Marshall and the Movies

I have only been to a movie alone twice.

The first time was in December 2006. It was the last day “Stranger than Fiction,” the Will Ferrell movie, was showing in theater. Finals were over, and I had spent all December studying to boost my grades to have options for high school. And I had relatives in town all Thanksgiving, so I didn’t have a chance to make a break for the theater. One day, my mom and brother decided they were going to see “Unaccompanied Minors.” I checked the showtimes and sure enough, there was a “Stranger than Fiction” that started about 20 minutes later. So I tagged along, sat through 15 miserable minutes of “Unaccompanied Minors,” and then went to my theater.

The second time was this year, at the end of February after practically every Oscar was given to “Slumdog Millionaire.” I had seen that “Revolutionary Road” was performing poorly, and I figured that the theater would probably give it one more week to satisfy Oscar stragglers like me. But the word was it that the movie was a real downer, and I couldn’t get any of my friends or family to go with me. So, rather than wait until June for the DVD, I decide to go on a Saturday morning before rehearsal. It was probably wise not to go with anyone because it gave me some time to reflect on the movie and not spread my depression to other people.

NOTE TO READER: I’m sure you’re wondering, “Why can’t this guy just say ‘I have seen two movies alone’ and be done with it?” Well, to you I say that I have a really strange memory. I can remember lots of details about something that I really love. For some people, this is parties or food, for me, it is movies. And plus, if I get Alzheimer’s, I can look at this blog to factoid #7 or #24601 and get a sense of what I have forgotten. So that is why I make you suffer through incredibly wordy and possibly superfluous factoids. Because I can and I am the writer and I have the power.