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Criterion

Criterion

699 films on Best Blurays

Based in United StatesFounded 1984criterion.com ↗

Based in New York, Criterion has released classic and contemporary films since 1984, giving each title a spine number and adding commentaries, essays and supplements. Many discs use new restorations it supervises, and 4K UHD releases began in November 2021. North American Blu-rays are Region A locked, with a smaller Region B UK line since 2016; Janus Films is a sister company, and Steven Rales has owned both since 2024.

Aliases: cc, criterion

Page 15 of 35

Director: John Boorman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray; caps

Best Audio:

1993 MGM LaserDisc

Director: Jacques Tati

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2014 StudioCanal Blu-ray

Additional Info:

The UHD is slightly cropped in.

Director: František Vláčil

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4k transfer

Best Audio:

Czech National Film Archive Blu-ray (slightly)

Director: Mike Nichols

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal 4K

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

StudioCanal 4K caps.Criterion Blu-ray better encode than StudioCanal Blu-ray.

Best Audio:

1987 Criterion LaserDisc

Director: D. A. Pennebaker

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4k scan

Director: Richard Brooks

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray is a newer 4K scan and is an improvement over older Sony Blu-ray see caps

Audio Notes:

While Criterion Blu-ray is 24bit over Sony 16bit, they sound the same according to Blay-ray

Director: Martin Scorsese

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Scorsese Shorts Blu-ray

Director: Jacques Demy

Best English-Friendly:

ARTE France Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion

Video Notes:

Criterion and ARTE France looks slightly different, ARTE color is more lifelike but more blocky, neither looks the best. https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=7958&d2=7959&c=3233

Director: Nicolas Ribowski

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Jacques Tati Boxset Blu-ray

Director: Seijun Suzuki

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion, 2k transfer

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

& Pathé 4K Blu-ray have different gradings (preference). Opening scene on Criterion looks significantly worse, but similar elsewhere.

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion DVD

Best Video:

Potemkine

Video Notes:

Potemkine has Blu-ray, not sure how good

Director: Robert Bresson

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion, 4k transfer

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, work done to un-Nolan the 4K master, the first ever appearance of the 35mm mono track on physical media and a new restoration/remastering of the 70mm 6-track mix.

Video Notes:

(early pressing has errors of a shot, later pressings fixed)

Best Audio:

1997 MGM LaserDisc, 1998 MGM DVD

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Ingmar Bergman set, 2k scan

Best Audio:

2008 France Opening DVD

Director: D. A. Pennebaker

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray 4K restoration

Director: Ishirō Honda

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Japan Toho 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

AIP Dub is only found on the 2011 Media Blasters Blu-ray along with other exclusive extras (NOT the 2014 reissue)

Director: Ousmane Sembène

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: François Truffaut

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion The Adventures of Antoine Doinel 4K Blu-ray set

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Carlotta, with debatable color gradings from master (yellow hues).

See nicolas review https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=842821#p842821

"Carlotta’s encodes were terrible with heavy blocking in the highlights and pervasive chroma noise. Criterion / NexSpec did much better and only occasionally struggles with skies. Grain is finely detailed and it doesn’t look filtered. Grading is debatable and particularly whether all three subsequent films (shot years apart by two cinematographers, one of them being the legendary Néstor Almendros) have roughly the same visual identity. Still, colors are adequately balanced with variations in the (yellowish) hues, there are no tints, black levels and shadow detail is excellent."

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