The 100+ Best Movies Streaming On The Criterion Channel
If you're interested in watching some great films, you've come to the right place, because we're going to recommend the best movies on Criterion Channel. The streaming service is an offshoot of the Criterion Collection, a brand that puts out high-end DVDs and Blu-rays of "important classic and contemporary films." In other words, Criterion is associated with first-rate quality. The company has become so popular that they created this new online channel to further make these motion pictures easily available to the public.
There are well over 1,500 titles available. So how do you choose the most essential Criterion movies to watch? We've selected them based on a variety of factors. Some of the titles on this list are beloved, certified classics, like Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai or Federico Fellini's 8 1/2. The beauty of Criterion, though, is that they recognize greatness in all genres. For that reason, you will also find examples in horror, comedy, documentary, and even animation. The final factor was buzz value. Several of the films included are edgy, challenging movies worth watching and discussing. Every effort was made to give this list a nice balance.Â
As for the best Criterion movies, that will be up to you to decide. Vote up the ones you think are the most vital, regardless of genre or when they were released.Â
- Akira Kurosawa
- Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, EijirĹŤ TĹŤno, Seiji Miyaguchi, Daisuke KatĹŤ
- Released: 1954
Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese Jidaigeki adventure film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. It follows the story of a village of farmers that hire seven ronin to combat bandits who ...more - Carol Reed
- Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Alida Valli, Paul Hoerbiger
- Released: 1949
Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, "The Third Man" stars Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only ...more - John Frankenheimer
- Actors: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva
- Released: 1962
Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is ...more - Ingmar Bergman
- Actors: Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Margaretha Krook, Jörgen Lindström
- Released: 1966
Persona is a 1966 black and white Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Persona’s story revolves around a young nurse named Alma and her ...more - Fritz Lang
- Actors: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf GrĂĽndgens
- Released: 1931
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre), a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and ...more - Akira Kurosawa
- Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Machiko KyĹŤ, Daisuke KatĹŤ, Minoru Chiaki
- Released: 1950
Rashomon is a 1950 Japanese period drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. It stars Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori and ...more - Orson Welles
- Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead
- Released: 1941
When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane's (Orson Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from ...more - George A. Romero
- Actors: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley
- Released: 1968
A disparate group of individuals takes refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard in search of fresh human bodies to devour. The pragmatic Ben (Duane Jones) does his best ...more - Vittorio De Sica
- Actors: Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Lamberto Maggiorani, Fausto Guerzoni, Gino Saltamerenda
- Released: 1948
Bicycle Thieves, is a 1948 film directed by Vittorio De Sica. The film follows the story of a poor father searching post-World War II Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which he will lose the job ...more - Wim Wenders
- Actors: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément, Hunter Carson
- Released: 1984
A disheveled man who wanders out of the desert, Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) seems to have no idea who he is. When a stranger manages to contact his brother, Walt (Dean Stockwell), Travis is ...more - Federico Fellini
- Actors: Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni, Barbara Steele, Nino Rota, Anouk Aimée
- Released: 1963
8½ is a 1963 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini. Co-scripted by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi, it stars Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, a ...more - Wim Wenders
- Actors: Peter Falk, Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Curt Bois, Otto Sander
- Released: 1987
Wings of Desire is a 1987 Franco-German romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of the human ...more - Luis Buñuel
- Actors: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli
- Released: 1967
Belle de Jour is a 1967 French drama film directed by Luis Buñuel. A frigid young housewife (Catherine Deneuve) decides to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute. - Ingmar Bergman
- Actors: Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Kari Sylwan, Erland Josephson
- Released: 1972
As Agnes (Harriet Andersson) slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so deeply immersed in their own psychic pains that they can't offer her the support she needs. Maria (Liv Ullmann) is wracked with ...more - Ingmar Bergman
- Actors: Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Nils Poppe, Erik Strandmark
- Released: 1957
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish drama-fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Denmark it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess, who has come to take his ...more - Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Actors: Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Samuel Le Bihan
- Released: 1994
Three Colors: Red is a 1994 film co-written, produced, and directed by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski. It is the final film of The Three Colors Trilogy, which examines the French ...more - Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
- Actors: Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot, Robert Armstrong, Frank Reicher, Sam Hardy
- Released: 1933
Actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) travel to the Indian Ocean to do location shoots for Denham's new jungle picture. Along the way, the actress meets and falls ...more - Robert Hamer
- Actors: Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Miles Malleson
- Released: 1949
When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, ...more - Ernst Lubitsch
- Actors: Carol Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill
- Released: 1942
Acting couple Joseph (Jack Benny) and Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) are managing a theatrical troupe when the Nazis invade Poland. Maria is having an affair with Lieutenant Sobinski (Robert Stack), who ...more - Charlie Chaplin
- Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers, Hank Mann, Al Ernest Garcia
- Released: 1931
A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that she and her grandmother are to be evicted from ...more - François Truffaut
- Actors: Jeanne Moreau, Jean Piere Leaud, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jacques Demy, Albert Rémy
- Released: 1959
The 400 Blows is a 1959 French drama film, the debut by director François Truffaut; it stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it ...more - Gabriel Axel
- Actors: Bibi Andersson, Stéphane Audran, Jarl Kulle, Ghita Nørby, Bodil Kjer
- Released: 1987
Babette's Feast is a 1987 Danish drama film directed by Gabriel Axel. The film's screenplay was written by Axel based on the story by Isak Dinesen. Produced by Just Betzer, Bo Christensen, and Benni ...more - Wong Kar-wai
- Actors: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Roy Cheung, Alien Sun, Rebecca Pan
- Released: 2000
In the Mood for Love is a 2000 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. The film premiered on 20 May 2000, at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, where it was ...more - John Huston
- Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull, Theodore Bikel
- Released: 1951
After religious spinster's (Katharine Hepburn) missionary brother is killed in WWI Africa, dissolute steamer captain (Humphrey Bogart) offers her safe passage. She's not satisfied so she persuades ...more - Federico Fellini
- Actors: Ciccio Ingrassia, Magali Noël, Pupella Maggio, Maria Antonietta Beluzzi, Gianfilippo Carcano
- Released: 1973
Amarcord is a 1973 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale about Titta, an adolescent boy growing up among an eccentric cast of characters ...more