Here’s the Best Films to Buy from Barnes & Noble’s 50% Off Criterion Sale

It’s that time of year again. No, we’re not talking about the dog days of summer, where all you want to do is sit inside an air-conditioned room and binge movies or TV shows; we’re talking about Barnes & Noble’s 50% Off sale on Criterion Collection Blu-Rays. Well, the two do go hand in hand.

These 50% Off sales really should be the only time you buy Criterion releases, as the standard MSRP of $50 per 4K Blu-Ray puts a dent in your wallet if you’re expanding your physical media collection.

The Barnes & Noble 50% Criterion sale runs from June 26 to July 26. The next half-off sale won’t be until near the end of the year when Criterion itself offers the discount, so stocking up now is a must.

Pro tip: Amazon price-matches Barnes & Noble throughout the sale, so if you want to use your Amazon Prime benefits to get free shipping, go right ahead.

What is the Criterion Collection?

The Criterion Collection is a premium home-video label that preserves and highlights landmark films from across the globe. Criterion will often help restore older films from original negatives and prints to provide the highest quality picture, and in addition to the restoration, releases will include supplemental bonus features like director commentaries, documentaries, essays, interviews, and more.

To put it shortly, Criterion is a boutique distributor for classic and monumental films, but because of the effort put into restoring picture quality and the additional bonuses, the retail price on releases is a bit high.

Best Movies from Criterion 50% Sale

Movie taste is subjective, so our recommendations will be from our personal opinions, specifically those of this author. The Criterion Collection includes over 1,000 films, so feel free to browse the full collection via Criterion or Barnes & Noble’s site to get an idea of what else is available.

No Country for Old Men

Based on the Cormac McCarthy book of the same name, No Country for Old Men is one of the best films of the 21st century and is required viewing for anyone who wants to get into the world of film. Josh Brolin plays Llewlyn Moss, who stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and finds $2 million in cash. Moss tries to evade a cartel and the enigmatic Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem, who goes to extreme lengths to get the cash back. That's a really simple synopsis, but the film explores themes of fate, good vs. evil, and more.

Network

Network celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026, and it’s more relevant today than it was in 1976. A star-studded cast, including Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, William Holden, Ned Beatty, and Peter Finch in what would be his final role on the silver screen, helps support the satirical take on broadcast news and the media. Honestly, go in blind, and you’ll see the parallels to what was then considered satire, but today is how the media landscape operates.

The Irishman

Martin Scorsese signals the death of the gangster genre, which he was so pivotal in popularizing, with The Irishman. The film marked the first Scorsese x Robert De Niro picture since 1995’s Casino*, and even though the nearly three and a half hour runtime is a bit bloated, there’s something wonderful here. I mean, how can you hate on a film with Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, and De Niro?

*We don’t count the short film The Audition from 2015, which was technically an advertisement for two casinos in Asia.

The Parallax View

One of the more obscure films of the ‘70s, The Parallax View is the second of three films in Alan J. Pakula’s “Paranoia Trilogy,” preceded by Klute and followed by All the President's Men. The nation was still rattled by the assassinations of JFK and RFK, and Nixon’s Watergate scandal, so distrust for governmental authority was reaching new peaks.

That was quite a big deal in 1974 when the film was released. Warren Beatty plays a reporter who investigates a company that operates in the shadows and recruits assassins for hire after mysterious deaths surround those who witnessed a political assassination.

Sorcerer

If you can’t tell by now, I have a huge appreciation for the New Hollywood era of the ‘70s, and this was one of the last greats. William Friedkin’s Sorcerer had a nightmare production with a ballooning budget of $22 million (around $120 million today), and unfortunately, the film opened the same weekend as a little-known picture called… Star Wars.

Couple the fact that it opened against what has become one of the most successful movie franchises of all time with the mediocre reviews, and Friedkin had a bomb on his hands. It’s since been reevaluated by critics and fans as one of the most underrated movies from the 70s, but during its limited theatrical run, it only made $9 million (about $50 million today). Honestly, we cannot recommend this one enough.

Nicholas Vlahos

Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy watching films and discovering music. Follow me on Letterboxd @nickvlah For tips, reviews, or any shoes in a size 13, email nick@soleretriever.com