CriterionCast

Criterion Cast – Episode 218 – Criterion Collection Favorites of 2025

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.

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Episode Notes

Aaron’s List

Brad’s List

David’s List

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

Past Favorites of the Year Episodes

 

David Blakeslee

David hosts the Criterion Reflections podcast, a series that reviews the films of the Criterion Collection in their chronological order of release. The series began in 2009 and those essays (covering the years 1921-1967) can be found via the website link provided below. In March 2016, the blog transferred to this site, and in August 2017, the blog changed over to a podcast format. David also contributes to other reviews and podcasts on this site. He lives near Grand Rapids, Michigan and works in social services. Twitter / Criterion Reflections

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