The Criterion Channel
With constantly refreshed selections of Hollywood, international, art-house, and independent movies, plus access to Criterion’s entire streaming library of more than 1,000 important classic and contemporary films, there’s something new to choose from every day of the week on the Criterion Channel. Start with Sunday Spotlights on directors, stars, genres, and themes; Tuesday’s Short + Feature; or the Friday double bill. Try out our 15-minute-a-month film school, Observations on Film Art, or choose from suggestions by friends like Barry Jenkins, Guillermo del Toro, or Mira Nair. Go deep with the Criterion Collection’s archive of special features for context that no other service can match.
FEATURES
- The Criterion Collection’s streaming library, including many complete editions released on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as unreleased titles
- Ongoing programs of Hollywood, international, art-house, independent, documentary, and short films, including thematic programming, director and star retrospectives, and guest-curated series
- Original Criterion Channel series such as Observations on Film Art, Adventures in Moviegoing, and Art-House America
- Supplemental features to deepen your appreciation of the art of film, including audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, scholarly analyses, introductions, new and archival interviews, and trailers
To access all features and content you can subscribe to The Criterion Channel on a monthly or yearly basis with an auto-renewing subscription right inside the app.* Pricing can vary by region and will be confirmed before purchase in the app. In app subscriptions will automatically renew at the end of their cycle.
* All payments will be paid through your Google Account and may be managed under Account Settings after the initial payment. Subscription payments will automatically renew unless deactivated at least 24-hours before the end of the current cycle. Your account will be charged for renewal at least 24-hours prior to the end of the current cycle. Any unused portion of your free trial will be forfeited upon payment. Cancellations are incurred by disabling auto-renewal.
Terms of Service: https://www.criterionchannel.com/tos
Privacy Policy: https://www.criterionchannel.com/privacy
Category : Entertainment
Reviews (30)
I love the criterion channel. I have been a user since its inauguration. The phone app is a wonderful compliment to the website. Generally speaking, I prefer a bigger screen, obviously, but the phone app is nice for watching a few minutes of a film before going to sleep. I do wish my position in a film was saved consistently, but the mechanism is flakey. Also, an option for clearing the "resume" list would be nice. Finally, I wish app would stop proding for a review I have already done!
This is easily my favorite film subscription, but with a catalog this vast, the navigation can be restricting when you want to get into specific searches (genre, decades, etc.) Overall, the homepage offers wonderful curated suggestions ranging from director retrospectives and essays to themed pairings and watchlists. If you are adventurous, knowledgeable of film history/excited to familiarize yourself with folk history, and don't mind a few search restrictions, this app will suit you just fine.
Access is king, so many movies I've wanted to see affordably and haven't had access to are now available on this app. It also features a consistent rotation of highlighted content, almost always fascinating. There are small design problems, which are laughably insignificant against their amazing catalog, not to mention the dumpster fires you'll find in UI and content at Netflix and Amazon. I spend more time on this than any other streaming platform, and rarely come away disappointed.
The best streaming service in the game. Always has unique movies you can't find on other platforms. They offer special features on several editions, world premieres of international films, matinee pairings, and suggestions based on theme. I cannot say enough good things about the Criterion Channel. It's worth every penny I spend on it.
Love the Criterion Collection, but I keep having issues using the phone app with my Chromecast that I don't have with any other streaming apps. Playback often stops, causing my Chromecast to reset itself and leading me to have to quit and relaunch the Criterion app.
I've given up on honest films being made at this point and yes that's stupidly pessimistic but not misguided. Jesus anyway, the amount of great films that they continue to add on here is amazing. Films and directors that I would otherwise have never known are now things I continue to tell people to watch. I get lost in these movies. I doubt this helped reading it back but just humor me I guess. Thank you.
Review is less for the app and more for the service as a whole... Arguably the best collection of movies available on any streaming platform. The app itself works pretty fine... Only thing I wish was that there was an option to browse categories or something rather than just the various collections... Also there should be shortcuts from base videos that lead directly to their collection so you can see if there are interviews or special features without having to search manually
Solid 4/5. Great selection, as expected. As a frequent flyer, I really appreciate the option to download on mobile but do wish it extended to the desktop app. Sometimes slow to load. Overall very worth the cost
Lots of really good movies. Movies have subtitles if they are foreign, but it's not something you turn on and off. Also I can't remove things from resume list even if I saw the whole movie. Despite not being able to view the whole collection I seem to find new things to watch and the list didn't stop growing. Criterions format definitely requires you to be whimsical and open to suggestion, but you never regret the dive.
Really, desperately needs the option to show every available film on the channel, rather than trying to search for a film that may or may not exist. Not every film "fits" into the curated selections Criterion announces monthly and it does these films a disservice to not have a way of searching for them from within the app itself. Adding the film via the desktop website really shouldn't be a thing for a streaming service.
This stylish, user-friendly app works perfectly, and Criterion's collection is growing amazingly fast. I recommend them over all other networks: the quality of their content is incomparable.
I love criterion !!! Probably the best gift I've ever received. The app is amazing as well. I am somewhat of a cinephile and listen to podcasts with actors and directors. They'll mention a film I've not seen I Can then search for it while I'm on the go. Just add it to my watchlist on the phone app and watch it when I get home. Love it !!
My only complaint is a technical one. The "Resume Playing" section is seldom in synch. Not only does the app/site 'forget' what was playing on other devices, but it can't remember on the app itself on my phone from use to use. Movies must be searched again and my previous spot in the film found from memory.
I absolutely love the Criterion Channel. It provides a fantastic selection of foreign, art house, and independent films. Between the films, commentaries, and documentaries, it is a real education in movies. 5.5/5 stars.
Content is excellent, interface is questionable. I found it difficult to navigate although I appreciate the level of curation being done here.
Why doesn't the app sync up w/desktop account? Lost 100s of saved films, etc. ➡️Been grateful to Criterion since its inception for restoring & making historically relevant (& great films of all genres) available to own first on DVD, BluRay--now accessible to watch online. App deserves 2 ⭐s, gave 3. This rating is for app flaws, UI flaws, white light FLASHING in one's eyes right before movie loads, & lack of syncing w/online account. Can't wait til my eyes fully heal & I can watch movies again!
Criterion Channel offers users access to a huge (thousands of titles) library of classic, foreign and independent films for an annual subscription fee of $99. It's a great deal if, like me, you love these types of films by such directors as Kurosawa, Fellini, Truffaut and many others. The app is well-designed and works well. It just needs to allow phone screen dimming while in the app. Minor criticism. This is a great streaming service at a fair price.
Great service but it's hard to browse via the app. The browser version let's you filter by country, year, genre, or a combination by choosing options from a menu. This is lacking on the app.
great selection of content, probably my favorite of any streaming service, but both the app and tv interface needs major reworking. it would be great to have some filters while searching for content.
content is probably great, but good luck trying to find anything. navigating endless snobbish selections like "art theater specials" w no logic + clips you might understand if you watch some tv channel is Rx for $$ failure. stop being snooty and make the page user friendly: offer a full list of content + allow search by genre or smthng logical. this is not working.
Greatest movies ever made from all over the world and very reasonable prices. I watched some of the best Japanese, Italian, French and Persian plus some of the best Hollywood movies. I truly enjoy it
The content is absolutely amazing, I have no complaint about this! The only issue I have is that most English-language movies I've watched on the app so far do not have the option to put subtitles, which makes them not really accessible.
Zero budget design with no useful functionality. Impossible to do simple things like clear Resume queue, or see remaining time without pausing. CC is part of the awful trend of uncreative technocrats at war against UX/UI because they think that being anti-human makes them smarter than you. I've worked with people like this for years, they are ruining tech at every level. The arrogance of sneering at pro-customer focus because it can always be gaslighted away as "convenience" (it's not).
Good foreign movies. Trial and error if you don't know what to look for. Negative is that you can't remove movies from recently watched section that you don't like. You have to watch to end or fast forward
The resume feature works only when it feels like it and not having a feature where you can see the whole library A to Z is sorely missing. Otherwise it's good.
Great films!! The classics and many unique, creative, interesting, surprising films!! This is THE streaming service for anyone who has more than two functioning brain cells.
The app has a lot of issues with logging in, subscription renewal, using your account across different devices, I've had to contact support multiple times to resolve, or go through a very specific list of troubleshooting steps. Aside from the technical glitches(there's a lot less now than when the app originally started), the app is extremely difficult to navigate and find movies unless you know what movie to search for, or happen to know the collection
I love the app aside from a major bug that will keep movies in your "resume watching" list even if you've finished them and no matter how many times you've finished them.
Best selection of classic and independent film. There are many additional shirts, interviews and behind the scenes.
I love this service. Has the type of content I want & many of the films are not streaming anywhere else. Decent price esp if you go for the annual rate. Some films only avail a few months (mildly annoying) & it would be nice if discounts were given not just to new customers but oh well. I'm confused why others say you can't search easily for films. Yes you can. Simply type a film title into the search & if the service has it,it'll pop up. You can look up directors & actors too. Extremely easy.