Movie Critique HUM 150 Bradley Nygren
Movie Critic Τhe film I chose to critique this week is the classic family comedy Home Alone (1990) directed by Chris Columbus. Leading actors in this film is eight year old Kevin McCallister played by Macaulay Culkin, along with Peter McCallister, the father, played by John Heard, Mrs. McCallister played by Catherine O’Hara, Marv, who is the first burglar, played by Daniel Stern, and Harry, the other burglar played by Joe Pesci. Other characters in this film are Buzz the brother, mean Uncle Frank, and creepy old man Marley. The title of the film hints to the audience that someone is home alone, but the viewer does not know what happens in the story until watching the film, which makes it more interesting. This film is about a large family who gets together for a Christmas trip to Paris, but the night before they leave there is a wind storm, which knocks out all of the power, which means their alarm clock does not go off, and they sleep in. This puts them in a mad rush to get to the airport, in turn leaving Kevin behind, and the rest continue on to a fun family adventure. One part of a filmmaker’s goal among others is to create the right mood through a believable mise-en-scene; different settings that took place in Home Alone were McCallister’s home, the airport, inside the airplane, church, a grocery store, the tree house, and Santa exhibit. The two filming locations used in this film were in Chicago, Illinois, and in Paris, France. This film mostly consisted of realistic settings, revealing the character of each individual. In the beginning of the film, without any subjects or words, I could tell a little about the subjects and background because of the way the filmmakers arranged the scene. They showed McCallister’s neighborhood full of snow and houses decorated in Christmas lights that told me it took place in the winter and during the holiday season. The McCallister home was also very
References: Home Alone. (1990). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099785/