous . Sure I have a wish list, but I may walk in to B&N, spend about an hour going through Criterions, picking one up, putting it down, and may wind up with something I had no intention of buying. That’s what I love about these sales. With my luck, they’ll be sold out of Macbeth.
EM
“Pick Me Up! Put Me Down!”? 🙂
Chris B
Picked up The Devil’s Backbone at the last sale and was absolutely blown away by the PQ…it’s amazing…and a great film to boot.
Csm101
I remember years ago when I saw the DVD, I thought to myself, ” this would make an amazing blu!”
Chris B
Placed my order last night, blew my budget a bit but when it comes to this sale resistance is futile. Picked up:
Y tu mama tambien
Riffifi
The Vanishing
Che’
The night of the hunter
Fantastic mr fox
Vengeance is mine
The killing
400 blows
Broadcast News
It’s a mad mad mad world
Au revoir les enfants
As always there were a few I had to pass on because of budget constraints and the impending shitload of movies I’ll most likely acquire during the holidays next month. It’s a little sad to admit, but I’ve already started making a list for the July sale next year. These things are way too addictive…like crack…The Crackterion Collection.
Csm101
Am I the only here who can’t say 400 blows with a straight face?
Chris B
Hahaha…I was telling a buddy about the sale this morning and he burst out laughing at the mention of that title.
Trond Michelsen
Nothing wrong with 400 blows. 37 blows, however…
Julian
That’s a reference I don’t get. What’s up with 37 blows?
Chris B
I believe he’s referring to the whole “my girlfriend sucked 37 dicks!” line from Clerks.
Julian
Thanks! I have never seen ‘Clerks’.
EM
It’s a literal but utterly maladroit translation of the original title. Accordingly I can’t say the English title with a straight face either, but in my case it’s more of a look of bemusement.
Shannon Nutt
That movie wasn’t about what I thought it was going to be about. 🙁
NJScorpio
“37…in a row?”
NJScorpio
I bought, and sold ‘Che’. Also, bought and sold ‘Traffic’. Yet, ‘Schizopolis’ is one of my favorite movies. Goes to show you, just because you like a director’s style in ability in one film, it doesn’t mean you’ll like all his stuff.
Same thing, for me, with Terrance Malick. I love ‘Days of Heaven’, disliked ‘TTRL’, and couldn’t finish ‘Tree of Life’.
Chris B
I’m a pretty big Soderbergh fan so I’m hoping Che’ turns out to be a good blind-buy. If you’ve never seen his film “King of the Hill” you should pick it up during the sale.
It’s a great film with an amazing score by Cliff Martinez and is absolutley beautiful to look at. The way they recreated depression-era ST. Louis is remarkable
I’m with you on Malick, I love TTRL, like Days of Heaven, enjoyed Badlands but couldn’t stand The Tree Of Life. It’s like watching a bank commercial. .
Daniel Joseph Sardella
I picked up:
THE INNOCENTS
THE VANISHING
THE SHOOTING/RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND
GIMME SHELTER
THE NAKED KISS
SHOCK CORRIDOR
$97.94, after membership discount and coups. 🙂 🙂 🙂
EM
But not 400 coups? 🙂
NJScorpio
I caught part of ‘The Shooting’ on cable about a year or two ago. I had no idea who directed it, but I saw Nicholson in this western film, where it seemed like they were pursuing someone. It seemed VERY compelling, but was one of those cases where I stopped watching because I knew I wanted to see it from the beginning.
I totally forgot about it, until I realized that ‘The Shooting’ was the same title.
Julian
Weird, I always thought ‘Easy Rider’ was Nicholson’s first big movie. But ‘The Shooting’ was released three years before ‘Easy Rider’. Must have been lost in cinematic time like tears in rain.
EM
I guess The Little Shop of Horrors was too little to be big, as were The Raven and The Terror. Oh, well, I suppose Corman lost no money, anyway.
C.C. 95
The ones that tip the higher price scale always take precedent over what I want at the moment. Boxed sets and collections are the reals steal. So, the Demy set is already priority. I would recommend people jump on NIGHT OF THE HUNTER if they don’t have it yet. It’s a great set of discs with huge extras, and it’s around $45 retail, so…
I would love THE VANISHING, but I’m mortified at that new cover (different than their DVD cover)- it looks like the sea-foam green 500 Days of Summer disc. Ug. Top of the list is MACBETH and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.
NJScorpio
Money is tight, so I plan on picking up just two titles on the way home from work today…
‘Eraserhead’ and ‘Vengeance is Mine’. Both blind buys.
I’m considering ‘Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!”, but I only have two 20% Off Coupons to stack onto the sale.
Chris B
Be careful blind-buying Eraserhead man, it’s one of the most divisive films of all timex a real love it or hate it kinda trip…
NJScorpio
I’m a big fan of my limited exposure to David Lynch (‘Lost Highway’ and ‘Twin Peaks’), but I know that doesn’t guarantee I’ll enjoy ‘Eraserhead’.
I’ve also blind bought a few Criterion titles that people have warned me about, and have enjoyed all but one of them…which grew on me upon a rewatch (‘Mystery Train’).
Csm101
There’s been plenty of talk about it here on this site and maybe others, apparently at some point in the film, the screen goes black for a few seconds where it shouldn’t. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this. Just in case you aren’t. I’m not sure if corrected copies are out yet. I suppose you could buy it now at the sale price and if it’s a defective copy, do the exchange program. That way you wouldn’t have to wait for the next Criterion sale.
NJScorpio
I had read about this, and I thought they may have cycled out those copies by now. If not, I’ll contact Criterion. They seem to be very good with their customer service, so I’m not worried.
NJScorpio
Got another 20% Off coupon in my email this morning. I picked up ‘Eraserhead’ and ‘Vengeance is Mine’ yesterday. Now I gotta decide on which film to pick up today.
Scott
I bought the five titles yesterday, four of which were on the list above. The fifth was Picnic at Hanging Rock. Didn’t realize that the book would be included, pretty cool bonus feature! Can anyone recommend whether I should watch the film or read the book first? I would lean towards reading the book first.
I couldn’t wait for Eraserhead and picked it up before the sale. Of course I haven’t watched it yet, so I guess that was a dumb thing to do. Never seen it, but I love every other David Lynch thing I’ve seen!
NJScorpio
FYI, ‘Red River’ comes with a reprint of the previously out of print book, too.
EM
I had been waiting for the sale to purchase the Innocents Blu-ray; I did so yesterday, as I reported elsewhere. Lovely release. It’s too bad I didn’t have it in time for Halloween; but truth be told, I didn’t have time to view some two thirds of the Halloweenish selections in my personal library. Oh, well—I never run out of movies for Samhain!
William Henley
I was tempted to vote “I’m not a film snob”, but went with “Nothing for me this time”. I have a few of their releases, and I very much like what I have. Not all of Criterion’s releases are artsy-smartsie stuff. Well, I mean, I guess any movie can be looked as artsy depending on who is talking about it.
In any case, I have like half a dozen Crietrion releases, and really enjoy them, but am not planning on growing that number anytime soon.
EM
Ironically, that is a snobbish attitude.
William, yours is the worst spelling of artsy-fartsy I have ever seen.
William Henley
I purposly did not use the word artsy-fartsy.
Peter
I’m most excited about Polanski’s MacBeth, and that will will be the first I get. Probably also getting My Darling Clementine and Eraserhead. I am considering It Happened One Night, F is for Fake, and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, plus the previously released Kiss Me Deadly and Riot in Cell Block 11. I am a little behind on My Criterion viewing – I still have some from the July sale that I haven’t cracked open yet.
Kelly
Michael Mann’s “Thief”.
NJScorpio
A surprise for me, with this film, was seeing how much it influenced ‘Drive’.
Josh Zyber
AuthorNicolas Winding Refn has never had an original thought or idea of his own.
Twilight Time still has some copies of Walter Hill’s ‘The Driver’ in stock (quantities running low). Watch that next and you can throw your copy of Drive in the trash.
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/25385/THE-DRIVER-1978/
Chris B
Jesus Josh I want you to watch Only God Forgives so damn bad. If Refn’s aping of Walter Hill rubbed you the wrong way so much, I’d love to hear an epic rant on how he plagerised your beloved Lynch! Haha
csm101
is your dislike for this Nicolas Winding Refn fella more deep-seated than we know? Did he refuse to sign your limited edition scorpion jacket? ; )
Julian
Refn once tried to seduce Mrs. Z. He used the opening line ‘They call me the Great Dane’. Josh was not amused.
Csm101
Just picked up Macbeth, the picture looks beautiful. Hopefully I’ll watch the whole thing within the next Few weeks. Lately I’m running around buying all these movies and don’t watch any of them.
Csm101
Has anyone here seen Cul-De-Sac? I came real close to picking it up last night. I seem to have a Polanski bug up my arse. I love Donald Pleasence anyways. The premise seems cool. Thoughts?
EM
I expect your real reason for enjoyment is that the title has two nouns to send one snickering.
Csm101
That’s even better than pick me up! Put me down! You’ve definitely changed the way I perceive the title from now on.
EM
I’m here all week, folks!
Scott
I enjoyed Cul-De-Sac. It’s not the best Polanski ever, but it was enjoyable. The cast of characters alone is worth watching. The photography is excellent and the story is a lot of fun. I recommend it.
Csm101
Thanks, add another to my wish list.
Krawk
Waiting til the next sale when the holiday crunch is not so near and winter heating season upon me.