Criterion Cast – Episode 218 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2025

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:34:43 — 134.9MB)

In our annual episode focusing on The Criterion Collection’s releases from the past year – and there’s a lot to celebrate! – we’ve assembled a panel of CriterionCast regulars to share our favorite releases of 2025. David Blakeslee from Criterion Reflections hosts this discussion, which also includes Aaron West and Brad McDermott.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes

Episode Notes

Aaron’s List

• Favorite Cover/Packaging: I Know Where I’m Going by Thinh Dihn
• Favorite Releases
  1. Anora
  2. The Grifters
  3. Flow

Brad’s List

• Favorite Cover/Packaging: Altered States by Richey Beckett
• Favorite Releases
  1. Eyes Wide Shut
  2. Born in Flames
  3. Return to Reason: 4 Films by Man Ray

David’s List

• Favorite Cover/Packaging: The Wages of Fear by Juan Esteban R.
• Favorite Releases
  1. Eclipse Series 47: Abbas Kiarostami – Early Shorts and Features
  2. Sorcerer
  3. Él

Criterion 2025 Factoids

• 82 Total Releases (including Janus Contemporaries/Criterion Premieres, Eclipse 47, and Wes Anderson Archive)
• 50 new spine numbers (The Mother and the Whore #1245 thru David Byrne’s American Utopia #1294, though House Party #1287 was delayed until 2026)
• 25 Upgrades/Reissues of previous spine numbers (including Laserdiscs)
• 16 Standard Upgrades from Blu-ray to 4K
• 2 Blu-ray to 4K Upgrades were new packages (Wages of Fear, Umbrellas of Cherbourg)
• 4 In-print DVDs to 4K Upgrades
• 4 OOP DVDs returned, 3 to 4K Upgrades, 1 to Blu-ray
• 11 of the new spine numbers released in DVD format
• Only three-format (4K/BR/DVD) releases of 2025 were:
• The Mother and the Whore
• The Wages of Fear
• Anora
• Shoeshine
• Flow
• David Byrne’s American Utopia

Episode Credits

• Brad McDermott ( Instagram / Letterboxd / Gallery)
• Aaron West ( CineJourneys / Substack )
• David Blakeslee ( TikTok / Website / Facebook / Letterboxd )

Past Favorites of the Year Episodes

• Episode 216 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2024
• Episode 215 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2023
• Episode 214 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2022
• Episode 213 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2021
• Episode 212 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2020
• Episode 202 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2019
• Episode 195 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2018
• Episode 189: Criterion Collection Favorites of 2017
• Episode 180: Criterion Collection Favorites of 2016
• Episode 167: Criterion Collection Favorites of 2015
• Episode 152: Our Favorite Criterion Collection Releases from 2014
• Episode 145: Our Favorite Criterion Collection Releases from 2013
• Episode 135: Favorite Criterion Collection Releases of 2012
• Episode 108: Our Favorite Criterion Collection Releases of 2011
• Episode 63.5: Top Criterion Collection Releases of 2010