I’m pleased to announce that we have a Criterion Collection podcast in the works. In case you missed any of the social media teases or the new menu button up top, there is a placeholder page that promises more details. Here are some of these details.

The one and only Mark Hurne is going to be my co-host. He has contributed to numerous podcasts, including First Time Watchers, InSession Film Cast, and Eclipse Viewer. He has also been involved with social media for Filmspotting, and has written Criterion content for Psycho Drive-in.

He has a wealth of Criterion knowledge at his fingertips, and like me, he is a completist. He owns a healthy percentage of the Collection, including a number of out-of-print titles. He currently has a monthly segment on First Time Watchers called “Criterion 101” where he talks about the announced titles and various news items about releases.

As for me, if you’re reading this page, you probably know that I write about Criterions. A lot. My podcasting resume is not as large as Mark’s, as I have just appeared in one episode of WrongReel and soon will appear on Flixwise.

Most importantly, we love to talk about film. Maybe I’m biased, but I think we’re pretty good at it.

So what can you expect?

Our goal is to put on a weekly show and we’ll occasionally have special guests, usually experts about a certain field or fans of a particular film. Of course we’ll talk about all things Criterion, which includes news and rumors, new titles, upcoming titles, announcements, speculation etc.

Even though Criterion is a big label, just the news and rumors would not be enough content for a weekly show. We’re also going to screen a film from the collection nearly every week, whether new and old, whether for the first time or a re-watch, and have a healthy, analytical discussion about the film.

We won’t stop there. One thing that’s great about Criterion titles is they often reveal a story behind the film. We’ll go further than just the film and talk about one or many related topics. For instance we could talk about a particular director, actor, a type of theme, an era, a genre — you name it. These discussions will expand beyond the Collection. Criterion has quite an impressive list of titles, but they do not have everything.

We will focus primarily on titles available on Blu-Ray, whether upgraded or not. We have pledged to cover one new release per month. That could change based on what we’re interested in, or whether we have a fitting guest for a title. The films will run the gamut. We’ll talk about modern films, classic films, foreign films, silent films — all kind of films, as long as they have that Criterion logo. We will even take requests. We want to be flexible and talk about whatever film seems right for the time.

I will maintain this blog, CriterionBlues, and will continue to update it as frequently as I can. This podcast will initially be posted here, so if you’re already subscribed to this site, you’ll get notified of new casts along with new posts. Even though this content will be housed here, this is a different project than the one I’m working on.

The Name

We’re going to give the podcast a new name, which we’re narrowing down right now. Here are some of the choices that we’re chewing on. Feel free to share your preference.

A Taste of Criterion
Certified Criterion
Colors of Criterion
Criterion Collective
Criterion Colors
Criterion Travels
My Darling Criterion
Some Like it Criterion
The Criterion Life

You may have noticed that some of these are derived from Criterion titles, and a couple others just classic films. Yes, I know there are two Kiarostami films and two names with Color. That doesn’t mean we’re leaning in any direction. If you can think of a good title that we haven’t listed here, but all means, share it.

The Production

We don’t want to sound like two guys talking through a tin can. We’ve already done some tests and think the audio quality should be strong. We’ll continue to test as we make preparations just to make sure it sounds as good as possible.

We’ll make sure to utilize media tools that simply are not available with the written word. For example, when we talk about Mulholland Drive, we could play the audition clip, the Silencio clip, or any number of clips, and break them down for analysis. We’ll also include music and other media whenever it fits the cast.

Yes. We will podcast about Mulholland Drive.

Even though you’ll be hearing the voices of Aaron and Mark, we want it to be interactive. We want to hear feedback from you guys. We won’t get everything right and sometimes people will disagree with us. You are welcome to comment and continue the discussion via the blog or social media. In fact we encourage it as long as you remain respectful. Just based on our track record, we are probably going to like most of the Criterion titles. Some we will like more than others, and occasionally we won’t like one. Everyone has different tastes. We’ll respect yours provided it came from a well-thought out position. We hope that you’ll respect ours as well.

When Will it Begin?

Now that’s a good question. We’ve been planning this thing for a little while with an approximate air date in mind. We have the week of August 24th penciled in, which will give us an opportunity to give a proper introduction to the cast and talk about November releases. Barring unforeseen technical difficulties, we could launch it later. Or we might be ready early. Most likely it will be towards the end of August.

Hopefully you’ll join us on this new adventure.