Review: Table 19 (2017)

* *
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Starring: Anna Kendrick

At times Table 19 feels like nothing more than a premise - an evening spent at "the losers" table at a wedding reception - barely elaborated upon. Its characters are little more than sketches and its plot turns tend to rely on one character figuring something out about another based on almost nothing. Running at a quick 87 minutes, during which its handful of characters each has and neatly resolves a crisis, it's light and fluffy and almost instantly forgettable. Yet despite this, and largely because the film has the great good fortune of Anna Kendrick in the lead, it's not without its charms. It's empty calories, but so are cupcakes and sometimes you just want something that's not good for you but that gives you a short-lived buzz. Basically, if you have an hour and a half to spare, you could do worse than spend it with Table 19.

Review: Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

* *
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson

I'm almost loath to review Pitch Perfect 2 because female filmmakers get so few opportunities in general that when one makes a bad movie it almost seems like that casts a pall over all of them. However, given that Pitch Perfect 2 made $183 million against a production budget of $29 million, its financial success may do more to open doors than the artistic success of better films with female directors behind them. I'm not suggesting that this movie isn't funny - it is; I laughed quite a bit, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a film with enough actual story to cover maybe 45 minutes, stretched out to a shapeless and messy 115. Of course, I feel like a lot of films have the "too many detours, not enough getting to the point" problem, which makes me think that teachers ought to play the audio clip of Milhouse van Houten whining, "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?" every 15 minutes or so during screenwriting classes.

Review: Into the Woods (2014)

* *
Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: James Corden, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick

Once upon a time, there was a giant who lived in the sky with his wife, minding their own business, causing no harm to anyone. Then one day a boy climbed up a beanstalk and began regularly committing home invasions and absconding with their belongings. When the giant attempted to take back what belonged to him, he was killed. When his wife attempted get justice for her husband, she was swarmed and beaten, and her killers lived happily ever after on the proceeds of her stolen goods. The end. It's a bad sign when you end a film in sympathy with the characters you're told are the villains and somewhat bored with the ones who are supposed to be the heroes. Yet that's how I felt by the time the final curtain dropped in Into the Woods, a two hour and four minute film that manages to feel about twice as long as it is, and like its story both drags and is too abrupt all at the same time.

Review: Pitch Perfect (2012)

* * 1/2
Director: Jason Moore
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp

Call me cynical, but I get the sense that Pitch Perfect was assembled by a team of marketing execs determined to manufacture lightning in a bottle. Just mix the female centred comedy of Bridesmaids and the musical stylings of Glee, throw in a dash of 80s nostalgia, a touch of broad, gross-out humor, and spread it over a solid base of tried and true romantic comedy formula, and you've got a movie. And it worked, obviously, judging by the film's box office take, but while the film has its pleasures, it is somewhat lacking in soul.