The Uptown Stage & Screen

I am actually quite irritated to see that The Uptown has already been marked as «Closed» on Unilocal,as this seems a little misinformed. As of late, the Uptown has TEMPORARILY suspended activity, as they struggle through a court dispute involving scroogey old landlords who will not provide its patrons with heat and basic maintenance in the dead of winter, and so forth. I’ve always thought that this building could use a tiny bit of maintenance, but upon examining recent events, I do not believe this is the Uptown’s fault.
You can read more about it here:
Many of my most memorable experiences in Calgary have occured at the Uptown/​Marquee room. I hope that everything comes together the way it should, so that I can continue to have many more delightful tales to tell about this little gem, nestled into Calgary’s otherwise soul sucking downtown core.
It was in the Marquee room that I saw my favourite Canadian contemporary poet Shane Koyczan perform for the first time, cozied onto a couch with friends with ambient lighting and a gorgeous band playing in the background as he spoke. It is also in the Marquee where I have enjoyed several of my favourite local and touring Canadian bands. This is one of my favourite music venues.
The film selection at the Uptown is incredible. It is far superior to anywhere else in the city, period. This is where one can go to watch fiiilms, not «movies.» The Uptown plays films that do not play in other theatres here in Calgary. I have seen everything here from Jean-​Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, to the most independent of films, to documentaries on topics such as censorship in Burma, to Crispin Glover’s creepiest films ever. I have never seen anything I did not enjoy at the Uptown. Even if I am not intending to see anything in particular, I trust their tastes so much, that I would walk into anything playing at the time. The last film I saw was Woody Allen’s «Midnight in Paris,» which was a dream. I could not have seen it in any other theatre and had the same experience.
I am quite bummed about this temporary closure, as the Uptown really is a huge part of Calgary’s history. Did you know that the Barron building the Uptown/​Marquee is nestled in, was the first major development in Calgary post depression era? Let’s not allow for such a cultural hub to fade away. We need the Uptown. As a huge fan of this establishment, I encourage others who feel the same way to join the «Save the Uptown» Facebook page to learn more information, and see how we can help support. Please.
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My one and only experience at the uptown was the definition of bitter-​sweet. While I’m a huge movie buff, and the idea of going to a real oldschool theater with the old fashioned overhead marquee and less than 8 screens that showed movies that really matter was intriguing as it gets to me, my one experience here left a lot to be desired.
First I should preface this by saying that while I pride myself on knowledge of the lesser known, independant movies, most of this came from renting or downloading. I had never been to one of these theaters before, and the staff here left me with a sort of «you’re not hip enough» sort of feeling when I *mistakenly* thought they might have silly things like tickets. I walked in and paid while waiting for my date to arrive, then was going to step outside to watch for her, and asked (rather innocently) if we needed a ticket or something, and the guy actually kind of laughed at me. Apparently the fact that they draw low enough numbers every night to make it possible to remember each person’s face makes them too cool for guys like me, who’ve grown accustom to a certain process, which I thought was kind of a downer.
The theater itself gave me the feeling it would be gorgeous, with a little upkeep… but on the time I was there, there were spots where bare plywood was serving as a makeshift ramp up to a slightly risen doorway, the majority of the lobby had next to no lighting (at first, it looked like they were closed) and everything just had an ‘under renovations’ sort of look to it.
To put it plainly, I’m glad places like The Uptown exist, in theory, as it’s nice to see some of the less commercialized films have a place to show in Calgary, but a few little tweeks like a friendlier staff and a couple lightbulbs could really go a long way.

The Uptown is a great example of the little theatre that could. Tucked in between towering sky scrappers and across the street from the Globe, The Uptown has always offered the best of those movies you’ve never heard of but you know you should see.
This weekend I went and saw Joan Rivers: Piece of Work and as always the experience was great. Perfect atmosphere, yummy popcorn and friendly staff.
But this time was a little different. The guy at the box office offered us blankets. We were confused because it wasn’t that cold and he said it was because the building’s owner had turned off the heat. We thought it was because maybe The Uptown didn’t pay the rent. But then he explained that the building was essentnialy trying to «smoke them out», because they wanted to sell, but the Uptown had a lease so they weren’t going anywhere.
Who knew before the movie could be so dramatic.
The plus side of all this drama was that we got sweet blankets which made for a great movie experience!
I hope The Uptown is able to survive, I love that place!

I really miss the old theatres — where the focus was the films, and not how many arcade games and restaurants are in the lobby. A theatre where it doesn’t cost $ 50 a person for a night out because they need to pay for all those extras.
The Uptown is a traditional and wonderful old theatre — not many screens, and usually, not a wide a selection, but the movies that do appear here are unique — the Uptown doesn’t confine itself to mainstream Hollywood — anything goes. You’ll find popular releases as well as independant films, depending on what’s out, and you’ll also find very reasonable prices for tickets, drinks, and tasty popcorn.
I’d chose this theatre over one of those over-​the-​top monstrosities in the large malls any day.

I love Calgary’s old theatres for the independent films that they show, and the all around love for the community that they demonstrate too. The Uptown is an example of business that loves what it does, and has found new models to support itself too. In addition to supporting CIFF and local film, it is home to the Marquee Room and is available as a venue for parties etc.
So it is as both a film lover and as a party-​goer that I give it five stars. The Marquee Room is definitely awesome, but so is the lower level. I recently attended an afternoon christmas party which featured food and mingling and then a movie and it was perfect. I was totally impressed with the quality of the service in addition to the coziness of the lobby floors couches and tables.
Of course, the quality of the films is tops too. The staff genuinely love the films, and the popcorn and other goodies are all very tasty.

Uptown Stage and Screen downtown is great! Featuring up to date movies at a little less than normal movie prices. This retro cinema is close to the terminal line and has a really quaint quirky homey appeal. The space is like entering into a friends living room complete with the furniture they had in the 70s.
Staff is nice and movies seem to change frequently enough for me to want to come back often.
Extra added bonus is that I have come to the Uptown on the second floor on Wednesday nights to groove to funk and alternative music nights. A bar is set up upstairs complete with local DJs and bands who share their music skills. Ambience is laid back and drinks are reasonable, there is a nice dance space too. I have gone on not so busy nights so hopefully this review will help out their scene there.

I’m torn about this place. It shows interesting films, it has a neat little bar and it’s in a great location, but one of the rooms really irks me.
The premises are nice enough, if dated and a bit worn around the edges, but the layout of the downstairs cinema is odd. A relic of the original design of the place, the floor in the downstairs cinema slopes to the back of the room from the screen. I haven’t seen anything like it anywhere else and I’m not sure that I would want to.