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Nathan Braisted

'Home Alone 2' - the undisputed champion


Halloween was last Thursday, which means it is officially Christmastime around the world.


However, I'm not a big fan of the new consensus to completely ignore Thanksgiving and immediately build gingerbread houses.


It's been said this is because American consumerism isn't as catalyzed during the early weeks of November, so companies just go ahead and shift our attention to Christmas shopping.


Take that with a grain of salt. My expertise is not in the realm of economics --I just watch movies and make jokes.


Unbeknownst to my editor, I am a secret agent of "The Bureau of Minimizing Thanksgiving and Directing Attention to Christmas Right After October 31st." Yes, we could benefit from a good acronym, but my mission is to review a Christmas movie exactly a full week after the Trop's Halloween edition was published.


Therefore, we're going to be breaking down one of my favorite Christmas movies: "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" from 1992.


After successfully defending his home from burglars in "Home Alone," Kevin McCallister gets out of the high school basketball gym and heads to sunny Florida to celebrate Christmas with his family just a year after the traumatic experience of being abandoned while two grown men break into your house to steal presents.


The McCallister family has everyone accounted for in the Chicago airport, but they're way behind schedule and have to rush to their terminal before the plane takes off. This movie is to blame for your dad getting to the airport six hours ahead of takeoff. Thanks Kevin.


After a mix-up in the airport, Kevin ends up by himself on a plane heading to New York rather than Florida, and he must fend for himself in the streets of the Big Apple.


As if it couldn't get any worse, the burglars who broke into his house last year also happen to be in New York at the exact same time AND manage to cross paths with him in one of the biggest cities in the country.


Kevin rents a room in a luxurious hotel with his safety cash and his father's credit card, but he struggles to find the elevator to his room. Thankfully, he is helped by some no-name character that certainly won't have a decade-long career in American politics…right?


All alone in the city, Kevin has to ward off evil hotel staff, the returning Wet Bandits, the capitalist and consumerist ideals that distract people from the true meaning of Christmas (yes, this is real), and also protect a toy shop that is inferred to be ran by the incarnate of Santa Claus.


"Home Alone 2" does so much in just a two-hour time frame and is just flawless from start to finish. It is undeniably in the top five Christmas movies of all time, but it sits at number one  for me.


It perfectly encapsulates the holiday season, has such good pacing, is littered with top-notch actors and is written to stand the test of time.


Don't waste your money going to watch the new JK Simmons Santa Claus "Hobbs and Shaw" knock-off. Stay at home with family and friends, make some hot chocolate and watch this movie for the 80th time.

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