alt.hn

6/20/2026 at 1:18:28 PM

Show HN: Criterion Closet as a website – pull any of 1,247 films off the shelf

 https://the-criterion-closet.vercel.app

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 12:16:01 PM

If you don't know what the Criterion Closet is, it's a YouTube channel run by Criterion which is a movie publisher/ distributor (?).

https://youtu.be/VsywXM8vMLs?is=YBuq2lZEilUb_B9x

The channel has a mobile trailer full of their movies in DVD and blu ray. They are well respected in the industry and are able to get famous actors to come into the "closet" and pick out their favorite movies and comment on why they like them.

by gosub100

6/22/2026 at 3:25:46 PM

Distributor with a focus on restorations of important films (especially films important to the history of filmmaking). Kind of like GOG but for movies instead of games.

by throw2ih020

6/22/2026 at 12:41:05 PM

They really tapped into clever marketing with that one. (Good for them.)

by JKCalhoun

6/22/2026 at 9:03:31 AM

Nice!

Would be really nice to have links to director's picks. Eg I clicked on Che, saw that it was in Denis Villeneuve's list, and wanted to check out his other picks.

by asymmetric

6/22/2026 at 12:40:14 PM

I would add: Indicate which ones are listed in the "1001 Movies to See Before You Die".

(Perhaps also the "AFI Top 100" list as well.)

by JKCalhoun

6/22/2026 at 12:53:44 PM

If you're going to go into this direction, it seems like this would become sort of a "Letterboxd list visualizer" which honestly could be pretty cool.

by alper

6/22/2026 at 7:15:26 PM

Sounds like an idea for another closet.

by thrilleratplay

6/22/2026 at 9:24:34 AM

It's coming! Thanks for the suggestion!

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 9:56:42 AM

The text really needs some better rendering technique. It is very hard to read. Have you considered Slug https://github.com/EricLengyel/Slug ?

by klaussilveira

6/22/2026 at 9:45:32 AM

Just btw, the Amazon links are affiliate/tracking.

by Cider9986

6/22/2026 at 2:11:50 AM

Awesome! I recently replaced Netflix for Criterion so this is quite welcome!

by davidhariri

6/22/2026 at 7:25:01 AM

Thanks!

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 12:52:53 AM

I’m going to use the heck out of this!

Just one suggestion: Could you add another sort order for the list view based on the number of “closet picks”? It would be cool to see which films are most popular among Criterion Closet guests.

by dnlzro

6/22/2026 at 7:10:21 AM

Thanks for the feedback, planning to add this in!

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 11:52:19 AM

Also, which haven't been picked, I would be curious to see those.

by topherjaynes

6/22/2026 at 2:06:22 AM

Nice to be reminded of the collection, and another way to present it.

I want to view the boxes, especially after filtering, grouped near eye level and seeing the faces not just the spines.

Nice to see VR (potential for XR), cool use!

by mcint

6/20/2026 at 10:36:36 PM

really nice! Criterion should have this as a view on their website!

by VarunMenon

6/22/2026 at 12:17:42 PM

This is impressive! Perhaps this is because I’m from an English-speaking country, but I believe even in the real Criterion Closet, the spine title text orientation is top-to-bottom, rather than bottom-to-top.

by TimC123456

6/22/2026 at 12:24:33 PM

Will change that now! Thanks for the feedback!

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 1:22:15 PM

Are these tapes? 16mm film?

by actionfromafar

6/22/2026 at 3:22:06 PM

The real Criterion Closet is full of Criterion's catalog of Blu Rays and DVDs.

by throw2ih020

6/22/2026 at 12:42:47 AM

you need to add a feature where You can put your self in there with a webcam and record a interview

by aarmenante

6/22/2026 at 7:15:09 PM

I love this and wasted more time than I want to admit looking through the collection. This is a closet I hope to own some day.

by thrilleratplay

6/22/2026 at 12:42:20 PM

IMO, the text is in the wrong direction. I thought it felt uncomfortable to read. On my real life bookshelf, it flows from top to bottom.

by thedougd

6/22/2026 at 1:15:51 PM

This is locale-dependent. English is top to bottom but German is bottom to top, for example. It looks bad when you have a mixed language shelf...

by brainwad

6/22/2026 at 7:10:24 AM

This is great, but unusable for people like me that need to have the y axis inverted. It would be amazing if you could add that functionality.

by bashtoni

6/22/2026 at 7:48:19 AM

Why do you need it?

by globular-toast

6/22/2026 at 8:01:40 AM

Decades of muscle memory is hard to overcome?

by nhinck2

6/22/2026 at 9:32:35 AM

If I were the author I wouldn't bother implementing the option for that reason. I was curious whether it was due to a genuine accessibility reason, like using a device other than a mouse that makes it really hard to adjust.

by globular-toast

6/22/2026 at 9:58:28 AM

Yeah I'm sure those 4 lines of code are a big ask.

by nhinck3

6/22/2026 at 12:42:32 PM

Just to defend the OP, it's that extra UI (and small niggle of confusion) that are the bigger ask.

by JKCalhoun

6/22/2026 at 1:26:18 PM

<button class="closet-camera" id="closet-camera" type="button" aria-label="Invert camera">

  <svg class="cf-ic" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" aria-hidden="true"><polygon points="21 4 3 4 10 12.4 10 19 14 21 14 12.4 21 4"/></svg>

  <span class="cf-tx">Invert camera</span>

  <kbd class="cf-key">I</kbd>
</button>

by nhinck2

6/22/2026 at 11:44:26 AM

They’re free as in puppies!

by cadamsdotcom

6/22/2026 at 1:39:35 PM

You haven't walked behind them picking up their poop have ?

by ofcrpls

6/22/2026 at 10:33:15 AM

Wow! Definitely not what I was expecting. If you turn around and look at the door there's a menu with some filters.

by DuncanCoffee

6/22/2026 at 11:30:36 AM

Thanks!

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 8:02:03 PM

Nice... love it, what a shame I couldn't use it more before

by LeonRubin

6/22/2026 at 10:31:17 AM

Today I learned that This Is Spin̈al Tap is on the Criterion Collection.

by lou1306

6/22/2026 at 6:41:57 AM

The link to Criterion streaming doesn't work for "Brazil" (#51) - it shows a list of movies that likely have the word in their synopsis such as "Kiss of the Spider Woman" but not the actual film (which famously doesn't reference the country at all)

by thombat

6/22/2026 at 8:14:47 AM

Same for Mean Streets

by emmelaich

6/20/2026 at 10:12:41 PM

Really nice. You could use polycss.com and render the library and form all together!

by apresmoi

6/22/2026 at 1:26:43 PM

I thought I can flip open the book and read

by a_c

6/21/2026 at 12:56:14 AM

This is so cool!

by sarmadc

6/22/2026 at 7:24:44 AM

Thanks so much!

by olievans

6/20/2026 at 7:51:11 PM

Missing quite a few compilations,

by starkparker

6/20/2026 at 8:05:48 PM

could you give an example you can't find? Thanks!

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 1:29:25 AM

All of the films without spine numbers, see https://www.criterion.com/shop/browse/list

More specifically:

Eclipse Series films i.e. https://www.criterion.com/films/2959-a-colt-is-my-passport, https://www.criterion.com/films/27516-come-on-children, https://www.criterion.com/films/12521-sanshiro-sugata - these stand out the most since several actual Criterion Closet picks are from the Eclipse Series, and most (all?) of them lack spine numbers because their cases are slimline and lack spines altogether

Films in similar box sets like The Ranown Westerns that don't have standalone releases, i.e. https://www.criterion.com/films/32211-comanche-station

by starkparker

6/22/2026 at 2:57:31 AM

I did find the over-sized Godzilla Showa Era box on the shelf.

by Triphibian

6/20/2026 at 1:44:38 PM

Are those movies public domain?

by julia-kafarska

6/20/2026 at 1:46:33 PM

The Criterion Collection is a boutique film distributor. They are famous for their Criterion Closet videos on youtube. This project was to recreate the experience 'virtually'.

by olievans

6/22/2026 at 7:11:53 AM

Its not even close to Boutique. Napolean Dynamite was rejected. That breaks the coccyx.

by j5dgx76

6/22/2026 at 2:59:40 AM

There are public domain movies in the collection, notably Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls.

by Triphibian

6/21/2026 at 11:58:24 PM

Very, very nice!

by jbaber

6/22/2026 at 7:24:35 AM

Thank you! Much appreciated!

by olievans