• Light/Dark

Kevin’s traps in Home Alone 2 are straight up diabolical

Altazor

Altazor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,261
Chile
tumblr_mee10kTi5Y1rgewb2o8_250.gif
 
greengr

greengr

Member
Dec 3, 2018
2,720
Dalek said:
I think what that user is saying is not that Joe Pesci stopped acting immediately after appearing in Home Alone 2. But rather - later in life he could retire BECAUSE he was in Home Alone 2.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
He retired almost 15 years after Home Alone 2 and I doubt what was basically a supporting role set him up for life,either way i imagine he didnt hurt for money to retire.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,352
greengr said:
He retired almost 15 years after Home Alone 2 and I doubt what was basically a supporting role set him up for life.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
He was in the sequel to what was at the time one of the biggest movies of all time in a leading role. I'm sure he got paid more money on Home Alone 2 than any other role-except possibly My Cousin Vinnie and Lethal Weapon 4. He's great in the Scorsese movies but I don't think those roles paid all that well.
 
greengr

greengr

Member
Dec 3, 2018
2,720
Dalek said:
He was in the sequel to what was at the time one of the biggest movies of all time in a leading role. I'm sure he got paid more money on Home Alone 2 than any other role-except possibly My Cousin Vinnie and Lethal Weapon 4. He's great in the Scorsese movies but I don't think those roles paid all that well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I imagine either way he wouldn't have trouble to retire and live more than comfortable after all those movies.
 
Friskykillface

Friskykillface

Member
Nov 27, 2017
30,649
California
That nail one always makes me go 😱😱😱😱
Haha Kevin chucks a normal brick from 3 stories high and hits him in the face

that electricity one is brutal too
 
Richiek

Richiek

Member
Nov 2, 2017
12,063
It helps to think of the Home Alone films as modern day version of the Three Stooges or a live action Looney Tunes cartoon.

EDIT: tho the staple gun trap is borderline horror film territory.
 

Spine Crawler

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,228
Finale Fireworker said:
But the doctor said I'm su-...



Oh boy, here we go. Forgive me Professor Beef I held off as long as I could. It is time to bring back The Rant™.

Kevin McAllister is a rich, white, suburban American kid whose stupid family is obscenely wealthy. Not just his immediate family, but his extended family as well. Not only is the McAllister dynasty wealthy enough to support a Parisian vacation over the holidays with 11 horrible children, but the other McAllister terror cell they are visiting is rich enough to be kicking it back in Paris while their entire multifloor Manhattan townhouse undergoes extensive renovations. This is a family whose wealth knows no measure or limit. The financial security Kevin enjoys as an upper class young boy cannot be overstated. Kevin McAllister is a boy with no concept whatsoever of want besides superficial desires like cheese pizza.

In Home Alone 2, Kevin finds himself lost in Manhattan with his father's credit card. Kevin has unlimited money to do whatever he wants. So he does. He goes to The Plaza Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in the city, and tricks the staff in to giving him a room. While we are meant to be impressed with Kevin's antics, this is only the beginning of a long series of humiliations he exerts over the service workers at this hotel as Kevin lords over them all with his generational wealth.

While Home Alone 1 has Kevin defending himself from would be home invaders in a life threatening situation, the service staff at The Plaza poses no such threat to him. They are not invading his space, he is invading theirs. Every single one of them are there because it's their job to be. They are doing their jobs - over the holidays no less - as Kevin manipulates them to fulfill his luxurious whims. We are meant to find it hilarious how he degrades and debases them. He doesn't tip them, he subjects them to repeated embarrassment, and ultimately makes them afraid for their lives as he simulates a mass shooting. We saw a glimpse of this in Home Alone 1 with the pizza delivery boy, but in Home Alone 2, Kevin's treatment of the wage staff at this hotel is inhumane. What we see here is that upper class Kevin exerting unearned dominance over the working class with extreme prejudice.

There is not a single hotel employee that has done anything to earn Kevin's abuse beyond do their jobs. Yet he makes them afraid they will be murdered if they dare step out of line. This is shameful.

However, where the movie is really beyond the pale is in regards to Kevin's relationship with "the pigeon lady." This homeless woman isn't even given the dignity of a name in this film. At first, Kevin perceives her with fear and disgust. He attempts to run from her but fumbles and becomes stuck. She helps him and Kevin momentarily shows a glimmer of humanity as he realizes it was wrong to be afraid of her. This moment of empathy is brief however as Kevin's selfishness and sociopathy does not allow for any actual understanding of anyone below his social class.

This woman explains that she wasn't always homeless. She once had a home and a man she loved very much but it ended badly. This incident gave her PTSD and now she is distrustful of others and is unable to function in society. She calmly and bravely opens up to Kevin about her past trauma and her subsequent dehumanization in an uncaring society that forsakes the mentally ill. And do you know how Kevin responds? He says yeah, he gets it, because he's the youngest in his disgusting family. He then tells her to get over it and that only by opening herself up to love again will she ever not be a homeless lady covered in bird shit again. Straight up, to her vulnerable face, Kevin tells a homeless woman that she is responsible for her own prolonged destitution and that if she wants people to treat her better she needs to get over her mental illness. Kevin then goes home to his luxury hotel where he has every whim of his indulged by service workers he humiliates.

Seriously, he has unlimited money. He couldn't have gotten her a place to stay? Or invited her to stay with him? He couldn't share his unlimited food with her? He didn't even offer to let her take a shower. He descends from his nearly-llteral ivory tower, blames a shit covered mentally ill homeless woman who suffers nonstop dehumanization that she needs to get over her PTSD, and at the end of a movie he gives her a fucking bird ornament to show her how much he cares about her. How does he sleep at night in his king size bed at The Plaza Hotel knowing that someone who opened up to him about her inescapable poverty and trauma is sleeping on the street in the cold? What is wrong with this monster?

Home Alone 2 is a perverse Christmas Carol. It is the story of a spoiled rich young boy whose time with the working class and the poor motivates him to torment or abandon them. Even his supposedly virtuous gesture of preventing the toy store robbery costs him nothing. It's not his money. It's not his donation. Kevin does nothing except take a tour of what it's like to be less fortunate than him and live it up in a Trump Hotel.

The Wet Bandits were right to want to kill Kevin and I always hope they catch him. 😡

Where is she even supposed to put that bird ornament?? She doesn't have a Christmas tree. She is homeless. She is surrounded at all times by actual, living birds. What does she want a fake one for?? Fuck you Kevin.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I mean even as a kid I thought Kevin was an asshole after seeing Hoem Alone 2. The actor was definitely having fun though. Same with Richie Rich.
 
AuthenticM

AuthenticM

Son Altesse Sérénissime
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
30,858
Finale Fireworker said:
But the doctor said I'm su-...



Oh boy, here we go. Forgive me Professor Beef I held off as long as I could. It is time to bring back The Rant™.

Kevin McAllister is a rich, white, suburban American kid whose stupid family is obscenely wealthy. Not just his immediate family, but his extended family as well. Not only is the McAllister dynasty wealthy enough to support a Parisian vacation over the holidays with 11 horrible children, but the other McAllister terror cell they are visiting is rich enough to be kicking it back in Paris while their entire multifloor Manhattan townhouse undergoes extensive renovations. This is a family whose wealth knows no measure or limit. The financial security Kevin enjoys as an upper class young boy cannot be overstated. Kevin McAllister is a boy with no concept whatsoever of want besides superficial desires like cheese pizza.

In Home Alone 2, Kevin finds himself lost in Manhattan with his father's credit card. Kevin has unlimited money to do whatever he wants. So he does. He goes to The Plaza Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in the city, and tricks the staff in to giving him a room. While we are meant to be impressed with Kevin's antics, this is only the beginning of a long series of humiliations he exerts over the service workers at this hotel as Kevin lords over them all with his generational wealth.

While Home Alone 1 has Kevin defending himself from would be home invaders in a life threatening situation, the service staff at The Plaza poses no such threat to him. They are not invading his space, he is invading theirs. Every single one of them are there because it's their job to be. They are doing their jobs - over the holidays no less - as Kevin manipulates them to fulfill his luxurious whims. We are meant to find it hilarious how he degrades and debases them. He doesn't tip them, he subjects them to repeated embarrassment, and ultimately makes them afraid for their lives as he simulates a mass shooting. We saw a glimpse of this in Home Alone 1 with the pizza delivery boy, but in Home Alone 2, Kevin's treatment of the wage staff at this hotel is inhumane. What we see here is that upper class Kevin exerting unearned dominance over the working class with extreme prejudice.

There is not a single hotel employee that has done anything to earn Kevin's abuse beyond do their jobs. Yet he makes them afraid they will be murdered if they dare step out of line. This is shameful.

However, where the movie is really beyond the pale is in regards to Kevin's relationship with "the pigeon lady." This homeless woman isn't even given the dignity of a name in this film. At first, Kevin perceives her with fear and disgust. He attempts to run from her but fumbles and becomes stuck. She helps him and Kevin momentarily shows a glimmer of humanity as he realizes it was wrong to be afraid of her. This moment of empathy is brief however as Kevin's selfishness and sociopathy does not allow for any actual understanding of anyone below his social class.

This woman explains that she wasn't always homeless. She once had a home and a man she loved very much but it ended badly. This incident gave her PTSD and now she is distrustful of others and is unable to function in society. She calmly and bravely opens up to Kevin about her past trauma and her subsequent dehumanization in an uncaring society that forsakes the mentally ill. And do you know how Kevin responds? He says yeah, he gets it, because he's the youngest in his disgusting family. He then tells her to get over it and that only by opening herself up to love again will she ever not be a homeless lady covered in bird shit again. Straight up, to her vulnerable face, Kevin tells a homeless woman that she is responsible for her own prolonged destitution and that if she wants people to treat her better she needs to get over her mental illness. Kevin then goes home to his luxury hotel where he has every whim of his indulged by service workers he humiliates.

Seriously, he has unlimited money. He couldn't have gotten her a place to stay? Or invited her to stay with him? He couldn't share his unlimited food with her? He didn't even offer to let her take a shower. He descends from his nearly-llteral ivory tower, blames a shit covered mentally ill homeless woman who suffers nonstop dehumanization that she needs to get over her PTSD, and at the end of a movie he gives her a fucking bird ornament to show her how much he cares about her. How does he sleep at night in his king size bed at The Plaza Hotel knowing that someone who opened up to him about her inescapable poverty and trauma is sleeping on the street in the cold? What is wrong with this monster?

Home Alone 2 is a perverse Christmas Carol. It is the story of a spoiled rich young boy whose time with the working class and the poor motivates him to torment or abandon them. Even his supposedly virtuous gesture of preventing the toy store robbery costs him nothing. It's not his money. It's not his donation. Kevin does nothing except take a tour of what it's like to be less fortunate than him and live it up in a Trump Hotel.

The Wet Bandits were right to want to kill Kevin and I always hope they catch him. 😡

Where is she even supposed to put that bird ornament?? She doesn't have a Christmas tree. She is homeless. She is surrounded at all times by actual, living birds. What does she want a fake one for?? Fuck you Kevin.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yep. Everything in this is true. It doesn't mean that we can't enjoy the movie on a superficial level, mind you. But it is true.
 
Jeremy

Jeremy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,639
s-l640.jpg


Not sure if anyone's seen this French film, but it was made the year before Home Alone 1 and has a much more diabolical kid fending off a home invader Santa.
 
Thequietone

Thequietone

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,052
So I just learned in the original script for Home Alone uncle Frank actually hires Harry and Marv to rob the house, and there is a theory based on this that Frank wanted Kevin left behind so they'd kill him. I don't believe the theory but I knew that Frank couldn't be trusted.
 
OP
OP
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,352
Thequietone said:
So I just learned in the original script for Home Alone uncle Frank actually hires Harry and Marv to rob the house, and there is a theory based on this that Frank wanted Kevin left behind so they'd kill him. I don't believe the theory but I knew that Frank couldn't be trusted.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Holy shit really? I never trusted that Uncle Frank
 
NealMcCauley

NealMcCauley

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,532
Never heard the Frank wanted Kevin dead theory, but him hiring Harry and Marv was discarded early on. Originally Frank was a failed businessman and he was jealous of his brother's, aka Kevin's dad, success. Robbing the neighbors' houses was to help hide the main target.

About Pesci retiring: IIRC he was filming Gone Fishing with Danny Glover and he said to himself "Wait, what the hell am I doing in this?" He finished the movie and then went into semi-retirement. He was never extravagant spending his money and lives well.
 
steejee

steejee

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,936
Showed it to the spouse for the first time, and I hadn't seen it in years, and I had forgotten how many of the HA2 traps would have straight up killed or severely crippled the bandits. The HA1 ones could be pretty mean but the only one that seemed like it'd end up with them in the hospital was the pain bucket one. HA2 he leads with a brick from the roof of a triple decker, which would be concussion at best, fractured skull or even worse most likely. Add in exploding toilet, bookshelf of full paint buckets, cast iron pipe (how the fuck did Kevin lift that thing?) both hitting then falling on them, '100lbs' bag of concrete from two floors up on head, dropping off the flaming rope 2+ stories.

HA1 Kevin was defending his home, this one is more him luring them to his house of death.

Also rewatch confirms that his family is just awful in both and John Candy part in 1 is awesome.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.