Blogged By Eric

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Home Alone

Home Alone (1990)

Deck the halls with Marv and Harry.

Brief Backstory

John Hughes, known for his comedy movies in the 80s and 90s, had a number of well known classics such as Uncle Buck. In 1990, he would finish up Home Alone, a Christmas movie involving an 8 year old left behind and at the mercy of two criminals who want to rob his house. Home Alone would end up being a box office hit, and lead to several more Home Alone movies made later onwards.

Story

Kevin stuck at home.

Kevin McCallister finds himself left alone at his house when the McCallisters go to France. Even worse, the Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv, are out heisting on his block, forcing Kevin to take matters into his own hands.

Random Facts

Came out the same day as the Rescuers Down Under, and has John Candy in the cast as well, although he didn’t have as big of a role as he did in the Rescuers Down Under. However Home Alone made more in the box office.

Nowadays most of what Kevin goes through would be almost unheard of.

Like many big hits in the 80s and early 90s (i.e. Back to the Future), Home Alone was subjected to some bad games. I’ve played the Super Nintendo game and it sucked (although not gonna lie, one track from the soundtrack was a hell of a song). I heard the Genesis game was okay.

If you look carefully while the mess is being cleaned up in the beginning, Kevin’s boarding pass is thrown out. Inadvertently this makes it sound like Kevin was grounded from going to Paris.

Watch your step.

Random Opinions

Kevin must’ve been smart enough to trick the wet bandits into going back into one of the houses they raided.

Chicago must be prone to having white Christmases often. St. Louis (my hometown) doesn’t get a white Christmas that much despite how cold it can get.

Cardboard cutouts to confuse criminals probably wouldn’t work in real life.

Airlines were just as incompetent as they are today. I flew once in the 90s and the amount of lollygagging from AA was ridiculous. Sure some of this was due to a winter storm causing issues in D.C. and St. Louis, but they should have cancelled the flight from the get go. King of the Hill had a thanksgiving episode where the Hills got stranded in DFW due to the ice storms, which enhances my views on airlines 30 years ago.

Peter and Kate are horrible parents not because they left Kevin behind (genuine mistake) but because they scapegoat Kevin for the mess when Kevin was telling the truth (Buzz ate his pizza).

Marv

Pros

  1. Ends on a hilarious note – “Kevin! What did you do to my room?!”
  2. The trap sequence is well written and holds up well after decades.
Harry

Cons

  1. I wish the heist was longer. This might be because I have seen Home Alone 2 way more.
“You’re missing some teeth!”

Rating: 7.5/10 – Good

While it’s a great Christmas movie, I felt like Home Alone 2 was the better of the three Home Alone movies. Just because a movie did better at the box office doesn’t mean it’s better than competitors – I’ve actually considered Fievel Goes West to be better than Beauty and the Beast, no joke.

One response to “Home Alone”

  1. Nick Kohler Avatar

    Good review. My issues are the phones were off from the storm. Kevin somehow manages to a call a pizza delivery and the film’s a tad dated. I give it an 8/10. 2024’s almost over. I got some requests on movies and shows of 2024. If you reply back, I’ll return the favor if you offer me requests on some movies or shows.

    Movies – Deadpool and Wolverine, The Substance, Nosferatu, Godzilla and Kong: The New Empire, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

    TV Shows: Creature Commandos, Fallout, Shogun

    Mini- Series: The Penguin

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