We attended the Toronto International Film Festival and will be sharing a series of reviews from our time at the event. Here are our reviews of Tusk and St. Vincent!
‘Tusk’
Tusk is a strange and hypnotic tale that almost dares you to hate it from its ridiculous premise. A war veteran cons a cynic into transforming himself to be a human walrus. If you can get past that description and give the film a chance, Tusk is one of the best examples of modern horror to come out in a very long time.
The film shuffles around and is told at various stages from different points of view but its protagonist is Wallace (Justin Long), a cynical podcaster who creates entertainment by shaming others. During one of his travels he comes across the mysterious Howard Howe (Michael Parks), a man with a devilish smile on his face and an unhealthy obsession with the walrus. Small talk and witty banter between the two men quickly escalates and the film enters its second and most gruesome phase.
The best kind of horror is cerebral horror and while Tusk doesn’t shy away from its visceral thrills as well, the best scenes in the film are the slow build toward the unknown. We know from the beginning that Wallace is too short-sighted to see Howe’s master plan but the clever way writer-director Kevin Smith gets us to the punchline is gruesomely rewarding. In fact, when we see the final product of Howe’s deranged plan it is one of the scariest and ugliest creations to ever grace the silver screen. I say that as a compliment and as a big WTF that most audiences will be asking themselves when they see this onscreen.
Unfortunately, Tusk takes a wild misstep in its last third where it shifts focus to Wallace’s girlfriend Ally (Genesis Rodriguez) and podcasting buddy Teddy (Haley Joel Osment). The movie follows the duo as they try to track down the missing Wallace and if things weren’t bad before, they get worse when the movie introduces a third party, Canadian detective Guy LaPointe. He is played tongue-in-cheek by a very famous actor going incognito, so his inclusion makes sense from a marketing standpoint. But from the moment the character is introduced, Tusk goes off the rails and completely blows the suspense and terror it had going for it. As a character Guy LaPointe is in a completely different movie (a bad one) and drags everything down with him.
Tusk continues the darker path writer-director Kevin Smith has established for himself and it’s an interesting road for him to take. His last film Red State had its moments of genuine dread and he continues that here, until the third act of course. Despite that massive hiccup it’s hard to ignore the very strong two-thirds that precede it. Tusk is definitely not for everyone but it rewards the strange moviegoers that stick with it until the end.
Rating: B
Tusk is now playing in theatres nationwide.
‘St. Vincent’
There is more than enough proof in the lukewarm comedy St. Vincent that Bill Murray is one of the funniest and most underrated actors working today. The film stands on a tired and straight-forward premise and under anyone else’s anchor would immediately show its transparency. But Murray does most of the heavy lifting to convince you that St. Vincent is something new and genuine. He succeeds for the most part and that is true mastery.
From its first few minutes, the film wastes no time in establishing that this is the Bill Murray show, which in this case isn’t a bad thing at all. Here he plays Vincent, a crotchety old New York drunk who hates anything and everything. When single mom Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her young son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) move in next door, complications arise and Vincent ends up looking after the boy while mom’s away. How this happens to be after we’re introduced to Vincent in the most unflattering light is the exact definition of movie logic. The same way that little Oliver is painted as a precocious movie youngster, the kind of kid who talks like an adult despite his age.
That’s fine because in this movie Vincent doesn’t have time to play it safe and be a good role model to Oliver. Trouble finds the duo almost immediately as the bitter senior teaches the boy the ways of the real world according to him. This includes lies, breaking the law and trips to strip clubs. You’re either with the film or against it by this point and with Murray at the helm charming the audience, it’s very hard to resist despite the character’s very rough edges.
If you haven’t skipped ahead of me by now, St. Vincent telegraphs its story early and anyone who hasn’t seen this type of movie before can easily guess whether young Oliver will turn things around for grouchy Vincent by the last reel. Theodore Melfi wrote and directed St. Vincent and although this is his first major feature, he made the smartest decision a first-timer can make. He surrounded himself with a great cast and experienced people behind the scenes. In addition to Melissa McCarthy, other actors who round out the supporting cast include Naomi Watts, Chris O’Dowd and Terrence Howard.
But St. Vincent is a Bill Murray showcase through and through. The early Oscar talk for his performance is justified not only because he is beloved in the Hollywood community but because he really knocks it out of the park. Especially when you consider that Murray almost single-handedly takes half-baked material and turns it into something arresting and hysterical. St. Vincent may not be the best vehicle for Murray to show off his powers but he molds and makes it his own anyway in the most surprising way possible.
Rating: B
St. Vincent opens in theatres nationwide October 24.
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