The Granada Theatre in La Grande, Oregon actually does a good job of bucking the "small town movie theater" stereotype. A long standing landmark in "historic" downtown La Grande, the outside and marquee of the theatre has remained mostly unchanged for nearly 30 years.
Inside, modern upgrades and touches have been made to give the theater a modern feel.
With three screens, each viewing room ranges in size from about 300 seats to about 50. Other than seating, the only diffreences betwen the three screen rooms is technical, with the two largest having larger screens and Dolby Digital sound, where the smaller screen has only stereo sound. Tickets are $7.50 regular price and $5.50 for matinee pricing before 5pm. The Granada does a admirable job of getting the big, first run movies more often than not, and from time to time, bringing in some smaller market movies that one wouldn't expect to see in a market this small (like March of the Penguins).
The only negatives the theater has is the lack of on staff technical experts which, on occasion, causes delays in resolution of technical issues such as out of sync soundtrack, off centered frame and other issues personally experienced by this reviewer.
In summary, being that it is the only operating theater within 40 miles, the Granada does an excellent job of providing cinematic entertainment at a reasonable price, and with the most current movies actually before they come out on DVD (a complaint by many small town movie goers). So if you are in the area, and you are looking to catch a movie, check out downtown, and go to the Granada.
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