How many of you have heard of The Criterion Collection, I wonder? It’s a collection of films produced for home viewing with the utmost attention paid to both the image and sound quality, as well as special features and supplementary material. The first two films given this highbrow treatment for a home audience were King Kong and Citizen Kane in 1984. When I watched Gimme Shelter, the documentary I wrote about on this blog previously, that was a Criterion DVD. The quality of that production is astounding. Included in the DVD case is a booklet that provides insightful and intelligent essays about the Stones’ infamous and tragic concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969. Right now, our catalogue is showing we have 824 Criterion Blu-rays and DVDs in our collection. That is a massive amount of high quality, curated titles at your disposal. Criterion also has a YouTube channel. Full of amazing content, it includes a series called Closet Picks where filmmakers and actors choose a swag bag of films (carried in a fancy, branded tote bag) to take home after a visit to Criterion’s offices. Hearing these luminaries of the industry give their reasoning as to which movies warrant a place in their haul is fascinating. Some of my recent favourites have been the father-daughter pairing of Maya and Ethan Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Willem Dafoe, and Dan Levy. What follows are some classics — recently watched by yours truly — as well as a couple favourites of mine that just happen to be included in the collection. I hope one of them catches your eye!