The Swissmakers

Aug 18, 2011 — The British comedian, actor, writer, and director Richard Ayoade is best known for his starring role on the UK television series The IT Crowd and his successful directorial debut Submarine, which was released in the U.S. in 2011. In selecting...

Jul 19, 2011 — Comedians, writers, and producers Robert Ben Garant and Tom Lennon split their duties in selecting their favorite titles from the collection: the first five are from Lennon, the last are from Garant. Best known for their work on The State...

At Criterion, cinema is king, but the play is also the thing. Here’s a selection of films that adapt great works of theater for the screen.

With themes of love, suffering, betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption, melodrama puts its audiences through the emotional wringer.

Jun 14, 2011 — American chef and art-film epicure Anthony Bourdain is chef at large at New York’s Brasserie les Halles; the author of ten books, including Kitchen Confidential and No Reservations; and the host of the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Photo...

We have a killer selection of Japanese gangster films—or yakuza pictures—all from the genre’s heyday in the fifties and sixties.

May 19, 2011 — About selecting his favorites from the collection, world-class cinematographer John Bailey (Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters) says, “One of the greatest challenges in trying to compile a list like this is to separate the objectively ‘great’ films from the...

The Cannes Film Festival may have star-studded red carpets, but the winners below are its true legacy.

Apr 28, 2011 — When Criterion producer Susan Arosteguy was at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, last month, she met local cooking teacher and cinephile Ron Deutsch in line for a screening. They got to chatting, and Ron told Susan...

Apr 26, 2011 — At once prestigious literary adaptation and slap­stick buddy flick, this is something like a lowbrow art film, an egghead monster movie, a hilarious paean to reckless indulgence, and perhaps the most widely released midnight movie ever made.