I just finished watching the second movie and I would say that while the first one holds up better as a plausible narrative, invents the formula, and has John Candy, ultimately this one is more fulfilling for abandoning any pretense of believability in favor of having Kevin prank ppl in two arenas and get served pizza by Rob Schneider before being taken to a toy store in a limo. What do you have to say about this.
two for the young vito stuff in early 20th-century lower east side new york
yeah, victor buono as nuke-worshipping mutant hard to beat
shit these are like my favorite movies, I can’t possibly choose. I think you’re right about Lost in NY though. I totally wanted to steal my parents’ credit card and live for two weeks in the lap of luxury after seeing that movie. (Unfortunately by the time my family decided to fly rather than drive for vacation I was old enough to face serious criminal charges for doing so)
drool @ plaza hotel (RIP)
the first one i ADORED when it came out. it probably holds up well enough as a kids’ caper movie, tho i think i’d have trouble sitting through the last half-hour now (30 minutes of two guys getting tortured, then a sappy happy ending!). the second one i hated even at the time; even as an unreflective 10-year-old i could see there was something screwy about kevin being all sweet and philosophical with that pigeon lady and then going and dropping a brick on a guy’s head.
remember that stupid “talkboy” thing they hawked through the whole second movie? i totally had one of those!
haha according to imdb joe pesci’s character’s name is HARRY LIME!
haha, awesome.
they also did the purple and pink talkgirl, which, who would want that, kevin didn’t book a hotel room and punk tim curry with
umm
?
I seriously can’t decide. The first one is the original and everything, but Lost In New York totally went balls out.
Lost In New York had the better sync with the Johhny video (“I loooove you!”), the Talkboy (“Get outta here before I slap you silly!”) and a more balls out booby trap scene.
But the original had a less excruciating Kevin-befriending-an-old-weirdo subplot (turtledoves, in-fucking-deed) and more impotantly, better quotes (“Keep the change you filthy animal”, “Kevin, you’re what the French call les incompetentents!”). And John Candy’s polka band!
Home Alone wins!
Oh, I just remembed that Donald Trump is in Home Alone 2. That changes everything!
I choose My Girl.
I can’t decide whether the most unfuckwithable booby trap in II is Daniel Stern getting so electrocuted you can see his skeleton or Joe Pesci w/hair aflame doing a headstand into a toilet bowl full of gasoline. Actually now that I type it out it’s clearly the latter.
Definitely the latter.
My Girl was fucking awful, especially with the horrid morbid ending.
Richie Rich
Aw HELL no.
I don’t think I ever even saw My Girl, just heard about it at the lunch table, and even still reading the novelization of My Girl 2 I realized it was an insult to the poignant bee death of Macaulay Culkin in the first one.
spoilers, sorry
How about Getting Even With Dad, if nothing for Culkin perfecting the 11-year-old blonde boy’s mullet.
The Bad Seed, where he menaces Frodo.
The Good Son reached mythological proportions back in ’93 (CULKIN AS A PSYCHOPATHIC KID??). When I finally got around to seeing it a decade latter, it was still badass.
party monster, duh
That one Sonic Youth video.
Uncle Buck
(actually I’ve never seen it)
That one Michael Jackson video.
the SNL episode
With Tin Machine.
home alone 3 vs. next karate kid
home alone 3 has the kid being targeted by north korean spies (!!!) and does not take place at christmas so i’m going to cut out a little piece of paper and use it to cover up any mentions of it whenever i return to this thread.
but ebert loved it!
home alone 2 turned the hijinx of the first into outright sadism
Yeah, The Good Son was pretty gonzo back then.
I have to side with the original Home Alone because my (deceased) ex-boyfriend’s sister is in it. She had a small part; the clerk at a store that the little boy shops in. I don’t ever expect to see her again, but that’s my sentimental reason for liking the original best.