The Suggestion: The mid-day movie by yourself

SAFE – Starring Jason Statham and a ton of bullets

There is a hairy chimp caged in the back of the mind. The bananas hang out of reach. If you can make him stop leaping and chittering and clacking his angry teeth, make him settle down and look around the cage, usually he can find some boxes which he can pile on top of each other, and some sticks, and some string to tie the sticks together. Then he can climb onto the top box and knock down some bananas.

– Travis McGee “One Fearful Yellow Eye”

Like having a drink by yourself, this only becomes an issue when it becomes what you actually prefer to do.

Nothing wrong with seeing a movie by yourself.  It’s a great way to reboot the computer between your ears.  We’re so busy, so connected, that a movie theater is one of the few places to go where you are forced to turn off the noise and zone out for a bit.  Millions are spent on movies to separate the viewer from their reality.  And sometimes, all you need is to step away from your reality for a little while.  Once you come back, all the fog is gone.

Here’s what you want:

• A short movie
• Nothing too heavy
• An early afternoon showing
• A personal day you have left to burn, or, a company with a lax sick-day policy (take one only if you’re normally healthy as a horse, and the rest of the damn office bugs for home if they sneeze twice in a row.)

Now about Safe.  It’s just over 90 minutes once you get through the previews.   A stunningly large amount of them will be for Bruce Willis movies (try three in a row).  The body count is outrageous.  Statham is Statham.  It’s nowhere near as good as The Bank Job.  It has moments.  There’s a few strikes & spares.  There’s also a few gutters.

If you can’t allow yourself to like movies you know you’re not supposed to like, then skip it.  For the rest, it’s worth the price of a matinee, and the mental Ctrl + Alt + Delete is a nice bonus.