Criterion Close-Up is a podcast started by Aaron West and Mark Hurne in August of 2015. It began as a way of talking about all things Criterion with a news segment, discussion about a singular film and occasionally a subtopic.

In 2016 we joined the CriterionCast network and became regular panelists for their shows. We then transitioned Close-Up away from covering news, and focused instead on the films and subtopics. We tried to mix things up, even covering other labels like Plain Archive, Twilight Time or a particular genre, such as Science Fiction films.

In 2017, we launched Criterion Now exclusively on CriterionCast. This is a (mostly) weekly round table show that discusses everything Criterion, from the latest news and rumors, to the content featured on FilmStruck, to the films that we are watching at the time. Close-Up then moved to a monthly show, with a large episode that spends extra time exploring a director or film. Examples of that are our 1930s French Series and The Films of Paul Thomas Anderson.

This website used to house Aaron’s blog, which was a project to watch and review Criterion films on Blu-Ray. As the podcasts became our main focus, Aaron (mostly) stopped blogging. Much of that content is still on the website, including the List Project, where he posted lists of favorite films for a particular year. He also wrote a few Essays, hosted a Criterion Blogathon, and collected reviews of a great number of Criterions.