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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: Richard Linklater

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion best HD transfer

Best Audio:

2007 Soda Pictures DVD

Director: Reginald Hudlin

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

2022 Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2021 Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Stephen Frears

4K · Excellent

Director: Joel Coen

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Theatrical Cut: Fox Blu-ray

"Director's Cut": Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Jane Campion

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion

Video Notes:

Criterion better

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Kino BD has original stereo mix.

Director: Jonathan Demme

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release

Video Notes:

> Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Director: John Singleton

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray (included in John Singleton's Hood Trilogy set)

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

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is better than the earlier Sony 4K Blu-ray, which suffered from low-pass filtering and poor compression. Caps

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo mix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

A better transfer than the Sony 4K Blu-ray

The Sony 4K Blu-ray includes an earlier 5.1 remix, which is mostly faithful to the original mix and lightly enhances and opens it up, as well as Dolby Atmos remix which is slightly more aggressive.

Criterion's release also includes a different Atmos remix to the one included from Sony, significantly more aggressive than previous releases, going for a more "immersive" feel.

Director: Terry Gilliam

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

R1 DVD

Audio Notes:

R1 DVD for original Dolby Stereo with better dynamics

Director: Carl Franklin

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2023 Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2006 Criterion US DVD

Director: Neil Jordan

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)

Criterion is a new restoration from the original camera negative, supervised and approved by director Neil Jordan, graded using a 35mm print from the Academy Film Archive as a color reference.

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Criterion is a new transfer from the magnetic track and sounds better than previous releases. The 5.1 track on the NTSC DVD is a poor quality upmix.

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Correct grade and archival extras missing from the Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Criterion LaserDisc

Additional Info:

Criterion USA LaserDisc [CC1397L]: Original Cantonese mono.

Best Cantonese mono still was from Criterion LaserDisc, as the Shout one was boosted with clipping, with some filtering and losing dynamic range over the Criterion LD.

There’s no need for other Cantonese audio, as all 5.1 remixes are extremely bad and not worth including.

For English Dub the Shout offered the best, it was pure mono. All other 5.1 remixed of said dub are also terrible and offer no value, only less fidelity and more echo.

More info.

Director: David Lynch

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

> France Potemkine 4K Blu-ray > Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray see caps. Criterion has the best encode.

While the framing of Criterion is different, they are actually both faithful to the original theatrical versions see post1 and post2 by b0b.

Best Audio:

1993 New Line LaserDisc

Director: Éric Rohmer

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray is English-friendly but has  very poor compression: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=21900961&postcount=22 

Director: Robert Altman

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Not sure about France

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