Toni Collette | Craig's Movie Report

Viewed – April 2016 Blu-ray

Director M Night Shyamalan has certainly fallen from grace since the acclaim he garnered for this much loved supernatural drama. Sitting down to watch it, I felt nostalgic for just how much buzz the director’s name created for a short while there. Bruce Willis plays a child psychologist whose latest case involves a nine year old boy, Cole (Haley Joel Osment) whose bullied, an outcast in his community and a constant concern for his single mother, played by Toni Collette. However Cole hides a secret; the fact he can actually see the dead walking around and often communicating with him, and this is something Bruce Willis tries to help him with.

A slow burning but gripping with a stunning performance from Osment, truly one of the most gifted child actors of his generation. He carries the movie brilliantly, proving both vulnerable, likeable and heart-breaking. His plight of living with an ability that he can’t tell anyone about, least of all his mother is really incredible to bestow on the shoulders of such a young character … but Osment makes it utterly real. Willis is also very good and conflicted, in a marriage that has obviously seen better days and fighting against his own demons. Collette also gets time to shine and is especially good in the scenes with her and Osment (that scene in the car towards the end almost had me in tears).

This is a very sad movie. It’s bleak and moody and ominous, and also manages to be genuinely creepy, with Cole’s various encounter’s with different restless spirits. M Night Shyamalan’s direction is faultless, full of little details and secrets – and that much talked about twist, which I won’t spoil is possibly one of the best. I can totally understand why this movie is so regarded as it get’s everything right, standing out as a classic example of acting, writing and film-making coming together perfectly. One of those movies everyone should see at least once … but to get the most out of it, see it again to view the movie in a different light.

The image quality is a little soft but suits the tone of the movie and colours, which are deliberately muted, especially help the use of red stand out. Close-ups and street scenes are detailed though and overall it’s a good presentation. Sound is also pleasing with clear dialogue, but apart from some decent ambient surround effects, is not about to be a 5.1 showcase. Extras are plentiful however with a lengthy documentary ‘Reflections From The Set’ and a further doc on the supernatural called ‘Between Two Worlds’. There’s also some shorter featurettes and a couple of trailers. The lack of a commentary for this one is disappointing, but overall pretty good treatment for a genuine classic.

Verdict:

(the movie) 5 /5

(The Blu-ray) 3.5 /5

Viewed – 26 April 2016 online-rental

I can’t say these days I’m really a Christmas person and well, stopped watching Christmas themed movies a while back. It’s something about the traditions, the schmaltz and the build up that mostly leaves me cold. However outside of Christmas is watching a Christmas movie wrong? Well I did it anyway, thankfully this one spins such age old traditions on their head.

A dysfunctional family are getting together to spend Christmas eating, getting drunk and arguing. There’s a few stereotypes, such as the moody teenage daughter, the annoying brother in law, the creepy grandma and the wise beyond his years little kid. It wear’s its clichés with pride however and perfectly sets the tone for a decidedly old-school yarn – with a bit of a sting in it’s tale. You see said kid has lost all faith in the spirit of Christmas and just wishes his family were ‘like how they used to be’ and then suddenly, there’s a power cut, the town is blanketed in snow and something is lurking in the shadows.

For this one think Gremlins, a clear inspiration with a smattering of Critters and Poltergeist for good measure. We get demonic Gingerbread Men, a mutated jack-in-the-box and the Krampus itself; a horned, hooved and cloaked monster. I had a ball with this. It’s very 80’s in its look and feel, and the cast of mostly b-list actors (with Toni Collette of Sixth Sense and Muriel’s Wedding fame) all do a good job of portraying their caricature-styled roles. Along with a fun animated flashback to when one character first met the titular demon, this is packed with energy and creativity. The reasoning behind why shit-goes-down initially seemed a bit ‘really?’, and that final scene felt like a cop-out. And yes, it could have been scarier (it still managed to be creepy in the right places) and more violent … but as a fairly audience-friendly horror this still managed to deliver a quality evening’s viewing that’s worth checking out Christmas or not.

Verdict: 4 /5