Movies to stream on Criterion Channel

If you’re looking for great streaming movies, try the Criterion Channel if you’re in the US or Canada. (It isn't available in any other countries.) If you don't already subscribe, you should be able to get a free 14-day trial by going to the website.

The free trial turns into a monthly or annual subscription unless you cancel. The annual subscription is $100, or a little over $8 a month. You also get bonus features for some movies, like commentary and interviews.

Here are some movies on CC that you might want to check out. Some of these are movies I've seen and loved, while others are ones I haven’t seen but want to. In chronological order:

Safety Last! (1923), and more silent movies starring Harold Lloyd

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Ordet (1955), and more directed by Dreyer

City Lights (1931), The Great Dictator (1940), and more Chaplin movies

The Lady Vanishes (1938), and more early Hitchcock

Stagecoach (1939) — John Wayne’s breakthrough

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Bicycle Thief (1948) — CC calls it "Bicycle Thieves," which is a more direct translation of the Italian title

Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), and more directed by Kurosawa

Tokyo Story (1953), and more directed by Ozu

Pather Panchali (1955), and more directed by Satyajit Ray

The Cranes Are Flying (1957) — Soviet movie in Russian

The 400 Blows (1959), and more directed by Truffaut

L'avventura (1960), and more directed by Antonioni

8 1/2 (1963), and more directed by Fellini

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) — French

Persona (1966), and dozens of other movies directed by Ingmar Bergman

Belle de Jour (1967), and more directed by Buñuel

The Complete Monterey Pop Festival — documentary of the great 1967 music festival including Jimi Hendrix, Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, and the Mamas & the Papas

Grey Gardens (1976), and more Maysles Brothers documentaries

My Dinner with Andre (1981), and more directed by Louis Malle

Paris, Texas (1984), and more directed by Wim Wenders

Babette’s Feast (1987) — Danish

The Thin Blue Line (1988), and more Errol Morris documentaries

The Player (1992)

Three Colors: Blue (1993), and more starring Juliette Binoche

Secrets and Lies (1996)

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) — Romanian movie about a college student trying to help her friend get an illegal abortion under Ceausescu's communist regime in the '80s

Certified Copy (2010), and more by Iranian director Kiarostami