And as a creative person, I don’t see how he could have simply put the pen down forever. Even Syd Barrett continued to make music that he never released. Maybe one day we’ll find out. Or maybe he’ll do an interview and say “I lost my mojo and took up crosswords.”

And I still say that someone that creative doesn’t just quite being creative. He’s doing something, even in secret… and I for one am very curious as to what that is.

Hollywood is cruel, but you don’t become the voice of a generation and get the reigns yanked from you for one Curly Sue. Maybe the pace burned him out and he wanted to make easy money as a writer. Maybe he had a plan all along to retire at 50. But there’s something about completely retreating from the public eye that makes me wonder what really happened.

I look at that list of 1991-98 movies, and that’s what I see. He turned 40 in 1990. Curly Sue tanked at the box office, and either the studios lost confidence in his ability to direct, or he lost confidence in himself, or both. He went back to writing, and focused mainly on flicks with kids (or dogs) in them for some reason — flicks that were essentially endless strings of pratfalls — which pretty much doomed him.

What I’m curious about is why that happened. I can easily understand why he wouldn’t want to write about teenagers any more — there’s a point where you get too old for that, I guess, and can’t do it justice. But why not keep writing movies about adults? Or at least college-aged kids? Why go the exact opposite way? Did he have grandchildren by that time? Or did Home Alone do so well that the studios would only let him make kid flicks?

Regardless, I guess my point is that, based on the 1991-98 movies, why is it really a mystery that he disappeared? Isn’t that the smart move? If you can’t go out on top, at least go out before they talk you into making Home Alone 8.

And I agree Lisa — awesome soundtracks!!!