Time for the Barnes & Noble Criterion Sale!

Ah yes, it’s that time of year when cinephiles everywhere (or at least in the United States) are overcome with nearly equal measures of joy and dread. Joy because every DVD and Blu-ray in the Criterion Collection (i.e., the greatest collection of DVD and Blu-ray editions known to mankind) is now half-price at Barnes & Noble, both online and in stores. Dread because that means we have to scramble to find every spare bit of coin to stock up on as many half-price Criterions as possible, and because that usually means having to figure out which few we want the MOST out of the delectable riches the label offers.

I personally try to limit myself to five Blu-rays per sale – going just Blu-ray helps some since Criterion hasn’t upgraded their entire line yet (still pushing for an Elevator to the Gallows Blu-ray every chance I get), but I still ended up with a short list of 21 this time around before finally narrowing it down to these five:

I’m already a bit put out that I couldn’t manage to fit either of these two, but no matter how I did the math, I couldn’t make seven equal five:

Ah well, there’s always another sale. What did you get at this month’s B&N Criterion sale, or what are you planning to get?

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7 Comments

  1. I manged to pick up The Gold Rush, Summer with Monika, Late Spring, Vivre Sa Vie, 39 Steps, and Rushmore.

    Never read too much into People on Sunday. I assume it’s good, but is there anything to compare it too?

    • I actually haven’t seen People on Sunday – my one blind buy this month. My main reason for picking it up is that I can’t find it anywhere. Netflix never got the disc, even, and it’s not on Criterion’s Hulu channel. I’m really intrigued by the talent that went into it – Siodmak, Ulmer, and Wilder are all favorites of mine for their American films – and because it looks like kind of a snapshot of the Weimar era just before the Nazi party took over, and that’s intriguing as well.

      I think the sale goes on until the end of the month? I may cave and get The Gold Rush later on. We’ll see. It looks like a pretty amazing disc. Vivre sa vie I have already, and can verify that the transfer on that is gorgeous. I haven’t looked at all the features yet, though.

  2. Ryan McNeil

    Hitting an actual brick & mortar location when I’m in Chicago this weekend. The wishlist goes like this:

    BRAZIL “Trilogy”
    THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST blu-ray
    BANDE A PART (guess who introduced me to that)
    PICKPOCKET
    ACE IN THE HOLE

    I have a pretty deep bench of subs in case any member of the starting five can’t go.

    • That’s a fantastic list, too. Is Pickpocket on Blu-ray, or just DVD? I didn’t see it on the B&N Blu-ray list, but I didn’t bother to research any further than that – that list gave me far too many choices as it was! Ace in the Hole, another great choice. That Brazil set is pretty great – a friend of mine had it and I spent a weekend one time trying out all the different versions. I still always find myself losing it a bit toward the end, though – a common issue I have with Gilliam, even though I really like his stuff. Last Temptation, also a really interesting one – I liked it a lot more than I expected to.

      And of course, Bande a part is one of my favorites. Just ask the Anna Karina in my header. :) She knows.

  3. Alex Withrow

    Excellent picks! And thanks so much for tweeting about this… I had completely forgotten about the sale. Drains me every July.

    • I forget when it’s going to be every year – is it always in July? I usually hear about it from someone else or get emailed by Criterion or something and am like OH CRAP GOODBYE MONEY.

      What did you end up getting? Just checked tracking on mine, they should be here tomorrow! Pretty excited.

      • Alex Withrow

        I actually didn’t get any. Well, except two Bergmans (Summer Interlude and Summer with Monika). I was trying to be good and save money, but Bergman… come on.

        Yeah, it’s every July, and… November, maybe? Well, to be more accurate, it has been for 3 consecutive Julys now and 2 consecutive Novemebers.

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