Film at 11 Podcast: Episode 42 | Uncle Buck (1989)

In this week’s Film at 11 podcast, my son Joseph and I get paid a visit from Uncle Buck. Strictly speaking, the 1989 John Hughes comedy isn’t a holiday movie, but its themes of family reconciliation nonetheless resonate around this time of year. I think it makes a fine viewing in the run-up to Christmas.

Joseph often masks his feelings when we watch movies together, especially for this podcast, and that can be frustrating when sitting through a comedy. He didn’t laugh much during this one, but came away with a positive opinion and had some nice things to say about it all the same. To be fair to the kid, Uncle Buck is as much (perhaps even more) a drama than a laugh-out-loud comedy. This movie packs some genuine emotional stakes beneath the title character’s flamboyant antics.

Uncle Buck (1989) Gaby Hoffman & Macaulay Culkin
Title:Uncle Buck
Year of Release: 1989
Director: John Hughes
Watched On: Amazon Prime Video
Also Available On: Blu-ray
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
TBS
TNT
TruTV
Various VOD rental and purchase platforms

Video Streaming

Uncle Buck was released on Blu-ray in 2011 and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in early 2025. I believe the latter comes with a remastered Blu-ray as well. Unfortunately, I don’t own any copies of the movie on physical media and had to resort to watching it on Amazon Prime Video, where it streams in 1080p high-definition. From what I’ve been able to determine, the source Amazon is using appears to be a broadcast-grade HD master that predates even the 2011 Blu-ray. Notably, the image’s aspect ratio has been opened-up to full-screen 16:9, whereas even the oldest Blu-ray copies are mildly letterboxed to 1.85:1.

The video transfer available on Amazon is rather dated and marred by a distracting amount of edge enhancement that gives grain a nasty texture. That’s a real shame, as the colors and contrast otherwise look respectable.

Uncle Buck has never been a particularly flashy or stylish movie, but its photography is competent enough and should look better than what Amazon streams. If I ever feel like watching this again, I’ll probably invest in the 4K Ultra HD disc at that time.

Uncle Buck (1989) movie poster

The Dolby 2.0 audio is adequate, if little more. The track has modest stereo presence but no surround activity I could detect, even with Dolby Surround Upmixer engaged. This is certainly not a slam-bang audio mix, but some of the songs on the soundtrack have reasonable dynamic range.

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