5 Classics Available for 50% Off in the Criterion Collection Sale

Fantastic Planet
That René Laloux’s weird sci-fi allegory is now widely available in high-def is one of the wonders of our age. The French and Czechoslovakian film tells of the Draags, giant blue aliens who have brought Earthlings to their world to be treated as pets, zoo exhibits, and, sometimes, wild animals to be hunted. The dynamic is all about racism and imperialism, but this stop-motion animated film is also trippy, psychedelic, and weird in ways that stick with you long after the social messages have faded.

Dr. Strangelove
Will Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb ever not be relevant? Will humans of some far distant day watch Kubrick’s classic and not find parallels to current militarism and politics? Because after more than 50 years and the end of the Cold War, Kubrick’s diamond-edged satire is as sharp as ever. For that matter, it’s also still hilarious, anchored by a brilliant triple performance from the great Peter Sellers. Criterion has polished up this one with a brand-new 4k transfer, so it’ll be well worth revisiting. Probably for a long time to come.

The New World
Though his career began with 1973’s Badlands, The New World, made over 30 years later, was only Terrence Malick’s fourth film. Which is to say that it was, and remains, a true cinematic event. It tells the story of the founding of the Jamestown settlement in the Americas, centered on the historical figures of John Smith and Pocahontas. It’s dreamy and poetic, not to mention beautifully photographed, in the manner of Malick’s best. Criterion has meticulously restored the film for this edition, presented in the director’s preferred extended cut.

The In-Laws
The pairing of Alan Arkin with Columbo himself, Peter Falk, meant big box office business in 1979, and it’s not hard to see why. Arkin is the milquetoast dentist Shelly, whose daughter is engaged to Falk’s Vince, a “businessman” who soon involves Shelly in the aftermath of a robbery of engraving plates from the U.S. Mint. What starts out as a comedy about mismatched in-laws quickly evolves into an elaborate caper film. We’ve seen plenty of variations on the theme in the years since, but this one did it first, and best.

A Touch of Zen
Criterion has done an extraordinary job of resurrecting the great works of martial arts filmmaking, including several awesome samurai films from Japan. Zen hails from Taiwan, and tells the story of a disgraced noblewoman who finds refuge in a mysterious, ghostly village before being set upon by the soldiers of a corrupt royal eunuch. It’s not just a story of martial arts action, though; it’s also a meditation on the cost of violence and the dangers of corruption. The movie was a direct inspiration for Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and is one of the crowning achievements of the Chinese wuxia genre, which typically mixes elaborate fighting with a mystical spiritual quest.
What are you picking up during the Criterion sale?