R Rating Ep19 - Home Alone 1 & 2

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello, everybody, and welcome back to R Rating, the show where I get together with two of my friends, we take a movie franchise, break it down by movie, give them each a score, throw them up on the board, and see where they land compared to the other movie franchises. Today, we're talking about Home Alone 1 and 2, which are the only two Home alone movies that exist. And we're gonna do them in the same episode because, let's face it, they're the exact same movie. So sit back, enjoy, and we'll discuss it right after this. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Christmas is not only the best time to vacation with the family, but also to burgle the vulnerable houses of those rich vac vacationers. The Wet Bandits plan on taking full advantage of the empty houses until they run into an inventive adolescent who happened to be left home alone. [00:00:43] Speaker A: Very nice. Very nice. All right. Home Alone came out. Will's a little bit younger than us. Brian and I are the same age. Home Alone came out when we were quite young. I have to assume, Brian, you probably saw this one pretty early on. Did you see this one in theaters? Home Alone one, this is. [00:00:58] Speaker C: Yeah, Home Alone one I saw in theaters. I don't remember seeing number two in theaters. I'm pretty sure I just watched that when it. I rented it or something. That was a blockbuster movie back then. Like a. Not a blockbuster movie, but I rented it from Blockbuster because it was so old. [00:01:15] Speaker A: I feel like I'm the exact opposite, actually. I don't remember when I first saw the first one, although I'm sure that I did probably in theaters. The second one. However, my mom told me that she would take me to see it when I finished reading the book for it. And I read the entire book. I mean, the entire book. He was probably like 100 pages in one day. And we ended up going, like, that night to go see it. So I was pumped for the second one. I mean, I was 10 or something, but I remember that I couldn't tell you when I watched the first one, but I'm sure I saw it either as soon as it was on video or while it was still in theaters. What about you, Will? Do you remember seeing these movies for the first time? [00:01:50] Speaker B: I don't remember when it would have been. When I was probably 6 to 8 years old, though. Like, I. I watched them relatively close to when they came out. [00:02:00] Speaker A: Okay. [00:02:01] Speaker B: I was a big fan of them back then. [00:02:05] Speaker A: Back then. Oh, a little foreshadowing for later on there. [00:02:08] Speaker B: I don't want to. I don't want to play all My cards, you know, like some of us. [00:02:11] Speaker A: Totally fair. Totally fair. Now, Brian, we've talked about this franchise a little bit. Your kids are huge fans of these movies. Yeah. You enjoyed as a kid. You enjoy now or you just kind of watch them put up with your kids. How do you. What's your. [00:02:23] Speaker C: My. My eldest son has the box set of all of them. And he will just watch them over and over and over. And he watches them year round, not just Christmas time. I'm absolutely sick of them. I'm really mad because I'm the one who teed him up for it. He likes doing practical jokes and booby traps around the house. And so I said, hey, son, I got the movie for you. Let's check out Home Alone. And he was hooked. And now he watches all of them over and over and over. And I immediately started hating myself. I was like, why did I do that? Because the original Home Alone movie I somewhat enjoyed to watch maybe around Christmas time. Bump into it every couple of years. It's nostalgic or whatever. And then there was the sequel, which was the same movie but in New York. And then my son brings out the box set of them going through all six movies, which the rest are just an absolute travesty in my opinion. And that's why we're not really covering the rest of them. But I'm pretty done with Home Alone, to say the least. [00:03:33] Speaker A: Fair enough, fair enough. So you did enjoy these, though, you just burnt out on them? [00:03:37] Speaker C: Yes, I originally enjoyed these. Now, Dan, would you say that these are Christmas classics? [00:03:46] Speaker A: I. I would. Honestly. I am planning on making a video about all the, like, Christmas adjacent movies and whether or not they make the cut. And I was debating if this movie would make the list for those, and I don't think it does. I think it is just legitimately a Christmas movie. I don't think there's anything you could really argue with against it. It's got the emotional weight. It's set at Christmas time. There are Christmas trees and Christmas decorations everywhere. Kevin even wishes upon a Christmas tree to get his family back. And they do end up coming back. I don't think there's any strong argument for them not being Christmas movies. If I. I see Will nodding his head along with me. Do you disagree at all, Brian, or. [00:04:24] Speaker C: No? I. I think. I think the first two, especially, they're. And we'll just stick with that from now on. I don't even want to talk about the others. Not Home Alone 1 and 2 are Christmas movies Christmas themed. The. The. The Mallister family is always off on a vacation or whatever for Christmas. That's the purpose. These are definitely Christmas movies. Will you think they're Christmas classics? [00:04:45] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean, just, it's Christmas music throughout. I don't know if there's any music in these movies that isn't Christmas music, aside from the original scoring, which is incredible. So I think these movies are absolutely Christmas movies. Christmas classics and kind of became a classic on release. It was like one of the biggest money makers on its release. So, yeah, this thing, this thing, this thing bangs, man. [00:05:21] Speaker A: Yeah. I gotta say, these movies did incredibly well for their time. I mean, both of them, like $18,000,028,000,000 budgets. And the first one brought in almost half a billion dollars, which is an amazing return in investment. Like these were hits right away. Now they did burn the series down or tear to the ground by making so many spin offs. And of course, I don't want to crap on child actors, but like Macaulay Culkin became kind of the butt of a joke for a little while there, unfortunately, which I don't think is entirely well deserved. But I think if they left these at just the two, it would be a little bit more, I don't know the wording I'm looking for here. I think they would have a little more cherished classics. Yes, we're more cherished. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. [00:06:07] Speaker C: And you know what? You mentioned Macaulay Culkin being the butt of the joke. You know, this is a child actor that got famous. Real young, super famous. Because this movie was huge. The first one, I don't think it's fair to give him any bad treatment. And I'm not a fan, if anybody who watches this, I'm not a fan of child actors. And I think Macaulay Culkin didn't do a very good job in this film at all. He was just cute. He had some great lines. And watching the, the robbers get beat up was new and fun and slapstick comedy and. And it made you laugh. And it was a feel good movie. Like it, it just had all the right stuff. I don't think Macaulay Culkin carried the day. He was just cute. But he gets a lot of flack because of this. And then the troubled life he ended up leading for a while there. And I don't think he deserves it. I think, you know, he was a child actor and they gave him some lines and he followed it and he was famous. And I think that for what it was, he did what he was supposed to do. And so I don't like making fun of child actors. Even Drew Barrymore and, and I really don't like Drew Barrymore. And so because, because they're young and they're being, they're being manip by the industry I think to a degree at that young age they're being used. I just, I, I hate it. So I like to see when a child actor can pull off a good movie, become famous and grow into adulthood to be a well rounded human being. We don't see that very often in Hollywood. With the child actors that become famous, they tend to have troubled steps. [00:07:39] Speaker A: I mean, Macaulay Culkin has a couple of decent roles. Like a good son. Good was a My Girl these two movies. Like as a child actor he was fairly pro prolific and then kind of just like disappeared into obscurity and like on purpose. Not like, you know, he got left behind, but just kind of like, you know what? I'm good. I did what I needed to do. I made some money. Time for me to go live my life and, and be the best person I can be. And like, yeah, he had a little hard part there because how could you not with that much money at that early age? But all things considered, you don't hear negative things about Macaulay Culkin anymore. Like he, well grown up and he's. [00:08:15] Speaker C: Done some acting a little more recently and he's done well and he's kind of come back into the limelight to a small degree and shown that he's a stable individual again. So that's good. I'm glad, I'm glad. I hope he gets his stays on his feet and, and doesn't fall apart or so that, so that's good. [00:08:33] Speaker A: Now I do want to say I, I would agree with you. There are parts in this movie where his acting is rough and I'm not, I'm not trying to like, I want to move on from Macaulay Culkin. I'm just, we're talking about the movie. [00:08:43] Speaker C: Oh no. [00:08:44] Speaker A: There are lines in the movie where his acting is rough. But there are other scenes where I think he does a very good job for being. I think he's like 9 or 10 in the first one. Like he's, he's quite young and there are some scenes he pulls off with a decent amount of gravitas. Like the scene in the church where he's talking to the old man. Like going from the fear to actually getting some advice, giving some advice back. I thought that scene did really, really well. There are Other scenes where he's talking, like directly to the camera and you're just like, oh, can we do a second or third take? Or whatever it's gonna require to get that line a little bit, a little bit stronger. This is it. Don't get scared now. What do you think, Will? What are your thoughts on Macaulay Culkin in this role? [00:09:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, Macaulay Culkin kind of broke through with Uncle Buck, which was another John Hughes film. And John specifically, specifically wrote this part for Macaulay Culkin. And so the director, actually Columbus, didn't want to cast Macaulay Culkin because it was so close after Uncle Buck, he wanted to see if there was anybody else out there. They auditioned hundreds of children and couldn't find anybody who could fit the role or do the role as well as Macaulay Culkin. And I think it's a lot of pressure for a nine year old kid to kind of command a movie on their own. So as. As far as, like, is there parts that could be better? Absolutely. Could just any 9 year old front run a movie like this? I don't think so. So I think, I think there is a lot of credit to Macaulay Culkin in plenty of interviews where writer, directors, actors, all are saying how professional he was and how mature he was for his age. So there's a. There's a lot to it, I think. But yeah, there's obviously moments of like, okay, maybe we don't need to break the fourth wall all the time and this and that. But I, I feel again, that's like a direction choice more than him being bad at his job. [00:10:53] Speaker C: Will, do you think that he improved from one to two or that his, his performance was worse in two? Because one was, you know, is most often preferred. But I actually think that his acting was better in two. [00:11:09] Speaker B: I, I don't disagree. I think he, again, like, he went through how many movies between one and two? I think he did hone in on his craft. And John Hughes actually was writing a third Home Alone for Macaulay Culkin until he found out Macaulay Culkin quit acting in 94. So he scrapped it and rewrote it to the abominations that are now never to be mentioned. That we keep. [00:11:34] Speaker A: I. I agree with you. I think he is better in two, but I don't. I think the script is better in one, but he is better in two, if that makes sense. Yeah, he does a better job delivering the lines. I just think the lines in one were better. [00:11:50] Speaker B: I agree I also want to say the other actors, mainly the wet bandits, were like, and they've been quoted as saying they didn't think this movie was going to take off for very much. So they kind of overacted and kind of were silly about it. And so I think that actually helps because it kind of makes the whole movie more of a cartoony feel. And so his care, Macaulay Culkin's character can be like over the top as well, and it's still suits the movie. [00:12:24] Speaker A: Yeah, you brought up a good point earlier that I wanted to touch on really quickly, which is not only are we asking a, a nine year old to lead and command this movie, like he is the center point of 90% of this movie, but also he is interacting almost entirely with nobody or with adults. Like, there's very, very few scenes in either of these movies where he's interacting with other kids his age, which is usually kind of a saving grace for child actors is at least they get to interact and play with other kids. And if one of the kids is not as strong, the main actor will look a little bit stronger because of it. But I mean, he's going up against Daniel Stern, Catherine o', Hara, John Herd, Joe Pesci for goodness sake, and he's relatively holding his own. And that's a tall ask of any actor, let alone a nine year old kid. [00:13:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. [00:13:16] Speaker B: I, I think he did great. I love the cast in this movie for the most part. I mean, I can say some of the other family members were definitely like, the kids were pretty rough in comparison to Macaulay. Right. He definitely has something and there's a reason why he was cast in countless movies when he was just, just a wee one. [00:13:38] Speaker C: I did like his older brother Buzz, especially in number two when he, you know, he, he does the little candles behind Macaulay Culkin's ears and Macaulay Culkin pushes him and everybody on the stage falls down and the pianist gets knocked over, all that stuff. And then afterwards Buzz is giving that, you know, speech to everyone about how he's so sorry and the, the troubles that he's caused and everything. And then he leans over to his brother, he's like, you know, top that, you little squirt. I, I really liked Buzz in both movies, especially the second one. I, I thought he was a phenomenal character and, and just, I mean, it was a, a little bit cliche, but all these characters were a little bit over the top and it was great. I, I did like that. [00:14:27] Speaker A: Now that you lead into something I did want to touch on what is it like for you guys watching this movie in 2024, specifically the two opening scenes with the family and the way they interact and whatnot. Did you guys bump against that as hard as I did? I was watching the first one with my. My family, my fairly young kids. And I'm not going to say the language because, like, they're not, like, swearing at each other, but just the way they're all talking to each other. I was just like, oh, the uncle. Like, I pause and just be like, we do not talk to each other like this to my kids, like, huh? I'm like, okay. And we keep watching. Didn't bump against it in 1990, but in 2024, I'm just like, no, don't like this. [00:15:04] Speaker C: Yeah, the family was definitely rough to each other. The uncle, the way he talks to Kevin is definitely unacceptable today. I mean, you wouldn't like. They're a wealthy family, right? Oh, they're. They're a wealthy family. Well, to do. You wouldn't expect them to act like trailer trash, in my opinion, is how they kind of acted some of the family members in those cases. And, you know. Yeah, you're right. It's a little dated. It is for me. [00:15:37] Speaker A: What about you, Will? [00:15:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I think John Hughes went through painstakingly precise actions and motivations in the script to set up the rest of this movie. So the family has to be just crude and rude to Kevin, and Kevin has to act out equally bad to the family in order for any believability of him having to spend the night by himself and that everybody will forget him. And John Hughes writes in his. His plane ticket gets swept up in the milk and into the trash. The neighbor kid comes and gets counted as a head. All of these little nitpicky little things that I feel don't happen in a lot of movies just to make it even plausible that this kid could get left home alone. So I think that's the major reason why they were written so harshly. But it does. It does come off a little weird when you're watching the movie. 100%. It starts it on a weird foot. [00:16:45] Speaker A: Yeah, no, agreed. The plot in this one is so ridiculous and yet they write it so incredibly well that it all makes sense. Like, as. As much as it doesn't make any sense, it all makes sense. Like, you can understand. Sure. But I mean, like, what you're talking about, like, oh, he spills the milk onto the ticket, so the ticket gets taken away. Oh, he's sleeping upstairs where nobody's expecting him. Oh, they sleep in because of the windstorm outside or because he, he pulls the alarm clock in the second one. Like all of those are things where you're like, oh, yeah, I can see that happening. Oh, yeah, that. Okay, that makes sense. The kid, the neighbor comes over and they count the neighbor by accident. Like, it, it all works well enough to get you where you want to go. Is it silly? Absolutely. But it's a kid's movie. It's a kid's Christmas movie. Like, we're not looking for perfect, like, for what it is. It's relatively hard to punch holes in from a plot perspective other than just saying it's unlikely. [00:17:36] Speaker C: And on the other hand, we have number two, which post nine, 11. He's not getting on the wrong flight. He ain't going to New York. That's not happening. So they don't just like let people onto a plane like that anymore. That when you watch number two, you're like, no, that's not. I don't even know if I felt that was plausible back then. The first one, I never questioned it because everything was covered and accounted for in a plausible manner in the plot. But in the sequel, it felt like, yeah, let's just stick them on the wrong plane. That's fine. That's kind of all there was to it. And I was like, what? [00:18:18] Speaker A: I think it's hilarious. In both movies they take flights and at no point do they check on their kids. Yeah, like. Yeah, like the one like New York to. Or sorry, Chicago to Florida. I don't know, three hours maybe. Like, that's not terribly long. But like, Chicago to Paris has got to be what, seven, eight hours long? Like, you're telling me in that entire time you never once went back to check on your kids who are sitting in coach or whatever while you're in first class, and you're just like, I'm sure they're fine. Okay. Very different time, I guess. [00:18:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I don't. I mean, would that make a difference? They're already, they're already in the air. So, I mean, the damage is done on that. But I do feel, yeah, John Hughes tried in the second one to like, oh, he follows the same jacket. It's not his dad, it's somebody else. Oh, the tickets all get thrown in the air. She doesn't know what. He's on the wrong plane. He does still try to hit those marks. But yes, it's way more far fetched, as is the entire second movie, which is. I feel like it is almost a carbon copy. Like, yeah, there is multiple things like. Yeah, Scary neighbor, scary bird lady. [00:19:28] Speaker C: They even have a new name for the Wet Bandits. They're now the Sticky Bandits. [00:19:32] Speaker B: Mobster movies in both. It's the sequel to the mobster movie House Full of Traps, obviously, that get no will. [00:19:38] Speaker C: Did you like. Did you like the recorder? The voice recorder? It felt like a new implementation into the movie. Like, it felt like, hey, let's just write this thing in there. It felt a little weird to me. [00:19:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So again, I. I feel like it was a plot device to help that, you know, story arcs, how he could, you know, book his hotel room and things like that. It was necessary for a lot of things, but just an obvious plot device nowadays. [00:20:06] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:20:07] Speaker B: When I was a kid, I just wanted one. [00:20:10] Speaker A: Yep. [00:20:10] Speaker C: Right. [00:20:11] Speaker A: Same. Did not get one. Did want one. I think as much as it's a plot device, it's also merchandising because there's no real toys you can sell from the first one, there's nothing you can really market other than the movie itself. And in the second one, there's like, hey, look at this talk, boy. Do you want to buy it? I'm sure you do. [00:20:28] Speaker C: Well, they were robbing a toy store. You know, all kinds of toys in. [00:20:32] Speaker A: The toy stores weren't, like, toys you could buy at Toys R Us. Like, those are all, like, handmade toys. [00:20:37] Speaker C: Two turtle doves. [00:20:38] Speaker B: But saying that, I don't believe it was written as a. As a marketing device at all, because it wasn't until after the movie that a different company called Tiger Electronics created the Taco Boy. Even the one in the movie wasn't a functioning piece, so it was written strictly as a plot device. And then Tiger Electronics took that as a marketing thing on themselves. [00:21:04] Speaker A: Tiger Electronics is brilliant. [00:21:07] Speaker B: Totally brilliant. Yeah. [00:21:09] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm shocked to hear that, because I remember wanting that. And I would have bet money that the packaging had Kevin McAllister on the front cover of it. [00:21:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I'm sure they did after. After the fact, but it wasn't written that way. And the other thing, I was like, as far as this is a carbon copy movie. Marv has a line in the first one, he says, kids are afraid of the dark. We'll come back at the dark night. Kids are afraid of the dark. And then in the second one, Marv has another line that says, kids are afraid of the park will come. It's like the same line, dark and park. It's literally written that way on purpose. I feel like we talk about How a good sequel changes it up like Alien to Aliens. But for some reason, and maybe it's the nostalgia in me just carbon copying and just being like, let's just up everything to, you know, 11. I wasn't, I wasn't mad about it. Is it, you know, better movie? No, but I was definitely not because you can see the parallels and, and the gags they're going for being like, oh yeah, we did another fun monster movie. [00:22:19] Speaker C: I feel they, they do this with some movies and I don't mind it so much if you don't have the chops to pull off a transition like Alien to Al and switch it up drastically and do world building and character building and all that in depth research and all that stuff. You can just squeeze a little bit more toothpaste out of the bottle on the next one by pressing it a little harder. And that's what they did here. It's the exact same thing. Turn up the volume on it. Recreated exactly what we liked from the first one with just a bit more. And yes, they had to cut some corners to get him into New York. Yes, they did some unrealistic stuff with how he was working, you know, getting his hotel room and dealing with that concierge which, hey, Tim Curry is one of my favorite all time actors. I'm glad he's in here. This movie even had Donald Trump in it. It was like, there's a lot going on in number two. They just really put a lot of stuff into it, but they didn't change hardly anything because why not? The first one made a ton of money. Let's just do it again. [00:23:26] Speaker A: And I mean most of it. I mean, I would agree that none of it was really done better, but a lot of it was done as well as well. Yes, once you get to that scene at the end, like once you get to the bulk of the movie because everybody always remembers like the, the booby trapped house. Once you get to that portion of the movie, it is done at least as well, if not better than the first one. Some of the laughs in that scene, like Bubba Hotep sitting in chat, like he remembers the theater erupting in laughter during the brick throwing scene. My littlest, I was watching it with my 7 year old was like in tears almost from that scene where he's just getting like pelted with brick over. And let's not think about the fact that he's dead after the first one, let alone the seventh. But like, right, it's just a funny movie. He plays it so well. Daniel Stern's physical comedy in this is absolutely genius. And Joe Pesci's too. Like, I don't think of Joe Pesci as a funny actor. I think of him as Goodfellas. I think of him as terrifying. And he is hilarious in this movie. Both of these movies, when. [00:24:24] Speaker C: When his head gets lit on fire in the first one, which is the stupid. He's standing there not moving as the flamethrower, shooting his hair. That's so funny to me. [00:24:34] Speaker A: It was. [00:24:34] Speaker C: It cracks me up when I see that. It doesn't make any sense, the way he. The mechanics of it. Dives head first into the snow. [00:24:42] Speaker A: First is the part that gets me, like the ostrich into the snow. [00:24:45] Speaker C: I mean, I think somebody did like a spoof of Home Alone, except when they, like, get hit in the face of the paint can, it, like, obliterates their head or something crazy. And it's really graphic that I can't remember who did that, but somebody did, like, hey, let's do the Home Alone thing. And then they kill somebody kind of thing. [00:25:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:02] Speaker A: Robot Chicken. [00:25:03] Speaker C: Yeah, Something like that. [00:25:05] Speaker A: I don't remember. [00:25:05] Speaker C: But you know the things that happen. Stepping on a 4 inch nail, like, that's not funny. But you laugh in Home Alone about this stuff. [00:25:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:17] Speaker B: I mean, say what you want about all these funny gags. That nail step on still gets me being like, oh, that's. That's gotta hurt so bad. [00:25:25] Speaker C: Right? [00:25:26] Speaker B: It just looks so painful. They set it up so. [00:25:28] Speaker C: But him falling backwards, just, you know, stiff and going. [00:25:32] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:25:33] Speaker C: As he goes back, that makes you see, look at Dan, he's cracking up. Thinking about it. [00:25:37] Speaker A: It's. I was actually thinking about editing this and putting all these silly little moments in the edit as we're talking about them and just. Just made me smile. Yeah. The two of my favorite moments in the first one are both Daniel Stern in that last scene. And they're such little things, but they're just comedic gold where he's like. He falls down the stairs. And then as he's trying to stand up, there's just this moment where both of his feet just, like, right to the side and to, like, stable himself. I don't know why, but that just makes me chuckle a little bit. And then after he's like, screw the basement. And he goes back outside, shuts the door, and you just hear as he, like, falls down again. Kills me every time. [00:26:13] Speaker C: In the chrome. Tingles on the pavement. Yeah. [00:26:17] Speaker A: Oh, I know. We were watching Evil Dead and we were talking about, like, slapstick comedy. I was like, I'm, I'm just not a fan. I, I don't know if it's the nostalgia of this one or if it's just done a little bit differently. But like the slapstick in this one really does get me. Admittedly I also watch this with my kids and you know, laughter's contagious, right? So when they're bursting out laughing, of course I'm going to laugh along and get a bit more emotional about the whole experience. But I don't know, I, I thought these movies are so funny at the end of them. I find the first half of both movies, well, the first third of both movies very painful. While we're dealing with the family. I understand it's necessary because you need to understand why he wants to be away from his family. But I just don't like them. Yeah, middle half, kind of like fun, light hearted. And then the last little bit you get like that emotional hit as you know, he talks to the bird lady, he overcomes his fear. He talks to the. I forget the name of the guy, but the guy with the, the shovel. [00:27:15] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, the old, the neighbor. [00:27:18] Speaker A: And then the slapstick comedy to finish it all off. [00:27:21] Speaker C: You've got his mom having the conversation with John Candy in the, in the, in the van with the musicians. Heart to heart stuff there. You've got these slow moments that are heartfelt and whatnot. I don't know, they, they didn't take away or add from the movie. I guess they put some contrast in the movie for me, but it was just kind of a slow part. [00:27:40] Speaker A: I think some of the, the emotional moments hit well enough for me. Like again, I liked this, the church scene quite a bit. [00:27:46] Speaker C: The church scene was, was great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:27:51] Speaker B: Touching on that run. 7. Thank you for the segue. Katherine O', Hara, John Candy, two great Canadian actors. Rest in peace. John Candy. Amazing. And he was actually asked to do this by Hughes as a favor because they worked on Uncle Buck together. And so John Candy came in for one day of shooting. He shot all of his stuff in one day, 24 hours. I think it took like 23 and, and he didn't. He only got paid minimum, like SAG rates, so just like minimum rates for it. He didn't want to charge anything above and beyond. And he also improvised like 90% of his lines. Everything John Candy is doing on, on camera is pretty much improvised, which is great because Catherine o' Hara is a great comedic actress as well. So she just rolled with the punches. They were very good. Friends. But yeah, I just want to say shout out to Canada. Catherine o' Hara is one of the greats. [00:28:51] Speaker A: I didn't know Catherine o' Hara was Canadian until tonight as I was doing research. Turns out she was born in Toronto and like one year younger than my dad, who also grew up in Toronto. It was just that weird. Like, oh, that's interesting. [00:29:05] Speaker C: Research for these movies, by the way. I let these guys take care of that. Only if the movie really interests me do I actually do some background checks. So I come here to learn, just like you guys. So I think Catherine was in a commercial recently where she kind of does the Kevin line, except she says something else. It's like a GEICO commercial or something. And she squeaks out, guy. I don't remember what it is, but I was like blown away. How instantaneously recognizable she is. Still doing fabulous. So good for her. I just a little tidbit there. That's my research. I saw a commercial. [00:29:45] Speaker A: It was also really weird watching this. My wife, I had to fact check her a little bit. She's just a little bit off. But she was saying, like, Catherine Harris, like 31 in this movie. She's actually like 36. But it's one of those weird things where like 36 in 1990 looks a lot older than 36 in 2024 does. Like, I don't know if that's because I first saw this movie when I was like 10. So she looks a lot older because I was 10. Or if just like the way people dressed and acted back then, you just. [00:30:12] Speaker C: Well, the shoulder pads on those jackets, man, those were crazy. [00:30:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. It was interesting to think about, like, oh, I am older than Kevin McAllister's parents. [00:30:23] Speaker C: Yeah. All right, okay, we're done talking about age here, guys. [00:30:26] Speaker A: Moving on. What do you think about the music? [00:30:28] Speaker B: You know, the music is great in this movie. John Williams, I believe. Original scoring and music. They actually wanted John Williams, but didn't think they could afford him. And so they had a different composer lined up, but it fell through. And so as this like a last ditch effort, they were like, well, we might as well reach out. And they sent him a rough cut of the movie. He fell in love with it and did the movie. And. And he's been quoted or heard saying that he's happy to do movies that he believes in more than getting a good pay out of doing it. And I think the music in this movie and the second one, they're kind of similar, obviously, but also iconic. They're very well Done. [00:31:16] Speaker A: I absolutely agree. I think the music in these movies is incredible. I mean, not. Not entirely Business John Williams, although that, I mean it doesn't hurt. But the way that they can make the music even like in one song or in one score go from like whimsy to fearful to Christmassy in one song. And it works so beautifully is just incredible. Not only that though, but the sound design in this movie is so good. Like little things. The sounds of the crowbars as they hit stuff. The sounds of the Christmas ornaments as they're breaking underfoot. The Looney Tunes kind of sound effects you get in tiny little moments. In the second one I'm thinking about when he's pulling the staples out of himself. He's got like. It's just. It's so cartoony and ridiculous, but it fits so perfectly. One of the moments I absolutely love, Subtle little thing. Is when Buzz is telling Kevin about the neighbor, the. [00:32:18] Speaker B: The Marley. [00:32:21] Speaker A: Marley. [00:32:22] Speaker B: Old man Marley? [00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah, old man. There's a name for him that he calls like, oh, you haven't heard about the shoveler or something like that, but whatever. Oh, sure, sure, old man Marley. And he's telling him like, oh, he killed all these people and he's shoveling his driveway. If you're paying attention to that scene, you can actually hear that the shovel doesn't sound like a shovel. It sounds like a blade going against a whetstone. Just a subtle little thing to just be like, this is not what it seems. And it's so perfect. It adds to that like tension in the scene. And you're supposed to be like, oh, that guy is a little freaky and weird. Now obviously he's not. You know, it's just the 10 year old mentality. But little things like that I think go such a long way to make this movie as amazing as it is. Did you pick up on any of those things, Brian? [00:33:05] Speaker C: Yes, I did pick up on some of them. You mentioned the ornaments popping when they're climbing in the window and stepping on them. Those little things. The sound of the iron hitting them in the head. Yes. Oh, the BB gun popping, the. When he's shooting little figurines. All those things. Oh, I think he shoots a squirts of chocolate sauce in his mouth when he's all these little things. But there are also little moments that I just stick in my mind beyond the sound of this. In fact, the Wendy's Dumpster put this in chat. Great name by the way. Don't be a stranger. The budget. Five minutes to eat his microwave Mac and cheese dinner. He sets the down his microwavable dinner. And every time I watch this movie, he says a blessing over it. And then the bell rings and he runs away and doesn't even take a single bite of his microwave dinner. And that always drives me nuts when I watch this movie. But there are scenes like when he's checking out at the register and the girl's questioning him and he's got that sassy attitude, even though the lines are delivered the best. I love that, that sequence. It's funny and I enjoy it. There's lots of little golden moments, especially in number one, that I absolutely love. [00:34:24] Speaker A: I feel like some of those lines where he's talking to either the. The cashier or in the second one, he's talking to the lady at the courtesy desk. And he's like, would I be here doing this all by myself? I don't think. [00:34:37] Speaker C: I don't think so. [00:34:38] Speaker A: Where, like, me now is just like, oh, shut up, kid. But, like, as a kid, I remember thinking that was so funny. Like, oh, my God, he's talking back to an adult and, like, shoving in their face. Ha. Like, I'm sure I quoted those lines when I was a small child, and I'm sure my parents rolled their eyes every time, like I'm doing now. But, like, it's a kids movie. It's supposed to be fun and silly for kids, so you got to let it go and just be like, yeah, no, that's fair. It's exactly what it's supposed to be. [00:35:02] Speaker C: And let's be honest, how many of us tried to build a zip line somewhere in their backyard after they watch this? I mean, come on, we all wanted to ride that zip line as a. [00:35:13] Speaker B: Kid or toboggan down the stairs. [00:35:15] Speaker C: Like, oh, yeah, I did that. I did. [00:35:17] Speaker A: That explains a lot. I think. [00:35:22] Speaker B: I think John Hughes, you know, he gets a lot of praise because he, in the 80s 90s, wrote an amazing amount of movies about young people. The Goonies, the Breakfast Club, and Home Alone was like, his forte. Into, like. I think that's like, the youngest. He's gone. But I feel like he really knows how to capture youth mentality and just the magic. The magic that youth see and live in and their endless imagination. And I feel like he does a really good job at writing stories about young people. So I just. Yeah, I just want to shout that out. John Hughes did great. [00:36:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I. John Hughes was amazing. [00:36:12] Speaker C: Goonies. Goonies was one of. One of my favorites. That's one of the few movies where I Don't have any problems with the child actors in this. I enjoyed that movie from start to finish. It was fantastic. [00:36:23] Speaker A: Fair. [00:36:24] Speaker C: I guess if I'm gonna watch a movie about kids, it better be a John Hughes movie. [00:36:30] Speaker A: There you go. I kind of touched on pretty much most of the things I think I wanted to touch on. Do you guys have anything else you want to get into, or are we good to. [00:36:37] Speaker C: I'm curious if you guys have any major issues with the film, Things that you. That drive you nuts, that you wish were not a part of it, that you like. If you could change something about this film. [00:36:46] Speaker A: What. [00:36:47] Speaker C: What is it that bothers you for. For me, 1 and 2 is just that I've seen them too many times. I don't really have a problem with them. Number two is just a rehash of number one with the volume turned up. But that's okay because Number one was good, and I just got a little bit more out of it. So it's a sequel. It's not as good as the original, but it was more of what I liked and I had fun. But I don't actually have any critiques for One and Two. If we're not talking about the rest of the franchise. 1 and 2 are really solid films. For me. [00:37:19] Speaker A: I would agree with that. I kind of already talked about my biggest critique, which is just. I hate the way the family interacts. And I. I 100% understand that that's not a good critique because that is so integral to why this movie works and how it makes sense. So you can't. [00:37:33] Speaker C: And accurate for the time. [00:37:36] Speaker A: Fair. More accurate, for sure. But, like, you can't really critique it because if his family was loving and. And perfect and they all got along with, like, if this was seventh Heaven, they're not leaving a kid behind. Right? Right. [00:37:49] Speaker C: So, like, they have to be flawed, what it is. [00:37:51] Speaker A: But it's still really hard. Like, that is the hardest part to watch, especially in the first one, that, like, opening scene where everybody's just being a jerk to everybody. Everybody's just, like, calling each other awful names. The uncle is looking at him like, I'm gonna slap the out of you. And I'm just like, I, like, am I really watching this with my kids? Like, I don't want my kids to be watching this. But then you get past that, and you have Kevin by himself. Kevin discovering how to do certain things, Kevin overcoming his fears. Kevin talking to the neighbor. Kevin deciding to defend his home, doing it hilariously. Like, all of that, I have no real issues with and I kind of just have to suck it up and, and get through that first part. I don't love it, but it's the only way that that makes sense. What about you, Will? [00:38:34] Speaker B: I don't know what it is. Maybe it's. Again, I'm too sick to care. Maybe it's the nostalgia of just growing up with this movie. I don't, I don't dislike much of this movie at all. Although I haven't spoke on my favorite scene in this movie, which I think is as an adult. There's a scene where Kevin's mom is calling to the police station to have somebody go and check on Kevin. And she keeps getting switched back and forth between the police department and like Children affairs or something. And the dude at Children affairs is like crushing a donut while he's talking, not interested at all. And at one point the donut piece falls out of his mouth onto the receiver and he's just like giving it as it's the funniest thing in the world to me. Because he's just so. Doesn't give a. What about the actual topic at hand. He's like, yeah, lady, we'll send something, whatever. It's just so funny to me. I don't know why, but I love that scene. And so. Yeah. [00:39:35] Speaker A: And I have to assume, like, I have to assume that donut falling was just accidental and he just rolled with it because, like, how do you plan for that? But you're right, that's a great little moment where he's just like, huh, sure. Just trickles off. Good call. [00:39:47] Speaker B: So funny to me, it's just those happy little accidents and it just. You capture something magical. It's just so good to watch. [00:39:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:56] Speaker B: And I don't have to watch it all year every year, but my 4 year old watched it for the first time last year and loves this movie. So I'm happy to watch this movie a couple of times each year. [00:40:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I think this is one that I'm going to revisit. The first one at very least, if not both of them, probably once a year. Like my youngest especially has just discovered these movies and loves them and it's super fun to watch with them. Like, I don't know. This is a movie I would put on by myself. Like when my kids are a little older and they don't want to watch it, this will probably fade from my memory. Not from my memory, but fade from like the ones I watch on an annual basis. But right here, right now, while my kids are young enough and they're enjoying it and they're loving it. I'm gonna soak up that laughter every year. [00:40:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Seeing the excitement in my eldest as he watches these films makes the movie so much better for me watching it by myself. No, thanks. I'll just. [00:40:59] Speaker A: I'll just. [00:41:00] Speaker C: I'll. I'll just pass. I've seen it enough. I was gonna say I was glad to introduce it to him for the first time. Not so glad that he just continues to watch it, like twice a month. So. But, yeah, funny. [00:41:14] Speaker A: So I'm gonna enjoy this at Christmas time. Brian's gonna enjoy it in January and February and March and twice in April. [00:41:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:41:22] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. So if we're gonna jump into the scoring for these, I think probably just do both of them. Not that. Not at once, like give each one a separate score, but just like you can probably do both of them kind of back to back. We don't need to. We don't need to do the whole thing both times. [00:41:37] Speaker B: I think Home Alone is a fantastic children's movie and a fantastic Christmas movie. Home Alone didn't get great reviews when it first came out, but it definitely took, like, audiences by storm and it became one of the biggest movie releases of its time. It also, like, skyrocketed. Macaulay Culkin, maybe beyond what he should have been because it almost broke him, but that's the way it goes. I find this movie I grew up with, so I feel like nostalgia plays a little bit into the rating, but I also think there's just a lot of heart in this movie. And introducing it to my son now, it brings a lot of the magic back. Watching it through his eyes or experiencing it next to him. And so, that being said, I feel like this movie holds up quite well, even though obviously airports don't run the same. Everybody's got cell phones. There's no way any of this is really plausible. But my 4 year old buys into it. He doesn't care that it's not plausible. So I think it still holds up because it's such a strong premise and the characters are well implemented. The stunts are well choreographed and executed. There's just a lot of great things in this movie. I'll continue to watch it probably well and beyond my kid growing out of it, if he ever does, because I'm a big child at heart. [00:43:15] Speaker A: So. [00:43:16] Speaker B: Home alone, 1990. I give this movie an 80 with the highest marks in genre, which I consider this to be a Christmas movie or a Christmas family movie. And writing and direction, those were, like, just so well done and, and made this movie, I think a classic, instant classic. Home Alone 2 I'm not going to talk so much about because it's pretty much a carbon copy dialed up to 11, which doesn't work in a lot of sequels. But because it's a Christmas movie and it's got the same themes and touches a little bit on different themes, it works. For some reason it works. Even though it's even more unbelievable, it's just not as good because you know exactly what's going to happen before it happens because you've seen the first one a thousand times. But it's. I'm okay with that. I think they did it on purpose because, oh, you know what's going to happen. But we're going to up the ante so you still find joy in it. So overall the genre I think holds up, the writing doesn't because it is a carbon copy. And I think the acting goes up a little bit because you know, we got a couple new actors in there that are very good that I like. Overall, 75 out of 100 for Home Alone 2, lost in New York. I'll just continue to watch these movies as long as my kid wants to watch them. [00:44:40] Speaker A: Very well said. Very well said. [00:44:41] Speaker B: As long as it's not every month. [00:44:45] Speaker A: Yeah, there's limits. [00:44:45] Speaker B: Oh, not every month. [00:44:47] Speaker C: So I don't have much to disagree with Will on. In fact, I'm pretty much in the same exact boat as Will on this one. I. I think that the nostalgia wore off for me. But being able to see it through my kids eyes like Will said, gives me a lot of joy in the viewing of this movie. So they're really good. I gave this movie high marks in the plot direction and scoring. I'm talking about number one in number two, I felt the plot was way thinner. Even though it's the same plot, they just didn't put the effort into it. The effort into directing the, the ideas, how this thing comes about. So it does. So in essence it doesn't hold up as well and it ends up getting a much lower score because of those things, it not being believable. It is the same movie as the first one. It's just not as well done. I know it wasn't rushed out but it felt like, hey, let's just spit this out again. And it felt like they wanted to just make some money off of it and so it didn't feel like it had the polish and forethought of the first one. I did give Home Alone one pretty high marks. That one's coming in at a 78 for me, out of 100. I think it's a good holiday movie. I definitely think that it's kind of a classic and everybody should let their kids watch it, if not have seen it themselves. Just don't let your kids watch it every month. And the sequel basically either does the same or not quite as well. In all the areas, though, they did up the ante, as Will says. They. They needed to because you've already seen the movie, so what's the point? And so even though they upped the ante on it, I didn't get as much mileage out of it. That one comes in at a 68 out of 100 for me. And by the way, guys, we talk about how we score these things, and sometimes my values adjust as we talk about these things. I actually went up from a 76 and a 66 to a 78 and a 68 because of our discussion here today. You guys pointed out some things that I was like. Oh, yeah, there's that. [00:47:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I know you don't know my score yet, but my score did the exact same thing where, like, the more we were talking about it, the more I'm like, damn, these are just good movies. [00:47:22] Speaker C: We're reminiscing about it and it's putting a smile on my face, you know, laughing. [00:47:27] Speaker A: Just talking about some of the scenes. [00:47:28] Speaker C: Yeah. Which is. Which is great. I'm glad we left the rest off because the rest are gonna tank the franchise. This is gonna go straight to Highlander levels. [00:47:37] Speaker B: This is gonna be our highest rated franchise, though. It's gonna be a highest rated franchise. [00:47:45] Speaker A: I need just like eight more seconds. [00:47:47] Speaker B: But yeah, you're right, it would have plummeted with the others. I think I only ever saw the third one and I was like, what? What is this? This isn't Home Alone. [00:47:56] Speaker A: Shockingly, you guys actually did a really good job of touching on everything that I wanted to touch on. I don't have terribly, a whole lot more to say. I'm just gonna, like, if I actually try and review this one, I'm just going to be rehashing things you guys have already said. The first one's better than the second one. They're both fine. They're both essentially the same movie. The second one's dialed up more, but it works because of what we're watching. The first movie I. Both of the movies, actually, I gave perfect scores to the sound for. I think the John Williams soundtrack is Brilliant from beginning to end. I think the little subtle sound effects they put in there to make certain things creepier or certain things funnier is brilliant. I think the acting got a little bit better in the second one. I think the plot got significantly worse. You guys have already hit the nail on the head on these ones, so I'm just gonna go for my score on this. I gave the first one shoot an 86, and the second one I gave an 82, so both pretty much in the same ballpark. [00:48:54] Speaker B: Wow. [00:48:54] Speaker A: Not only because they are pretty much the same movie, but also because they're both classics. Like, I. I wouldn't mind if my kid came into the room, said, do you want to watch Home Alone 2? I would not try to convince them to watch the first one. I would just go, okay. And we'd sit down, and we'd have a great time. There's not a whole lot with these that I would actually want to change the family dynamics I don't love, but so be it. They are what they are, and they are the way they need to be to make the movie make sense. And other than that, I'm. I'm pretty happy with everything in these movies, which means that we are ready to reveal our score, which I already did, so don't worry about that. [00:49:35] Speaker C: Edit it out. [00:49:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Fix it in post. So I'm going to try doing it this way and see if that works better than the other way that we've been doing it. [00:49:43] Speaker C: Hey, you're not covering up my head. [00:49:45] Speaker A: All right. [00:49:45] Speaker C: Oh, and I'm gone. [00:49:46] Speaker A: Yeah. There you go. [00:49:50] Speaker C: Is there? [00:49:52] Speaker A: I mean, it's not great. [00:49:54] Speaker C: Oh, you got to be freaking kidding me. [00:49:56] Speaker B: Yeah, man. It's going to be. It's going to be the winning franchise forever. I think it's. [00:50:01] Speaker C: It's up there, but it's not the whole franchise. [00:50:04] Speaker B: I know, I know, I know. [00:50:05] Speaker A: It's as much of the franchise as we want to talk about. That's a little. [00:50:10] Speaker C: All right, next Christmas, we're reviewing the others. I'm gonna make you guys watch them. [00:50:15] Speaker A: You know what? You give me a whole year, I'll. I'll do it. I'll do it over the course of a year. But no, there's, like. It was hard enough watching both of these movies in this short amount of time. I don't want to watch five more to make this or four more to make this entirely accurate. [00:50:30] Speaker C: Yeah. I'm telling you, you. You add in three or four more of these movies, and this drops right down there by. [00:50:37] Speaker A: Oh, for sure. For sure. I have a feeling. So. Home Alone is currently the top of our ranking with 78 aliens and Mad Max. We haven't finished yet. I don't think one movie in Mad Max, no matter how good it is, is gonna raise it by eight points. But we still have, excuse me, three Aliens movies to go. And at very least, I am hearing incredible things about Romulus. So I don't know, do you think there's any world where Aliens can regain the title, Brian? Or do you think we're doomed to have Home Alone at the very. The foreseeable future if it's just. [00:51:12] Speaker C: If it's just me grading the. The next three Aliens movies? Yeah, there's. There's a good chance. I just don't know because I have a different opinion from the mainstream about the movies coming out. And of course, Romulus being super new. I don't even know where anybody stands on that one. But I do. I'm. I'm more of a fan of the Fassbender movies than. Than most. And so I think it would be Home Alone, but I don't know where you guys are going to take it now. [00:51:43] Speaker A: It's your goal. [00:51:45] Speaker C: No, I don't. I don't try and. I don't try and push my ratings. I try and give every movie an individual, honest opinion, adjusted for genre, of course. [00:51:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:56] Speaker C: But, yeah, I. We'll see. We'll see. It's gonna irk me if Home Alone stays at the top of this, especially knowing that the. That the actual franchise is such trash as a whole. [00:52:08] Speaker A: All right, that was our rating of the Home Alone movies. What did you think about our score? Too high? Too low. What do you think about the movies in general? And what should we do next? We record these live over at Twitch tv, the Mongoolie Show. So if you want to head over there and hit the follow button, you can interact with us live as we're recording these, or if you made it this far in the video, considering that, like button, as you probably did enjoy it and hit subscribe so you get to see more grammar content going forward. Until next time, I hope you're safe. I hope you're well, and have a great night.