It's no longer impossible to find full-length movies online thanks to services like the iTunes Store, Netflix, Hulu, and even YouTube. But despite the incredible proliferation of movies on the Internet, it's still somewhat difficult to find films that fall outside of the Legally Blonde and Jackass 2.5 realm, especially if you're a serious film buff. Until now, anyway. The Criterion Collection has begun putting some of its selections online for rent on its own website, giving film buffs a ray of hope amidst the download and rental gloom.
Related StoriesMGM will be first major studio to put full movies on YouTube
The Criterion Collection is well-known for its collector's versions of foreign, classic, and contemporary films, and is often held in high esteem among those who like to study and collect unique versions of various movies. This is, of course, why Criterion's decision to start putting its movies online is an exciting one, despite the fact that selection is extremely limited for the time being—there are only about 20 films available for now, although more are being added regularly.
The website works in much the same way as the NBC-owned Hulu, except that the videos aren't free (there are free previews available for each film, however). They're currently limited to online distribution within the US and Canada, and they are offered as video streams on the Criterion site alone—no downloading or embedding allowed. Rentals are $5 apiece and can be watched an unlimited number of times within a week of payment. Like Hulu, there is a fullscreen option for watching movies.
Each movie's page contains a synopsis, cast list, and disc special features, although viewers of the online versions won't actually get access to those special features without purchasing the DVD or Blu-ray disc.
On the upside, the $5 movie rental price goes towards your purchase of the physical media if you so choose, which is a nice side benefit and offers customers some motivation to purchase the movie without making them feel like they got taken twice.
The only confusing part of the site is Criterion's "festival," which directs users to a social networking site, The Auteurs, where viewers can watch select films for free (with a preroll ad) every month. As noted by NewTeeVee, these festival films are chosen directly from Criterion's online collection and are the exact same ones that Criterion itself charges $5 to watch without informing the user that it's available for free through another part of the site. This is a pretty annoying UI oversight at the very least, and a sneaky trick at most.
Still, it's rare to find full-length streaming versions of foreign films and old classics, so Criterion's missteps might be forgiven as it gets its online offerings off the ground. Now, if only all these companies would stop being stingy and work together to offer movies through one, centralized location online.
Reply With Quote
13th Monkey
Originally Posted by Razor Ramon
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks