Two Weeks To Go – Just fourteen days until Christmas. Holy Crap, you are thinking to yourself, I remember waking on January the 1st 2012, bleary eyed like a new born child (admittedly if that new born child had been raised in its mothers” womb on a diet of a beer, rum and jaegerbombs). And now the proximity of Christmas is devastatingly
near. This epic milestone deserves cracking open a holiday classic.
Home Alone (1990)
Chris Columbus, 103 mins
Having watched this film more times than perhaps any other in the history of cinema, seeing Home Alone again for the first time in 15 years or so was a humbling experience. So many questions were answered that I did even think to question. I knew every movement, line and expression as if it were my own skin – but only by tone and visuals alone. I knew next to nothing of whatever the hell was going on – the plot having barely registered in my tiny pre-school skull. Sure it made perfect sense now – why, for example, they had seemed to live in a massive house, yet still have to share some sort of bizarre commune with their extended family. A commune that spent hundreds of dollars on delivered pizza and holiday trips across the Atlantic to Paris in first class seats. What”s more, Culkin”s brattish character took on an extra dimension of annoyance that I had only heard uttered by parents disputing the film. I hardly imagine there is a soul reading this who hasn”t enjoyed at least this original edition of the Home Alone series – a series which it is apparent will be returning to our screens in the not too distant future – but take a moment to relive the moment, and revel in the new experience this film, and remember and appreciate in advance what family at Christmas time could mean, if you embrace the lonely child in all of us.
If you don”t want the sentimentality of Home Alone – or perhaps this is something you have to wait “til you are home to watch, a holy film that cannot simply be seen on a whim – then we of course have our alternative film to see you through the day…
Surviving Christmas (2004)
Mike Mitchell, 91 mins
I don”t think there is an alternative film in this series that stands in such stark contrast. This is no-one”s classic christmas film, and has little sentimental value to anyone. Ben Affleck”s christmas comedy sees him play a rich executive whose heartless lifestyle has seen him alienated from all that you hold dear in life – family and friends. Trying to fill this void, Afflect returns to his family home, only to find a different world to that which he remembered – and money lets Affleck hire the family that live there to fulfill his christmas desires. It doesn”t sit well as a film, and is more heavily flawed than even my mistake interpretation of Home Alone could ever be, but you know what – you might find something to treasure in this after all.
One that is harder to find…
Homeless for the Holidays (2009)
George A Johnson, 105 mins
This drama sees an executive lose his perfect life and have to find work in a fast food restaurant. If you can find it, you might be able to revel in something a little different, with a similar message of what christmas is really about – people. Check out this trailer of the independent film, and find something special.
