Is Home Alone a Top 5 Christmas Movie? ft. Kylie Kelce | New Heights Film Club

0:00The only way this would have made sense is if the plane crashed upon taking off something they never knew and everyone just died. that would have made sense that he was left alone for a little bit the hell it wouldn't have been as Christmasy

0:18welcome back to another edition of New Heights Film Club where you're also I'm Travis Kelsey this is my brother Jason Kelsey the smoothest guys you know the guys that watch movies very very closely and critique and give you good subscribe on YouTube, 1Q +, wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with one S. Jason, why don't you tell the people what exactly we have for this episode? Coming up on This Film Club, we are joined by Kylie Kelsey to revisit this 1990 Christmas classic, Home Alone. It's a good one. It's a good one. Let's check it out right now.

0:59Let's hear it. That's right. We're going to do a little Christmas New Heights Film Club edition, and And the film that you guys chose for us to review is none other than the Christmas classic Home Alone 1990. This movie came out in 1990? It was in 1990. I was surprised by that, too. Wow. It was old. Yeah. Older than I thought it was. I feel like I saw it when it was brand new, but I was only three years old. I doubt I did. I think Home Alone 2 was the one that we were like. New York? Yeah. When was that? You're looking it up? No, I'm not looking up anything. Home Alone 2 was, nope, it was 92. So no, we still were pretty young.

1:45Yeah, either way, definitely thought it was like more mid to late 90s because we were kids when we first were watching it. Yeah. Yeah. Still a classic though. When did you see the movie? You weren't even born. Yeah, look at me. I was so young. i probably saw it uh i saw it sometime in the 90s i know that okay yeah i mean that narrows it down so before i was eight it's a good one for the kids have the kids seen it yeah the kids have seen it ellie calls it home alone very delgo love that benny does not like the uh slipping she does not she freaks her out she says it yep i don't know why ellie freaks her out that much ellie was asking me about the zip line the other day took us a while to figure out what the hell she was talking about and she was asking me whether or not you can zip line on the power line she didn't say the word zip line no she didn't she said on that rope and then we had to get to you know the guy in home alone does it i'm like i'm gonna need more context than that and she's like you've seen the movie mom and i'm like yeah a couple times but i still don't know what the hell you're talking about still making no sense yeah so we got to the bottom of it she You meant zipline.

3:00I will say that when I was a kid, that was one of the parts of the movie where I was like, Dad, I want that. For sure. You can zipline out of the house. That's what I want. I wanted a dog. Out of my window? I don't even need – they don't even need to see me downstairs. No. I can go right to my treehouse. I wanted a treehouse. I mean, the whole thing. It was just – Yeah. I will say this. When the first scene hits after like the – When that music starts cramping.

3:30yeah yeah yep so you're talking about the classic so magical it's just like it like lifts me and i like start floating yeah the score is fantastic it's a very well made film i'm glad it was the first christmas movie i watched this year because it really did make me be like oh wow it is this is christmas it is christmas christmas is happening and we're here we finally made it to December and that is the magical season is upon us. Well, let's start recapping the movie. Let's do this. Okay. Oh, gosh. How does it hold up? Oh, it still cracks. Very well. It's still incredible. Still good. There's a few things that are starting to get dated.

4:05There's a few things that are starting to get dated, but because it's a nostalgic movie that takes place in a time, it's a period specific film now. I think it's sold. Yeah. Teaches kids can't trust cops. Well, can't trust anybody. Crooked cop. Yeah, you can't trust cops, but you can trust the creepy man across the street. Man with the shovel. Yeah. He just looks at you awkwardly. Yeah. Have you ever wished for your family to disappear? For sure. Who are you talking about when you were growing up or right now? All the above. That's crazy. maybe not wish for it but definitely like thought of a life where it wasn't the reality and then was like all right whatever that's not ever gonna happen it's not even worth wishing it's not even worth i only get a few wishes the ones that i really want to come true yeah did you guys ever run away from home no i definitely did yeah me too i definitely ran away i might have packed a bag but i was such a rule follower i was like i can't run away i think i like grabbed a bag of chips and threw it in a backpack and like a few toys and then fucking got down the street and just like hid in the bushes i do think that there should be a trend on social media of what was packed in a kid's runaway bag and not grown-ups recounting it i'm talking about when a grown-up yes takes a picture of a kid's runaway bag i think that that would be because you know it's going to be it's going to be three Legos, right?

5:47Juice box. A stuffy, a single juice box, probably already drank, and maybe a half a snack. Done. Yeah, you guys are ahead of me. I didn't even pack a bag. I just walked in. Fuck you guys! And I walked out the door and I started walking. He ran away the same way he goes to Vegas. Just, I know where I'm going. It has everything I need. Then I got to the stop sign and said, I don't know where I'm going. And I don't know how to get home. Where am I going to go? Friend's house? He doesn't know how to get there, Trav. I was not good at that. Aimless. Jason, yeah. Everyone was terrified of Jason running away.

6:25Because he'd never make it home. We would really have to search for him. All right. I'll let you answer this, Trav. Who was the Kevin and who was the Buzz in the Kelsey household? I think it's going to stand true no matter what household it is. The older siblings. Is Buzz. Versus the younger siblings. Um, cause it's just, I mean, it is what it is. The older siblings always, you know, have fun with picking on the younger ones and the younger ones always wish that they were older and like had more responsibility. So they would stop getting treated like they were irresponsible. So you, you identify as Kevin.

7:07Yes. 100%. I always watched the movie thinking I was Kevin. I never watched it. I saw myself as Kevin. I liked Kevin. I liked the movie, but I never was... Jay, I don't know that you're a planner like Kevin. Honestly, the Rube Goldberg system that he implemented is... The map? The entire map that he had? I mean, he's like an offensive coordinator. He should be an offensive coordinator. Who is fucking brilliant. I was like, holy shit. I didn't even remember that from the first 30 times I watched the movie. I saw that map and I was like, whoa. Wow. This kid. Kevin's going to be something. Dialed.

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10:34Boar's Head, committed to craft since 1905. How about it? It's just a great name, too. Over 100 years. Yeah, you know what you're getting. Boar's Head. All right. Well, let's recap the plot. For those of you that don't know, if you've - Are there people who haven't seen Home Alone? Living under a rock since the 90s? I don't think I've ever met anybody that hasn't seen Home Alone. I mean, there's some young people that have probably not seen it, if we're being honest. It is made in the 90s. There are people that surprisingly don't know anything about the 90s that I frequently encounter. So I think they're out there.

11:08That's sad for them. All right. Recap of the movie. There is a family, the McAllisters, who are vacationing over the holidays to France. Not just mom, dad, and the kids, but uncles, aunts. Going to business with family over there. Big family vacation going over to France for Christmas. and as they are getting ready, there is also a group of burglars, this is a very well-off area, who have decided to try and stake out a neighborhood to find out which families are leaving for the holidays and which homes might be good ones to rob. And when the family is getting ready to leave the night before, power outage, so their alarm clocks don't go off on time, the family has to rush out the door in the morning because they're running late to the airport.

11:54and in this rush they forget one of their sons they forget kevin mcallister he's in the attic up in the attic asleep they get to the airport they think they got everybody they take off for france and mom doesn't realize till she's halfway over the ocean that poor old kevin is still in the mean streets of chicago kevin wakes up where's my family has no idea all of a sudden well he wished for his family to never... You're right. I didn't want to... Yeah, I guess that is an important part. He did wish, so at first he thinks that he actually wished them away, and Santa Claus had granted him his Christmas wish.

12:35And then he realizes the predicament he's in and that he's a child and he can't fend for himself and he starts to panic and all of these things happen where he's fearful and whatnot and I guess in order to say the plot, these burglars that have been casing out the neighborhood know that the McAllisters are leaving, so they go back to this neighborhood to burglarize a bunch of different homes. They call themselves the wet bandits. That's our thing. In the process of burglarizing these homes, Kevin notices one of the burglars who was in his house and perhaps the worst idea ever for a burglar to go expose your face to a bunch of people before you rob their home, before you've done it.

13:15It just seems like a very bad idea. The wet bandits were too good. Hey, let's go rob all these homes. say, first, let's go show up at their house and show our face. And then when they come back, like, hey, the cops were coming around the neighborhood earlier this week. No, we weren't. We had a cop in our house. No cop was in that neighborhood that night. Yeah, it was a cop with a gold tooth. Anyways, yeah. Anyways, Kevin notices this burglar and he realizes that he's in trouble. So instead of having a security system like you would expect, a very wealthy family of the McAllister's. What's the 90s?

13:491990. Okay. They still had security systems in the 90s. 1 ,000 % they did. 1 ,000%. But nice neighborhoods, yeah. Anyways, McAllister's, they're all gone. Kevin's by himself. Wet bandits are coming in. Kevin has to try and figure out a way to deter them. He does a great job of utilizing light systems and all the typical things. But eventually, the wet bandits realize he's on his own. He knows that they know that he's on his own. So he's got to think smart. So he decides to set up a series of Rube Goldberg events throughout his entire house to inflict damage, harm, and slow these burglars down.

14:25He's not calling the cops, what, because the power lines, the phone lines don't work in this ridiculous made-up scenario? Is that what's happening? I forget. I don't think he ever thought to call the cops. I think he just took it upon himself to defend himself. This whole fucking... Okay, so, yeah, I want to get to the end of this so we can get to the absurdity of this plot. Anyways, in epic fashion, Kevin gets the better of the wet band. It's time and time again. Joe Pesci and God damn it. What's the other actor? It's not Randy Quaid. What's the fuck? He's very good. Daniel Stern. Daniel Stern.

14:58What are the two names in the fuck? Harry and Marv. Harry and Marv. Thank you. Marv is a Daniel Stern. All right. Harry and Marv. They try to get into the McAllister's house. Kevin McAllister does a great job of setting up all these booby traps. They can't get in. they're trying to get in eventually they get in then they get up to the attic then he ziplines out of the attic it's a whole thing at no point are they robbing them they're just trying to apparently get kevin and kidnap him or something like that at some point they just say fuck this this kid is ruining our day we're about to get after this motherfucker um and it uh it all ends with the neighbor down the street saving the day and the web bandits being caught and kevin being reunited with his family safe and sound uh where do we want to start off with this i want to start off with we kind of mentioned earlier that that i always thought i was kevin do you guys now watch that movie as if you're the parents i don't think you put yourself in this might be the most unrelatable parents i've ever seen in a christmas movie i mean there's just it's blatantly i mean listen everybody goes to the like like you leave with one without one of your kids at some point i feel like that's like a very standard thing you should not feel shame for that necessarily maybe you forget about it long enough to take off an airplane yeah probably should feel some shame there but who the fuck like i just don't understand how you can't call somebody to go get this fucking kid like there's there wasn't cell phones back then Jason premise that this one neighborhood is out of phone activity you could call the cops they have ways to get called the cops she did call the cops in like that area no she called the cops in her neighborhood why are we calling if they aren't helping I'm calling other cops I'm calling family members that are still there they're hold I'm calling friends That would ruin the plot of the movie.

17:06There is precisely 0 % chance that I am just waiting a couple days before I can fly back to Chicago to see what happens with Kevin. This is the most ridiculous premise. She got back in like a day and a half. There's no scenario where you wouldn't be able to get somebody. Like anybody who got that call. Anybody who got that call said, hey, I'm in the airport. I'm on an airplane going to France. I'm in France. I left my kid could you go do that if it was like two hours away I would drive to go get a kid out from being by them so like this is just it's the dumbest thing I've ever you only get so many calls at the airport Jason it's like jail everybody knows that that's the nostalgia of the 90s though is that there is like that it like it sounds so easy to just pick up your cell phone right now and just call everyone in that area and find it I'm not letting I don't know if it was just that easy it was that easy everybody had landlines and anybody in the 90s could have received a phone call this isn't the fucking 30s where you had to go to the operator and do it no people knew people's numbers yeah i could have called aunt judy who would have drove 40 minutes across town all their family all their family went with them to france i could have called steve bogus to come pick you up.

18:28I could have called fucking... I will say this. The dad in this movie was very disinterested in Marty and Kevin. He was like, my sweetie, you're going to try me. And that says there's no flights for another three days. You're going to keep fighting uphill battle right now? He's lost. Give it up. He's done. It's over with. He'll figure it out. We got the whole other family to be... we can't ruin everyone's vacation

19:02it's so true forgot how easy it was to get on a plane with like a ticket like she just handed the entire pile of tickets to the flight attendant and was like yeah this is all of it she's like alright cool go on up good luck didn't even count how many tickets they had and how many people they had yeah i was like oh nice we were looking for you it's not good it's i do think they did their best to explain away as much as they possibly could by saying that would be home alone no by saying that all of their extended family like every single person in their family was going on the show we why are we acting like we don't have phone numbers to people that aren't immediately our fan this guy worked at some fucking business like you could have called a co-worker like there's no way there's nobody he actually didn't give a shit yeah he really was like yeah that's that he's like are we gonna the only way this would have made sense is if the plane crashed upon taking off something they never knew and everyone just died that would have made sense that he was left alone for a little bit what the hell it wouldn't have been as christmasy that's so messed up all right so yep poor poor banditing to go and show your face to the place you're about to rob before you go in there just have like somebody else that's not going to rob it you just pay somebody else to go in there and scope it out yep i guess then you're adding another person to the knowledge that you're doing it yeah but i'm gonna just wait till everybody leaves Then you gotta split it.

20:42Yeah. I'm not a professional bandit. I just felt like that wasn't the wisest of choices.

20:52What was your favorite? What was your guys' favorite part of the movie? I like the opening the most, to be honest with you. The chaos of the Christmas house and the family there. It feels very relatable. Like running around, getting pissed off about really stupid things that only siblings would be pissed off about. Like the one family member that wets the bed. There's this. There's not being enough pizza. Yeah. And also the two-liter jug of soda and the paper plate, all of it is just very reminiscent of my childhood, I feel like, other than the enormously expensive house. And the big family. And the big family.

21:36But we were around a lot of people around the holidays, even though it wasn't family it was friends and we'd go to holiday parties yeah the halls and uh their holiday party their new year's eve party was always so much fun it was great yep shout out to the halls what uh what was your favorite part i just i love the i love the mayhem i love the mayhem of him planning how to fuck with them yeah so good so you're more about the planning than the actual execution. No, I think the execution, but I do just... You have to appreciate how much thought and effort went into it and the fact that it went off without a hitch.

22:20For things that happened precisely off of a door opening. Orchestrated, yes. Yes, very well orchestrated. I liked it. That's pretty good. Trav, what about you? I'm going to go with the scene where he steals the toothbrush and he runs away from the cops. It's an exciting scene. Flanking? I think it was a very fun, yes, he flanked. And I think the funny part of that whole thing is that a scene right after that, he immediately feels terrible for stealing. And I'm pretty sure he goes to church.

22:56Well, I thought he goes to the church to run away from the wet bandits. By the way, very perceptive by Kevin in that moment to see Harry and realize that's the cop that was in my house and that this is not an actual cop. And to start walking away and then he runs to the church. He goes into the church before that or after that? He's in the church twice, isn't he? Yeah. Well, he goes into the church the night before. But then there is a scene where he runs to the church. I just thought it was so funny that he stole something and then as he's walking home, he's immediately like, man, I didn't mean to steal this.

23:35you didn't have any other choice yeah i do gotta say i i think it's probably i didn't want to run from the cops i think it's it's got to be the best cast christmas movie of all time like could you think of anybody other than macaulay colcombe being kevin like the facial expressions it's he crushes it he just did such a great job like i don't know like the way he talks he like feels more grown up than what his age is but he still looks like a child and innocent but he's got like this great dry sense of humor the only one that i know that talk to grown-ups at that age like as if they were a grown-up was patrick bacon what did you guys say the exact same we've talked about this he has been he has literally had this same demeanor and like ability to have conversations with grown-ups since we were like fucking three he would like bargain with our our east side kickers coach on like how many laps like it was like a discussion like every like conditioning you had to do five laps like i don't know what do you think about three three is good enough right i'm running i mean we're getting it we're getting it done right we're gonna be running during practice too so we might as well you know that's an interesting skill to have shout out to the bacons it's time to thank our partner who's that reese's or reese's however you like to call it i'm pretty sure they would like us to say reese's so we're gonna say Reese's and their perfect holiday companion, their Reese's Trees.

25:21Oh, they are so good. Nothing says the holiday like Reese's Perfect Peanut Butter Stuff Chocolate Trees. They might be the best holiday candy ever. All right, man. It's up for debate. Every holiday tradition is better when you add Reese's Trees. Holiday movies? Yeah. I mean, those go definitely better with Reese's Trees. Ugly sweater parties? I mean, who doesn't like chocolate stains all over their ugly sweater? I do. skipping the ugly sweater party to watch football in your sweats instead i mean that's a no-brainer of course i mean you throw on that ugly sweater anyways yeah so celebrate the season with peanut butter perfection and be sure to grab reese's trees today jason why don't you tell them where to get them from what's found wherever candy is sold literally you can find it everywhere i think i called you jason jason jason thank you to our partner gillette all right now jason you've been retired for a full year uh let's talk pre-game rituals do you miss them still have them i kind of have one i guess for monday night countdown like i kind of i go to the production meeting then i kind of iron out what's happening in the rundown then i go to the makeup lady then i go to the hair and uh then i go on set i was just curious to see if you were putting that same game day energy into your uh new broadcasting routine that's all well first and foremost it includes making sure that this beard is looking real nice which is finally starting to show some of my grades again after dying it i'm getting those natural colors back thank you thanks so much But yeah, I have some grooming individuals that make sure it's looking nice and tidy.

27:08If you were looking for a tool to help wrangle it in a little bit, look no further than Gillette Labs NFL licensed razor. Special edition razors have those long-lasting Gillette Labs blades and the precision trimmer on the back that's perfect for cleaning up this guy. Nice. I hear it's a must-have for NFL fans this season, and clearly you too. Sold, available now on 12 teams, including the Eagles and Chiefs. Get it while you can at Gillette.com slash NFL. Gillette, the best a fan can get. But I think the cast, just because Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, and what is it again? Daniel Stern, Marvin Harry, Catherine O 'Hara is the mom, John Candy.

27:56John Candy, the polka. Yeah, leaving out the band is a... He was more invested than her own husband was in finding a character. Yeah. Who was better, Marv or Harry? When you brought up best scenes, my favorite scene is really any scene where Marv is screaming. He is fucking fantastic. He has an electric scream. That's such a coward. He just set off the baby monitor. Or I guess he gets electrocuted. Harry's the one that has the head on fire. When he's getting electrocuted and the whole like... So good. He also steps on the ornaments, I do think that. Well, they both do, right? Or is it just him?

28:43I think it's him. Because I think Harry's at the door handle. Oh, yeah. The Burning Door Handle? Joe Pesci kills it too. They're both so good. They're good in different ways. It's a great movie. It's got a whole Lenny of Mice and Men feel with Marv being the dummy and Joe Pesci being the witty one, but he's really not that smart. Where are you guys ranking Home Alone as a Christmas movie? We're doing PFF grades, right? Where does Home Alone rank? Why does no one want to ask who would nail this? Who would nail what? Who would handle a Home Alone scenario the best out of all of us? Travis, not any question.

29:25Are you kidding me? I would fucking thrive. I've always thought Kevin McAllister and Travis Kelsey had a lot in coming. You don't even think I have a shot? I mean, it just... Wow. No. You would have been more planned out for sure. My instincts would have been fantastic in situations like this. guys they fucked around i really think i could help them find out nice well done yeah all right where's the ranking in everybody's rankings i'll go top five i can't rank like it's hard to go like one two three exactly and i actually i think i like home alone two more really i don't i'm gonna have to go back and watch home alone two now I like Home Alone 1 definitely the most.

30:16Home Alone 2 is good though. Still has the great same cast. Yeah. I like the pigeon lady in Home Alone 2. Yeah. She was great. Top five. I was just trying to think. I like... Okay, which movies do I like more than Home Alone? Love Actually. Christmas Vacation. Christmas Story. The Santa Claus. The Grinch. Oof, great one. I'm not putting Santa Claus above, but I do like the Santa Claus. It's a good movie. I just, I think, I like Home Alone more than that. You know which one I really like, which is a newer one, but I watch it every Christmas now. It's Claws. You do love that one. Or Claws from Netflix.

30:58Great Christmas movie. I'm kind of like a sucker for the claymation Rudolph. Oof. OJ. I think I like Elf better than Home Alone. So not top five. I think it's just out of the top five for me. I'm putting it in the top five with Grinch, Home Alone 2, and Elf. I'll probably say those three are probably the only ones I'm taking over it. I think it's either top five. Maybe it's six. But I'm saying the Santa Claus is up there, the original Grinch. Not the original. I'm sorry. The Jim Carrey Grinch. Yeah. I mean Love Actually that's not a surprise to anyone don't say anything nobody was asking

31:51yeah I'd say it's probably top five but I think it's like the number five slot. Alright PFF Grades Christmasness I think this is high in Christmasness so all throughout the film the whole reason this is happening is Christmas it also has like that the the soundtrack the the setting all of it like it's just very christmassy yeah 10 i don't know if it can get more christmassy other than the grinch yeah i mean it doesn't have like santa claus i guess or like it has a reference to him it does it does i don't know literally has him going to the church it has like the jesus like what is it called in front of the church every church has it.

32:37The nativity scene. Yes. Yes. It's not but it's not like the Grinch or Rudolph or Frosty like it's not like a story that is directly associated with the concept of Christmas. Yeah I'm trying to like think of it. It's not like 10 out of 10 to me but it's definitely very Christmassy. Alright. One to a hundred. I'd say like 98. I'll go 90. You go 98. you go 100 you want to go 98 boom 98 acting acting i'll go 100 on this i don't think there's one piece of bad acting in the whole film directing oh i'm gonna go another 100 wow just giving hundreds away just giving hundreds out i think i'm waiting for i listen i'm you you even said this movie wasn't is that more plot i like it it's just yeah I think that's more plot.