Essential Films to Pick Up in Our Semi-Annual Criterion Sale: A Guest Post From Criterion

Our friends at Criterion have shared their favorite picks from our Criterion sale. Read on for their essentials...and don't forget your own Criterion Closet.

It wouldn’t be summer without the Criterion sale. Now is your chance to get 50% off all in-stock Criterion titles, from award-winning new releases to iconic classics from around the globe. We have you covered with our list of essentials to help you browse the collection of over 1700 titles. 

One of the greatest biopics ever made, now in 4K. David Lynch (Blue Velvet) cemented his reputation as one of America’s most visionary talents with this Oscar-nominated true story about performer John Merrick. The director-approved edition includes interviews with Lynch and the cast and crew, a reading by Lynch and critic Kristine McKenna, and more.

 

 



Celebrate Pride with a John Waters double feature! The infectiously irreverent rock-and-soul comedy—with Ricki Lake and the inimitable Divine—is now available in a 4K director-approved edition, alongside Waters' notorious cult classic Desperate Living. Includes audio commentary with Waters and Lake, interviews with the cast, deleted scenes, and more.

 

 



Lisa Cholodenko's (The Kids Are All Right) award-winning debut feature—starring Ally Sheedy, Patricia Clarkson, and Radha Mitchell—is an essential work of queer and 1990s independent cinema. The director-approved edition includes a conversation between Cholodenko and filmmaker Karyn Kusama, interviews with the cast, and more.

 

 



One of the year’s best by one of contemporary cinema’s great humanists, Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World), this Oscar-winning family drama stars Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning. The director-approved edition includes interviews with Trier, the cast, and filmmaker Mike Mills; cover artwork by Chris Ware; and more.

 

 



John Singleton rocked 1990s American cinema and popular culture with his electrifying debut feature Boyz n the Hood. Now, alongside Poetic Justice and Baby Boy, this box set completes what the beloved director considered his Hood Trilogy. Includes a conversation between filmmakers Ryan Coogler and Regina King, interviews with the cast and crew, and more.

 

 

An epic elegy of greed, betrayal, and murder, Martin Scorsese’s masterly adaptation of David Grann's true-crime best seller stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone. The director-approved edition includes new programs featuring Scorsese, members of the Osage Nation, and the cast and crew; a program on Noah Kemohah’s cover art; and more.

 

 

One of 2025's best films, this audacious genre experiment from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure) is at once a gonzo revenge thriller, a darkly comic anticapitalist critique, and a dizzying plunge into the digital abyss. Kurosawa's latest film, The Samurai and the Prisoner, will be released in select theaters starting July 31.

 

 

Celebrate 100 years of Marilyn Monroe with her bombshell performance in one of the most beloved films of all time. Also starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, this sizzling masterpiece from Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity) set a new standard for Hollywood comedy. Includes interviews with Wilder and the cast; behind-the-scenes documentaries; and more.

 

 


The legendary Paul Newman stars in one of his darkest roles as a charismatic but ruthless cattle rancher in this quietly subversive reimagining of western myths, directed by Martin Ritt (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold). Includes new interviews with actor Sally Field and cinematographer Roger Deakins, programs featuring Ritt and Newman, and more.

 

 

Three personal and panoramic family portraits from writer-director Mike Mills—featuring Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, and Joaquin Phoenix. The director-approved edition includes a documentary featuring Mills and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, music videos and short films by Mills, and more.

 

 

Andrew Stanton's (Toy Story 5) beloved Oscar-winning animation classic is both a dazzling science-fiction romance and a soaring ode to the power of love and art. The director-approved edition includes new programs featuring Stanton and his collaborators; more than a dozen documentaries; and more.

 

 

Calling all cinephiles . . . Since 2007, Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project have preserved and presented masterpieces from around the globe. Ranging from the epic to the intimate, these four groundbreaking and innovative films from Algeria, Burkina Faso, India, and Kazakhstan are essential contributions to the art form.

 

 

The Oscar-winning New Hollywood classic, now in 4K. Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch star in this startlingly prescient media satire from Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men), a no-holds-barred X-ray of the corrupted soul of a corporate-dominated America. Includes audio commentary featuring Lumet, a documentary about screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, and more.