Landmark Theatre-Lagoon Cinema

This five-screener opened in 1995 as a sister theater to the nearby Uptown, which was originally called the Lagoon. The new Lagoon takes its name seriously, with swirly blue and green aquatic-pattern carpet, foliage in the form of wood paneling and palm-tree lights. (Yes, those gold posts with luminous protuberances are trees.) The Draw The theaters are viewer-friendly with cushy seats, sharp floor inclines--reportedly to make subtitle-reading easier--and booming sound systems. There's also a nifty advance-ticketing arrangement. The much-touted specialty coffees at the concession stand take forever, if the machine works at more

The Lagoon is the newset venue on the Landmark fleet of Minneapolis cinemas and was a badly needed addition to Minneapolis' Uptown screen. The Landmark chain, as you might know from other major cities around the country, offers first run foreign and independent American films or films that have gained the appellation "art house" (for good and bad). The four Lagoon screens, plus a fifth down the street at the flagship Uptown, provide a wide channel for all the first run quality films the suburbian multiplexes refuse to release fearing they might appeal to a narrow or boutique audience. In the mid 00's, the Landmark has also become a consistent channel for the theatrical release of outstanding documentaries. With the added screens in Edina, midwest Landmark manager Hugh Wronski has been offering lmiited runs of local and regional feature films that failed to get a national distributor like Minnesota films DETECTIVE FICTION by Patrick Coyle, JUSTICE by the Minnesota husband and wife team John Shulman and Jeanne-Marie Almonor and actor Peter Riegert's KING OF THE CORNER. It would be fantastic to see Hugh build upon this alternative programming by giving over a single screen and working with the Candian Film Board, the Norwegian Film Insitute, and perhaps the British Film Institute to provide a showcase for indie films outside the narrow distribution funnel that even the Landmark cinema chain falls prey to in the scheduling. A great film institution in Minneapolis. more