If you were anything like me, you were probably dreading November 30th the same way Bill Murray would February 2nd. The end of the streaming site FilmStruck spelled the end of our access to arthouse, classic, and Indie pictures. The bigger picture painted a future bereft of hope for cinephiles, not all too different from the Checkhov like fate Murray reports of on February 2nd in Groundhog Day.
Yes, I might be being a bit dramatic. But when Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Guillermo del Toro, Barbara Streisand, Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright, and Steven Spielberg – just to name a few – rallied with a petition with 55,000 signatures to save the site, you know such attention wouldn’t go unnoticed.
I Know Where I’m Going! To the Criterion Channel!
For those of you who don’t know, Warner Media recently announced the close of the service upon Warner being purchased by AT&T in hopes to streamline. Ostensibly shifting focus towards bigger – and certainly not better – things such as HBO. So Criterion decided, to hell with it, we will start our own service!
In Spring 2019, the standalone “Criterion Channel” will launch with a similar capacious collection to the site of old, while never losing site of the “thematic programming, regular filmmaker spotlights, and actor retrospectives” that made these curators saviors in the film-buff community. Along with being the nonpareil of classic films, subscribers will also be able to tune into the invaluable experience of extras along the lines of del Toro revering Night of the Hunter or tuning into Damien Chazelle professing the meta aspects of Chronicle of a Summer. Good luck finding that anywhere else.
And at a generous price of $10.99 a month/$100 a year, this proves to be the next best thing since, well, FilmStruck. Even if it may not carry the Turner Movie Classics of its predecessor (fingers crossed they do), but I think well over 1,000 of the world’s finest films will keep me quite busy regardless.
Why It Matters
For the same reason we fall in love with movies in the first place, the options here are endless. Whether we are visiting the dreams of Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Frederico Fellini, or Jean Luc-Godard, there are no better worlds/movies to visit than the ones on the channel. Movie freedom isn’t free – even if 100 dollars a year is a steal – but your experiences in these masterpieces are priceless. Sign up today for a reduced charter price. And remember, watch at your own risk. Since once you open the site, you may never want to leave.
Will you be subscribing to the Criterion Channel? Let us know in the comments below!
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