I've started to collect these. I'm buying one a week. I'm trying to do it in a semi-organized way, going director by director. I've been getting Seijun Suzuki's stuff these past few weeks. I like the ones featuriing Joe Shishido (sp?) the best. He drops a layer of weirdness over the yakuza thing. Very cool.
There several other Seijun Suzuki flicks from around the same era that were released on DVD by Homevision Entertainment. They're out-of-print but definitely worth picking up if you come across a copy.
Barnes & Noble usually has a 50% off Criterion sale around Easter. Amazon routinely has 40% off specials on many titles. I've been working on getting all the blu ray titles. I have a Google Docs spreadsheet I made to keep track of my collection. It also has the upcoming release titles with their release date. I'll gladly share a link to it if anyone is interested.
What is their deal with netflix, anybody know how long it takes new titles to show up in there? Is it just all on Hulu now?
All on Hulu. There are a few things still on Netflix Instant that Criterion doesn't have streaming rights to, like IFC Films.
I heard the Criterion was upset that Netflix wouldn't create a Criterion Collection search tag. Hulu did so Criterion got on board with them for streaming.
There's a site called
MUBI that focuses primarily on foreign and independent films as well as films by seminal directors. Their "Watch Instantly" section includes titles streaming on Netflix; titles streamable on MUBI are $2.99 each or unlimited for $6.99 per month.
There's another site called
InstantWatcher that's great for searching streaming Netflix titles. You can see a list of recent additions or search by genre, New York Times critics picks or Rotten Tomatoes ratings. One of the things I like about it is that it shows the date the title is streaming until.
[I know that MUBI and InstantWatcher have been discussed previously in this and other threads; I mention them for those who may have missed prior mentions]
