Movielogr

Rating: 5 stars

All movies seen on 11/28/2011

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Home Alone (1990)

Directed by Chris Columbus

Holiday | Comedy

Most recently watched by sleestakk, CaptainBigTime, zombiefreak, schofizzy, Angjonesy, danfinn, danielt, seanCduregger

Overview

Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister makes the most of the situation after his family unwittingly leaves him behind when they go on Christmas vacation. When thieves try to break into his home, he puts up a fight like no other.

Rated PG | Length 103 minutes

Actors

Macaulay Culkin | Joe Pesci | Daniel Stern | John Heard | Roberts Blossom | Catherine O'Hara | Angela Goethals | Devin Ratray | Gerry Bamman | Hillary Wolf | John Candy | Larry Hankin | Mike Maronna | Kristin Minter | Daiana Campeanu | Jedidiah Cohen | Kieran Culkin | Senta Moses | Anna Slotky | Terrie Snell | Jeffrey Wiseman | Virginia Smith | Matt Doherty | Ralph Foody | Michael Guido | Ray Toler | Billie Bird | Bill Erwin | Gerry Becker | Victor Cole | Porscha Radcliffe | Brittany Radcliffe | Clarke Devereux | Dan Charles Zukoski | Lynn Mansbach | Peter Siragusa | Alan Wilder | Hope Davis | Dianne B. Shaw | Tracy J. Connor | James Ryan | Ken Hudson Campbell | Sandra Macat | Mark Beltzman | Ann Whitney | Richard J. Firfer | Jim Ortlieb | Kate Johnson | Michael Hansen | Peter Pantaleo | Jean-Claude Sciore | Monica Devereux | Edward Bruzan | Frank Cernugel | John Hardy | Eddie Korosa | Robert Okrzesik | Leo Perion | Vince Waidzulis | Quinn Culkin

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

Miscreant kids have always run rampant on film pre- and post-HOME ALONE, but Kevin McCallister does it best in the first HOME ALONE, before the studio started producing nearly as many sequels as there are LAND BEFORE TIME films.

John Hughes repeated himself almost to the letter in the sequel (including a scary old man), but in the first one his tale breathes unique, blending a Dennis the Menace-type with the real emotion of loss. As an adult his antics aren’t nearly as funny as when it was 10, but Kevin’s loss of family rings a bit louder.

I really appreciated the fact that, unlike in the sequels, Hughes really tried to develop the characters and and built tension, leaving the big Marv and Harry conflict until the final 20 minutes. It shows a measured approach to what could’ve been what we saw in the sequels: gag after gag after gag of repelling the invaders.

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