I'm interested in seeing a few of them but the only one I feel slightly inclined to purchase is Persona.

Just Persona for me.

Despite my love of samurai films, I've yet to see anything by Kurosawa. Which is the best Criterion blu to pick up for a newcomer - I'd assume I should probably start with Seven Samurai?

Seven Samurai is the benchmark Kurosawa Samurai film. Although, it's not a film I'm a massive fan of.

In fact, my favourite Kurosawa is actually High and Low which is far removed from his Samurai epics.

I am pretty bad when it comes to watching long films, anything over 2 hours usually puts me off. I might pick up the Yojimbo/Sanjuro set - reading up on them they sound like just my cup of sake.

Yeah, probably The Seven Samurai, followed closely by Yojimbo.

I second bizarre eye's suggestion of High and Low. It's a terrific thriller and far better than the period Samurai pieces that Kurosawa ever did.

Although not on BD, I'd also highly recommend Red Beard - I loved it.

Edit - All your music have a couple of Criterion BDs under £14 - Tin Drum and Alambrista when I last checked.

Watched The Ministry of Fear this afternoon - not too shabby. First 20 mins are first rate as Ray Milland is discharged from an asylum and encounters all kind of weird shit. Dullish plot mechanics take over a bit as they tend to do in these type of noirs but a cool seance livens things up before a rooftop shotout brings some excitement. A real groaner of a last scene is totally out of place and smells of studio insistence. Overall a solid 7/10.

That's probably the same rating I would give it Joe. Not the best noir I've ever seen but one of the more enjoyable ones. That seance was definitely one of the highlights. The ending felt flat to me and slightly disjointed.

Finally got round to watching Fish Tank - what the hell kept me? This film is fantastic, brutal yet beautiful, like Mike Leigh meets Terence Malik. Andrea Arnold does a great job of keeping you guessing - is Michael Fassbinder a father figure or a seedy borderline paedo? Is Katie Jarvis a good person in shit circumstances or just a another soulless chav? You can probably guess the answers but you'll still love the finding out. The last 20 minutes or so when the epiphanies start piling up for our anti-heroine are breathtaking. Amazing film, amazing release - don't miss checking out Wasp in the extras, a first rate Danny Dyer movie - who knew?