They have someone responding to comments on Facebook, putting on the shiny happy face but being really vague with specific questions.
Some Guy Named Dave: Your Criterion selection seems to be quite limited. Are you ever going to offer the same number of Criterion titles as Hulu - over 900?
FilmStruck: Hi Dave, on the #CriterionChannel side you will find the largest selection of Criterion releases available to stream
Me: That doesn't really answer the question that was asked...
FilmStruck: #CriterionChannel has the largest Criterion selection available streaming, more than was ever available elsewhere.
Me: Ozu on Hulu: 30 features, 2 shorts and a trailerOzu on Filmstruck: looks like 18 features
Filmstruck: (crickets)
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 01:41 (seven years ago) link
Huh, why would it have less than Hulu does? That doesn't make any sense to me. I did notice through a cursory search that they had at least two titles not on Hulu (Godard's Every Man for Himself and Yang's A Brighter Summer Day), so I was hopeful that maybe it had more than Hulu.
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 02:14 (seven years ago) link
It doesn't have all the Oshima titles that are currently on Hulu either
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 02:15 (seven years ago) link
I'm hoping they're still loading up the buffet table. They have quite a few things that aren't on Hulu -- Blood Simple, that JFK documentary stuff. They got The Killing of a Chinese Bookie back, which disappeared from Hulu a year or more ago.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 02:19 (seven years ago) link
I'm hopeful too, though the way filmstruck has been marketed and rolled out has dampened my expectations all around
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 02:22 (seven years ago) link
Even Criterion doesn't have the rights to all the Criterions anymore
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 03:05 (seven years ago) link
yeah, otm, and i'm sure there are a number of criterions that got dvd release, but where they never had streaming rights. the more i search around on filmstruck the more i think that WilliamC is probably right that they're still adding movies to the service.
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 03:10 (seven years ago) link
hm. no amazon app even!
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 16:49 (seven years ago) link
TBF, this is the day where they're going nuts with the press.
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:38 (seven years ago) link
They managed to go with all the devices that I don't own. Not sure it's worth picking up a new AppleTV just for this.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:41 (seven years ago) link
seems lame that it's not on xbone/ps4; that's what a very significant chunk of the population use to stream stuff, no?
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:43 (seven years ago) link
Oh wait, I do have an Amazon Fire TV in my office, guess I can watch Kurosawa while filling out payroll forms and stuff.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:43 (seven years ago) link
filling empty space with the greatest cinema ever made is kinda why i'm willing to give up a c-note for even the dream of that actually happening.
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:45 (seven years ago) link
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, November 2, 2016 1:41 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
A Chromecast is $35
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:47 (seven years ago) link
for me, it's about having a tv with limited HD inputs... one for the ps4, one for the tivo and switching stuff out means a painful boot up period and extra hassle so i find i just don't do it
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:57 (seven years ago) link
It's not available for the Chromecast, according to them That means I can screen mirror if I got one but have to leave my laptop up and running the entire time.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 18:02 (seven years ago) link
Screen mirroring quality is pretty meh, IME, but it's been a while since I used a Chromecast.
It's available for Chromecast in December, you won't die if you have to wait 30 days before you can see Andrei Rublev
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 18:11 (seven years ago) link
It will be available for XBox One and Roku in six months, pretty sure I could find plenty to watch on Netflix and Amazon Video until then. We're talking about now, though.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 18:15 (seven years ago) link
It's available for Chromecast in December, you won't die if you have to wait 30 days before you can see Andrei Rublev― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, November 2, 2016 11:11 AM (fifty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, November 2, 2016 11:11 AM (fifty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
also as a public service announcement the criterion print of andrei rublev is shitty and you can watch a much better transfer on youtube right now
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 19:02 (seven years ago) link
They said PS4 "first half" of the coming year, so most likely I'd wait a while. No Chromecast/Roku support at launch seems pretty weak, though.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 19:13 (seven years ago) link
Roku support was slated for January 2017 acc to some infographic I saw on their website but now cannot find (because their website seems to be three completely different websites cobbled together and filled with contradicting info).
― Fluffy Saint-Bernard (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 20:15 (seven years ago) link
I just want to stream All That Jazz why is this so damn hard
The latest from their Facebook flack to commenters is "early 2017" for Roku.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 20:23 (seven years ago) link
I didn't do an exact count, but it looks like roughly 900 films on the Criterion side. Since there are a lot that haven't migrated over from Hulu (yet), that means there are a lot of additions. Browsing around just a little bit I saw Blood Simple, the other 2 films in Wim Wenders' Road Trilogy to go with Alice in the Cities, some Harold Lloyd that hadn't been on Hulu, some New Wave.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Thursday, 3 November 2016 01:14 (seven years ago) link
*British New Wave
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Thursday, 3 November 2016 01:16 (seven years ago) link
When is this up for AppleTV?
― Gukbe, Thursday, 3 November 2016 01:36 (seven years ago) link
December, allegedly. (4th-gen only, nothing earlier)
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Thursday, 3 November 2016 01:41 (seven years ago) link
Signed up last night; Hulu account expires tomorrow. Started with No Home Movie and Ornette: Made in America.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Sunday, 6 November 2016 19:26 (seven years ago) link
cool, any glitches? I'll sign up soon but may wait a little bit if they're still working stuff out.
― intheblanks, Sunday, 6 November 2016 21:33 (seven years ago) link
I pushed the film last night to my 3rd-gen Apple TV using AirPlay and my iMac completely froze about 20 minutes into the movie; had to do a hard shutdown and restart. Everything has worked fine today, watching directly on the Mac. I'll try AirPlaying again tonight.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Sunday, 6 November 2016 22:17 (seven years ago) link
D.A. Pennebaker's first film, Daybreak Express, is just the sort of wonderful tidbit that makes this site worth the money to me. I never would have seen it if they hadn't paired it with the feature it ran with in 1958 (Neame's The Horse's Mouth). Filmstruck isn't perfect (all the hosted intros I've seen so far are horrible), but it's got a lot going for it.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Monday, 21 November 2016 04:01 (seven years ago) link
Hosted intros? Don't like the sound of that.
Anyone know if FilmStruck is 1080p, as opposed to Hulu's 720p?
― Jazzbo, Monday, 21 November 2016 17:53 (seven years ago) link
people on the Reddit Criterion/Filmstruck forums have complained about quality but Criterion-people seem borderline audiophilic in their craze for picture quality
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 21 November 2016 17:55 (seven years ago) link
If they're concerned about picture quality they shouldn't be streaming
― slathered in cream and covered with stickers (silby), Monday, 21 November 2016 18:54 (seven years ago) link
^^^^^
― Fluffy Saint-Bernard (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 21 November 2016 19:53 (seven years ago) link
AppleTV app is live
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Sunday, 4 December 2016 00:48 (seven years ago) link
They are basically the Steve Hoffman folk of the film world. BluRay era has been a golden age for system setup/region coding online dick-size contests.
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 4 December 2016 05:56 (seven years ago) link
A FB friend (who may be an ILXor, though I can't remember his screen name) who knows how to wrangle databases heard my plea last night and extracted the data from Filmstruck's "Browse All" source code that allowed me to make this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TWx8-b5fbqenVr6r64hf3GktufPAgc61akPIvKoV2XA/edit?usp=sharing
A spreadsheet with Filmstruck's current offerings, sortable by title, director, year, runtime, country. Note 2 sheets, Basic Filmstruck and Criterion Channel. It may be less useful than the one I made of Criterion on Hulu, because films are being added and dropped much more frequently.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Sunday, 4 December 2016 16:24 (seven years ago) link
Thanks for that!
― A big shout out goes to the lamb chops, thos lamb chops (ulysses), Sunday, 4 December 2016 19:39 (seven years ago) link
some surprising omissions: very little Minelli, only one Lubitsch, no Tod Browning, no Sturges, no Sirk, only a handful of Fellini, only one Cukor... plenty of oddball curation clearly swung by copyright ownership instead of best options too: four Robert Downey Sr. films but no Putney Swope?
― A big shout out goes to the lamb chops, thos lamb chops (ulysses), Sunday, 4 December 2016 19:55 (seven years ago) link
xpost You're welcome! I'm going to try to keep up with arrivals and departures to keep the spreadsheet up to date, but they are being VERY stupid about announcing that sort of stuff (I found out Mulholland Dr. is leaving the site at the end of January, but not from Filmstruck itself) so if anyone wants to mention comings and goings on this thread, that'd be great.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Sunday, 4 December 2016 19:58 (seven years ago) link
Nice list! Wow, that's a strong sales pitch...ugh. I'm really disappointed because the little Roku TV I bought this year for the living room has no option to turn off its (subtle, not always dstractingly present) soap-opera effect and by the time I was sure it wasn't my imagination, it was too late to return the thing. So now I'm sort of hesitant to plunk down for Filmstruck when it goes Roku since it'll be sabotaging the entire ''get myself educated in great film'' thing.
― walk back to the halftime long, billy lynn, billy lynn (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 4 December 2016 22:28 (seven years ago) link
You might want to double check your TV settings re: soap opera effect. A friend had this issue, I had to go in and change her TV's settings on every input.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Sunday, 4 December 2016 22:36 (seven years ago) link
Oh believe me I've looked, through every menu and submenu. AFAICT it does not have any kind of off switch. It's definitely more pronounced on certain content but I suspect this may reflect arcane details of what framerate/medium the content provided to Netflix was inteded for. Robotech (the DVD version from the early 2000s) looked fine the entire way through. From Dusk Till Dawn made the actors look like plastic cutouts sliding wildly around the screen somehow moving a little faster than they should, especally any time the camera moved.
I keep praying for a firmware upgrade that fixes this but I doubt many folks are clamoring for it. Just pissed that the online reviews suggesting this was really the best option for this size TV never thought this was worth mentioning. Maybe earlier models didn't do this, or something.
― walk back to the halftime long, billy lynn, billy lynn (Doctor Casino), Monday, 5 December 2016 00:21 (seven years ago) link
It's classic that a thing happens and ILX's first reaction is to make a spreadsheet
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 5 December 2016 16:41 (seven years ago) link
::shrug:: for me, it's an easier way to browse
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Monday, 5 December 2016 17:18 (seven years ago) link
The in-app browsing system is not good! A spreadsheet is very helpful for this thing!
― A big shout out goes to the lamb chops, thos lamb chops (ulysses), Monday, 5 December 2016 19:14 (seven years ago) link
So the non-Criterion content is pretty meh, right? I was actually more interested in TCM-style films than Criterions.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 5 December 2016 19:34 (seven years ago) link
Downhill Racer is only available this month, I see.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Thursday, 8 December 2016 21:39 (seven years ago) link
I managed to block that Blair Witch was in the mix for the '99 Razzies. Nominated for worst picture (lost to Wild Wild West) but, gallingly, Heather Donohue "won" worst actress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Golden_Raspberry_Awards
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 15 February 2024 17:54 (one month ago) link
Razzies are also incredibly sexist
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 15 February 2024 18:38 (one month ago) link
And lazy and reactionary ... they're all the bad things
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 15 February 2024 18:41 (one month ago) link
John Mellencamp recorded a Buddy Holly cover I really liked for Cocktail - I don't think I've really seen the movie though, maybe just a chunk of it many years ago when it was screening on local TV over a weekend.
Ishtar is really uneven but what's best about it - mercilessly satirizing U.S. policy in the Middle East - is really great. I want to say the intentionally horrible musical numbers are done too well because it was really hard to sit through that climactic show.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 15 February 2024 22:53 (one month ago) link
Cocktail I only know from Walmart DVD bargain bins. They loved minor movies with big stars. The Seventh Sign with Demi Moore was another common one.
― adam t. (abanana), Friday, 16 February 2024 19:47 (one month ago) link
Lol
― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 16 February 2024 19:54 (one month ago) link
Arrebato (1979) is leaving today. The opening logos are worth a look....
― adam t. (abanana), Friday, 1 March 2024 01:14 (four weeks ago) link
April 2024 additions: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8418-the-criterion-channel-s-april-2024-lineup
― UKXEPCTED TWITS (WmC), Monday, 18 March 2024 19:58 (one week ago) link
Co-sign on The Swimmer, see it if you haven’t before it leaves at the end of the month. Very thought provoking.
I was also really moved by Testament, a nuclear war film that starts like a Hallmark Channel movie, but gets deeper and darker as it progresses.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 26 March 2024 16:58 (three days ago) link