Latest / Citizen Frame / Xmas Month: Home Alone

Transcript

Xmas Month: Home Alone · Citizen Frame

• 0:09
  You left the water running, didn't you? What's wrong with you?
• 0:12
  Why do you do that? I told you not to do it.
• 0:14
  Harry, it's our calling card. If all the great ones leave their mark, we're the wet bandits.
• 0:19
  You're sick, you know that? You're really sick.
• 0:23
  I'm not sick. Yes, you are. I'm not sick!
• 0:31
  Hey, everyone, welcome back to another exciting episode of Citizen Frame as
• 0:35
  we continue Christmas month.
• 0:37
  Today, we're talking a Christmas classic, and a lot of people use the word masterpiece.
• 0:43
  That is kind of the consensus going around when you check out all the reviews.
• 0:47
  It is considered one of the greatest Christmas films ever produced,
• 0:52
  next to It's a Wonderful Life.
• 0:55
  It is 7.7 on IMBD. All of the websites pretty much agree to that rating.
• 1:02
  It is an $18 million little film that grows 476 million worldwide.
• 1:11
  And still growing. The film, to this day, even the local cinema I like to go
• 1:16
  to, every show is sold out when they re-release it for the Christmas month of
• 1:21
  the cinemas. which is actually nice to see people going to the cinemas.
• 1:26
  It is beloved, beloved, beloved. I remember seeing it in 1990.
• 1:33
  Was it 1990 or 91? 98 to mark, 1990. 1990.
• 1:37
  I was in my late teens, and I saw it like six times in the theater.
• 1:44
  I really enjoyed this film.
• 1:46
  Everyone seems to enjoy this film. The great thing about this film and other
• 1:53
  films I've talked about before, Scrooge and Christmas Vacation,
• 1:56
  they're family-oriented.
• 1:58
  They're not kiddy. They do put some kiddy stuff in there for the kids,
• 2:03
  but the adults can enjoy it at the same time.
• 2:06
  And we'll surely dive deep into it as we talk Home Alone.
• 2:12
  My first time watching it? Unreal. Un-fucking-real.
• 2:17
  I just, you know, I remember whenever it was released, especially on video,
• 2:24
  you know, there being posters and stuff and people talking about it and stuff.
• 2:28
  But it just never appealed to me.
• 2:30
  You know, I was too busy watching Cenobites rip people apart and all the rest,
• 2:36
  you know, at this point in my life.
• 2:38
  So, yeah, you know, we'll talk about it.
• 2:43
  Well, yeah, we'll talk about that and the fact that you're a sick freak.
• 2:50
  Well, I've always been a horror guy, so yeah. Although technically you could
• 2:54
  argue that this is a home invasion horror film, if you really wanted to get technical.
• 3:00
  Okay, before we go any further here, this is a family film, Trevor.
• 3:05
  No, no, and I say you can't sit there and go, oh, I wish they had a beheading,
• 3:09
  or I wish they had some incest, which I know you're into in your cinema.
• 3:12
  What? So, you got to see it from that point of view, okay?
• 3:17
  So, we don't want to hear about, oh, too bad he didn't open the fucking cube
• 3:20
  from Hellraiser, and the Cenobites came out and started to attack Harry and Mars, okay?
• 3:27
  You can't review it like that. I'm not. You do understand that, right?
• 3:30
  You're jumping to conclusions. I'm not reviewing it like that.
• 3:33
  I'm just telling you what I was into at that age compared to family fantasy
• 3:37
  comedies. What do you mean at that age?
• 3:39
  You're still. Yes, but back then it was as well.
• 3:44
  Home Alone is written and produced by the 80s genius himself, John Hughes.
• 3:50
  I didn't know that until I watched it and his name come up.
• 3:53
  Oh yeah, no, he was the man behind this. I didn't know that, yeah.
• 3:58
  The funny story about this one, so he was also writing and producing Chris's
• 4:03
  vacation at the same time.
• 4:05
  Chevy Chase? Yeah, with Chevy Chase. Everyone pretty much knows that one.
• 4:11
  Actually, I talk about this a lot in the podcast. The trifecta of Christmas films is this cluster.
• 4:16
  Scrooged, Christmas Vacation, and Home Alone. And then you pepper in It's a
• 4:20
  Wonderful Life. Those four films, that's it. Well, Die Hard as well.
• 4:24
  Oh, yes. Yes, Die Hard.
• 4:28
  Silent Night, Deadly Night? The original? No. Yes? That's not a Christmas film. For me?
• 4:35
  Yes. Of course it's a Christmas film. Okay, that's going back to you being a
• 4:39
  sick freak. Okay? I mean, let's just...
• 4:42
  Anyways, as I was saying. We'll talk more about sick freaks on the next podcast
• 4:45
  with Declan Halls, but anyway. Oh, yeah.
• 4:48
  So John Hughes. Yeah, so he was doing Christmas vacation at the time,
• 4:52
  and he hired his buddy Chris Columbus.
• 4:54
  And Chris Columbus was hot from Adventures of Babysitting, and so he hired him
• 5:00
  to do Christmas vacation.
• 5:03
  However, during a conversation between Chris Columbus and Chevy Chase,
• 5:08
  Chevy Chase was very abrupt and quite rude to him. and John Hughes has some
• 5:13
  concerns that him and Chris Columbus would be fighting through the entire film.
• 5:17
  So he swapped directors and he swapped out the Home Alone director and brought
• 5:25
  in Chris Columbus to do Home Alone.
• 5:28
  And Home Alone's director went on to do, I think it was Jeremiah something. I can't remember.
• 5:34
  Chushik or something like that. I can't remember the name, but he ended up going
• 5:37
  to do Christmas Vacation.
• 5:38
  They both won. They're both great movies. but that's the story behind the switching
• 5:43
  of the directors Chevy Chase is well known for being difficult,
• 5:49
  Yeah, that's a wonderful set. Like Bill Murray. It's unfortunate because he
• 5:52
  plays such lovable fucking characters. It's amazing. The Griswolds.
• 5:56
  Yeah. Mark Griswold. Such a lovable doof and Fletch.
• 6:00
  You know, those are some iconic characters, the Clark Griswold and Fletch.
• 6:05
  As a comedy actor, I've always liked them. Seems Bill Murray.
• 6:09
  Yeah, yeah. Bill Murray's hit or miss with me.
• 6:13
  Okay, anyways, we've got Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern,
• 6:17
  John Hurd, Love to see them, Robert's Blossom, Catherine O'Hara,
• 6:22
  and the great late John Candy.
• 6:27
  Yes. They play Kevin, Harry, Peter, Marley, Kate, and the Poke King, Gus.
• 6:34
  I love the score on this. This is John Williams again. John Williams is so good.
• 6:38
  It's very playful, but it's also iconic. Just like the Imperial March or the
• 6:44
  Raiders March, it's got that theme. once you hear it, you know right away what movie it's from,
• 6:51
  but it's definitely something a little different for him because he does a little
• 6:55
  more action sci-fi is what I know him for Close Encounters of Star Wars and
• 7:00
  Indiana Jones so this is more of a grounded, I guess you can say John Williams.
• 7:05
  Well it suits this type of film, I mean if the Imperial March popped up it would
• 7:10
  be a bit odd or even you know like Indiana Jones' theme so yeah,
• 7:15
  I mean he knows what he's doing,
• 7:17
  This whole introduction, what makes this film quite good, quite good, nice and wow.
• 7:23
  It's Saturday morning, people. Hold on, I got to see my coffee.
• 7:29
  It's like a coffee ad. It's like, you know. Wow.
• 7:32
  After a hard morning of podcasting, nothing beats my Nespresso.
• 7:37
  Right. Pumpkin spice latte.
• 7:40
  Yeah, it's like the old Nescafe ads where they used to like shake the coffee
• 7:44
  beans in the rear. I'm waiting on that.
• 7:47
  I don't know how that would work on just an audio podcast well you'd hear it exactly.
• 7:55
  This whole introduction is wonderful. It's fast-paced. It's quick.
• 8:00
  There's no expose. There's no data dumping. It's just, well,
• 8:04
  it is data dumping, technically, but it's just fast, and how we get to where Kevin is alone.
• 8:10
  This whole sequence is about 15 minutes long, I want to say,
• 8:15
  and it just gives you everything you need to know from, we find out,
• 8:20
  quite frankly, guys, Kevin's a brat.
• 8:23
  Of course he is. Yeah, you saw that, right? You know, I don't feel sorry for
• 8:26
  the kid. I think he's quite obnoxious. Shit? Yeah. Yeah.
• 8:30
  And I love the fact when we meet Harry, he's disguised as a cop.
• 8:35
  And he's part of, obviously, the wet bandits and how he tries to find out the
• 8:40
  information, when they're going to be gone, how long are they going to be gone,
• 8:43
  is anybody house-sitting, that kind of thing, by disguising himself as a cop.
• 8:48
  At the same time, you've got the chaos with the family.
• 8:51
  You've got Buzz. We kind of really quickly, he's kind of the bully of the family.
• 8:56
  We've got the incident when the drinks spill and Kevin's passport gets covered
• 9:01
  in pop and the father accidentally throws it out.
• 9:04
  We got the electricity going out, causing the alarm clocks not to go off on
• 9:09
  time, causing them havoc in the morning to get to their flight.
• 9:14
  You have all this chaos going on and letting us know how this all happens.
• 9:19
  And it's done within 16 minutes and the rest of the film will just pretty much
• 9:22
  focus on Kevin and the Wet Bandits I would say that the family overall are pretty awful,
• 9:30
  now the mother Catherine O'Hara's character she does have an arc and she is
• 9:36
  quite likeable but in general the family are pretty obnoxious but obviously
• 9:41
  that's all intentional and actually my favourite character is Buzz,
• 9:44
  who's a complete asshole.
• 9:47
  Well, yeah. He's still, he's, you know, he's. Are you still acting?
• 9:51
  Yeah, he's still acting. He's doing all
• 9:53
  right for him. He's kind of made a resurgence. Good on him. Yeah, yeah.
• 9:56
  You know, Alexi. And then you got, there's a funny scene where his sister goes
• 10:02
  up to Kevin and he tells him, just to let you know,
• 10:07
  you're going to be sleeping with Fuller in the fold-out bed in the hotel.
• 10:12
  And, you know, if he has too much to drink, he's going to pee.
• 10:16
  And then as he says that Fuller looks up at him drinking Pepsi and gives him a big smile yeah.
• 10:25
  Just moments like that I really enjoy but that's,
• 10:28
  Fuller is played by Kieran Culkin his younger brother and Kieran Culkin is a
• 10:34
  multi award winning actor now
• 10:35
  yeah I mean they've both continued to act Macaulay and the brother yeah,
• 10:43
  I know Macaulay has over the years had his problems with, you know,
• 10:46
  drugs and stuff, but I think he's, as far as they were.
• 10:49
  That was long, that was teething, yeah, that was long, such a long time ago.
• 10:54
  Yeah, well I'm glad he sort of got himself together. Yeah, he's married that hot girl. Who?
• 11:00
  I can't remember her name, but she's beautiful. They have a kid together,
• 11:04
  so good on them. I think he's in that new show, Fallout.
• 11:09
  Right. I haven't watched Fallout, but I have been meaning to watch it.
• 11:13
  Apparently, it's very good. I haven't played the game, but apparently it is
• 11:16
  very good. And I do like the cast with, like, Walt O'Goggans.
• 11:20
  And, of course, the main man, Kyle MacLachlan, is in it.
• 11:24
  So, yeah, I'll have to check that out. But I have been meaning to.
• 11:28
  A bland human being again as
• 11:31
  usual what are you he's the worst actor
• 11:34
  ever all right he's terrible
• 11:37
  hi i'm calm mcrocklin nonsense hi
• 11:41
  you've seen him very little obviously i've seen plenty of stuff and i don't
• 11:45
  need to see some fucking twin peaks masterpiece and to understand him as an
• 11:51
  actor i've seen enough of his films you don't get an award for twin peaks to
• 11:54
  return he gets He gets, oh, wow.
• 11:58
  Awards, really? Isn't that something you say you don't follow because they're crap?
• 12:03
  I don't, but obviously people get nominated for awards. Macaulay Culkin.
• 12:10
  Kyle MacLachlan.
• 12:12
  He's a one-trick pony. He's so monotone and so boring.
• 12:17
  And the only reason he gets hired is because he has a cast around him to cover his ass.
• 12:24
  Blue Velvet's a perfect example. Isabella Rosalini and Dennis Hopper.
• 12:29
  You had everybody who was in Dune to give him the support he needed.
• 12:35
  Sting was better than he was. If you watch Twin Peaks Return,
• 12:39
  he's basically playing three or four different characters. Oh, so this is high.
• 12:43
  The fact that he wasn't nominated speaks volumes for how right these award ceremonies are.
• 12:49
  You haven't seen Twin Peaks or Returns, so you can't comment?
• 12:51
  I don't have to. You know he's a bad actor. You can't do if you're going to
• 12:54
  comment on him. No, I don't.
• 12:56
  If you're going to comment on it, then of course you have to put it.
• 12:58
  I've never commented on it. I'm commenting on him as an actor. He's terrible.
• 13:02
  Well, you have to watch Twin Peaks or Returns. No, I don't. It's up to you.
• 13:05
  It doesn't matter. What do you think?
• 13:08
  I've seen probably about 15 of his works. Oh, he does one film that's supposed
• 13:13
  to be good, and I'm supposed to go, oh my God, he's wonderful? No!
• 13:16
  He sucks a bag of dicks. He sucks a bag of dicks. He's terrible.
• 13:20
  I completely disagree. And that's fine.
• 13:24
  I have nothing... You're attacking me now. I'm not attacking you. I'm very...
• 13:28
  It's a Christmas movie we're talking about. I don't know how we're talking about
• 13:31
  Kyle MacLachlan, by the way.
• 13:32
  So basically, we were talking about Home Alone, and then Cairn threw a wobbler,
• 13:36
  because I mentioned a trigger word to him. Well, two words. Kyle MacLachlan.
• 13:41
  You had a meltdown. You have to. No, you did that on purpose because we had
• 13:46
  this argument before and you knew you mentioned this in a fucking Home Alone
• 13:50
  film that I'd go apeshit. I triggered you. You were triggered.
• 13:54
  You frightened our listening audience. No, I frightened you.
• 13:58
  You were triggered and you had a meltdown. Folks, I'd just like to apologize
• 14:03
  on Cameron's behalf for his breakdown there, his meltdown, after I triggered
• 14:08
  him with the name Ken McLaughlin.
• 14:11
  That is just a bad actor. Kyle MacLachlan for the next Doctor Who. Whoa!
• 14:18
  Anyway, what were we talking about, Home Alone? Yeah, we'll worry. Oh, yeah.
• 14:21
  So, during this whole day dump in the beginning, we quickly,
• 14:24
  when he leaves, when he's finally, when we figure out he's left alone,
• 14:30
  I do like the fact he goes in, when he goes into Buzz's room,
• 14:34
  and this is where he pretty much gets all his weapons, which is kind of funny.
• 14:37
  Yeah, like the pellet gun and stuff. Yeah, the firecrackers.
• 14:42
  The tarantula is the funniest scene in the film. We'll get to it.
• 14:46
  But it's a nice planting the seed of we'll see these little toys and trinkets
• 14:53
  that he'll use eventually that'll come back into the film it's clever when they
• 14:57
  set that up near the end when he starts setting up the traps they don't show you.
• 15:02
  How the traps are going to work they just show you the items that he's going
• 15:07
  to use as he's setting them up but we don't see how he's going to use them against
• 15:11
  the baddies It's well-written.
• 15:14
  It's a nice direction and it's not overkill.
• 15:17
  Yeah. This is throughout very well and tightly scripted.
• 15:21
  And while I, there are certain aspects that I find annoying,
• 15:25
  but that's just me because it's like kids in a film.
• 15:28
  I do respect how well it is written for what it is, for this type of genre.
• 15:34
  And it is very tightly scripted and everything has a point the way a good script should do.
• 15:41
  Well, we'll piggyback Catherine O'Hara's when she's on the plane and she's trying
• 15:45
  to figure out, she forgot something, she forgot something. She realizes it's Kevin.
• 15:49
  Her reaction is wonderful. It's not over the top. She's the best in this.
• 15:53
  She's very good. Yeah. She's probably the best character. Yeah.
• 15:56
  Her and Marley Two of the best characters Yeah,
• 16:01
  Probably because they have the best arcs Well she certainly carries the emotional
• 16:05
  weight of it I know it's home alone It's not sort of deep heavy emotion But
• 16:09
  yeah I think she is the best character And actually the best actor here I do
• 16:15
  like that they filmed that movie.
• 16:17
  That scene for the fake movie I like the fake movie Yeah Angels with Filthy
• 16:22
  Souls They filmed that during the a lot of film in this movie and obviously
• 16:27
  it plays a big actually plays a character in the film obviously and obviously
• 16:30
  a take on Angels with Dirty Faces and you know that whole sort of film The Wire 1930s yeah,
• 16:38
  Jimmy Cagney and all that crap yeah.
• 16:41
  The the big plus with this film is that,
• 16:45
  It doesn't hug at the heartstrings.
• 16:49
  It doesn't. It's not overly sentimental. It's not sappy. It is a little bit,
• 16:54
  but it doesn't overkill.
• 16:57
  It's not sappy. No, it's not. What they do is they give you one scene where
• 17:04
  he goes and sees Santa, and he's walking home, and he goes to church,
• 17:08
  and he finally talks to Marley for the first time.
• 17:11
  And it's pretty much how he tells him he hasn't talked to his son.
• 17:15
  In a long time, and he can only come to this church and see his granddaughter
• 17:19
  practice the choir because he's not welcome because his son doesn't want to
• 17:23
  see him because he had a fallout.
• 17:25
  And Kevin takes this in, and he starts realizing the importance of family.
• 17:31
  And that's the one scene, maybe five, we'll say five to 10 minutes long.
• 17:37
  And that's the whole heart of the movie right there, and it doesn't go any further than that.
• 17:43
  Well, it goes back to the good writing? yeah it's very good writing I was waiting
• 17:47
  for Marley to sell Kevin Christine.
• 17:51
  Nobody gets that reference whoever horror fans will get that reference yes exactly,
• 17:57
  I like that little subplot actually of the older guy who's at first portrayed,
• 18:04
  as you know creepy and sinister but I mean you have to admit this is all very
• 18:11
  predictable you know the way this is going but it's still a nice,
• 18:15
  it could be Christmas movies are all predictable yeah they all are no matter
• 18:19
  what but it's the execution children's films in general are yeah it's the execution
• 18:23
  that matters it's very well executed,
• 18:26
  But it sets up the setup to where he's going to take off the wet bandits very well.
• 18:32
  We already met, you know, we already seen some of the items of choice when he
• 18:35
  goes to the buzzer's room.
• 18:36
  We get the scene where the pizza boy, which is kind of funny.
• 18:41
  Keep the change, you filthy animal. Yeah. And he uses that because he's toying
• 18:46
  with everything to see what he's going to use against them when he knows they're
• 18:50
  going to break into the house.
• 18:51
  That whole it's so.
• 18:55
  Everything has a purpose every scene has a purpose there's not a scene in this
• 19:00
  film and it doesn't overstay it's welcome it's an hour and 40 minutes and every scene does,
• 19:08
  have value it does add to the film or it does add to a sequence that's coming
• 19:13
  up although I would say that Kevin's most definitely a sociopath in the making,
• 19:18
  without doubt But that's, you know, Dirty's family, I suppose,
• 19:22
  because a lot of them come across as sociopaths, but it is what it is, you know?
• 19:28
  It would be funny that I think he says something like, I'd like to do an older
• 19:31
  version of me taking these guys out and maybe a little more adult.
• 19:35
  Yeah, 18 certificate. Well, they kind of did with Violent Night,
• 19:39
  which is pretty much a nod to Home Alone.
• 19:43
  Yeah, yeah. David Harbour. Yes, yes, we did it on this podcast.
• 19:47
  Yeah, we did it. of the sequels coming out, so, right?
• 19:51
  Okay. But David Harbour's kind of lost the plot a little bit here.
• 19:54
  I mean, I don't know what's going on there with the whole Stranger Things thing, but I don't know.
• 20:02
  I can't really comment. There's nothing to know. I know there's something that's happened.
• 20:07
  There's a funny-ass shot when he goes to the grocery store and the girl's asking him questions.
• 20:12
  And she saw some of the toys, and he's like, oh, that's for the kids.
• 20:17
  As he's walking, but it's one shot, and it's hilarious.
• 20:22
  After the grocery store scene, he's walking with two bags of groceries.
• 20:26
  He's this little kid with two big bags of groceries, and the two bags burst.
• 20:30
  And all he does is look up at the camera.
• 20:33
  Well, yeah. It's a funny scene. Yeah, I mean, that should be an immediate red
• 20:38
  flag if you see a sort of kid walking about a sort of supermarket sort of like doing the shopping.
• 20:45
  Yeah, but obviously it's played for laughs, so, you know.
• 20:49
  Don't be a really You gotta call that out,
• 20:53
  Well I mean In real life terms That would be a big red flag I did plenty of
• 20:59
  stuff like that When I was a kid Well I went to the shop and stuff Yeah so he
• 21:03
  can't Groceries for my mom,
• 21:06
  He bought toy soldiers Mac and cheese Okay some fabric softener,
• 21:13
  Right? Yeah, because he's afraid of the washing machine down in the cellar.
• 21:18
  But of course, that's another lesson he learns from the sort of who you think
• 21:22
  is a creepy guy, but isn't really a creepy guy.
• 21:24
  You know, it's about fear and not being afraid. And that actually leads him
• 21:28
  to standing up to the home invaders, Joe Pesci and his mate.
• 21:34
  Well, yeah, that's because after the church sequence, when they kind of talk
• 21:38
  and the whole resolving of who Morley is and stuff like that,
• 21:43
  he then knows he's going to stand his ground and protect his home.
• 21:49
  And Marley's obviously a reference to A Christmas Carol as well,
• 21:52
  Dickens, the name. Marley. Well, no, he's not Morley.
• 21:57
  Is it Morley or Marley with an A? Jacob Marley or Jacob Morley?
• 22:02
  Jacob Marley? It's Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol. I think it's Marley here.
• 22:08
  Yeah, then it's Marley in A Christmas Carol. Okay, I thought it was Morley for some reason.
• 22:12
  Right you know no marley this whole
• 22:15
  setup where he sets up the traps i love it i have
• 22:18
  this this this whole sequence is so
• 22:21
  fucking funny and i watch this again i watch
• 22:24
  it every year so i know like the back of my hand but it's
• 22:28
  just you don't know how old you
• 22:30
  are you're laughing your ass off now some
• 22:33
  of the stuff he does would kill them well i
• 22:36
  mean yeah it was tested it's basically frank spencer for
• 22:40
  any american listeners who don't know what i'm talking about
• 22:43
  it's basically frank spencer played by
• 22:46
  michael crawford in the 70s sitcom some others do have him where he was this
• 22:50
  inept man but he was always getting into these slapstick situations where like
• 22:55
  cupboards were falling on him or he was flying down the street on roller skates
• 22:58
  and stuff so it's yeah it's very slapstick and it reminded me of frank spencer
• 23:02
  in his slapstick moments,
• 23:05
  Okay, there you go. For everyone who wants to watch Frank fucking Spencer,
• 23:08
  whatever the fuck that is.
• 23:10
  I was thinking, like, you know, something more known to everybody, like Three Stooges.
• 23:16
  In the UK, it would be well known. Ooh, Betty.
• 23:20
  So that was his catchphrase.
• 23:25
  Okay. Michael Crawford. Isn't it The Phantom? Yes, Phantom of the Opera. Yep. Uh-huh.
• 23:32
  Yeah. And, yeah, the stage play.
• 23:35
  Yeah But he That's where he started off And sort of basically Slaps that comedy As Frank Spencer,
• 23:41
  So, yeah, this whole trap stick, I mean, it's so much fucking fun.
• 23:47
  And at the same time, if you grew up in, especially I grew up in Minnesota,
• 23:50
  so you got that, you can relate to the slipping of the ice and how painful that actually is.
• 23:55
  Oh, did you get that on anywhere, to be fair? Yeah, well, I mean,
• 23:58
  and how quick it freezes.
• 24:01
  But as much as I like Joe Pesci, I was told that, and I looked it up where when
• 24:07
  Joe Pesci gets hurt, he's like,
• 24:09
  you know, he's mumbling he's screaming just you gobbledygook
• 24:12
  but he's actually swearing i know
• 24:16
  they they have to they they dubbed him
• 24:18
  yeah so he actually was going mother fucker son of a bitch which i would fucking
• 24:23
  pay to see that version version yeah but it's yeah but the paint cans would
• 24:30
  have killed them the paint cans would have killed them they uh they did there's
• 24:34
  a show called myth busters where they tried it on mannequins. I know the show, yep.
• 24:38
  And they said this would have killed them. But anyways, the whole thing is just so fun.
• 24:42
  And I think Marv Daniel Stern, he's more the comedic element of this group over him and Pesci.
• 24:51
  Yeah, Pesci's the strict guy, yeah. Yes, he's so fucking funny.
• 24:55
  I think the spider sequence, when the spider's on his face and his scream is so funny.
• 25:01
  I just, I always laugh my ass out, even when I know it's just coming up.
• 25:06
  It's the funniest scene. It goes back to Kevin being a potential sociopath.
• 25:13
  Well, not even potential he is. Yeah.
• 25:19
  It's a comedy, so you get away with it, of course. I mean, how many of us have
• 25:24
  stepped on Christmas ornaments? And those fuckers were sharp.
• 25:26
  They're pretty much like fucking light bulbs. Will a light block even spot on
• 25:30
  us? Yeah, we've all done it.
• 25:32
  Well, this poor bastard is barefoot And he steps on these ornaments and these,
• 25:36
  it's. And it's quite valiant.
• 25:38
  It is. It's comedic violence. There's a difference. Oh, yeah,
• 25:41
  yeah. It's cartoon violence. But it's, yeah, it's very, you know, Wile E. Coyote.
• 25:47
  Of course, yeah. It's Tom and Jerry.
• 25:50
  But you can't stop laughing.
• 25:55
  And, again, it boils down to the execution, how he gets them to point A to point B.
• 26:00
  It gets a little silly when he ziplines to his treehouse and stuff like that.
• 26:07
  You can't accuse Home Alone of,
• 26:10
  oh yeah, that's a bit silly as if you're watching a serious sort of epic.
• 26:14
  It's meant to be silly. They're getting irons up the face and stuff. It's a cartoon.
• 26:20
  And I do like the fact it's Marley who saves him at the end.
• 26:25
  Predictable again, but yes, still works. It might be predictable,
• 26:28
  but it needed it because at the end of this, these are two adults that he's
• 26:33
  taken on and they're going to eventually get him.
• 26:35
  So i do like the fact let me finish i
• 26:39
  do like the fact that they catch him
• 26:41
  at one of the houses that they were already robbing that's
• 26:44
  why it's flooding because of the wet bandits and when they
• 26:47
  do catch him they're going to hurt him and then he shows up
• 26:50
  to save the day you needed that adult you needed that element for him to show
• 26:55
  up to save the day because the end of the day the point of the film is you need
• 26:59
  your parents you need an adult when you're that age and so you needed that to
• 27:04
  happen And it's a nice ending.
• 27:08
  Well, kids watching it wouldn't be as predictable to them. You know, so it works.
• 27:15
  Normally, I'll come home at the end. I choke up a bit. I won't cry.
• 27:20
  Because, you know, how do you not choke up a bit when you see Marley hugging
• 27:25
  his granddaughter and seeing his son?
• 27:28
  We're going to see it a couple of million miles away.
• 27:30
  Of course you do. But who cares?
• 27:33
  You keep saying that. We already nipped that in the bud. It's a Christmas movie.
• 27:37
  They're pretty predictable.
• 27:39
  That's just the way it is. They're formulaic. It's about the execution.
• 27:43
  And I'm sorry. His performance and that whole story he tells,
• 27:47
  and then he wraps up at the end.
• 27:48
  He finally has his family. It is a good ending. Did you cry?
• 27:52
  And that's where the film ends. Did you cry? No, but I have a fucking heart, you heartless bastard.
• 28:01
  You know, would I watch this again? I don't know. I suppose it was on TV or so.
• 28:06
  God, you need therapy. Why? You just need help. I'm not a child.
• 28:11
  I'm not a child. You don't have to be a child. They'll like Home Alone.
• 28:15
  I thought, I certainly appreciate it for what it is. I'm not the target audience, and that's okay too.
• 28:21
  Yeah, it's target audience are nice human beings with hearts and have care.
• 28:28
  Target audience is children. No, it's not.
• 28:31
  And if I can understand, families sit down with their kids. Families do contain adults.
• 28:36
  I can understand family sitting down with their kids at Christmas and watching
• 28:40
  it. I'm good on them, you know.
• 28:42
  But yeah, I mean, it's well written. And for this type of genre,
• 28:45
  it works very well. And it's certainly one of the best ones I've seen of this type of genre.
• 28:53
  So I'm giving it a pass.
• 28:56
  You know what I mean is you're giving it a pass because it's so beloved.
• 29:00
  If it wasn't as beloved, you would probably go, shit.
• 29:04
  Not at all. I respect the writing here it's very well written I do find I don't
• 29:09
  want to be critical of Macaulay Culkin because he's only like seven in it and
• 29:12
  I do find kids in films general especially like 80s and 90s films,
• 29:17
  generally annoying but they're sort of meant to be here and I appreciate that
• 29:21
  I think it's well written and for this type of genre it does.
• 29:26
  It's certainly one of the best for this type of genre.
• 29:30
  Very, very rare do you get everyone does their job in a film.
• 29:34
  Catherine O'Hara is the best.
• 29:36
  These guys all do their job. From John Kennedy's improv-ing on that to...
• 29:41
  Yeah. They only had him for a day, I think, shooting.
• 29:44
  Yeah, you can basically notice that it was all filmed in like a day or so.
• 29:49
  And then you had Catherine O'Hara. I mean, we all have... We talk about arcs
• 29:54
  in here. And you got Marley, you got Kevin, you've got the mother.
• 29:59
  Those are three main characters, really.
• 30:03
  And they're there for a reason, and they all do get the ending that's deserved.
• 30:09
  I do love the planting of a seed a lot, how we see where he gets his ideas from
• 30:13
  the traps, from the beginning of Buzz's room.
• 30:15
  I like the planting of how Marv wants to flood all these houses.
• 30:20
  And so we want a cool name. We're the wet bandits. John Hughes knew how to write
• 30:25
  at the end when they get caught the cop even tells him hey thanks for leaving
• 30:30
  your calling card now we know what every house that you robbed,
• 30:33
  John Hughes knew how to write these types of scripts you know and that's I think
• 30:38
  what really is the success behind it I remember back when this was very popular
• 30:43
  back when it was first released and I remember all like you know I was like
• 30:47
  13 or something at that time and so excuse me just coughing,
• 30:53
  and you know everybody was raving on about Macaulay Culkin and stuff but I never
• 30:57
  got around to watching it but I think what for me is the real backbone to it
• 31:03
  is obviously the good writing and Catherine O'Hara and the Marley character,
• 31:10
  watching it as an adult yeah,
• 31:13
  yeah I think most of our listeners will agree everyone pretty much enjoys this
• 31:18
  film alright guys He's...
• 31:21
  Up next, I apologize in advance, where you're doing Deck the Halls and a complete
• 31:29
  opposite of what we just talked about.
• 31:32
  So, I think Trevor picked that one. Did I fuck?
• 31:37
  You deserve an iron up the face and to trample on like a load of broken Christmas
• 31:42
  light bulbs for that comment, along with the Kai McLaughlin one.
• 31:47
  All right. Next up, Deck the Halls.
• 31:51
  And then we're going to end, we're going to take, obviously,
• 31:55
  Christmas off, and then we're going to review Wicked Part 1 before the new year,
• 32:00
  obviously before the 31st.
• 32:03
  We'll have that to you. And then we'll revisit Wicked with Wicked Part 2 in January.
• 32:10
  So that's all we have. Thanks for listening, and we'll chat soon with the terrible,
• 32:15
  terrible, terrible Deck the Halls.
• 32:17
  And I'm planting that seed because I want everyone to watch it before they listen
• 32:21
  to the podcast and have a good laugh because I'm going to tear that motherfucker to shreds.
• 32:26
  I would advise you not to watch it but just listen to our podcast.
• 32:29
  Save yourself an hour and a half of frustration and some sort of existentialist,
• 32:35
  Lovecraftian sort of breakdown, you know?
• 32:41
  The only thing that Detective Hollis is missing is Kyle MacLachlan.
• 32:46
  Yeah we've got Matthew Broderick instead who's well we'll dive into it alright
• 32:52
  guys thanks for listening and we'll chat soon.