As avid moviegoers, one of the great disappointments in arts and entertainment this holiday season was not having the movie "The Imitation Game" open in Rochester. Trailers have been appearing for weeks with the announced Christmas Day opening but seemingly only in large markets.
This is a movie of historical and social importance with excellent reviews portraying the genius Alan Turing, who developed the first mechanical computer, which was instrumental in breaking the Nazi secret communications code created on an ingenious Enigma machine. Currently, this movie is only in six theaters in the greater Twin Cities area.
We realize distribution decisions are largely controlled elsewhere. Nonetheless, we are the third largest city in Minnesota, and if Destination Medical Center is to have real significance, we will need to begin to be treated like a big city. This ongoing inability of our local theaters to obtain timely releases of important, sometimes more thoughtful, movies bespeaks our "second tier" status as a city.
It was hoped that with three movie theaters we would receive a more diverse selection. That has not been the case, e.g. harken back to "Amistad" that stayed in the Twin Cities three or more weeks before opening here. Let's hope our local theater owners are also included in planning to meet future needs of a growing Rochester.
Doris and Neath Folger
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Rochester
