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

(the-criterion-closet.vercel.app)

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.

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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.)

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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.
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Sounds like an idea for another closet.
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It's coming! Thanks for the suggestion!
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The text really needs some better rendering technique. It is very hard to read. Have you considered Slug https://github.com/EricLengyel/Slug ?
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Just btw, the Amazon links are affiliate/tracking.
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Awesome! I recently replaced Netflix for Criterion so this is quite welcome!
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Thanks!
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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.

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Thanks for the feedback, planning to add this in!
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Also, which haven't been picked, I would be curious to see those.
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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!

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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.
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Will change that now! Thanks for the feedback!
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Are these tapes? 16mm film?
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The real Criterion Closet is full of Criterion's catalog of Blu Rays and DVDs.
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really nice! Criterion should have this as a view on their website!
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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.
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you need to add a feature where You can put your self in there with a webcam and record a interview
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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.
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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...
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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.

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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.
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They really tapped into clever marketing with that one. (Good for them.)
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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.
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Why do you need it?
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Decades of muscle memory is hard to overcome?
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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.
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Yeah I'm sure those 4 lines of code are a big ask.
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Just to defend the OP, it's that extra UI (and small niggle of confusion) that are the bigger ask.
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<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>
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They’re free as in puppies!
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You haven't walked behind them picking up their poop have ?
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Wow! Definitely not what I was expecting. If you turn around and look at the door there's a menu with some filters.
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Thanks!
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Nice... love it, what a shame I couldn't use it more before
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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)
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Same for Mean Streets
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Really nice. You could use polycss.com and render the library and form all together!
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I thought I can flip open the book and read
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This is so cool!
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Thanks so much!
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Missing quite a few compilations,
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could you give an example you can't find? Thanks!
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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

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I did find the over-sized Godzilla Showa Era box on the shelf.
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Are those movies public domain?
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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'.
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Its not even close to Boutique. Napolean Dynamite was rejected. That breaks the coccyx.
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There are public domain movies in the collection, notably Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls.
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Today I learned that This Is Spin̈al Tap is on the Criterion Collection.
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Very, very nice!
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Thank you! Much appreciated!
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