Filmstruck / Criterion Channel



The Criterion Channel will launch April 8 in the US and Canada and will be available on desktop, iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, Roku, and Android devices.

Charter film appears to be Mikey and Nicky

cool, gonna try this out and see if I can deal with the inevitably shitty streaming quality. does anyone else live in a city with shit internet?

xpost -- that it is.

Part of the reason I originally got an Amazon Fire TV was that Filmstruck was on there, now Criterion Channel won't be.

^me too

okay, seems like they worked it out because Amazon Fire is listed in supported tech now

Happy to learn today from the Bordwell blog that VHX is a temporary platform and that the Channel will have dedicated apps for the streaming devices at the April launch.

That does make much more sense. I'm fine with VHX for my own setup but it seemed kinda weird.

Criterion's next preview movie is Chungking Express, oh darn.

Stalker is up

A very good choice, that.

Is the Roku app active yet? I searched for it but didn't see it.

none of the apps are up until the official launch on april 8, per their messaging

Yeah pretty much you have to use the VHX workaround until then.

Should this thread title get changed?

i'm trying to figure out if this will be basically the same criterion movies that were in filmstruck or if it'll be more complete. their website says "access to Criterion’s entire streaming library of more than 1,000 important classic and contemporary films from around the world" but what is their "streaming library"? presumably excludes some movies they don't hold streaming rights for?

sparked by me wondering if i'll be able to rewatch Head on this thing

xp yeah they have just under 1,000 titles in the collection but that includes OOP stuff like Citizen Kane, Do the Right Thing, Third Man, etc. I'd be surprised if they have their entire in print collection available to stream tbh.

The streaming library includes a fair amount of non-disc stuff like Bulldog Drummond movies and minor films by directors who have better-known films on CC disc. (Basil Dean, Anthony Asquith, Masahiro Shinoda, Keisuke Kinoshita, et al)

> Masahiro Shinoda

Silence and Assassination turned up in the post today. what else is on CC?

The Channel had (and presumably will have) A Flame At the Pier, Assassin, Ballad of Orin, Double Suicide, Gonza the Spearman, Himiko, Killers On Parade, Love Old and New, Moonlight Serenade, One Way Ticket to Love, Our Marriage, Pale Flower, The Petrified Forest, Samurai Spy, The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan, Silence, Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees, With Beauty and Sorrow, and Youth In Fury. I think they had his Sapporo Winter Olympics segment from the Olympic Films box. Only 4 of those are available on disc iirc.

Woah!

very nice

Charles Burnett's To Sleep With Anger is this week's freebie.

I'm impressed with their commitment to bringing new disc releases to streaming! This week it's Barbara Loden's Wanda.

They may have had the newer titles' streaming rights all wrapped up, unlike older titles.

Maybe they'll have 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days up when the channel starts for real. Less than 5 weeks!

wanda is so so good and ahead of its era btw, see it if you haven't

yeah it's a hell of a movie. a tough watch too. CW for abusive relationships and sexual assault.

Wanda is phenomenal, saw it at a theater last fall. that final shot makes it

April lineup announced: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6253-the-criterion-channel-announces-launch-lineup

Damn, if you sign up as a charter subscriber w the annual subscription it's only $7.50 a month. Now that Hulu is free w/ Spotify I might actually jump on this

I am seriously tempted. And then if Disney+ programming includes the 20th Century Fox films they just acquired, I am going to die seriously broke but happy.

Fuck Disney.

I'm just going for the yearly subscription option -- prefer those one-shot setups over a monthly drip in combination with a lower overall price.

xp IF Disney makes available the Fox films from the 1920s and 1930s that have been lingering in the vaults, I will forgive them a great many sins. Unfortunately I fear it's going to be a case of moving those films from the Fox archives into the vault where Song of the South is sequestered.

A few have pointed out that Disney has been notoriously bad about letting stuff out of their vaults for repertory screenings. So there's that to maybe look forward to, as well.

the more mergers, the fewer films we see: fact

Well, for sure the fewer (new) films I see.

Goes live today!

(I downloaded the iOS app though it appears to be only partially working so far.)

Looks like content just showed up, hooray

Hmm, the app and the site don't seem to be communicating well yet. I'm logged in on the app but it wants me to pick a plan and set up billing, something I did weeks ago on the site. Also the full streaming library isn't showing yet.

Yeah, I don't think all the parts are fully connected yet. On the app, I see everything but it doesn't think I have a plan even after logging in. On the desktop, it shows I've signed up for the plan but it's not showing anything other than a dozen "coming attractions."

Yeah. I’ve got a similar situation.

Success! The lock icons have all suddenly disappeared and I'm streaming like a Russian racehorse.

Lol, if not The Turin Horse.

Oh wow, they have Kiarostami's 24 Frames -- I didn't catch that when they announced April titles.

what did you have to do?

From the Recently Added tab, go to View All and it's in there. Also, it looks like the entire streaming library is available if you know what you're looking for and get there via a search. They just don't have a way to browse it yet.