Raging Bull, Okja, And Drive My Car Are Coming To The Criterion Collection

Christmas tends to come around only once a year, but movie fanatics and physical media junkies usually find themselves in for a treat just a little more often than that.

The Criterion Collection periodically announces a batch of both new and classic films entering the prestigious halls of the home-video distribution company, having most recently revealed that the acclaimed romantic dramedy "The Worst Person in the World" would be ushered into the Criterion Closet in June of this year. The latest update, unveiled earlier today, is certain to thrill fans of a certain winner of the Best International Feature category at this year's Oscars, along with several other instant classics of both recent and older vintage. "Drive My Car" headlines a new group of inductees that also includes South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho's brilliant takedown of the livestock industry, "Okja," the 1980 Martin Scorsese masterpiece "Raging Bull," Sofia Coppola's quietly affecting "The Virgin Suicides" (which I'd be remiss if I didn't mention landed on my own personal list of favorite movies), David Lean's "Summertime," and many more.

The information comes straight from the Criterion Collection, which announced the exciting news through its official Twitter account. In their own words, they described the news thusly:

This year's Oscar winner for Best International Feature Film, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car, will make its home-video debut in July alongside David Lean's radiant Technicolor gem about romantic longing, Summertime, and a stacked 4K UHD slate: Carl Franklin's stylish noir set in segregated 1940s Los Angeles, Devil in a Blue Dress; Bong Joon Ho's modern fairy tale about a girl, a superpig, and a corporate conspiracy, Okja; Sofia Coppola's ethereal debut feature illuminating the interior lives of five sisters, The Virgin Suicides; and Martin Scorsese's stunningly visceral portrait of self-destructive machismo, Raging Bul

It's no small matter for any movie to find itself deemed worthy of inclusion among the exalted ranks of the Criterion Collection, which typically chooses some of the most important, influential, critically acclaimed, and well-received movies throughout Hollywood history to officially canonize with that famous "C" logo emblazoned across the cover. Yes, the Academy Awards tend to prove that such efforts to preserve movies with a certain level of prestige can be a fool's errand ... but that's only more reason to take this even more seriously, not less. The way I see it, any organization that heaps deserved praise on movies from as diverse and talented a group of artists as Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Bong Joon Ho, Ekwa Msangi, Wayne Wang, and Mira Nair (along with far more famous names such as Martin Scorsese, Sofia Coppola, and even Billy Wilder) is doing something right.

Last year, the Criterion Collection finally made the jump to 4K UHD, a tradition that they'll be proudly continuing with this next round of movies. The new selections that will be available this upcoming July include "Devil in a Blue Dress" from Carl Franklin, "Drive My Car" from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, "Summertime" from David Lean, "Raging Bull" from Martin Scorsese, "The Virgin Suicides" from Sofia Coppola, and "Okja" from Bong Joon Ho. You can preorder them directly from the Criterion Collection website here.