And on the month of April, GOD created.....

I've never heard of the Criterion Collection, so I looked it up.

From Amazon.com
Criterion set the standard in Laser Discs in the first digital age. Although other studios create some great DVDs, no one has matched Criterion for consistently producing fabulous-looking, extras-laden films on DVD, especially if your thing is classic or international films. The care in print and sound quality is a marvel. Something like the 1932 comedy Trouble in Paradise shouldn't look like it was made yesterday. The reconstruction of the original 1928 print of The Passion of Joan the Arc is legendary. Subtitles are always new and reexamined for translation; original aspect ratios and sound design are carefully presented.

Whoever makes the Criterion DVDs (I'm not sure who, I guess just the criterion guys) buys the rights to a certain movie (such as Divorce, Italian Style) for a certain period of time, and then they produce these great DVDs with tons of extra stuff on them. Once the alloted time that they own the rights for is up, they stop making the DVDs, and the rights go to wherever else they go. Thus, Criterion DVDs are only made for a short period of time and are rare. So if they release a movie and you're considering getting a copy, buy it now before the rights are up and they stop making them. You won't find any better DVDs when it comes to Criterion, they really stuff their DVD's full of all sorts of extra stuff. I don't know exactly how many films are in the Criterion collection, but there's an unusual assortment -- off the top of my head, there's Rushmore, The Battle of Algiers, 3 Women, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, F for Fake, Seven Samurai, even Robocop. (The only reason I know this is because I work in a video store, and my boss is obsessed with getting the Criterion version of every DVD available).

You can see more about Criterion DVDs at their web site, www.criterionco.com.

Criterion is a partnership between Janus films and Canal. I believe it’s just the two, between them they own the rights to distribute a lot of foreign films in the U.S. (to my knowledge there is no "Criterion" for markets in the rest of the world. During the videocassette era they released their titles separately, but they joined up for Laserdiscs, and kept their partnership in DVDs.

Their DVDs are marked for their quality. They use the best available prints, and in some instances contribute for the restoration of the movie itself (I believe they paid for the incredible work done on the Third Man, but don't quote me). I've got a large collection of Criterions myself, I especially like how they retain mono mixes for older films (if you have a 5.1 sound system, only the front speaker will have audio, which is how the filmmakers originally intended) and how they keep trailers or company logos off the DVD startup screens, when you put in the DVD, the first thing you see is the menu.

I don't know how they got the rights to distribute versions of Wes Anderson's movies, or the Rock or Armageddon, maybe someone else can clue me in?