Home Alone (1990)

[Rogar Demonblud]

Not in the least. At Kevin's age I was already a carded First Aid provider and dealing with stuff some adults still have problems with. He's just your standard Hollywood Brat (i.e. Cute and Funny) whose behavior falls apart the moment you think about it.

[Ramza00]

You say those things as if they make him different than any other ten-year-old in existence...

Actually, the character is 8 not 10. I agree with your sentiment though.

Let me further agree, judging a 3rd grader who is not even done with 3rd grade with adult morality system is an absurd thing. 3rd graders do not have full morality yet, they require "compliance" with larger systems to be moral within those system. Rules, consequences, cause and effect, etc...A 3rd grader who is 8 can't dream or imagine like an adult can.

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I am a conflicted fan of Home Alone. I hate aspects of the movie (mostly faulting the parents for being messed up.) But one of the things I love is how Chris Columbus the director of Home Alone 1 and 2 filmed the movie. (CC is famous for doing the first two Harry Potter movies but I say his craft was actually better in Home Alone 1.)

Skip to 2:50



So many of the camera angles and camera movements are so important to Home Alone. Lots of the angles are either from Kevin's eye level, a child's eye level, when he is granted freedom, and likewise when other people made Kevin feel small like a child it is shot with camera angles designed to emphasis this effect. Furthermore the camera movement is very subtle so most people are not aware this is happening unless you prime them to look for it.

And the floating camera makes us the audience feel a passenger with Kevin's journey. Setting up and referencing important plot points prior to their importance and saliency becoming more important later.

The movie Home Alone 1 feels like a dream with how perfectly executed it is, yet it is a dream that feels real and not surreal. It is a fantastic fantasy but it seems grounded in reality.

[Willie the Duck]

Yeah, it's definitely one of those movies that are defined by one specific sequence. See also "Pearl Harbor" and "Day After Tomorrow".

Statue of Liberty scene in Planet of the Apes (original), which takes place in the last scene.

Seriously, part of me hated Kevin for not only not being thankful for his family, but also for his material wealth.

'Spoiled and clueless (and usually unrealistically well off) kid/parent/used care salesman/weatherman reporting on groundhogs day tradition learns lesson about being a better person through ridiculously contrived circumstances' -isn't that the plot of 40-60% of movies made in the 80s and 90s?

I originally thought it wouldn’t work, but if you take away his tablet (his younger cousin broke/lost his so his family makes him lend it to him) don’t let him have a cell phone (“You’re too young!”) and have no one know his gamer tag (“Why would I want to game with that turd?”) then the premise holds up better than expected (or at least doesn’t break any more than the original did)

You're making this too hard. All those things he could use for interpersonal communication are things that were house-affixed in the 80s, and are now mobile. Just have the tablet, cell phone, game system, and everything else be in a suitcase in the cargo hold of the plane, going with the family to their destination.

I do remember that now!
... I have no idea why he did that, then, if not just for kicks. That is pretty creepy. But I maintain that it's not too far outside normal for a 10-year-old boy on his own.

So that Kevin would have previous experience doing it when he's trying to make the wet crooks think someone got wacked inside, without his ability to set up that scenario with a VCR seeming to come out of the blue.

[Strigon]

snip

Dang it!
I'm not a big fan of that guy's video style, but this one in particular was good enough to make me genuinely upset that it's August and not the season to go back and watch Home Alone

[Magic_Hat]

Such a dumb but fun movie. Too bad all the sequels wee terrible.

Hey! I liked the New York sequel!

[Maryring]

Actually, the character is 8 not 10. I agree with your sentiment though.

Let me further agree, judging a 3rd grader who is not even done with 3rd grade with adult morality system is an absurd thing. 3rd graders do not have full morality yet, they require "compliance" with larger systems to be moral within those system. Rules, consequences, cause and effect, etc...A 3rd grader who is 8 can't dream or imagine like an adult can.

{Scrubbed}

Kids are generally more impulsive. They haven't built up an understanding of the world to the same degree as older folks. But this is primarily not enough experience, and not some magical switch of age that turns a kid into an adult. More so, the tendency for impulsive behaviour shows a clearer picture of what a child wants and desires. As a child me and several of my friends organized a charity drive selling lottery tickets to support a Russian orphanage. Charity drives like this are not uncommon amongst children, because children are not Lord of the Flies characters. Impulsive and shortsighted, but not by nature cruel and certainly not lacking in empathy. Most kids would not pretend to shoot a pizza guy, not because they have the foresight to think it's a bad idea, but because they know it'll make him scared and they don't want to needlessly make someone else scared.

[Rodin]

Hey! I liked the New York sequel!

I don't think it's a classic the way the original was, but I agree. There's a fair amount of re-hashed "Kevin on his own" stuff in the hotel which is merely passable, but once you get to the cartoony action sequence at the end it's all pretty funny.

I've never seen the other sequels, but I think the lack of Culkin, Pesci, and Stern speaks for itself.

[Malphegor]

I think I liked the second one solely because I had the casette and Talkboy tie-in thing. Probably still have it in the attic, full of 90s-me making stupid noises and singing Disney songs.

[Leewei]

Joe Pesci is really amazing in that he can play a criminal that is hilariously bumbling, inept, and largely unthreatening, and then go to a different movie and play a criminal that is absolutely ****ing terrifying.

And then, there's My Cousin Vinnie where he starts out coming across as bumbling, and ends up as brilliant. Pesci has a surprising range.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The Home Alone franchise and the Die Hard franchise are secretly one and the same. They tell the continuing story of one boy/man who really, really doesn't like sharing a building with criminals.

The kid actor from Home Alone grew up pretty awesomely by the way. He sued to take control of the fortune he made from his parents, and then like any teen would he... spread it out super reasonably and has just lived his life doing exactly what he wanted ever since. Stuff like being in a small time band and just having fun with it for a few years. He's the one 90's celebrity that hasn't organized a comeback tour because they ran out of money yet.

[Peelee]

The kid actor from Home Alone grew up pretty awesomely by the way. He sued to take control of the fortune he made from his parents

Imean, in theory he shouldn't have had to in the first place given the Coogan law, but I'm guessing that's how he won the suit in any event.

[Bartmanhomer]

Imean, in theory he shouldn't have had to in the first place given the Coogan law, but I'm guessing that's how he won the suit in any event.

Coogan law? Wait what are we talking about here?

[Peelee]

Coogan law? Wait what are we talking about here?

The Coogan Law is a law from the 40's or so, which made it so that any money earned by a child actor is legally their money and not their parents'. It was enacted due to its namesake, Jackie Coogan, whose parents spent everything he earned.

Also, I just found out that's a California state law and not federal law. Huh.

[Bartmanhomer]

The Coogan Law is a law from the 40's or so, which made it so that any money earned by a child actor is legally their money and not their parents'. It was enacted due to its namesake, Jackie Coogan, whose parents spent everything he earned.

Also, I just found out that's a California state law and not federal law. Huh.

Ok. Thank you for explaining that to me.

[ben-zayb]

The Home Alone franchise and the Die Hard franchise are secretly one and the same. They tell the continuing story of one boy/man who really, really doesn't like sharing a building with criminals.

I could've sworn I saw a video showing how similar Predator was to Home Alone

[Ramza00]

The Coogan Law is a law from the 40's or so, which made it so that any money earned by a child actor is legally their money and not their parents'. It was enacted due to its namesake, Jackie Coogan, whose parents spent everything he earned.

Also, I just found out that's a California state law and not federal law. Huh.

Only 15% of the money gets put into a trust, so yeah the Parents and Kids can spend a whole lot of the money before the kid becomes an adult.

[Peelee]

Only 15% of the money gets put into a trust, so yeah the Parents and Kids can spend a whole lot of the money before the kid becomes an adult.

Spoiler: Wait, really?

Show

[Rogar Demonblud]

They were trying to balance saving for the future with living now. Note when Jackie Coogan was active.

Further details would fall under No Politics. I'm sure you understand.

[Magic_Hat]

I don't think it's a classic the way the original was, but I agree. There's a fair amount of re-hashed "Kevin on his own" stuff in the hotel which is merely passable, but once you get to the cartoony action sequence at the end it's all pretty funny.

Oh I'm not saying it's a masterpiece. In fact it's basically the Hangover II of family films: "Look! It's the same premise but in a different location with the same familiar characters with their quirks and maybe even a few new faces." I just mean the first film has a good enough premise I can saw I enjoy it enough to be reproduced in a sequel.

The third film is trash. Even as a child I knew this. Never saw the fourth or anything else that came afterwards, but am tempted to to see how bad they are.

[Ramza00]

Further details would fall under No Politics. I'm sure you understand.

Just a reminder a moderator was already involved with the conservation

[Traab]

The main difference between home alone 1 and 2 was, in 2 kevin is no longer under the assumption that he magically made his family vanish and he has previous experience with duping people and defending himself from bad guys. Its still a bit dubious, as at least they came up with an excuse to not be able to contact each other that makes some sense, kevin going to new york while the rest of the fam squad go to florida so neither has a way to directly contact the other. The refusal to follow up any other options that involve less felonies like contacting the police and letting them know what happened so THEY can try and figure this out is squirrely, but meh, for fridge logic it works.

[Peelee]

Just a reminder a moderator was already involved with the conservation

And nobody appreciates the topic being cut short if it would go political more than that mod, I'm sure.

[Vinyadan]

Fun fact: the movie came out in 1990, and Kevin was Germany's favourite name for 1991. For some odd reason, because of their name, the Kevins were often bullied, and the teachers assumed that they were worse students. Later studies showed that Kevins were in no way unusual, and that a considerable number of Kevins now have PhDs and work in academia. Scholars of Kevinism study these phenomenons, as well as the attraction for exotic first names.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Just a reminder a moderator was already involved with the conservation

Mods have to follow the rules as well, and waves of redtext has made it clear that anything from the last 150 years falls under "recent politics".

[snowblizz]

You're making this too hard. All those things he could use for interpersonal communication are things that were house-affixed in the 80s, and are now mobile. Just have the tablet, cell phone, game system, and everything else be in a suitcase in the cargo hold of the plane, going with the family to their destination.

Now let's go for a likely scenario shall we?

A lot of that stuff is being charged by an USB-C charger (family is loaded so they all got stupid new iPhones and and iPads and Macs), Kevin's parents got that one packed, in fact making sure he packed it was what caused him to nudge out the alram clock... naturally most of them managed to suck the batteries dry the evening before. Any none mobile device is hooked up to an AT&T router that goes haywire due to phoneline/powerfailure. It's just won't let you dial in/out beyond the local area. Sicne it's AT&T they aren't in ahurry to fix it. It's a normal 2020s street, noone knows their neighbours, or their contact details.

Kevin tries getting a new charger cable at the Apple store (and not a toothbrush), kerfuffle ensures and he is now a wanted criminal for a fedral offence (because Mac accessories are so expensive, hur hur).

Don't ask me why their phones didn't wake them at the correct time. One of the inlaws has a toddler who gets hold of Kevins iPad (because that's how easy they are to use!) and managed to do a systemwide change of the timezone in their iHome OS perhaps?


Some editing of above to make it Mac friendlier if you belong to the Cult may be necessary.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The weird thing is this might actually get made. Apple is known for being pretty much the only computer brand that pays for product placement. (Their products are recognizable and almost completely their own both from the case and the interface, so it makes more sense for them than for most others. If Intel pays to be featured in a film they just end up giving free exposure to Microsoft.) So someone might be tempted to pitch this.

Of course, the ending will have to be modified so that Apple products save the day as well, similar to why expensive cars never get significant damage in movies, or why the military is never quite useless in movies like the Transformers franchise, even when that would make the bad guys look more dangerous. If they pay to be featured, they get to look good.

[Willie the Duck]

Don't ask me why their phones didn't wake them at the correct time. One of the inlaws has a toddler who gets hold of Kevins iPad (because that's how easy they are to use!) and managed to do a systemwide change of the timezone in their iHome OS perhaps?

If we weren't kinda hard-coded into the Christmas season, I'd make it be Daylight's Savings issues. How about -- the McCallister's live in Chicago, but Aunt and Uncle Leslie and Frank (and kids) are from Ohio, and drove there to catch a plane together. Frank volunteers to set the alarm on his Tablet/Kindle/etc. and no one thinks that it (which isn't hooked up to the internet because his brother doesn't trust him with their wifi password) is set to Eastern Time.

[Rogar Demonblud]

That'd lead to them being up an hour earlier. You'd need them going from, say, the ND oil patch to Minneapolis (Mountain to Central).

[CheesePirate]

The third film is trash. Even as a child I knew this. Never saw the fourth or anything else that came afterwards, but am tempted to to see how bad they are.

The fourth film is bloody awful. It makes the third film seem like a complete masterpiece by comparison! Even the abysmal fifth film is more watchable than the fourth.

[Willie the Duck]

That'd lead to them being up an hour earlier. You'd need them going from, say, the ND oil patch to Minneapolis (Mountain to Central).

Whoops, amazing how I've travelled my whole life and still mess that up. Mountain time works, although I was keeping their starting city of Chicago constant.