I am always amazed when I watch the first two films how good the picture quality is for 30+ year old movies. There are a lot of movies from 1990 that just look... well like they're from 1990 in terms of picture quality. Wonder how they were able to make these two films look timeless.
shareits a major motion picture, not a low budget indie, of course it will look great since shot on film , you may not be able say that that about tv shows from that era though. in fact it will look better than modern cgi blockbusters rendered in 2k upscaled to 4k that look like shit
shareIt has nothing to do with major/indie. Take for example "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (the live action one from 1990). It looks like it's from 1990. "Die Hard 2" is another one. You can tell they're from 1990 by the picture quality. It's hard to explain. I am assuming it comes down to film stock and lighting. I am not an expert in the that sort of the thing.
shareTMNT is an indie movie , lol, it broke the ow record for an indie studio at the time, New Line was later acquired by WB , anything from 90s look dated in style, but not picture quality
shareApparently its the lighting. Home Alone despite being set mostly at night is a very well-lit film.
shareI noticed the same thing. Probably the lighting but also the movie is so popular that it may have several remastered looks.
shareBack then, movies actually looked theatrical, not like a big budget series on HBO Max.
shareI would disagree on the basis of the dated Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls poster, Kevin using a VCR, and the fact a lot of young kids in today's world would hate watching any black and white movie.
Edit: The Washer and Dryer and Kevin being able to buy all those groceries for just under $20 also dates it.
He means only in terms of picture quality, I think. There are a lot of old movies and way older than 1990 that were shot on 35mm film and look crisp and gorgeous on Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
shareYes! It’s amazing how the first two films are just family films set in reality but they have the same production quality of a Star Wars or Harry Potter movie!
shareThey still look great as they were shot on film but there are plenty of things about them to show they are now more than 30 years old. The clothes, hairstyles, and outdated technologies. Also there's no cell phones.
shareThe OP was clearly talking about the picture quality alone, not the dated tech.
shareOh trust me, the story looks very much like early 90s, but most people don't think about it because both movies are so good. A huge clue is the serious lack of cell phones or people staring into smartphones. People only ever use landlines in these two films. There is also no use of the internet because it didn't exist back then. And let's not forget the more lax airport security of the era, considering the first movie takes place 11 years before 9/11, and the second one takes place 9 years before 9/11. Then there's the mom's hairstyles in both movies. Extremely 80s/90s chic. Or the boxy cars used in both films. And finally, the way the Hotel Concierge scanned the credit cart Kevin used in the sequel. Nobody's used that kind of a machine to scan credit cards in over 30 years! These days you stick it into a slot and punch in your pin with a number pad, or you hold the card up to a scanner pad.
shareHe is talking about the picture quality, not the 1990 tech.
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