Features

Tsui Hark’s 1995 martial arts film The Blade has been added to the Criterion Collection. Among the boldest accomplishments of Hong Kong cinema’s golden age, this uniquely visceral martial-arts movie puts a gritty new spin on the story of the one-armed swordsman, an iconic figure from the moment he was introduced by the Shaw Brothers studio in 1967. Composed in a whirlwind of immersive close-ups and fractured editing, The Blade follows the young sword-maker Ding On (Vincent…

Chicago is a great movie city. Besides the several movies that have been shot and continue to be shot there, there are also a lot of cool and interesting big-screen events constantly throughout the city. Whether it’s a retro screening taking place at the iconic Music Box Theater, a curated block of movies at the Gene Siskel Film Center, or early screenings of something coming out soon, there is always a reason to go to…

With the 98th Academy Awards over, we can officially say goodbye to the 2025 movie year and look at the movies coming out in 2026. 2025 was a great year for movies, and 2026 looks to be the same, if not even better. We’ve already gotten excellent movies like Send Help, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie, Hoppers, The Rip, André Is an Idiot, GOAT, and Project Hail…

Delmer Daves’ classic western 3:10 to Yuma recently got a 4k upgrade from the Criterion Collection. In this beautifully shot, psychologically complex western, Van Heflin is a mild-mannered cattle rancher who takes on the task of shepherding a captured outlaw (played with cucumber-cool charisma by Glenn Ford) to the train that will deliver him to prison. This apparently simple mission turns into a nerve-racking cat-and-mouse game that tests each man’s particular brand of honor. Based…

Reginald Hudlin’s comedy classic House Party has been added to the Criterion Collection. In this dazzlingly imaginative teen comedy, the breakthrough feature debut by writer-director Reginald Hudlin, hip-hop duo Kid ’n Play bring their star power to the big screen as aspiring MCs preparing for the party of the year. When Kid’s father (Robin Harris) forbids him from attending Play’s party, Kid sneaks out anyway, kicking off a wild night full of dance-offs and rap…

Jonathan Glazer’s sophomore feature, Birth, has been added to the Criterion Collection. Jonathan Glazer’s second feature film is a haunting cinematic enigma that explores the mysteries of the heart. Nicole Kidman delivers a masterfully multilayered performance as Anna, a widow still mourning the death of her husband a decade earlier, when she meets Sean (Cameron Bright), a ten-year-old boy who claims to be his reincarnation—leading her into a wrenching confrontation with her own unresolved grief…

  The simplicity of Beth de Araújo’s Josephine is the film’s biggest asset. The film follows 8-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves), who, while on an early morning run with her father, accidentally gets separated from him and winds up witnessing a woman being attacked and raped. The movie focuses on Josephine after the event, the emotional toll on her and her family, and the push-and-pull advice she receives from her parents. Josephine is a movie about…

Howard Hughes’s 1930s war epic Hell’s Angels has been added to the Criterion Collection. A high-flying feat of adventure filmmaking and a testament to the audacious, spare-no-expense vision of Howard Hughes, this landmark aviation epic remains exhilarating both for its daredevil aerial sequences and its nervy pre-Code punch. With the onset of World War I, two British brothers recruited into the Royal Flying Corps (Ben Lyon and James Hall) find their bond tested by their…

Ken Russell’s Altered States has entered the Criterion Collection. The ultimate cinematic head trip of the 1980s, British renegade Ken Russell’s first Hollywood production—adapted by the legendary screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his own novel—is part hallucinogenic freak-out, part gonzo creature feature, part transcendent love story, all played at a fever pitch. When researcher Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) begins using himself as a test subject for his mind-expanding psychological experiments, it sends him on an increasingly…

Director Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames has been added to the Criterion Collection. A blistering rallying cry issued loud, clear, and unapologetically queer, Lizzie Borden’s explosive postpunk provocation is a DIY fantasia of female rebellion set in America ten years after a revolution that supposedly transformed the country into a social-democratic utopia. In reality, racism, sexism, and economic inequality are as virulent as ever, and a band of radicals—led by Black, lesbian, and working-class women—join forces to fight back….