MovieChat Forums > Home Alone (1990) Discussion > Does this movie make you wish it was the...

Does this movie make you wish it was the early 1990's all over again?


It does for me because I miss the way life was back in and the way people dressed back in those days.

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Not really but it is a good movie.

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In some ways yes, in some ways no. I appreciate some of the lack of technology. Not sure how I would have felt being an adult in that era though. Would be a culture shock going back to the days without internet for sure.

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I lived for about 15 years without the Internet and I am not at all convinced that we are better with it. I think it's introduced a lot of issues into society and often feel like it's been an overall negative force.

The one thing I'd want to keep around would be the communication methods. I live far away from all of my family members and it's nice to be able to text and e-mail. It certainly keeps me much better connected to them than I would be if we were still living in the era where the landline was only real means of communication.

Still though, if I could snap my fingers and make it happen would I go back to the pre-Internet days? Very possible.

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I agree about the internet. Everything has become politicized because of it. I mean for my own personal use though, not whether its actually beneficial to society or not. Being able to stream pretty much anything I want, or the ability to download films, you typically wouldn´t have access to in 1990. That would be tough for someone who likes movies as much as I do.

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In the 90s before the internet, movie fans just sought out the right video stores if they were in a city or town where that was possible. I was fortunate to live in a large-mid-size university/college city that had tons of access to all kinds of movies.

Not only were there the usual Blockbuster and Hollywood Video chains, but we had several independent video stores that made a point of stocking obscure, classic, foreign and cult movies to rent. I was able to find anything my heart desired at a combination of those places - even our Blockbusters had some pretty obscure titles in the inner aisles!

We also had not just the big multiplexes but again indie movie theaters that would show revival cult classics.

There were also movie channels available on the paid tiers of cable, back when people really did watch TV more than just be on the internet. Movies all day long on cable.

It wasn't so bad being a movie freak before the internet.

I can appreciate that the ease of streaming opens things up to much more convenience. But personally I find it lacking in the excitement of physically having to go to a place and choose a movie. It's also hell on my data allowance.

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It´s 2019. How do you not have unlimited internet yet? lol. Yeah I guess you could make it work. I lived in Australia back in 1990, in those days if you wanted to own movies you had to record off TV, buying VHS titles was also pretty uncommon especially obscure ones and cable tv in those says didn´t exist for us, I don´t remember cable being introduced until around 1995/6. I don´t even remember if was possible to buy whole TV series on tape. I remember if there was a tv show you liked, you could buy a VHS tape with like four episodes just because of the limit of data storage.

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Streaming for me is a mixed bag because it seems to be slowly killing off physical media and the whole idea of owning movies.

If I buy a film on disc, I truly own that film. You have to come into my home and physically steal it to take it away from me. But if I "buy" a movie from Amazon or wherever, all I'm really buying are the rights to stream the film indefinitely, which will require that I have Internet access, require that the service itself doesn't go out of business, and also require that the film doesn't get removed from the service (which has already happened to a few people).

Plus, I like all the special features and the studios only go the extra mile for that stuff on the physical release. In fact, the special features at this point is the decision-making factor on whether I buy a film on disc.

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I prefer to own stuff too, but I´m in a non-English speaking country so I´m kind of limited when it comes to being able to purchase blu rays.

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What country do you live in? I do miss collecting home movies but streaming allows me to catch more things much easier. I really do wish i could go to a rental store now though. That was always fun. I even worked at one for a few years.

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Chile

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If you wanted to purchase blu rays, can you order them from Amazon and get delivery where you are? You can find most zones of discs, although there will probably be import charges to buy from overseas.

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Actually, I used to have unlimited internet data, then I moved countries and it's too bloody expensive where I live now. I literally can't afford it. Many service providers in the UK do offer only limited data for a set price. And more expensive packages with unlimited. I've worked out that it would be cheaper for me to buy a movie on DVD these days than pay an arm and a leg every month for a bunch of stuff I won't even be interested in.

As for movies on VHS back in the 90s, I wasn't talking about buying them, I was talking about rentals. Video stores that rented out movies. There was plenty of choice.

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I feel similarly to you. While I love what the internet has done for communication - e-mail has been a lifeline for me, particularly internationally, I lived more of my lifespan without/before the internet. We all did just fine before it existed, and seriously I think it's brought a lot of problems with it.

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It's definitely brought problems. I don't really like living in a society that's always on, always connected, and never slows down. There are also tons of privacy issues now that didn't exist before.

I remember being completely fascinated by computers and the Internet in the mid-90s and I envisioned the great future they would usher in. Now, however, I see downsides that I had not even thought of at the time.

Sometimes I think it would be better if we had the Internet, but it was a much more limited thing, the way it was in the days of the early online services.

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Yep, I feel all those same ways you do. I don't like how society is now "always on" and any conversation you have face to face can and usually will be marred by somebody just deciding there's something more urgent on their smartphone! "Meatspace" interactions, from family dinners to dating, now includes a lot of accepted rudeness, all because everyone's hooked up to every department of their life via that phone in their hand. There's no living in the moment anymore! No being where you are right now with who you're with.

And yes, tons of privacy issues that we never used to have to even think about before.

Similar to you, I found the internet to be magical back when things got going. I was loving how I could build my own website and reach people around the globe. E-mail friends 5,000 miles away when international calls could still be almost a dollar a minute if you weren't careful, and snail mail took literally a week to get there (still does).

It's also great to have forum boards like this one, or social media to a certain extent - it's been eye-opening to be able to see news of world events blocked by my own BBC!! They don't report on the Gilet Jaune movement in France, and it's only via the internet that some of us are getting to find out.

It has great uses but as we've seen, increasing dangers, abuse and even just plain downgrading of the quality of real interactions.

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now includes a lot of accepted rudeness, all because everyone's hooked up to every department of their life via that phone in their hand

This! I remember dating a girl and we once went to a fancy restaurant and she would CONSTANTLY check her phone. It was just rude and annoying. I called things off after that frustrating date.

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I love many aspects about the Internet but it really has greatly helped turn hundreds of millions of people into 250lb.+ obese sloths. Didn't make people any smarter either..actually people are dumber now than ever before.

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I do, Kevin would have been killed in a drive by or killed when his house was broken into by a bunch of entitled leftists from the ghetto.

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I miss the 90s in general like you wouldn't believe. Personally I consider it to be my last best decade, or last favorite decade.

Life was simpler. It was the final decade before all kinds of shit hit the fan.

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I feel like about 1984 to 1994 or so was pretty great. It was certainly an excellent time for movies. Terrible music in the early 90s though. I don't miss the alternative/grunge era even one bit.

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I think you were a few months early with that comment.

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It does for me too. lost my father 2 months ago. so I want it to be the early 90s again.

no internet no mobile phones playing with toys. C64 games. playing outside with friends. talking to friends from your mouth and not out of texts. they were the days

I am also from Australia and back then we had 2 channels only free to air. and yes I remember recording my own VHS tapes movies. pausing the record during the Ad breaks and then hitting record at the right timing when the movie came back on.. manually doing it all was fun. now it's so easy to download a movie in 10 mins no Ads and just watch it.

Yes life is easier now in some respects. but the internet can be toxic

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QOK posted

Not really but it is a good movie.

This. I was only 4 years old when this came out and wasn't allowed to watch whatever movie or show I wanted til I was an adult. Not to mention a lot of NES games sucked.

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No phone zombies shuffling around.

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I want to thank everybody who posted in these threads, because I basically feel the same way. I know there's no going back, but at least we were around during those years.

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I miss the early 1990's more now than ever because of the darn coronavirus pandemic, 2020 is definitely one of the worst years of my life.

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I hear ya, it's my worst year, too.

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I wish I can go back to 2018-19 again, those two were some of the best years of my life.

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I miss the early 1990's more now than ever because of the darn coronavirus pandemic,

Ohhhh BOO-HOO... why does it affect people so much? Just follow the safety rules and life goes on. You can still go outside and can even see people now. People are real babies...

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because I can't go out to as many restaurants or businesses.

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