OK, ok, we know what you’re thinking. It’s December 14, Christmas is only eleven days away, Hanukah has already started and goddamn you, how am I supposed to shop for the cinephile in my family when you’re delivering your holiday gift guide so f*cking late? Relax, remember with the Amazons and digital outlets of the world, anything you order by the time you finish reading this article—once you’ve taken copious notes of course—should be at your doorstep in a day or two. And if not, and your family member or loved one complains, you can take 20% off that gift on us (rules do not apply outside of Uzbekistan).
READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2018
But try not to be grouchy, it’s the most wonderful time of year. Yes, the world is slowly falling apart as usual, our discourse has soured even further as people race to finish their deadlines which is making you ornery, and the agitation that springs from the awards season skirmishes—all those people that pretend they don’t care, but clearly care so much hence the yearly Twitter receipts— has compelled you to hit “send” on your shitty hot take even though you probably know better. And we’ve barely even touched on the hellscape outside our doors.
READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019
Let’s not think about it all too deeply. The holidays are here and cineastes you know and love and might be related to are likely looking for something that might help soothe the pain of modern existence. Thus, here are some ideas and recommendations. Now go and consume.
Click here for our complete coverage of the best and worst of 2018.
Criterion
The Criterion Collection Charter subscription
We hate to start with a loss, but it was a tough year for cinema economically, especially in the streaming sector. The most significant loss of 2018 by far, across the board and on any platform was the death of FilmStruck. As you hopefully already know, Criterion, Warner Bros. and TCM banded together to launch FilmStruck in 2016, essentially a mega-service for cinephiles merging the collections of all the aforementioned players. Unfortunately, it died this fall when Warner Media pulled the plug (and with an insult to injury announced a new three-tier streaming offering the same exact day FilmStruck said goodbye). While many are still mourning, Criterion has thankfully decided to carry on with that mission and announced they are launching The Criterion Channel as a freestanding streaming service in spring 2019. Becoming a Charter Subscriber now gets you ahead of the game. You receive a 30-day free trial, A reduced subscription fee, concierge customer service, a holiday gift certificate present and more. Sign someone you love up now, but you know, do the right thing and make it an early IOU and pay for the first year subscription and see the grateful love pour in.
Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema
Criterion’s annual year-end box sets are a tradition worth savoring, but their new set, Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, celebrating Ingmar Bergman’s 100th birthday, is next level and something only on par with their massive and must-have Akira Kurosawa box set. The Swedish titan of cinema gets his due here and then some, with a selection that spans six decades and an immense thirty-nine films. All the classics are here: “Persona,” both cuts of “Fanny And Alexander,” “Cries And Whispers,” “Scenes From A Marriage,” “Wild Strawberries” and more, and the entire box set is arranged as a film festival with opening and closing nights bookending double features and centerpieces. This collection is literally film school in a box and especially for anyone that wants to explore cinema that struggles with faith, morality, dreams and all those big questions that are generally made for long-lasting movies. Every cinephile should know Ingmar Bergman intimately, but if you don’t know the works, and don’t really want to admit it aloud, this is the perfect gift to ask for and spend weeks digging into it. This massive tome is so popular, it’s already sold out, but don’t worry, you can still pre-order now for the upcoming second back-in-stock wave.
READ MORE: The Essentials: The 15 Greatest Ingmar Bergman Films
Criterion Highlights
2018 was yet another banner year for the company with several touchstone releases of cinema. The company released Terrence Malick’s poetic family/contemplating existence masterwork “The Tree Of Life” featuring a new, extended, over-3-hour cut of the movie that Malick premiered at Venice this year; another masterpiece, Orson Welles‘ forgotten family legacy drama “The Magnificent Ambersons,” (no secret director’s cut though, that one’s been lost to time unfortunately) Samuel Fuller’s underrated Western “Forty Guns” with the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck; and Billy Wilder’s classic comedy “Some Like It Hot,” The Collection also branched out into releasing some more mainstream modern classics such as “The Princess Bride,” John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club,” “Bull Durham” and Alexander Payne’s “Election” (at the end of 2017, but c’mon). Additional titles they released from auteurs you should know and love include Rainer Werner Fassbender’s “Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day”; Hal Ashby’s lothario ‘70s comedy “Shampoo”; John Schlesinger’s seminal X-Rated film “Midnight Cowboy,” Jim Jarmusch’s modern masterpiece and existential Western “Dead Man” with Johnny Depp; Martin Scorsese’s underrated period piece romance “Age Of Innocence” with Daniel Day-Lewis, and George Romero’s zombie classic “Night Of The Living Dead,” to name just a few.
Lastly, the Criterion Collection also released the amazing six-disc “Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood” box set—a compendium of collaborations between director Josef von Sternberg and icon Marlene Dietrich, one of the most legendary partnerships in cinema history, including the six films, “Morocco,” “Dishonored,” “Shanghai Express,” “Blonde Venus,” “The Scarlet Empress,” “The Devil Is a Woman,” a must-have for any lover of 1930s film, but also just deliriously entertaining masterpieces too. Criterion probably released around 70+ titles this year so there’s no end to the great choices you can find. More at Criterion.
Streaming Subscriptions
MUBI Subscription
Yes, FilmStruck is dead, and in another blow to cineastes Fandor announced that it is being sold off and closing their doors as well (thanks, Jared Leto). That’s brutal. Thankfully, MUBI is still left standing, and right now, they’re the only immediate game in town for thoughtfully curated arthouse cinema. Known as an “online cinematheque” that’s available in 200 territories around the world, MUBI simply is the top global arthouse streaming service, the only one of its kind. The streaming service is eclectic, showcasing contemporary international works of cinema like Walter Salles‘ doc “Jia Zhange-Ke, A Guy From Fenyang,” works by Jia Zhange-Ke himself, programming centering around French suspense master Henri-Georges Clouzot and the late Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist.” Additional Films currently programmed are Paul Schrader‘s batshit crazy “Adam Resurrected,” (which people should revisit now that there’s “First Reformed” re-interest, Wim Wenders‘ “Pena“, many films by Werner Herzog and more. For some context, MUBI’s well loved by filmmakers too. They released Paul Thomas Anderson’s excellent music documentary “Junun” shot in Rajasthan, India a few years back, and last year they released the critically acclaimed “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki” by Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen that played at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Prize Un Certain Regard. This year 2018, MUBI released director Luca Guadagnino arthouse witch-coven movie “Suspiria” which we named one of the best movies of the year, and they plan on releasing David Robert Mitchell’s “Under The Silver Lake” in the U.K. as well. MUBI’s the kind of destination where a beloved filmmaker like Edgar Wright will go to post his top 1,000 films of all time (a list many are still chipping away at). MUBI are tastemakers, and you can impress the hell out of your arthouse-appreciating movie lover with a very reasonably priced and very worthwhile MUBI subscription. Moreover, right now you can get the first three months for $1. That’s a nice price.
