Reviews for The Criterion Channel

The Criterion Channel has an INCREDIBLE selection, it's almost worth the subscription alone. But man, they have to make it easier to use. For a service that claims to be "a movie lovers dream" it's an absolute nightmare to try and watch this on the biggest screen I have. The website does not allow HDMI, so I have to access the app via Chromebook to get around that, which is very inconvenient. And if I try to Chromecast either from my phone or Chromecast it constantly buffers.

Love this service (long live Criterion!) but I'd be remiss not to mention that the mobile app and TV app have significantly reduced functionality when compared to the desktop web app. Specifically, I would love to be able to sort by decade and country while browsing on mobile or TV. unless you know what your specifically looking for, it's very difficult to browse the collection on app. But the service in general is definitely worth subscribing to.

A beatiful and wide selection of movies. I like how they revamped theor search feature for suggwstions. My real problem is that it doesn't work half the time. It might just be my cruddy J7 but every time I open this app my phone freezes and I can't do a manual restart. i have to take out the battery, restart, play the same game again and hope the app loads. If it does, then it's all about waiting to see if any of the movies play which they don't 50% of the time.

I absolutely love the content, and the "collections" format that groups together similar films and related bonus features is great. However, right now the offline library (downloaded videos) leaves a lot to be desired. For one, you cannot select where the videos are downloaded to, so you can't make use of an external SD card. Also, the app must remain open and the phone unlocked in order for videos to download, which requires you to babysit your phone while not using it for anything else.

Test results look great! Some FYIs: I did have ro remove the caps from my email address to log into the app. It wasn't recognizing the way I registered it. When searching for the app my keywords were "Criterion Channel," and it was about 8th down the list. I researched it adding "The" and it was at the top of the list. I downloaded a movie on my Pixel phone and it worked perfectly. i went offline and was able to watch it with no problem. I love that I can download movies to watch offline.

The selection is fantastic but there are still a few features missing that are present in most modern streaming services. For instance it would be nice to have a "continue watching" section that remebered where you left off; a way to sort by genre, year, director, country, etc.; and a more forgiving search function to name a few. However, the service still supersedes other services like Netflix just for the selection alone.

I am really happy that there is finally a decent streaming platform. Tons of content and totally worth it. Only complaint is the search functions are a littlw inconvenient. For example, it would be nice to search by genre, country, decade, etc., like you can on the criterion website. Sometimes this makes it difficult to find new films that are not suggested on the main page. Other than that I am happy. If the app was just a teeny bit more versatile it would be a perfect platform.

The mobile app is pretty good, though as many others have said, it could use some improvements. My biggest sticking point is the lack of captions. I would ask that Criterion take care when implementing this feature; many times, on other streaming services, when you have a movie with burned in subtitles, the captions will block the subtitles, making the whole affair pointless. Otherwise, I really dig it, and the service, especially downloading for offline viewing. Excellent films.

Criterion Channel brings me joy!! The app can be buggy at times, but it's worth it in the end because of the content. Glad I can download movies to view when without internet. I had one that wouldn't play, so had to redownload. I think a strong connection helps ensure an effective download. All in all I love Criterion. The app is not bothersome enough to really interfere with my experience. No app is perfect anyway. Don't think you'd regret getting this!

I really oove the app for the most part, but why I can't pull up a program's description without launching the movie is crazy! Also, on a lot of programs I watch on the app or througg my Roku stream fine until 3 minutes left in the movie or program and then I get a generic error code I can't clear off my screen without stopping the program and stwrting over. Very annoying!

I've enjoyed the Criterion Channel from the beginning. I can see classics I love as well as be exposed to newer hard to find films. I don't understand why the format of the channel has so radically changed. On my Samsung TV, there is no longer a 'search ability. Also, when you click on a movie, it starts right away instead of giving the viewer a description of the movie. It's become impossible to maneuver around the site. Your content is brilliant, but ease of use has become horrible.

There's no Chromecast support and the Roku app ruined Human Desire with error code - 3 just before the end, and Experiment in Terror stopped twice. This could be a great app, but it's not there yet. I get Error code: - 3 just before the end of every movie, can't see the end. It works fine with Fire TV. The films look great. I wish they would post the whole collection.

I guess the app works, but without the ability to cast to my tv through Chromecast or my Fire Stick, there's no point to it. I'm not going to watch great films on my phone or my laptop. The search and browse functions need work, too. Feels like this was rushed out without consideration for how people actually use this stuff. Probably going to sacrifice my early adopter discount and cancel when my free trial is over.

The movies are good, but searching on the app is very difficult and limited. I want to look through all the films but there is no way of doing that. The "video" files also make it harder to find the movie I'm looking for. If there was a page of just all the movies in the channel that would make the expirence a lot easier. It would also help if I could search by genre instead of typing in "Western" and getting a random mix of videos and movies, some of which aren't even westerns.

Best app for anyone interested in old, foreign, or obscure movies, bar none. The restoration work Criterion does is unparalleled, and half the time you aren't able to tell when a movie was released just by looking at it. The only reason i dinged them a star is because there's no way to just browse the whole catalogue. there are hundreds of movies on the app that you wouldn't know about unless you already knew the title to search for.

10/10 streaming service. app is horrible. specifically downloads never work. no point in downloading anything whenever you need it itll give you the message "sorry we couldn't play the video". this even happens for downloaded movies while u have a wifi connection. you have to uninstall the download before you can stream it. really horrible.

I use this steamer and HBO Max the most. Criterion separates everything by limited time runs in mini libraries catalogued by mood, style of film, or particular artist. A lot like music streamers with curated playlists but with movies. It's a genius idea and I always seem to find something great I never heard of. My only gripe about this steamer is the lack of 4K content. Everything is HD or standard, and some of the older films have a bad case of color blocking and limited gradient.

This is such a wonderful collection of film. I'm watching some of the great Japanese films that I wanted to see. Iconic films. Classic films. It's just a motherload of great entertainment!!! unfortunately the app that controls it all really really sucks. come on guys you can do better than this!! they did some kind of revision and now they're currently watching doesn't work. one wonders if this is some kind of high school students project instead of a professional interface

This is a very good service for those who are into classic movies. The collection is obviously curated by passionate people and there are a lot of movies that aren't accessible anywhere else. The quality is great, including some 4k remasters for movies that previously never had them, and buffering isn't an issue either. The subscription is pretty cheap at $11 a month and you can download as many movies as you want. Overall this is an amazing service that more companies should model after.

The best streaming service for anyone who loves film (as opposed to movies). The app itself is a bit clunky, but it's gotten better with time and is worth putting up with some odd UX choices to get access to these movies. The catalogue changes monthly with themed collections that urge you to trust the currators and try something new. There's no algorithm and a crummy search menu, but if you're willing to just go with the flow and trust the recommendations you won't regret it.