The big room remains a popular choice for local filmmakers who want to rent it out to premiere their films, and let’s face it, The Oxford is the last of its kind in the region, the beautiful old movie house complete with balcony. Who wouldn’t want their film to show there? Though programming whims sometimes confound its unofficial status as Halifax’s last art house cinema (Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull played there two months after it opened elsewhere, and there was a run of The Dark Knight), more often than not you’ll see fewer of the blockbusters in the grand place and more of the multiplex-unfriendly foreign language, independent and documentary movies, such as The Visitor, The Band’s Visit and Religulous, which we heartily endorse. 6408 Quinpool, 423-7488 Oxford Theatre
1st Runner-up: Empire 17 Bayers Lake, 190 Chain Lake, 876-4800
2nd Runner-up: Empire 8 Park Lane, Park Lane Mall, 5657 Spring Garden, 423-4860
