Home Alone

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the first of December. It's Christmas once again. Welcome
to Day one of the pop Culture Pedestal Christmas Advent
calendar of must see movies or animations. For Day one,
I've picked the nineteen ninety classic Home Alone. This film
was directed by Chris Columbus and written by John Hughes,
and it follows Kevin McAllister played by Macaulay Culkin. You

(00:22):
all know the story. Kevin is left behind when his
family flies to Paris. Two burglars target the house, but
Kevin defends it with hilarious booby traps, and what follows
is a mix of slapstick comedy and Looney Tunes violence,
kind of like you're watching a road run a cartoon
in many ways, and the Wet Bandits are wily coyote.
Kevin defends his home from the bumbling burglars Harry and Merv,

(00:43):
better known as the Wet Bandits because Merv likes to
flood the houses that they burgle. Home Alone was the
highest grossing live action comedy of its time, and it's
cement to Culkin as one of the biggest child stars
of the nineties, although arguablieve this was his biggest hit
this in the sequel Home Alone two Lost in New York.
I did like Kim in other films such as My Girl,
The Pagemaster, and of course Uncle Buck. The booby trap

(01:05):
secretces that Kevin lays out for the Wet bandits hilarious
and genuinely look painful, I mean really painful. I think
I can talk for everyone when I say that the
nail in the foot scene makes everybody squirm. Man, even
thinking about it now hurts. And there's another scene that

(01:27):
makes me squirm when Harry grabs a red hot doorknob.
It always makes me WinCE whenever you hear the heat
sizzling away at the palm of his hand. For me,
it's not just the chaos of the movie and the
alurious pratfalls is a warmth of the movie, and the
way that Kevin's mother is desperately trying to get back

(01:49):
home to her son and the people that actually meets
along the way. And yeah, I'm talking about John Candy,
who is absolutely awesome in this movie. And he also
improvised most of his scenes and apparently paid peanuts, but
that was his decision, and that just goes to show
what an awesome guy he was, and this movie is
absolutely filled with scenes that have become iconic. The matter report, rush,

(02:10):
Kevin's aftershave scream, and of course the tarantula on Marv's
face and fun fat. Marv's screen was actually silent when
they were filming it. The screen was put in afterwards
so he didn't skur the spider, And of course a
black and white gangster movie that Kevin watches, which I

(02:30):
think was called Angels with Filthy Souls, which was actually
made for this movie. It was created just for Home Alone.
But I think I can speak for all of us
when I say that we all thought this was a
real film. I think that Home Alone is such a
must watched movie. It balances humor, but most of all
that Christmas spirit, which makes it the perfect Christmas movie.
This movie was so popular that it also got the sequel,

(02:52):
which I mentioned before, Home Alone two lost in New York,
and there were other Home Alone sequels down the line,
but I don't think we should mention them. Home Alone
and Home Alone two are most definitely the best. Don't
forget to check that tomorrow for Day two of the
Pop Culture Pedestal Christmas Advent Calendar.