The Criterion Collection

Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa

Jon Peters: “A sweeping epic, which has been rarely rivaled in terms of characterizations, scope, and personality. ”

The Lady Vanishes

Alfred Hitchcock

Jon Peters: “Not my favorite Hitchcock film, but still a masterfully funny and clever British drama.”

The Killer

John Woo

Jon Peters: “Woo. Fat. Bad-ass action. ”

Hard Boiled

John Woo

Jon Peters: “Woo's best. Too bad he is all political, epic drama now days...”

The Seventh Seal

Ingmar Bergman

Jon Peters: “A timeless, riveting fable of life, death, and God. Immortal.”

The Silence of the Lambs

Jonathan Demme

Jon Peters: “OOP with some neat liner notes about real serial killers. The film is a field manual for all criminologists, as it's clever, thrilling, and terrifying”

Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Jon Peters: “A rough watch, but the marriage of Sade and the political allegory makes it an interesting watch. Notorious for a reason.”

Shock Corridor

Samuel Fuller

Jon Peters: “Fuller's breakout film. A must for its psychological themes. ”

RoboCop

Paul Verhoeven

Jon Peters: “Satirical sci-fi that cannot be remade or outdone. ”

M

Fritz Lang

Jon Peters: “Perhaps the finest German silent. Still haunting after all these years...”

Diabolique

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Jon Peters: “Creepy and paranoid.”

Tokyo Drifter

Seijun Suzuki

Jon Peters: “A jazzy, neon-bright, Tarantino/Warhol gangster film is one of a kind.”

Armageddon

Michael Bay

Jon Peters: “A Bay fan favorite, despite some cheesiness, which I guess at to its charm.”

The Most Dangerous Game

Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel

Jon Peters: “In desperate need of a reissue. Quick, clever and great. Zodiac killer's favorite movie. ”

Yojimbo

Akira Kurosawa

Jon Peters: “More bad-ass Kurosawa samurai action. Of note here, is its great camera work. ”

Peeping Tom

Michael Powell

Jon Peters: “A deep, dark look at voyeurism and the nature of the camera's eye, which reflects darkly as mirrors to us. ”

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Carl Th. Dreyer

Jon Peters: “A visual, emotional tour-de-force. ”

The Third Man

Carol Reed

Jon Peters: “One of my favorite films. Orson Welles is perfect is his limited role. Post-war intrigue, great cinematography, and a thrilling story. Masterpiece. ”

The Last Temptation of Christ

Martin Scorsese

Jon Peters: “Scorsese's most personal film, might be cinema's most personal look at the man known as Jesus and his dilemma. ”

Chasing Amy

Kevin Smith

Jon Peters: “Smith's best. A superb look at relationships past and present.”

Hamlet

Laurence Olivier

Jon Peters: “Sorry Mel Gibson, this is the best adaptation of the Shakespeare play.”

Sisters

Brian De Palma

Jon Peters: “Great early De Palma. My copy is autographed by Margot Kidder.”

The Blob

Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.

Jon Peters: “Classic sci-fi fun.”

Fiend Without a Face

Arthur Crabtree

Jon Peters: “A groovy, gory 50s sci-fi fable. ”

Black Narcissus

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Jon Peters: “Beautiful cinematography and film-making. Restraint yet harrowing, temptations and faith. Powell's most elegant film. ”

Spartacus

Stanley Kubrick

Jon Peters: “I am Spartacus! Kubrick might not have liked his film, but who doesn't. Great epic that Hollywood really can't do anymore.”

The Rock

Michael Bay

Jon Peters: “The best Bay film not named Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”

The Hidden Fortress

Akira Kurosawa

Jon Peters: “The film that birthed Star Wars! Not Kurosawa's best samurai film, but wonderfully entertaining. ”

Häxan

Benjamin Christensen

Jon Peters: “A surreal, metaphorical look at witchcraft and paganism in a mockumentary form. Silent film's craziest horror film. ”

Rashomon

Akira Kurosawa

Jon Peters: “Editing 101. A great, moody drama.”

General Idi Amin Dada

Barbet Schroeder

Jon Peters: “A must-see. Dada was a funny, dark dictator. A mean m'fer as seen in Last King of Scotland, but here, it's all true.”

Man Bites Dog

Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoit Poelvoorde

Jon Peters: “A genre-starting and transcending serial killer mockumentary. ”

Throne of Blood

Akira Kurosawa

Jon Peters: “My favorite Kurosawa. Haunting and lyrical.”

Night and Fog

Alain Resnais

Jon Peters: “A truly dark and superb expose of the Holocaust. ”

Slacker

Richard Linklater

Jon Peters: “Funny and clever.”

Videodrome

David Cronenberg

Jon Peters: “Cronenberg's oddest sci-fi films. Classic and sick. ”

Fat Girl

Catherine Breillat

Jon Peters: “A harrowing look at sexuality as a teen fat girl, with an ending that you won't forget. ”

Eyes Without a Face

Georges Franju

Jon Peters: “Dreamy terror rarely captivating as it is here.”

The Sword of Doom

Kihachi Okamoto

Jon Peters: “Featuring a kick-ass ending, it might be one of the genre's most nihilistic films. ”

F for Fake

Orson Welles

Jon Peters: “The weirdest, trickiest documentary out there. Orson was genius. ”

The Flowers of St. Francis

Roberto Rossellini

Jon Peters: “It's a series of vignettes that seem jarring and useless initially, but as a whole, it's a wonderfully simple ode to faith.”

Au hasard Balthazar

Robert Bresson

Jon Peters: “An absolute pleasure from start to finish. A wonderfully simple film, with deep subtext. One of my favorite films of all time.”

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Wes Anderson

Jon Peters: “Quirky and funny. Underrated Anderson. ”

Naked

Mike Leigh

Jon Peters: “The anti-Happy Go Lucky from Leigh. Dark, disturbing yet relatable. Great dialogue. ”

Ugetsu

Kenji Mizoguchi

Jon Peters: “One of the most romantic ghost stories. Sweeping, and eerie cinematography. ”

Ran

Akira Kurosawa

Jon Peters: “Kurosawa's most lively and beautiful works. Epic barely touches it. ”

The Virgin Spring

Ingmar Bergman

Jon Peters: “Rape/revenge at its most tragic and beautiful. A simple story told masterfully. ”

The Complete Mr. Arkadin

Orson Welles

Jon Peters: “An epic Orson Welles film that was and sorta is maligned. Criterion's extras are top notch and interesting in clearing up its past. ”

Au revoir les enfants

Louis Malle

Jon Peters: “Great movie.”

Dazed and Confused

Richard Linklater

Jon Peters: “Endlessly re-watchable. 70s perfectly canonized. ”

Equinox

Jack Woods

Jon Peters: “Love FX? Here's your crash course 101.”

Jigoku

Nobuo Nakagawa

Jon Peters: “Hell as told by the Japanese. Bizarre and bold.”

Clean, Shaven

Lodge Kerrigan

Jon Peters: “An odd, unique, but dark and trippy drama. ”

Monsters and Madmen

Jon Peters: “I love when Criterion does sci-fi, B-movies. Good stuff here, rarely seen.”

49th Parallel

Michael Powell

Jon Peters: “Decent war drama. Not Powell's best, but entertaining nonetheless.”

If....

Lindsay Anderson

Jon Peters: “Pre-Columbine school massacre set in the increasing violent youths in UK. My copy is autographed by Malcolm McDowell.”

Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Byron Haskin

Jon Peters: “A kooky sci-fi fable with Adam West!”

Breathless

Jean-Luc Godard

Jon Peters: “One of the most carefree, jazzy, easy breezy crime stories out there. Birth of a movement still seen today.”

Days of Heaven

Terrence Malick

Jon Peters: “Malick loves the Midwest and his scope is near perfect here. Maybe his last great film?”

Drunken Angel

Akira Kurosawa

Jon Peters: “A moody cop drama, pulp noir with a Kurosawa twist. Great stuff.”