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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

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Director: Med Hondo

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Audio:

MH Films France PAL DVD

Director: Hal Ashby

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Criterion is new master

Best Audio:

1990 WB LaserDisc

Additional Info:

The WB Blu-ray audio is similar to the LaserDisc. The Criterion Blu-ray is noticeably more muffled.

Director: Carroll Ballard

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Capelight Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Criterion Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Criterion

Audio Notes:

Criterion has the original stereo

Director: Béla Tarr

Best English-Friendly:

Bela Tarr Curzon Collection Blu-ray or Criterion Blu-ray

English-Friendly Notes:

No comparisons

Best Video:

Carlotta France Blu-ray in boxset

Video Notes:

FiM encode.

Curzon is on separate disc while Criterion has it shared with another film on the same disc.

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.

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."

Director: Roman Polanski

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Govindan Aravindan

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion World Cinema Project Vol 5 Blu-ray, 4K restoration

Director: Alan Clarke

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly:

88 Films 4K Blu-ray or Indicator Blu-ray

Best Video:

The 88 Films 4K Blu-ray is disappointing. Indicator Blu-ray > 88 Films Blu-ray. From nicolas:

Fine master, solid HDR but very poorly encoded with strong blocking artifacts in normal areas and clipped highlights that bring Criterion’s Walkabout to mind. Their Blu-ray is slightly better overall but then again still not as good as FiM’s encode for Indicator.

Director: Volker Schlöndorff

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

2020 Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray

Video Notes:

2020 Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray is new 4K restoration

Director: Masahiro Shinoda

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray

International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, both the US and the International Cut, new restoration/remastering of the mono mix which should be better than the 1999 WB DVD, revised colour timing to make the film look more like it did in 1980 and for the first time ever on physical media, the film will be in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

Best Audio:

1999 WB DVD

Additional Info:

No Blu-ray or DVD release has presented the movie in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 for the US cut or 1.66:1 for the International cut.

The packaging on the back of the 4K Blu-ray incorrectly states it as 1.85:1 when the movie is actually 1.78:1 as is the original Blu-ray. 

Director: Martin Scorsese

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · facebook.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K announced for 2026

Video Notes:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.

The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review

Best Audio:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD

Audio Notes:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:

I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.

Director: David Lynch

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion or StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

The DV/HDR grade is tasteful and not overdone. SC has better compression, though not flawless; encoded by FiM, but Criterion also holds up quite well. Both releases claim to be approved by Lynch.

SC has a missing fade that Criterion reinstated.

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo mix: 2001 R1 Paramount US NTSC DVD/2008 R2 Optimum UK PAL or 1999 Pioneer JP LaserDisc

Restored stereo mix: Criterion / StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

The film was originally mixed in Dolby Stereo (matrixed LCRS). For the 4K restoration, this mix has been transferred from the original magnetic elements and remastered with Lynch's supervision. Unfortunately, the fidelity suffered in the process, with many sections ending up significantly less detailed due to a noise reduction pass. This track has been altered compared to the original, with reverb added to some dialogue, different ambient sound effects, changed panning, and extended bass.

For the unrestored mix, there are two major options, each with its own merits and flaws. The 2001 Paramount DVD, which I would say is the best well-rounded mastering, and the 1999 Japanese LaserDisc, which has noticeably better clarity and high-end detail, as well as better dynamics, but suffers from occasional distortion and has less bass than the DVD.

The LD also has some ambiance buried too low in the mix, and some dialogue panned more to the centre than the DVD. There are no content changes I was able to find. Unfortunately, I don't know what accounts for those differences.

The other available tracks all have more significant flaws. The Italian and Japanese BDs use the same base mastering as the DVD, but with some patching in a few shots. HD-DVD is sourced from an inferior transfer, the same as the Momentum DVD.

The 5.1 remix, originally introduced on the 2002 DVD, and carried over without changes to the 2009 BD is a light and mostly faithful remix, with fairly minimal LFE and surround use, but still potentially worthwhile as the only discrete track.

Director: Les Blank

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Les Blank: Always for Pleasure Blu-ray

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

179 min cut: Criterion Blu-ray

159 min cut: Fox Blu-ray

Best Video:

179 min cut: Toho 4K Blu-ray

159 min cut: Fox Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Japan Toho 4K Blu-ray

Director: Ken Russell

4K · Excellent

Director: Michael Cimino

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Not sure about foriegn

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion or France Gaumont Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion and France Gaumont similar

Director: Michael Mann

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM encode is better than Criterion, see caps https://slow.pics/c/Z2RRQAAT

Criterion 4K Blu-ray vs Blu-ray: caps colors are more different and nuanced than anticipated even in the SDR-converted caps and the usual gain in highlight detail is also apparent. Encode looks excellent except for the brightest areas as usual.

Best Audio:

5.1/5.0 mix (essentially a 4-track mix in 5.1 and 5.0 containers respectively)-Arrow/Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Only imperceptible differences in bit-depth: 20 vs 24. 

2.0 mix- Arrow 4K Blu-ray (original stereo)

Additional Info:

Arrow and Criterion 4K Blu-rays have differing extras 

Criterion has FEL Dolby Vision, Arrow has MEL

Arrow Limited Edition includes the Theatrical Cut Blu-ray from an older HD master, most likely from a 2K scan of an interpositive.

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Audio:

Original mono: Warner Bros LaserDisc
Stereo & 5.1 remixes: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Original mono mix was never released after VHS/LD. Warner's DVD and Blu-ray had a 3.0 remix in a 5.1 container. Criterion has new stereo and 5.1 remixes. Stereo is director's current preference.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23879243&postcount=51

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