The Complete Monterey Pop Festival: Criterion Collection

The three concerts that defined the 1960s were Monterey Pop, Woodstock and the Rolling Stones at Altamont. The first one kicked off the Summer of Love in 1967, the second one defined the Hippie movement and the last one ended the hopeful decade on a dark,... 

Burroughs: The Movie: Criterion Collection

At the time the documentary Burroughs: The Movie was released in 1983, author William S. Burroughs was a counterculture legend but existed largely under the popular culture radar. Director Howard Brookner had spent five years working on it with the writer’s... 

Don’t Look Back: Criterion Collection

D.A. Pennebaker’s legendary documentary Dont Look Back (1967) chronicles Bob Dylan’s last acoustic music tour in England during the spring of 1965. The filmmaker was allowed complete access to the folk singer both on and off stage and captured it... 

Hoop Dreams: Criterion Collection

For every Allen Iverson or Shaquille O’Neal that makes it to fame and fortune in the NBA, there are hundreds that don’t. Hoop Dreams (1994) is a documentary that follows two Chicago inner-city boys from their freshman year in high school to their... 

Hearts and Minds: Criterion Collection

Peter Davis’ powerful, Academy Award-winning documentary Hearts and Minds (1974) was made before the war in Vietnam ended in 1975. Not surprisingly, it became immediately embroiled in controversy as the United States was deeply divided and conflicted... 

A Brief History of Time: Criterion Collection

Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time was published in 1988 and by 2007 had sold over 10 million copies. It was the brilliant physicist’s attempt to tackle such weighty ideas as the notion that the universe had a beginning and if so, what... 

I Am Divine

In 1988, notorious cult filmmaker John Waters finally achieved mainstream recognition with Hairspray. His star and muse Divine a.k.a. Harris Glenn Milstead helped the filmmaker get there and deservedly basked in the praise. Sadly, he died the same year... 

Grey Gardens / The Beales of Grey Gardens: Criterion Collection

Grey Gardens (1976) is an odd curio even by the Criterion Collections’ standards – a documentary about Jackie Kennedy’s aunt Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie who lived in a run-down, 28-room house on Long Island. How did these two members... 

Pina: Criterion Collection

More than 20 years in the making, Pina (2011) was originally conceived by filmmaker Wim Wenders as a documentary about famous choreographer and dancer Pina Bausch. However, he couldn’t figure out how to translate the artistry and elegance of the performers... 

Comic Book Confidential: 20th Anniversary Edition

Often regarded as just for kids, comic books finally gained a modicum of respectability in the mid to late 1980s with the rise in popularity of titles like Watchmen, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Maus to name but only a few. Harlan Ellison’s seminal... 

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