The Director's Chair Network

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Hello. Hello, I'm Katie and welcome back to Retro Made Your Pop Culture Rewind.
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We are heading back to 1992 today, a year of slapstick traps talk boys and
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Turtle Doves to revisit Home Alone. Two lost in New York. It's bigger, louder, and somehow even more chaotic than the original set
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against the perfect early nineties backdrop of a neon windbreaker Crystal Pepsi and boy bands.
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Just starting to form. Let's see if Kevin's second round of mayhem still holds up, or if the sequel
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should have been left at the plaza. I'm so excited to have a new guest to Retro Made.
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This is our third try. We finally got him on. We have from the Directors Chair Network.
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Also all apologies podcast. Andy, tell us about you and your show, Andy.
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Hi Katie. Glad we finally got to do this. All apologies podcast is I'm a frequent guest host on who are these podcasts,
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which is a far bigger show than my show. And that is a roast style comedy show of ridiculous podcasts making
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fools of themselves on the internet. And I've spun that off into the same format, only targeting
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apology tours from celebrities. We just covered Alec Baldwin Oh we like to look at a lot of, I Joel Osman getting drunk at a ski lodge and arrested
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in a parking lot dash cam type of footage. love it. those are the type of things that we like to cover on all apologies.
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But I'm also doing, Edgar Wright's films for the Directors Chair network. So we've done Shauna, the Dead and Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim and
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I did Edgar Wright's Independent Film Fist Full of Fingers with Ryan, who of course, you know.
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So, that's what I'm up to. And you can find all that at all. Apologies podcast.com As I was getting ready this morning, I listened to the Scott Pilgrim episode.
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Nicely done. Thank you. Yeah, that was, that's my favorite one, obviously.
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Well, I'm a bass player that grew up in the eighties with eight bit Nintendo, so, I'm going to be a fan of Scott Pilgrim.
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Yes. of my favorite movies. Yeah. Awesome. Well this is 92. So what we do here on Retro Made Andy, is we set the stage, go back in
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time to a simpler time, shall we say. So today we're going back to 1992.
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So we are gonna open the time capsule from 1992.
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we have a wheel to spin. I will spin on your behalf. We'll come to a category and I'll ask you some trivia questions.
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We did cover 1992 already with the Beethoven episode.
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I don't know if you're aware that John Hughes wrote Beethoven. No, I didn't, He did.
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Uh, Watch it, so I won't no spoilers, so I didn't see that one yet.
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that wasn't one that you as a kid watched with the big fluffy dog. I don't know why. Yeah. That one missed me.
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Maybe I was a little too old Mm, something that appeared to be a children's movie.
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Is that a definitely a children's. Groden in that? Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Also, I'm not a fan of Charles Groin,
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Okay. Well then, there you go. So that was, so listeners go back and check out some more trivia from
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1992 and Beethoven in that episode. Gonna spin for you. See what we come to
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I make 'em pretty easy. Okay. Boombox, bangers. Great.
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These are the top five songs on the billboard charts for the entire year of 1992.
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Okay. I make 'em a little too easy. But we have four Philadelphia men that were the Kings of r
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and b. Slow jams that might, Boys to Boys to yes. And what's the what's the song?
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92, number one? Slow jam. End of the road. Very good.
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Very good. The number two song celebrated curvy women everywhere with a
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very unforgettable opening line. Do I need to say the opening line?
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baby. Got back, sir. Mixa Yes. I like big. And I cannot lie.
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Yeah. Uhhuh. Oh, that. Well, the yeah, actually there's two kind of opening lines that they could be referring to. You're correct.
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And did you say who the, who the singer was. sir. Mix Okay. Okay. Okay. No cheating here.
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I remember being in like grade school really liking this. This group performed by two backwards clothes wearing teens.
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This energetic rap hit told you exactly what to do twice in its title.
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Yeah. Jump by crisscross. Very good. Were, were you a fan?
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I never wore my clothing backwards. I'll say that, but I think I was a fan of, crisscross as a, as a child.
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Watching children become famous Yep. was fun.
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They're like 12 I re Yeah. Daddy Mac and Mac Daddy. Yeah.
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The number four song is an elegant Ballad by a former Miss America contestant.
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Top the Charts as she sang about life's surprises, reminding us that sometimes the sun goes around the moon.
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Yeah. Vanessa Williams, the best for last. Very good.
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All right, the last one, you're on a roll. This r and b trio from Atlanta harmonized their way through a 92 hit
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that repeated its title three times. Just like the group's name Nearly does
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Hmm. This is a tough one. Atlanta Trio.
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women. say Tony. Tony. Tony. But I don't know the song. It's not Tony, Tony, Tony, but it's in a harmonized their way through 92.
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I think that was kind of a miss that last, the similar to the name, it's, it was off put.
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yeah. Mm-hmm. It is a misdirect. It's letters, the group's name is letters
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Hmm. women. No, really t Close, close.
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Close. That was a TLC. TLC was back then.
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With that, that first album, TLC. And the song is Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby.
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think I know that one. Yeah. You do. with not knowing that Okay. fine. Okay. Okay.
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Not perfect. Everyone, that's what we're trying to say. That's let's, when they did that slam with Michael Jackson.
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Oh, terrible. All right, we're gonna spin again. Let's get another category for you.
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Yeah. Totally tasty. And
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one to me. this is snacks, foods, drinks, stuff like that.
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Hmm. Okay. 92. All right. There's, I, they're so easy.
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This prepackaged meals targeted at kids became incredibly popular in 92,
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offered a combination of crackers, deli meats, cheese, and sometimes sweets in a convenient, portable package.
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What was it? Lunchables, I used to work in a dairy cooler where they stocked Lunchables
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and sometimes they would accidentally get slashed with a box cutter and,
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it would be able to have a snack Accidentally, the Cool. oh my God. I would be the worst employee at a place where there was food that I liked.
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'cause I would accidentally ruin things a lot. Yeah, but that the meat that comes in the lunch bowls is disgusting.
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I don't know I, passes. FDA well, we don't have the strongest of let's, well I'll just leave that there.
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America doesn't have the strongest regulations. But I remember as a kid, 'cause we could not bring our lunch to school.
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I went to a Catholic school. We had to eat at the cafeteria and every once in a blue moon we'd
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have a day where it was a big deal. You could bring your lunch. And I always wanted to bring Lunchables and my mom's like, no, that's so dumb.
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There's four things. It, it's not a good lunch. I remember when I was, I mean this is going even further back, but I also went
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to Catholic school and there was certain days of the month where they would.
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You could opt to have happy meals from McDonald's shipped into the,
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like kindergarten or first grade. It was a big deal to get it, and it was an even bigger deal to not get it,
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which I have a twin brother and young parents, so oftentimes we didn't have
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money for McDonald's lunch at school. But yeah, that, that was a, when you talk about regulations and
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things that shouldn't be fed to children in schools, getting McDonald's.
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school was maybe fun, but Ill conceived.
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Also, was there DoorDash at this time? How's this? I mean, somebody just volunteered to go pick a bunch,
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I, pick a bunch of happy meals up. probably some handshake deal that they had with the, the church and McDonald's
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The church. Love it. Okay, let's see. I mean, there was a lot of junk food from this time that was, marketed towards kids.
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And speaking of which and I, I loved it all. I loved this next one, Totinos.
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This thing, Totino's Blank became widely popular as a convenient snack.
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Click to prepare small bite-sized pizza snacks. Staple for school aged kids and busy families.
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Yeah. Sleepover food. What was it? food. What was the name of it? rolls,
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rolls. Yes. Pizza rolls. God, I loved pizza rolls. Yeah. We didn't, we didn't have those so much in my house.
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I remember trying them though and thinking that they were disgusting. The remember what is it called?
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The gum that had the liquid on the inside. Oh, like Gushers or, oh, so
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yeah. Well, it was like gushers. Yeah. And basically a Totino's pizza roll was just like hot
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a hot version, cat food gushing into your cat food. It's, it sucks.
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Oh, I got her. She's dying everyone. I am dying. No, I I sound a little off.
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I have a cold. I'm sorry, everyone. So I'm hacking up along when I mute. This next one, I gotta say I adored them and my parents were
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like, they're so fake tasting. How do you like these? But, but Chips Ajoy introduced a new version of their iconic chocolate chip
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cookies and they became a huge hit. So the regular chips, Ajoy has a blue bag.
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These had a different texture than the original crispier version.
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Oh yeah. What was this new version and what color bag was it in?
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Hmm. Okay, because I immediately run to and think of soft batch,
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which I think is a different It's a different brand, but you're on the exact right lines. if it's Chips Ahoy, it's, it's like the red chunky.
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What? Soft. Soft batch. Chunky Chips. Ahoy. Yeah, it's chewy, chewy Chips Ahoy is what it was.
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Okay. it was in a red bag and they did taste like plastic a little bit. Like you could taste the chemicals or whatever that was in them.
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But I loved them 'cause I liked that they were soft. I don't know. I man, red bag Chips Ahoy.
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Anyone else? Well, when you're a kid, they feel like sugar is just a dopamine
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spike straight to your brain. You don't even realize that it tastes like your palate matures as an adult.
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'cause I have the same opinion of Oreos, which when I was. Mm. A burnout.
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I would eat a whole sleeve of Oreos and watch The Simpsons and just be
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the, the happiest stoner in town. But now when I eat Oreos, it tastes nothing but like chemicals to me.
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So I can, I could see how, I remember, you know, like I said, I used, I also used to deliver or pick up recycling, you know, adjacent to a garbage man.
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And I would just cake and cookies for breakfast and lunch and just run it off.
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And I would eat soft batch cookies like all day, every day. And the very thought of eating one now is repellent.
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I don't want that in any single way. No, it is kind of wild. I mean, you know, what's kind of sad is that some people's tastes don't mature.
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Some children grow up eating junk food and grow up into adults only wanting that. It's, Yeah.
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sad. Thankfully I eat vegetables. I don't, you know. Lose their teeth and get diabetes?
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Mm-hmm. Okay. There's a couple that are similar. Let's see, were these both 92 now? I'm kind of questioning.
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There were two Pepsi versions that seemed very similar. Okay. We have one that is notorious for being a marketing failure
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despite having a futuristic appeal. It was discontinued after just a year.
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And it's just now considered a curiosity in pop culture nineties. is 92, Mm-hmm.
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I thought that was older. What was it? Chris Crystal Pepsi, right? Well, yeah.
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Okay. So is that the same thing as Pepsi? Clear is. Yeah, I would.
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I would think so. It Pure. to be. Yeah, it's , crystal clear Pepsi marketed as a pure and healthier
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alternative to regular Pepsi, but it did not gain traction. But, as with a lot of things, have you noticed like clearly Canadian is back,
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like some of those throwback brands? It has a resurgence in recent years, thanks to nostalgia for nineties products.
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Yeah, I did. I do remember a couple years ago they reintroduced it just for fun.
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But that's amazing that they would try and market it as something healthy because they took the, the Dooo Brown additive that makes it Coca-Cola color
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out, and suddenly it's a health food. That's ridiculous. One less chemical to, to make, actually, maybe there's probably an, an extra
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chemical to make it clear somehow. I don't know. It's probably harder to Mm-hmm. 'cause Coke syrup is, I mean, the cocoa bean is brown for god's sake.
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Good point. Yeah. Ugh. Well that was our little flashback time capsule from 1992.
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You did well, Andy? Almost. Perfect. Yes. fan and I'll admit that.
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okay. See, I was like, how would you not get that? I'm just kidding. I'm teasing. Alright, so this season on retro we're all about John Hughes.
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Do you have anything to share? I don't know if you're a fan, if you are familiar with John Hughes. What's your history thoughts on John Hughes?
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yeah, John Hughes is definitely an informative artist,
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creator of the eighties. Everybody that grew up then would be aware of it.
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I'm a particular, you know, I'm partial to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I feel like that spoke to me as a child that hated being in school.
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So getting out of it in the most clever ways was delightful for me.
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And then all of the Molly Ringwald er era stuff is, you know,
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memorable and, and debatable. I've, I know Christian Blatt from the Blatt cast and many movie.
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shows has brought up the fact that the Breakfast Club isn't good. And I disagree, so I, excuse me.
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I feel like The Breakfast Club is a movie for teenagers that
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are disgruntled, angsty teens. If you're not an angsty teen, then the Breakfast Club is not for you.
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If you're looking at the Breakfast Club as a grown man, sure you're not gonna think it's good, but if you're looking at it from an alley, alley, sheety type
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of personality, you're gonna love it. So it's, it's for kids, a kids movie for kids, and it still holds up.
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And I was John Benter in high school, so I'll defend that movie and. Oh, I was, I will go hard defending Breakfast Club.
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Breakfast Club is, I think, Hugh's best, best work. Right. It's gonna be, you're, it's gonna be hard to do
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Mm-hmm. a, a series about John Hughes and not to the Breakfast Club is probably
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one of the most popular ones. I mean, he's had, he's had misses and, and there are critiques are to be had
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with some of his movies from that time. But yes, go on. Go on. But I, when we first discussed doing this, I wanted to pick something obscure.
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I, I'm sure everybody wanted to do these, the big guns at, from, at the beginning.
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But talked about doing national lamp, poons class reunion and it's unfindable.
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So, we pivoted to Dutch, which is unfindable. And that was disappointing because I do remember Dutch as a kid and I loved
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at O'Neill and buried with children. So. then you have a young Ethan Emry in that one.
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And , I remembered the movie, I remembered as a younger person
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disappointed that not realizing that an actor could play different traits of a character and watching Dutch and going, this isn't Al Bundy,
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Mm-hmm. funny because it's not Al Bundy. It's Ed O'Neill doing a different thing. But again, you can't do it because it doesn't exist on the internet right now.
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So everybody go by physical media because these movies that you want to talk about are not findable on Netflix.
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but Dutch also stinks. As I was preparing to do that show and I was watching every clip on YouTube,
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I was realizing that John Hughes loves.
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Class warfare. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. of racial diversity, let's say every, everyone's white, but the poor kids
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Yeah. don't get along in Yeah. every John Yes. So
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Well, in, in doing this I, I was less harsh on Dutch because I had probably just come off from some others.
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Tell other terrible crap. you know, I still have several movies to do and there's some really good ones in there.
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But what I'm seeing very much is he has a formula and he
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doesn't sway from it at all, Mm-hmm. And he just kind of regurgitates stuff
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I'm seeing that with Edgar Wright too. There's a lot of beats and themes that.
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I think it's fair to say that when you a creator and you find something that
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works, if it ain't broke, don't fix it and just keep putting something out there
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that was successful and then you try and do that to a varying degree of success. So I, I guess I can understand that, but it are you kind of saving
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your opinion for when you're done, about what you think the best one is Of John Hughes?
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Yeah. Well, I don't think it will change and I haven't like really gone through in my head all of them.
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But it's gotta be Breakfast Club. Really. Okay. And, and correct me if I'm wrong, is Planet Trains and Automobiles.
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John Hughes. Yes. I think that might, might be at the top of my list with Ferris Bueller.
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Oh, interesting. Okay. Ferris Bueller Planes Trains Breakfast Club is up there.
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And then Because of things on this list that I didn't even realize Oh, I know, related.
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same. just write writing, not just Mm-hmm. but also writing. So, yeah, it was interesting to go through the catalog just on paper anyway.
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The John Candy ones, so he had the teen ones where, you know, there's a period of time where he really focused on that teen angst.
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that's seems most synonymous with John Hughes. Yeah. But, and then he had some good success with the kid Fair, including home alone.
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Uncle Buck, like John Candy's in a lot of them. Culkin days.
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yeah. Yeah. And then , it's clear when he doesn't. Put his heart into something.
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It really shows in the quality of the movie as I'm learning going through his work. But without further ado, shall we get into Home Alone?
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Two. Lost in New York.
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I couldn't believe this was still on the list. This Me too. when I picked all these other obscure things.
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I like talking about terrible movies and making fun of those, or seeing something that I hadn't seen before.
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So when I saw Home Alone two on the list, I, it was the most obvious choice.
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I know there's a couples, that I hadn't seen before and it turns out I'm not allowed to see him
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right? Yeah, I know. went back to this. And I even class reunion, I even got a copy at the library and it was
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scratched, so I only saw part of it. So I had to like glue together, clips from YouTube, which there aren't very many.
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So to your point about physical media, but you can't, you only buy ones that you're gonna love and rewatch a lot.
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And I do own the original home alone on DVD, but not, not home alone two, but thankfully it was available to stream
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do you remember, I, I'm not gonna make you say how old you are, but when that came out in theaters in
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90 90. Mm-hmm. home alone, it was such a phenomenon that the, a lot of, they wouldn't
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have these mega plexes back then in my town anyway of upstate New York
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and people would have to wait in line. There's no internet to get tickets in advance. You would have to show up, wait in line, and not get in.
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Oh, no. remember failing to see Home alone several times before I finally got to see it,
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No way. yeah. Yeah. And it was worth, it was worth the wait. Mm-hmm.
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it's an iconic movie that was it. Lightning in a bottle.
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It was a sensation. It put Joe Pesci on the map. It put Macaulay Culkin on the map.
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Put Catherine O'Hara on the map. So, big, big deal. So then I'm sure they, they were running, clamoring to do it all
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over again with Home Loan two. Just in time because he's still cute and young enough for this movie,
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but maybe one more year and it, he wouldn't have been, you know, you gotta Then he goes into obscurity and you go
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Mm-hmm. Richie Rich did. Is that John Hughes? Richie No, no, okay.
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Yeah. I will say that I, I felt like in home loan two McCaulay culkin's acting chops were plused up.
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I feel Yeah. Okay. That's, that's good to hear. So yeah, you guys, this came out November 20th, 1992.
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It's pg I assume the first one was PG also. I think so.
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It has a 6.9 on IMDB, which is quite high.
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Hmm. Chris Columbus is the director here. This is one John Hughes wrote, but did not direct.
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And Chris Columbus has stated in interviews that he considers home alone two better than the original.
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I think a lot of people ha hold that opinion. Who did Chris Columbus direct the first
25:27
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. I guess maybe I'm in the minority opinion of that after hearing that people thought
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that and then watching this yesterday. With the, a critical eye of, is this better than the first one?
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I would say that I disagree mainly because it suffers from the, oh,
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remember when this happened in the Mm-hmm. Remember when that happened in the first? I think there's, there's good things about it, but when you revisiting
25:58
old jokes, they, it's kind of an obligatory thing that has to happen in a successful, sequel.
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And it's like, yeah, okay. I, I do remember that was funny in the first one.
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But they, what they do get right in this is it nail it like the breadcrumb Rube
26:16
Goldberg way that they establish that this scenario could happen again to this
26:23
Mm-hmm. it just happened. You know, it happens in a believable way where walking into the movie you're like,
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how, how could this kid be left behind again, these or the worst parents ever? And they figure out a way to.
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Get you on board with it. That's a great point. I also, I do not think this is better than the original.
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Thank you. I do not. I mean there, I think there's a very few maybe on one hand the number of sequels
26:51
that are better than the original. He definitely got paid more for this one.
26:56
Um, Columbus and yes, it was. So if you guys haven't seen this movie in 30 ish years or if it's been a
27:05
while, Kevin McAllister's back, but this time he's in New York City with enough cash and credit cards to turn the big apple into his own playground.
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But Kevin won't be alone for long. The notorious wet bandits now they call themselves the sticky bandits.
27:20
Harry, played by Joe Pesci, and Marv played by Daniel Stern. Still smarting. From their last encounter with Kevin, they're bound for New York City too.
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Plotting a huge holiday heist. Kevin's ready to welcome them with another battery of booby traps.
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The bumbling bands will never forget. Uhhuh, there's a lot of, really heavy handed foreshadowing.
27:43
We'll get into the cast of characters, but just really quickly, we do get set up the, it's like the exact same setup , as the original.
27:52
And I found that very comforting. The music, seeing their house, the chaos of you know, of
27:58
the cousins and everything. What did you think about the opening. It's interesting that they bring, there's so many unused cast members,
28:10
these cousins that seemingly could have a bigger in this movie that are
28:17
just, it's, it's gotta be the easiest gig in Hollywood being the, the. Cousin A.
28:23
the second nephew of Kevin McAllister, I don't even know who any of 'em are.
28:29
Like you could not name any of those kids except Buzz and maybe Karen cu.
28:35
I can't even name Karen Culkin's character, the kid that wets Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. nobody wants to sleep with this kid 'cause he wets the bed.
28:43
Yes, Fuller. Fuller is Karen's name. Yep. Thank you. It's awesome to see a, a baby Kieran Culkin in the movie,
28:51
knowing how far he's gone Mm-hmm. you know, be such a big success now.
28:56
And just, I just watched Scott Pilgrim and he's in that as Oh yeah. yeah.
29:02
So it was fun to see that. And they give buzz a lot of at the top of the film, especially when he
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publicly humiliates Kevin, which. I don't understand why Kevin is to blame at that.
29:18
I mean, they do the whole sequence where Buzz does his lawyer thing and convinces everybody that he's not really the villain.
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And that's sort of what drives the wedge between Kevin and his family, which maybe
29:34
is a, a weaker plot point of the movie. And there, there was a couple of times where it was like, this is, not great
29:41
as far as comparing it to the first one. They had to set up the fact that Kevin would be, again, this time up
29:48
in the third floor I hate my family. I wanna go on a vacation by myself. the mom's like, you know, you got your wish last year.
29:55
Maybe you'll get your wish this year. Gee, like it's, it is very heavy. Mm-hmm. but then they kind of fake us out because he, he gets in the
30:02
van, he gets to the airport, even how you know? Yeah. left So that was good. That was good.
30:07
Let's talk about our cast of characters a little bit. Clearly we have Macaulay Culkin back as Kevin. We have Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern back as Harry and Marv,
30:16
and they were the wet bandits. And I don't know why do they call themselves the sticky bandits now?
30:23
Do they have tape around their hand or something? What was the deal with that? Stern's walking around with tape on his hand and he keeps
30:29
snatching hats and gloves, like petty things that are pointless.
30:34
And I don't know why they would probably just so that, It's not the same. and so it would be easier to shoot than having to spill a bunch of water all over
30:44
Mm, set and let the production have to clean it up. The, the production team was like, let's not do that again.
30:49
It's a disaster. And they just figured out an easier, was in the script. thing.
30:54
Yep. so that Mm-hmm. they're escaped convicts now that they don't wanna leave a trail of.
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So they change it up. Maybe. Maybe that's logical. But, I got, I gotta shout out Catherine O'Hara too.
31:07
She looks maybe, maybe this is the best version of Catherine O'Hara to me. She looks really good in this one, I would say,
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I'm glad that you said that. 'cause she, yeah, she's so like fresh and young. I, well, I love her as Moira in Schitt's Creek.
31:23
So that's, that's what I think of her as now. But she's just playing like the straight mom in this, not like her
31:30
other roles is it Christopher Guest that has like best in Show a Mighty Wind? Is that Yeah.
31:35
a a lot of character mm-hmm. or, or Beetlejuice. Yeah. to mind where she's over the top.
31:41
Yeah. is pretty straightforward for her. And John Heard is back.
31:47
So we kind of have everybody's, basically everybody's back. Which I think is helpful.
31:52
I'll go. Yeah. John Heard he's super familiar. Everybody knows him. He's Kevin's dad. He was in Big Awakenings, and then I did read that he was nominated
32:00
for his guest role in The Sopranos. I had forgotten that he was a guest star playing detective Vin Ian
32:09
Hmm. in the Sopranos, I don't remember that. John Heard Devin. I, made that connection when they, they go to Duncan's and I was reminded of FAO
32:18
Schwartz and the movie Big, which features FAO Schwartz the most prominently on film.
32:24
So, yeah, I had that in my notes too. yeah, he, he's good.
32:29
He, he's a very likable father figure as opposed to big where he
32:35
plays a heel and like some other Mm-hmm. where he is played a villain. He's actually pretty likable in this, doing some good work as Kevin's dad.
32:44
It becomes pivotal at the airport mm-hmm. do lose Lose him. he's, yeah, he's important here.
32:50
And I just, just to back all the way up to the beginning, I wanna shout out the John Williams score
32:57
Yes. when Yes. the theme of the movie shows up and the title credits are rolling.
33:02
And you see that Star Wars composer, John Williams did the music for this.
33:07
It really sets a nostalgic tone for me.
33:13
Mm-hmm. watched this movie for 30 years now that score is amazing.
33:19
And John Williams' involvement in this is for, I, I'm a bit of a musician too,
33:26
so I pay a lot of attention to music. And, you know, when people like Danny Elfman, tim Burton's movies or John
33:35
Williams and Jerry Goldsmith too. This kind of like, I, I put those composers together in films that I
33:44
enjoy from this era of movie making. So, yeah. John Williams killing it?
33:50
Great point. Yeah, it did its job very well. I had a comforting like, oh, I'm at home feeling, you know,
33:56
that's, it drew me in that opening. Williams is regarded as one of the most influential, film composers of all time
34:04
Mm-hmm. has influenced a lot of other film composers. I did read also that he was the principal conductor for the
34:11
Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993. Oh, Yeah, yeah.
34:17
And, you know, to your, For. yeah, to your point. Frequent collaborations with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
34:24
He has won not nominations, but wins 26 Grammys, four Oscars, seven BAFTAs,
34:32
three Emmys, and four Golden Globes. John Williams. Wow. Yeah. You, you put this soundtrack on at Christmas time and it takes
34:41
you right to, a fireplace with a Mm-hmm. and everything that you want your holiday season to be can be summed up
34:51
with the, the theme from home alone. Yep. A hundred percent. iconic. Yeah.
34:56
Yeah. And this movie did well. It was in such short succession to the first one I think that it
35:01
benefited from a lot of the carryover. The character playing Buzz. We talked about him in another episode of a John Hughes.
35:10
He was, was it home alone one because has he been in any, what Yeah, no. Well, aside from that, 'cause we haven't, we haven't actually
35:17
covered home alone one yet. But the actor is Devin. Re he played the babysitter's boyfriend in Dennis the menace.
35:29
Oh, John Hughes wrote that movie. Okay. And we talk about in that episode there's several movies like Beethoven, Dennis
35:37
the Menace, there's a few others that he just kind of threw a bunch of home alone elements in and it just didn't work.
35:44
I like it at all. is what Yeah. Mm-hmm. formula probably.
35:50
All right. We're gonna take a kid that's not McCulley Culkin and just try and make home alone again with Walter Mattau and a lookalike or then baby's day out is probably.
36:01
Lost in New York only. It's an infant instead of Macaulay Mm-hmm.
36:06
arguably, you know, but definitely less successful, Definitely. that movie,
36:11
Mm-hmm. So , Kieran Coken played Fuller. He's the younger cousin. He's not Kevin's brother.
36:17
He's his cousin. Right. Frank's kid. Right. and we all now know Kieran Coken.
36:23
He, he was lesser known at this time, and Frank, uncle Frank is back played by Jerry Baum.
36:30
Baun Baun. That's kind of hard to say for some reason. Do you know him from anything else?
36:35
No, no. But he plays one of the best, you know, heels or un unlikable jerks the
36:44
cheapness, the character work that this actor is doing is fantastic in a
36:50
way that you want to dislike this guy. Agreed. Yep. He he's got that face though.
36:57
You feel like you know him from other things. I did read, he was in the secret of my success with Michael J. Fox.
37:02
I wonder if he was also kind of a sleazy guy in that probably. And then his wife is like this perfect you know, like church lady
37:09
looking woman, which is kind of wild. She's not well known in this Cinta Moses, I just wanted to bring up her because she
37:19
She got a young artist nomination for in this Cent Moss, I guess.
37:25
I don't know why. cousin? Yeah, she was there's far too many cousins and
37:30
Mm-hmm. they're given nothing to do. It's, it's a bizarre They each have five kids.
37:35
Each brother John heard, and, and Unc and Frank they each have five kids would.
37:41
That's a lot. Yeah. I think. Maybe they're there so that it's easy to lose track
37:47
Mm-hmm. That's a great point. reason to have this many people doing nothing Mm-hmm.
37:53
She plays Tracy and she was I dunno if you've ever watched the show, my So called Life on MTV.
37:59
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. She was Delia in three episodes of that. And she was really most known for the show Beakman's World, which I never saw that.
38:07
of it. I don't think I watched it, but and Mr. Duncan is played by Eddie Bracken. Do you know him from anything else?
38:13
Hmm. He looks familiar. And that was, that's a great scene with him and Kevin at the toy store.
38:20
I, I can't think of anything else that I've seen him in off the top of my head It is John Hughes related. That is a marker of John Hughes movies.
38:26
He has his people that he likes, he played the more or less dis Walt
38:31
Disney in while at Wally World in Oh, okay. Yeah.
38:37
Now that's such a short thing right at the end that, now that you
38:43
mention it, yeah, that's uh, awesome. Another beloved where he gets to play a benevolent person that lets your main
38:54
characters off the hook kinda roll, I like that they kind of give him this magical Santa Claus vibe at the end of that scene where he gives Kevin the
39:04
turtle doves and then Kevin sees the portrait and turns around and he's gone. It's just kind of a little nod to Santa Claus or the magic of the
39:13
holiday kinda thing where that makes the movie a little more charming. Absolutely.
39:18
And that's carried over into the end when they are all in this gigantic suite at the plaza.
39:26
Their family is supposed to be going to Florida. But Kevin gets on the wrong plane, goes to New York instead, and their suite
39:32
ends up with a giant Christmas tree and ton of presents and they're from Mr. Mr. Duncan.
39:37
So he really did play Santa Claus. Yeah. That was, those are, and there's a couple of interesting scenes in this.
39:44
One of them is that scene at the toy store with Duncan, and then the other one. It's, I'm watching it and going, why is this, they making such
39:53
a meal out of these scenes. They go on for a long, long time. The conversation that Kevin and Duncan have, and then the conversation
40:02
that Kevin and the bird lady have in the rafters of the theater
40:07
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. her broken heart, and. Kevin trying to coach her back into society when she's a recluse that
40:17
hasn't talked to anybody in two years. It's, kind of a strange to insist on inserting into a movie, but I
40:28
think it gives the, the film heart Mm-hmm. maybe the, the point of these.
40:34
They're trying to inject magic of the season and sympathy and let's all
40:42
help each other kind of holiday vibes. Yeah, because
40:47
I think that's the I, I. on for very long. Am I No, no, you're not. There's a few that go on for a really long time.
40:53
Like that one, had a purpose behind it. It was the impetus of Kevin being like, oh, I'm gonna save the store.
40:58
You know, that isn't soon after that conversation that he like, goes and starts, collecting all his booby trap items.
41:06
Then there are other scenes with Marv and Harry, all of those, like the booby
41:13
traps, essentially a lot of those go on for far too long and for no reason. And they were just, in my opinion, just kind of reusing.
41:21
I really wish they would've got more creative with the booby traps, because did we get anything new really?
41:27
Hmm. know? Yeah. Without the exception of big hole in the floor, like we didn't
41:33
Yes. Yeah. in Kevin's house, so that, that was good. And it does go to a very cartoonish level that I feel was not in
41:45
The first one? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. you're watching these guys take so much abuse a, a normal
41:53
person would not be able to. Especially the brick scene in this Oh my God. Yeah. is one of those bricks and you're potentially dead, but by the time
42:05
they get to the fourth one, it just gets funnier and funnier. And I'm a, I'm a fan of the Three Stooges and Roadrunner cartoons, so I
42:16
did like seeing a lot of this slapstick humor, but I don't know if you've seen
42:22
The Third Home Alone, which probably is, doesn't involve John Hughes and No.
42:28
McCaulay Culkin, and goes all in on the villains and colorful
42:36
crap, and the, the hair frizzing Hmm. when Daniel Stern turns into the skeleton, when he is getting electrocuted, and it
42:45
A lot of that, so much more cartoonish. the failure of the third one.
42:52
But, we're not talking about the third one anyway. The this, the second one just goes, it goes a little over
42:59
right? I mean, it's already making you suspend disbelief that these guys aren't just cutting and running or calling an ambulance because Marv
43:11
has taken a nail gun to the crotch. So I, I would be done after that. You know? That's,
43:17
I, at first I wondered what it was. I was like, is it staples or is it nails? Yeah.
43:22
Yeah. It's fun. I love every time Joe Pesci iss on screen. Mm. remember that this time, Joe Pesci is riding the wave of
43:32
Mm-hmm. and Casino, these home alone films and the Lethal Weapon franchise.
43:40
He's a megastar and. very apparent when you're watching him on screen.
43:47
He's got just this charm that excuses all of his bad behavior
43:54
Great way of putting it. yeah, I just, I just love Joe Peche so much. And Daniel Stern too.
44:00
He's, I think they're a good duo. Joe Peche has a manner of speaking that I just, I am, I'm all for, for some reason
44:07
that, that really new Yorkie, like shady type of guy I can't get enough of it,
44:13
but yeah, Daniel Stern's really good too. The bird lady. some Abbott and Costello vibes.
44:18
Mm. will, to Okay. up talking about those two, you, you got Daniel Stern running around like
44:25
a Lou Costello calling out for Harry. The way that. He would call out for Abbott.
44:31
That was reminded me of when they were in the basement taking all the abuse.
44:36
That tracks. Yeah, they, but Abbott Costello meet the Wolf man kinda, but the
44:42
Wolf man is Kevin McAllister. So I did wanna call out the pigeon lady.
44:49
She's an Irish actress who actually won an Oscar for best supporting in my left foot.
44:56
Yeah, Also, she was in a time to kill, and so I married an ax murderer. Her name is Brenda Fricker.
45:03
And. Apparently that character, the pigeon lady, was based on the old bird
45:09
woman from Mary Poppins in 1964. I could see that.
45:14
It's an interesting. Direction to take from the creepy shovel slayer neighbor in the first one to, and
45:25
this is another trope of John Hughes, the, when I was saying at the top of
45:30
the discussion about class warfare and poverty, there are so many instances in
45:38
different where, particularly Curly Sue and Dutch, where you're confronted with
45:49
and the have-nots, and he just makes you go, you got, you got a pretty good
45:56
person in the movie theater watching this. It could be a lot worse. You could be in Central Park covered in bird shit, and don't
46:05
need that in a Christmas movie. I guess it, it gives Kevin a reason to, it gives him something to fight
46:11
for There's the heart of the movie there, but it's, I don't know.
46:18
What did you think about the character in general? Did you, could you, I felt like if it wasn't in the movie at all, I'd be fine with it.
46:24
Well, there's, she was clearly playing the old neighbor. There has to be someone that is misunderstood.
46:31
She's the standin for the neighbor. Right. And, and that person, for Kevin to learn
46:36
yeah. a character, Yes, I guess. And 'cause , he gives her the half of the dove, the turtle, dove necklace and like
46:45
friendship because in both, so in the original two, like he learns from the, the
46:50
old man and the old man learns from Kevin. And the same is true here. Like it's just the same.
46:57
You had to have that character, that imparts wisdom on Kevin, but then Kevin helps that person,
47:02
Yes. you know, maybe, forget you, and I'll also never see you again.
47:07
well, so my thought on that exactly is, and I just said this in Dutch
47:13
too, like maybe invite her in he leaves his beautiful Christmas plaza
47:21
to go give her the turtle dove. Maybe say, Hey, come join my family celebration for Christmas.
47:26
You're, Yeah. you don't. that gave you all those presents? Maybe introduce your homeless friend to EF Duncan that, and maybe they can
47:36
hook up and she could have a better life Of the movie yeah, the same happened in Dutch.
47:42
I'm like, oh, great, the homeless people drop you off at your mansion. Bye bye now. Invite these people in, or at least pay for them to have a, another
47:51
room that was a missed opportunity. They just go back to their very, these McAllisters are very well off, so
47:58
they just go back to, I think it's a missed opportunity if Fuse is trying to show us, yes, you should be thankful for the things you have, and they
48:06
do learn lessons, but it, it's stops short of like real progress, you know?
48:13
Don't you think? Yes. There's a message with no call to action of let's, at least at the end of Scrooge,
48:22
where the homeless people freeze to death. At the end they all sing together and wanna put a little love in your heart.
48:29
And this is just like, Hey, see ya. I gotta go back to my five star hotel and with my millionaire
48:36
family, and you're not invited. It's kinda shitty, Yeah. kinda, its kinda just kind shitty person.
48:42
As a kid I was like, oh, that's nice. They're friends. But now as an adult I'm like, help her.
48:48
Do something meaningful. Yeah, You give her half of a Christmas ornament, and she's like, what am I supposed to do with this?
48:54
yeah. birds. But it's, Can't even trade this for anything. I gotta buy bird seed for them.
49:00
I, I don't need well, speaking of Joe Peshy being charming in this, he he was nominated for funniest supporting actor in I didn't even know these
49:08
awards existed, American Comedy Awards, but they did at the time. The other day, I want, I Want Academy Award, maybe not Academy Awards or some
49:17
kind of awards, categories that recognize comedy, and
49:22
yeah. Mm-hmm. they're so overlooked I agreed. underappreciated and possibly the most cared about genres of movie.
49:31
Mm-hmm. just get zero recognition. They, they always turn a, a comedy award into
49:41
Like a musical or something. yeah. A vehicle for somebody to get that from Some, remember when Johnny
49:47
Depp won best comedy actor for that piece of crap that he made with
49:53
Angelina, Joe Lee, the tourist. No, I don't, I don't even, I don't think I've seen that movie. No.
49:58
I didn't see it either, but my point is, he was winning comedic awards for a movie that wasn't a
50:05
Mm, they were just trying to figure mm-hmm. give Johnny Depp an award. And it just makes me angry that the two genres that I care the most about
50:14
get zero recognition, almost constantly right. You're right.
50:20
too. Action. They, you gotta die for Heath Ledger to get a. Mm-hmm. for Batman, you know, that, that never, he never would've wanted an Oscar for that
50:30
No. if Mm-hmm. Agreed. So, didn't, didn't they just introduce a stunt work category, like just
50:39
within the last couple years? But yeah I'm not sure, but that, that's long overdue,
50:44
Yeah, yeah, and that's a cool category. I like yeah. But,
50:49
that gets to your action, I guess, a little bit. The movie itself tied with Sister Act for the People's Choice Awards that year.
50:57
Favorite comedy and Macaulay was nominated for the Kids' Choice Awards. And then we talked about that Santa Moses Young artist.
51:05
The budget here is 28,000,004 and a half million of that
51:11
was McCulley Culkin salary. Mm-hmm. Well. I mean, he was a megastar after the first one, so, and then you
51:19
were talking $92 everybody, 4 million for a, for a 9-year-old.
51:25
pretty awesome. point. And I guess that was at that time the biggest salary ever for a child star.
51:32
And it's, this says 45 times his salary for home alone. So Katie sucks at math.
51:38
What, what did he get a hundred thousand dollars for? Home alone. Would that, is that, is that right?
51:44
45. I didn't know where you're, this was gonna be part of the I know, I know. I'm like math.
51:49
I don't know. I can't do math. It was a lot It was a lot. to say.
51:54
I have to make sure to bring up one of my favorite parts of the movie, which is Tim Curry.
52:02
It's, I love clue and. And Legend and Oscar and obviously Rocky Horror Picture
52:11
Love Tim Curry. just seeing him in this is one of the better parts of the movie to me.
52:20
A they beef up the villains that Kevin has to foil. It can't always just
52:26
Mm-hmm. Harry and Marv, I guess. It, they it's a whole hotel staff. Yep. Schneider.
52:31
And the other woman play great, like Cartoonishly smarmy of the hotel.
52:39
she also from the Adams family? That woman who, like one of the front desk people, she looked,
52:46
she wasn't listed in the cast. She looked, yeah, I don't think, is she, she's just in that
52:51
I, I feel like she was like somebody's wife, like cousin, it's wife or something like that at the ball.
52:57
, And Tim Curry being on my brain. In my brain. I always confuse Tim Curry and um, Adam's family.
53:07
What's his name? Who plays Gomez in Adam's family? Oh he's passed away now.
53:13
He was in Street Fighter. M Bison in the Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fighter movie. Yeah. Yeah.
53:18
I don't know him from a lot of things and Raul, Julia,
53:24
Ah, yes. I don't know why in my brain I sometimes confuse Tim Curry and Raul Julia.
53:32
Just me. Oh yeah. I see. I don't know. He's Ralph Julie probably has a larger filmography than I'm aware of.
53:41
I don't really know him from anything other than Adams Stanley and Street Fighter.
53:46
mm-hmm. But Tim, Tim Curry's more, prolific, I Yeah.
53:51
but And he plays the concierge that is very suspicious of Kevin, you guys. That's who Tim Curry plays in this.
53:58
yeah, I let the cross dissolve from the Grinch to Tim Curry when the credit
54:04
card up stolen and when Catherine O'Hara slaps him in the face at, at the hotel.
54:13
These are just I forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah. favorite moments in the film include Tim Curry, who's always.
54:21
Killing it. And gonna talk about the hotel, we should probably bring up the Trump cameo,
54:28
which has gone on to be edited out a lot of, a lot of televised versions of
54:35
Oh, is that, But yeah, I've seen, I've Okay. this movie on network where they just edit that straight out of the movie.
54:43
But back then it was just a blinking, you missed Yeah, you, it was very interesting to see him just turn up in this movie, but,
54:54
because did he own the hotel at that time? that. Well, that's when I was watching it last night with my wife, she said, that's weird.
55:00
'cause the Trump Hotel is not this hotel. So why is he at a hotel that's not his?
55:06
, The requirement for shooting in the hotel. So he must have had some stake in the Plaza Hotel at the time.
55:12
Oh, so it was a, it, they were obliged to put him in the movie if they wanted to to use the hotel.
55:19
Mm-hmm. I guess. And it is just mm, I iconic New Yorker There's a couple other cameos.
55:24
Rob Schneider is the bellboy, did they call him Cric instead of Cedric? Anyway, yeah. Cedric or, yeah.
55:30
And that's another great tip of the uh, fruit, gum, striped gum back in the day.
55:37
of the shittiest candy ever created. don't know why I loved it though, when I was a kid Everybody likes it.
55:43
And then you put it in for 10 seconds. anything after, well, grand total of five seconds.
55:48
It, It is just funny that, and then. Because it goes from that to the, the comedic beat of him offering the tip.
55:59
That's actual mm-hmm. thinks that he is gonna get gum, so he declines it to the, the,
56:04
Buzz. rule of threes. Why would Buzz give this guy that he's never met that he's chew as a
56:13
kid, obviously older person, that gets what a tip is to pull gum outta your
56:20
mouth and put it in somebody's hand. It, it just didn't make sense It's just Buzz is a dick.
56:26
You know? He's like that Yeah, older brother. It's funny, but it doesn't make sense. Agreed. Agreed.
56:31
Yeah. you, did you track Ali Sheety, another John Hughes lady? Yeah, my, my wife was going off about how bad her teeth were and lose track.
56:45
I think I was taking co, I was taking copious mm-hmm. while I was watching this too, so I could, I was probably Writing,
56:51
that Tim Curry's ever been in when Ali Sheety scene came on and I
56:56
looked up and she goes, blonde. So Yeah. didn't register with me, but I, and my wife was yelling that her
57:03
teeth are jacked and I, and I said, I think that's Ellie Sheie. But that was un I was uncertain.
57:10
So, yeah, it's Definitely, yeah. Ali Shedi, ticket agent all famously in breakfast club.
57:17
And then Chris Columbus was director cameo. Chris Columbus, , is holding a child and pointing to a stack of toys when
57:25
Kevin walks through the toy store. Right. So you, that you're not Alfred Hitchcock, Christopher Columbus.
57:31
People don't know that it's Yeah, can't, when you, you have to be recognizable for that
57:37
to be charming in a movie. true, true. Yeah. I think. can pull it off.
57:43
Agreed. I do think a lot of people found this charming. And it also, I think just coming off, in short succession to the first one.
57:50
The first one was a mega hit, so this one also, it made $359
57:56
million, and that's the $92. That's Hmm. pretty enormous. I, I didn't calculate what that would be now, but,
58:03
Yeah. That su, that supersede the first one Hmm. Good question.
58:09
Mm-hmm. Because like I said, the, the first one was a sensation. It was a mega hit.
58:14
People were waiting in line to see it. Me being mm-hmm. and seeing it over and over again, people, people would want to go
58:23
tell their parents about it and bring their parents to see it too. Bring their, you know, everybody wanted to see it twice
58:31
The numbers are a bit all over the place, but the first one made more money than the second one. Yeah.
58:36
okay. Which tr I mean, that makes sense. I, I didn't stand in line to watch it like you did, so
58:42
I be, you weren't a loser like me. I no, I, I don't know. to do. I don't know what I was doing at that time.
58:49
Do you think that they used New York enough? What do you think about the New York backdrop?
58:55
And that's funny. I, that was the very first thing I put in my notes I thought that it
59:02
is minimized for such a iconic city.
59:07
They just do a montage at the top where he goes from uptown to downtown in a matter of seconds.
59:14
And my question was going to, have you been to New York? I have. Mm-hmm. So you know that the way to visit New York is to pick one section that you're
59:23
interested in and basically stay there. You don't wanna be running all over, spending half of your time navigating
59:31
the subway and getting lost in Times Square and ending up in the West Village.
59:39
It's, it's better to just go to Tribeca and spend the weekend there and for
59:48
them to just sort of be like, oh yeah, New York City's very walkable thing.
59:54
You know, they do that. This, it almost gives me anxiety in movies like this. We saw like the fish market, Chinatown, twin Towers, the Statue of Liberty.
1:00:03
And I already was getting anxiety 'cause I'm like, this is not an adult, this is a child trying to do this
1:00:10
Same thing with Ferris Bueller, with Chicago, but they did it better. Like they really showcased Chicago and Ferris Bueller and I, I love Chicago,
1:00:18
but I get anxiety when they do the this in movies where there's a montage of the tourist sites, and it's like, you see the whole city in one day.
1:00:25
I am like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. no, I don't know why. It gives me like an anxious feeling like that's not possible.
1:00:31
How are you? How are, no. Yeah. And the fact that it, it would've been better if it was just kept to,
1:00:38
you know, the Central Park area. And that's overwhelming Mm-hmm. the fact that Kevin is never reduced to tears by the overwhelming, terrifying,
1:00:50
realization of being in this metropolis that's full of lunatics when the, he
1:00:59
gets in the cab and the guy has the, Oh. pale eye and it's, he's, so many reasons 'cause when I, I mentioned
1:01:07
that I was a truck driver and I think it was the first week that I was solo after training to drive.
1:01:14
I had to drive to Maine and then I had to go from Maine to Tennessee. And I Hmm.
1:01:20
via New York City And I got lost in a class, a full-size
1:01:27
tractor trailer down in. Central Park Oh wow. was almost on the verge of tears.
1:01:33
Yeah. So for, for Kevin to not lose his shit is a missed opportunity.
1:01:40
I think it would make the character a little more three-dimensional than this kind of Mary Sue kid that you never think for one second
1:01:48
that he's not gonna be just fine. Yeah. maybe make the character a little more relatable.
1:01:54
But, yeah, the fact that he is in New York, it, it's, it's a good
1:02:01
backdrop to do a part two of this type of film that it's good for that.
1:02:08
But I think it's underutilized in the, the pantheon of films that feature New York.
1:02:16
It's been featured a lot better in other Agreed. That's a really good way of putting it. My anxiety went way down when he was then offered the opportunity to, he gets
1:02:27
a limo with a cheese pizza to himself. He's drinking soda out of champagne flutes and watching the Grinch, and so
1:02:34
he just gets toted around New York and like at the plaza's expense now that Hmm.
1:02:40
I was like, now that sounds like a perfect day. I would love nothing more, except for if that was real champagne and not diet Coke.
1:02:47
that, that's, that's a great point. And that's when they should have showcased New
1:02:52
Yeah. that they did at the top, where he is just kind of like strolling around and he He arrives in New York and then all of a sudden he's here, there and everywhere.
1:02:59
Yeah. Yeah. If he was in the limo, then you could be like, okay, now we're all over Yeah. And that would make a lot more sense.
1:03:05
And it's earned because of the, the scene where he fakes it. And, and that was another thing I'd put in my notes about
1:03:11
Kevin has preconceived that. Somebody will eventually come into this room uninvited.
1:03:20
So I need to make a marionette Mm-hmm. shower and thank God I have my talk boy, which talk boy was basically
1:03:29
the, the hoverboard of this movie. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. this. And he has constructed this fake Uncle Frank to scare Tim Curry out of the room.
1:03:42
And that justifies them giving him all these perks that we were just talking about. But the, was another thing where I was just like, this doesn't make sense that
1:03:50
he would, would get this bozo inflatable thing and then make, the pencils so that
1:03:57
he could control it like the first one. Why would he do that? You know, you just put do not disturb on the door.
1:04:04
Nobody's gonna come in. So. Yeah. It was just a strange thing to, 'cause they wanna make a funny
1:04:11
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But when you really think about it, it didn't make sense.
1:04:16
And then that's how he used the gi 'cause it was the gift from his grandma, like a Oh, she thought you'd be able to use this in the pool.
1:04:23
'cause the family's supposed to be in Florida. Speaking of which, why is this family traveling over Christmas
1:04:29
again after what happened last year? No, stay home. You have a gorgeous house.
1:04:34
Just stay there. The, they're so sick of their awesome mansion. Yeah.
1:04:40
And then when they do go to Florida, the cuts to the family in Florida, I don't know if they aren't at at the place they're supposed
1:04:47
to be, but it seemed shitty. Like just like a crappy motel. Which makes no sense. 'cause this family would've clearly had a nice accommodations lined up.
1:04:57
So is it, what's the story behind that? I mean, I know it's Florida, you know, but
1:05:02
yeah, I think that whatever they have to change plans because they realize Kevin's missing and it's the only thing that they can find last minute.
1:05:10
It must be the But wouldn't they have had reservations? Like the plan was to go to Florida
1:05:16
yeah, why don't they go stay wherever they were gonna stay. they were supposed to end up while they sorted out.
1:05:21
That is interesting. But I did like seeing that shitty green gremlin in the parking lot of the motel that they're in.
1:05:29
And it was a motel. Yeah, definitely. I thought it was a cute little nod having a sequel to the sequel.
1:05:35
A movie within a movie within a movie of the Angels Without Soul. What was it? The Angels With, even Angels with even Filthier Filthier Souls or something.
1:05:45
is that what it Yeah. So, and using his talk voice. So we get a lot of the similar beats from the first one.
1:05:52
Like we kind of need a little bit of that. But I, I wanted more creativity from the pranks.
1:05:58
I think there were some missed opportunities. There could have been a lot more that could have been done because he now has
1:06:04
to foil the hotel people and the robbers.
1:06:09
And So much of it happens the same way. It happens in the in the first one. Yeah.
1:06:14
he slides, he slides into the elevator between the women's legs, the way he slides through the
1:06:20
Mm-hmm. and the on the ice rink, which makes a lot more Mm-hmm. sliding on the floor of a hotel.
1:06:26
Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of it, even the pranks or the the booby traps at the house, a lot are just.
1:06:34
The same. Yeah. one and not many. I did like the, the toilet full of kerosene or what,
1:06:43
yeah. was kind of a different, even though the walking through and the, in the first one, it's the blow torch to the head, and this one, it just kind of
1:06:51
catches his head on fire and then, then he does the handstand in the toilet, which is new, like a fresher take,
1:06:58
That's fair. So it, it's good when, it's good when they made it different and changed
1:07:04
Mm-hmm. And it's famili, but so many people just like comfort food.
1:07:09
It's a comfort food movie where you're seeing something that you already know that you're gonna enjoy.
1:07:15
So, that's why they're, they're writing it in so that you be like, oh yeah, I
1:07:20
liked it when I saw it the first time. So I like it Mm-hmm. too, Mm-hmm. but, I can say that. And I did, and you know, to some degree like even the cheese pizza to himself.
1:07:29
There were, I liked a lot of the carryover. I I guess I wish they would've just taken some of , the stunts up
1:07:35
a notch or maybe had a couple new really cool ones and they didn't. But I was confused.
1:07:41
By, what did the uncle's house have to do with the toy store?
1:07:47
How was him saving the toy store? His point was with all these booby traps and getting the burglars to
1:07:55
save the toy store because at the end of the night, Mr. Mr. Toy store
1:08:01
owner Duncan is going to donate all that money to a children's charity.
1:08:06
Mm-hmm. So they're going to the toy store to rob the toy store.
1:08:11
Is he just trying to run the clock out by bringing them to the uncle's house? 'cause all of the traps were at the uncle's house.
1:08:18
This is a great point that I, that hasn't occurred to me, so I'm.
1:08:25
You're watching my, the gears turn in my head right now. If the third act foiling of Harry and Marv had actually been in the toy
1:08:35
store and he was using and the things in this child's Playland, how, what
1:08:44
better sequence would that have been if he was weaponizing the toy store?
1:08:49
Yeah. would've been such a better So much better. I mean, it, it probably would've been a more expensive and harder to shoot,
1:08:57
which is probably why they just said, oh, my uncle's house is being renovated because I did think that was a good plot.
1:09:03
Di device Mm-hmm. he ends up with the whole sequence where he gets lost in the airport.
1:09:09
The way that they orchestrated that, like he, it's such a kid thing to.
1:09:14
Be like, oh, my toy's outta batteries. I wanted, I need to address this right now. And that's how he loses his track of his family and the guy
1:09:22
wearing the same code as his dad. And he follows that guy. They mix up the, he crashes into the flight attendant, the gate attendant.
1:09:31
All the tickets go everywhere. This is a clever way to facilitate Kevin getting to New York.
1:09:37
Why is the attention that you put into justifying not applied to the writing of
1:09:47
the finale and the way that you and I just created a better ending for this movie,
1:09:53
Yeah. which is speaks to the shortcomings of the movie Mm-hmm. arguing that it's not better than the
1:09:59
Right, but I mean, what were we led to believe though?, What does This house have to do with anything?
1:10:05
It's just a venue to do the same thing from the first one. He lures them there instead
1:10:11
Oh, because, because that was my point. Like the other thing that made the movie make a lot more sense is that he would,
1:10:16
getting the batteries for his toy secures his dad's travel bag that has money, which
1:10:22
Kevin will need to even get anywhere. He would just be at the airport and then the movie would be
1:10:28
Yeah. No money. No. why? Yeah. Yeah. So the, and then he has the address book of where his uncle
1:10:34
Mm-hmm. and, you know, some of these other tools that allow him to find his way around New York. So that, that was a good thing to insert into the plot or, to facilitate the
1:10:44
movie happening and then just drop the ball with, and do the same thing all over again that you did in the first one, only in a, a house of of coal
1:10:55
that no one's ever heard of before. It's just kind of lazy. I think he's meant to be. 'cause they're like, oh, isn't he in Paris?
1:11:01
Oh yeah. But the house is being run by, he was the uncle that they went to visit in the first movie. The fam right.
1:11:07
I'm Is that it? I don't him. The, this family has a lot of money. Or at least two of the brothers do.
1:11:13
Uncle Frank doesn't, but, but 'cause they were gonna go to Paris to, to visit, have Christmas with the, that uncle that apparently
1:11:20
has another home in New York City. Gee, must be nice to be in McAllister, eh?
1:11:25
Was one of my favorite lines in the movie. That's right at the beginning when he, when he is, goes to Uncle Frank.
1:11:31
Oh, I wouldn't wanna ruin your vacation, Mr. Cheapskate. And everybody's appalled by Kevin's smart mouth to his dickhead uncle,
1:11:40
who is a dickhead and deserves He is. So towards the end buzz shows Kevin, the room service bill, he's like, oh my
1:11:49
God, you're gonna be in so much trouble. It was $967, which I looked up today.
1:11:57
That would be about 2232. $2,232. That's really, I honestly would've thought it'd be way higher.
1:12:06
Or am I off on this at the plaza? I, yeah.
1:12:11
$0 of that was spent on the bird lady. Yeah. Come on Kevin.
1:12:19
That's crazy. And, but it's like, yeah. What else are you gonna do if you're a kid in a, a hotel room, but order room
1:12:27
Mm-hmm. So, I, I guess I just thought it would be more, amount of money. I did watch all the way through.
1:12:33
'cause sometimes the, so John Hughes will many times have a post credit scene in his movies.
1:12:39
There was not. Bueller? Yeah. But there was not there are a few bits of trivia here.
1:12:44
The original working title apparently was alone Again. What are your thoughts about that?
1:12:52
Hmm. Not good. Okay. Home alone two. Lost to New Yeah. I'll get either way.
1:12:57
So home alone too Alone again, or it's, you still need home alone in it somewhere.
1:13:02
Yeah. The phone number that was given for the Plaza Hotel in the movie is an actual working number for the Plaza Hotel.
1:13:09
Like whatever it was. That's good. Marketing for the plaza. Yeah. I wonder if it still is that same number.
1:13:15
There's a swimming pool scene. So Kevin does all the things kids love to do at a hotel and want,
1:13:21
including going to the pool. But I guess the Plaza doesn't have a swimming pool located on site.
1:13:29
So that was shot at the Four Seasons in Chicago, the pool scene funny. That's interesting.
1:13:35
Yeah. and more about the plaza. It still to this day, apparently offers the home alone experience around Christmas
1:13:45
where guests can pay to stay in a room. Very similar to the room in which Kevin stayed. Receive home alone gifts, including the movies, take a limousine and
1:13:53
see some of the filming locations, including the toy store upon which Duncan's Toy Chest was based.
1:14:00
Yeah. Is that still exist? That I thought FAO Schwartz was gone? Unless there's a different incarnation of
1:14:07
Yeah. I mean, okay. I don't know when that tidbit was published, so
1:14:13
Oh, okay. for who know? Yeah. Experience that they offered Yeah. Or maybe that's just not part of it, but because it was,
1:14:20
go. yeah. ever had the chance to go to FAO No, a thing? no. Did you?
1:14:26
was, yeah. And it's something else Yeah. mean, they that watch big and you, and you get a really good idea of what it is,
1:14:33
now that we've discussed this, it's such a missed opportunity that they didn't do. The toy store.
1:14:39
the toy store foiling Mm-hmm. Harry. I, why wouldn't you do that? Why? What are you thinking?
1:14:45
'cause Columbus and John Hughes. yeah. You, you wrote it, John, come on.
1:14:50
Ah, yeah, I get frustrated. During this season, I'm probably more often than not, a little
1:14:56
frustrated with John Hughes. He really hits when he hits. And I think this is a hit, like this is a, I I'm not, I I just have fun.
1:15:03
Sometimes when podcasting about a movie, I have fun poking holes in it, where they are.
1:15:09
So I don't want people to get upset with me. I do like this movie, everyone.
1:15:14
but it did, it did drop the ball Mm-hmm. Oh. Have you ever heard of that movie? It's a Dwayne, the Rock Johnson movie called Skyscraper.
1:15:22
Mm-hmm. kind of came out after Jumanji and.
1:15:29
Oh, Andreas and he, it, what's interesting about it is he plays
1:15:34
a vet that ha is missing a leg. So his family is trapped at the top of this smart building skyscraper that is,
1:15:44
has a diehard scenario happening in it. And the movie is called Skyscraper.
1:15:49
The finale takes place at the top of the building and the whole time you
1:15:56
are expecting somebody, a villain or a maybe a, loved one to get thrown
1:16:03
off the building and Dwayne Johnson is going to jump off the skyscraper and rescue somebody that's falling from what's being held up in the movie as
1:16:13
the biggest building in the world. then you get to the end and it's not, it's like a hall of mirrors finale and nobody
1:16:20
falls off the top of the building and. What? feel like you watched this for nothing?
1:16:26
Oh, what a let down. What a let down. this Toy Store finale of Home Alone two now is replacing
1:16:34
Huge missed opportunity. opportunity since skyscraper Okay. Yeah. For real though,
1:16:40
Hmm, I guess, writer and producer John Hughes, like during production of this,
1:16:45
he was already writing script drafts for the third movie in which he wanted
1:16:51
Macaulay to return as a teenager. But I guess when he found out that Macaulay Culkin quit acting in 94, he
1:16:58
had to rewrite the story with a new kid. Yeah. for, for the worst.
1:17:03
Yeah, yeah. that was probably for the best too. You Mm-hmm. Yep. the colleague GaN on to be a, a big meth head or
1:17:12
Yeah, except for 20 years. I don't know man. Tim Curry, Macaulay Coken, and Joe Pesci all in this movie reportedly
1:17:21
turned down roles in the Lion King to do this film instead.
1:17:28
Which is weird because the Lion King didn't come out until 94, Yeah.
1:17:34
but I don't know if it just, work I assume so. Yeah, I assume so. Yeah. don't know, I wasn't that like Matthew Broderick
1:17:42
Mm-hmm. I don't know who they would've been. Tim Curry as a scar Maybe, maybe
1:17:48
what that was gonna Hashi. I could have been one of the hyenas or something like, like I can see,
1:17:53
Yeah. Or timone. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. way too much about the Lion King, apparently.
1:18:00
really good. And then you know who was missing in this movie? We had a cameo in the first movie by a very famous comedian, also frequent
1:18:09
collaborator with John Hughes. John Yeah. John Candy. John Candy was not in this
1:18:16
Yeah. Why? well, the original. sense. I'm glad that you asked Andy.
1:18:23
But see, did, did he die at this point? No, not, oh, yet. Mm yet. The original plan was for John Candy to make a cameo, but I guess he
1:18:31
was bitter about how little money he received from the first film.
1:18:36
hmm. And so he refused to do it. You get what? Get what you're worth. Get John Candy's worth a lot.
1:18:42
Throw him, he is after the, he did you a favor with the first one? agreed.
1:18:47
I would, it would've been awesome if it was the same character. The Polka Came into play somehow.
1:18:52
Yeah. helps out Yeah. That would've been great Agreed. you know, you don't cut the money to John Candy on set for one day.
1:19:03
Yeah, but I guess he was just bitter because they could have given him more like posts like after the fact because Home Alone was such
1:19:10
a hit and he, however much he got paid must not have been very much. backend Yeah, yeah.
1:19:15
Mm-hmm. agent, John Candy. I know. Which is unusual because you usually don't hear about him
1:19:21
kinda holding grudges or anything. It's usually the other way around. John Hughes is usually the one anyway.
1:19:27
Andy that new doc about him. That's out now. There's a New John Candy there on what?
1:19:34
What's it on? Hmm. It might be Prime or Netflix.
1:19:39
One of the big ones, Okay. I'm gonna have to check it out. I do really like John Candy. Who doesn't, I mean, he's, yeah.
1:19:45
I mean, we could have talked for another hour about. Home alone. Two, you know, comparing it to the first one, all of it.
1:19:54
We could have talked forever, but we have to conclude at some point, what are your closing thoughts about Home Alone Two, and then please remind
1:20:01
us where we can find more of you. Yes, I would love to, thoughts about Home Alone.
1:20:07
Two, it's a, it's a fun movie. It's, I was glad to have a reason to rewatch it, and we are approaching
1:20:14
the holiday season, so, oftentimes I will myself watching the original
1:20:20
and not so much the second one. Mm-hmm. I, I was glad to revisit it.
1:20:26
It reminded me of what my talent Joe Peci is and how much
1:20:32
I love Tim Curry and O'Hara. The, all these characters were fun to spend another two hours with, and
1:20:42
even though I don't think it's as good as the first one that doesn't really,
1:20:49
Ruin the viewing experience of the second one. And like I said, there's a lot of creative ways that they the
1:20:58
formula that makes it fun watch. So I would, or anybody that wants to dig into a holiday movie at
1:21:07
the holiday season, this is a very good one to add to the watch list. So, please do.
1:21:14
And then also please go to all apologies podcast.com. Actually, I'm begging everybody to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
1:21:23
So, you can find all apologies podcast on YouTube and hit that subscribe button.
1:21:28
And keep up up with everything that we're releasing there, including the Edgar Wright series, all the Right moves that Ryan Alkin is also hosting
1:21:36
on the Director's Chair podcast network. So check that out as well.
1:21:41
Great for stuff. Yes. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for joining me to talk about this sequel.
1:21:48
And some 92 memories. So it's always fun to kind of go back in time. But that is a wrap on Home Alone.
1:21:54
Two, you guys lost in New York. Proof that light lightning can almost strike twice, especially
1:22:00
when you've got Tim Curry, pigeons and a credit card with no limit. If you enjoyed this trip back to 1992, take a second to rate
1:22:08
and review retro Made seriously. Seriously, it does make a huge difference and helping other
1:22:15
nostalgia nerds like us find the show. Or you can always drop me a line. You can email me, tell me what you think about Home Alone Two versus
1:22:23
Home Alone, the original bonus points. If it involves a talk boy. But until next time, be kind, rewind.