Now Showing: New movies this week!
It's time to check out this week's new movies in theatres and on streaming at home. Matt Demers, Mr. Hollywood is here to tell us what we should check out this weekend!
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CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Did 'bean mouth' really kill Pixar's Elio at the box office?
Social Sharing Why did Pixar's Elio put up the worst numbers in the studio's history in its opening weekend? The reasons professionals give for the sci-fi family movie's paltry $35 million US global box-office earning vary. But if you ask the internet, there's a far simpler issue at play. "Nobody wants the bean mouth style of character design," wrote one reader when commenting on a post-mortem of Elio 's bombing by the website Cartoon Brew. "It feels lazy, overused, and unoriginal." "The 3D CalArts 'bean mouth' style also just put a lot of people off," read a post on a Reddit thread about Elio 's failure. "Doesn't matter how good the story is, many people hate that animation style." The bean-mouth criticism is an opinion about Elio that's echoed across virtually every platform that allows comments: a one-to-one connection between character design and the audience's decision to stay home. More than that, it's become synonymous with an almost vitriolic hatred for a particular and supposedly ubiquitous art style. Animation journalist John Maher calls it a "pejorative and insult" that far outstrips the style's reach and misunderstands its origin. "It is a reflexive internet criticism," said Maher, the news director for Publishers Weekly. "People found a term that was snappy and catchy and easy to use. And so they hung onto it." Where bean mouth began The terms "CalArts style," "bean mouth" and "thin-line animation," all have different origins and meanings, but they all generally refer to a drawing technique exemplified by thin line-work, simplified features and bean-shaped mouths and heads. When it comes to how the "CalArts style" name came to be — Maher and others often point to Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi. Starting in the early 2000s, Kricfalusi wrote blog posts criticizing a particular style of art and derivative mentality he believed came out of the California Institute of the Arts — an influential arts and animation school founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, in 1961. His criticisms were pointedly about the style championed by Disney, then copied to diminishing returns — including in movies like Treasure Planet and The Iron Giant. Though the animation in those movies looks nothing like what most people today think of as the CalArts style, the name stuck. And as many graduates of the school became associated with shows and movies that shared a similar bean-mouth design — including Elio, which has a pair of CalArts alumni listed as directors — the two names came to describe a common gripe. "That phrase has become a shorthand for a more fair criticism. Which frankly is: 'Animation as innovation rather than animation as imitation,' " Maher said. "But to call it all CalArts is just so silly and reductive and inaccurate — just fundamentally inaccurate." When asked if CalArts teaches the style, or even observes it in common use among students, Maija Burnett, the school's director of the Character Animation Program, says that's not the case. "Luckily, I can definitely dispel that," she said. "The results of the work from our program is extremely diverse. And so I do not think it typifies what comes from our programs at all." She also says it's unlikely that Pixar chose that animation style because it's cheaper, noting that the studio does most of its animation in-house, developed over years through huge teams, so they wouldn't need to default to any particular style an outside studio would find easier to work with. It's hard to say how pervasive the style is among Pixar movies. Typically only Luca, Turning Red and Elio have received the "bean-mouth" criticism. But Burnett says what people are likely identifying is an intentional technique studios employ. "Often, we can kind of tell like, 'Oh, yeah that seems like it's coming from Sony,' " she said, noting it's natural that Pixar would have a recognizable style because it's important to them both as a brand and as a studio. She says there's also likely a reason certain elements of the style are more widely used today. TV series, for example, often rely on animation techniques that work with contemporary technologies — such as the 1920s "rubber-hose" style of Felix the Cat, the "flash" animation of the early 2000s seen in Canada's 6teen, or the simplified "limited animation" style of Hanna-Barbera, the studio behind The Flintstones that essentially birthed a movement of low-budget animation in the '60s and '70s. As animation techniques progress, Burnett says they'll likely change again to fall in line with new technologies. She also notes that every art form and industry has eras where the output shares similar characteristics: from cubist paintings, to art deco architecture, to postmodern literature. The idea that the bean-mouth style is somehow more pervasive today might be related to nostalgia, she says, noting that the CalArts style was first identified around the time that social media became popular, making it one of the first animation trends to be subject to wider internet scrutiny. Finding like minds to discuss the art you grew up with gives people something to bond over, she says, and so does being able to name and shame the style that seemingly replaced it. Other issues plaguing Elio But box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian says the look of animated movies is rarely the most important factor in ticket sales, making it unlikely that's what sank Elio. "To me, that's a non-starter," he said, pointing to the Oscar-winning film Flow — animated with the free, open-source software Blender — as an example of how story trumps animation techniques. "That, to me, is like grasping at straws to find a reason that the movie didn't do it." The more likely culprits, he says, include the movie's minimal marketing, its PG rating and a lack of franchise tie-ins. And the more competitive landscape for original stories makes the market for animated movies vastly more challenging than when Pixar's Monsters Inc. or the first three Toy Story movies premiered. Maher agrees, and says the idea that fans suddenly abandoned Pixar over an animation technique is more depressing than believable. "That has nothing to do with thinking that it's like, a lesser work of art because of the shape of the character's mouth. Give me a break," he said. "If that's really what we are condemning art for at this point — we don't like the style so we're not even going to bother to understand the substance — we're in trouble."
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Your daily horoscope: June 28, 2025
If you feel the need to change jobs this year, or even switch to a whole new career, you must be brave and take the plunge. Why stay stuck in a working environment that does not appreciate you or reward you appropriately for your outstanding talents? With Neptune in your sign you may want to save the world but common sense should tell you to lower your sights a little. Is there someone you know – a family member or a friend – who is in need of assistance? Focus exclusively on them. You may suspect that someone is playing games with you but how can you know for sure? The simply fact is you cannot, so be on your guard this weekend but don't erect the kind of barriers that make it obvious you no longer trust them. You must speak plainly and clearly over the next 48 hours, even if what you have to say is unlikely to endear you to other people. Mercury, your ruler, will encourage you to work out what is really going on and then let everyone know about it. You may not be entirely convinced that what others insist is a golden opportunity is right for you but don't dismiss it out of hand. It could be that if you give it a go now you will come into some serious money early next week. You know what it is you want out of life and you will go all out to get it over the next few days. Anyone who thinks they can dissuade you from following your dream could find themselves in their own living nightmare! You may not be one for keeping secrets but if you are smart you won't go public with information that could one day benefit you personally. Knowledge is power and what you know could be worth a great deal of money as well. Try to be realistic about what you can expect from other people. Not everyone shares your drive and ambition, or your clear-sighted views of what needs to be done in the world, so make allowances for those of lesser talents and fainter hearts. You need to stop pussyfooting around on the work front and get started on something that could one day bring you both fame and fortune. Don't wait for the stars to align and everything to be perfect, just go for it and make it happen. Differences of opinion with friends and colleagues are inevitable this weekend but if you don't make too a big deal of them it's unlikely they will hold you back. You can disagree a little and still work together toward a common goal. The planets warn that some of the people you will be dealing with this weekend have extremely thin skins, so try not to be too critical about what they are doing and how they are doing it. You don't want them to break down completely. You will need to be on your guard this weekend, especially when dealing with situations that are in some way alien to you. If you don't know what your next move should be then don't be afraid to ask someone who has a lot more experience. A sudden insight into how to make money must not be ignored. The fact that no one else seems to have noticed it does not mean it is wrong – it just means they don't have the imagination to see past the traditional way of doing things. Discover more about yourself at
National Post
7 hours ago
- National Post
What was NHL thinking with draft format that set league's entry draft back decades?
One of the highlights (low bar, admittedly) of the spectacularly ridiculous NHL entry draft on Friday night came when comedian Adam Sandler announced the Boston Bruins choice with the seventh overall pick in the opening round. Article content The joke, however, was on the league and its idiotic decision to effectively ruin the presentation of one of its signature events. Article content Article content With representatives from teams not on site in Los Angeles for the first time and the traditional meet and greet between player and management done remotely, well, you just knew there were going to be cringe-worthy moments. Article content And on cue, seconds after Happy Gilmore himself announced James Hagens as the Bruins prized selection, there may as well have been a laugh track. Once on stage, the Boston College product walked into something called the Draft House — don't ask — to look at a group of Bruins executives beamed in via Zoom from Boston. And look was all Hagens could do. Article content What was supposed to be an emotional welcome to the NHL moment instead turned awkward, thanks to technical difficulties that muted those Boston staffers presumably excited with their newest would-be star. So instead of an attempt at legit emotion, Hagens sheepishly waved at the screen and said 'thanks for drafting me.' Article content It got worse, as absurd moments stacked up on each other. It was unclear who the NHL could possibly have identified as a target audience that would appreciate what was happening, but from bizarre to juvenile, the misses were many. Article content Awkwardness was always going to be part of the show when the NHL went for cheap and contrived by opting for its 'decentralized' draft format for the first time, allowing GMs and their vast hockey operations departments to work from home, essentially. Article content Article content Unfortunately it set one of the league's signature events back decades with a futile format bordering on embarrassment. Article content Article content It sucked the emotion out of what was a dream sequence for every young hockey player with NHL aspirations. Article content It muted the excitement of the respective fan bases, given the cold and awkward approach to unveiling their new talents. Article content The main event itself was held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles where commissioner Gary Bettman was live, as were the first-round picks. But once a player was drafted and on stage, and sauntered into that inane Draft House for a contrived video interview with his new employers, it tended to go off the rails — at best — and fail spectacularly at worst.
