- “The Closet” is a faithful recreation of the famous Criterion Closet
- Navigate in full 3D (the good option) or in list view (boo)
- Connects to the Criterion Channel for easy streaming
If you’ve always wanted to walk through the Criterion Closet but haven’t been able to because (a) it’s in New York and (b) you’re not a famous actor, then Redditor olievans has just what you need: the entire Criterion Closet in virtual 3D form, explorable right in your web browser.
You can take a look at The Closet directly in this link. It contains 1,327 Criterion editions, all arranged in order of their spine number, and you can pull each disc box off the shelf to inspect the design more closely. You can also filter the collection by decade, director, country, language and more – the physical version can’t do this that.
If you’re unfamiliar with Criterion Closet, it’s a library of special edition disc sets released by film distributor Criterion, which has been releasing highly coveted discs with stunning artwork, great extra features, and often unique, high-quality restorations since the Laserdisc era.
Since 2010, the real Closet has been a place where directors, actors and other familiar faces – from Martin Scorcese to Charli XCX – are filmed choosing their must-see films from the lineup.
Why it’s fun to be in the closet
The Closet is available in two versions: a full 3D reproduction of the iconic closet and in list form. The list is more functional but much less fun because we are not surprised to find It’s a lumbar puncture immediately next to The seventh seal.
The website is a really fun way to browse one of the best movie collections in the world, and while there are a few glitches – it’s not exactly obvious how to get your mouse cursor back, so on my Mac I had to press Esc twice to get back to the home page and get out of the closet – it’s beautifully done and the closest thing to the real thing without first having a few IMDb credits under your belt.
What I really like about this is the discovery element. The Criterion Collection is very extensive, which means you never know what will hit the shelves next: Paris, Texas (number 501) is followed by the Australian thriller Revenge (502) and German historical romance Lola Montès (503).
It’s a lot like the Blu-Ray equivalent of crate digging for exotic vinyl records: the Criterion Closet is full of surprises.
A word from the editor
Good morning! Matt Bolton, editor of TechRadar’s home theater coverage here. As a Blu-ray collector, I decided to take the opportunity I’ll never have in real life and present to you my Criterion picks – as in, these are the ones I actually own. I’m not going to give you a full speech on each of them, don’t worry, but I will explain why
- Anora – a big collector’s edition and the best way to get a 4K version
- Turn off — essential for DTS-HD Master audio, and 4K restoration
- I know where I’m going — the first 4K restoration of a black and white cinema classic
- In the mood to love — one of my favorite films, in the highest quality
- Lost highway — the only way to get it in 4K Dolby Vision with new DTS-HD sound restoration
- Moon reverie – the only way to get this in both Dolby Atmos and uncompressed audio, surprisingly
- The power of the dog – the only way to get it with the higher bit rate of Blu-ray
- The red shoes – one of the most incredible films of all time, in its best restoration ever
- Thief — the most beautiful version of Michael Mann’s darkest film
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