Aca-awesome! Elizabeth Banks will be directing the upcoming musical comedy “Pitch Perfect 3,” according to Variety. Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson will all be returning to reprise their roles. Kay Canon, who wrote the first two “Pitch Perfect” films, was the first to be confirmed for the third chapter.

The original film was adapted from Mickey Rapkin’s book “Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory,” and followed Beca (Kendrick), a freshman at Barden university, as she joined the Bellas, an all girls acapella group. The sequel takes place three years later, with Beca, “Fat Amy” (Wilson), and Chloe (Snow) leading the Bellas during their senior year. The girls lead the newbies, including Emily (Hailee Steinfeld). No plot has been revealed for the third installment, although it’s a pretty fair guess that the story will continue with Emily leading the new Bellas with the help of her predecessors.

Banks made her directorial debut with “Pitch Perfect 2,” which had an opening weekend gross of $69 million. This gave her the record for highest domestic opening ever for a first-time director. The sequel has now grossed over $183 million domestically. With all her success it’s no surprise Banks has branched out to other directing work; she has also signed on for the film adaptation of “Red Queen” and a “Charlie’s Angels” reboot.

“Pitch Perfect 3″ is slated for a summer 2017 release.

Anna Kendrick is probably one of everyone’s favorite celebrities, and she proved why in her promos for SNL this week. While Pharrell will be the musical guest. Anna will be making her hosting debut on Saturday? During the day? Night time, on live TV? Find out what we mean in the video full of promos with Taran Killam below:

Hollywood’s biggest night is always full of glamour and a little bit of anxiety. Everyone is wondering who’s going home with an Oscar and who will win on the red carpet. While there weren’t any surprises during the show itself, we were pleased to see the stars step up their style game. Many stars hit the mark with their gowns and tuxes. Even those who made the worst dressed weren’t really that bad. On a regular night they might’ve even made best dressed, but competition was too stiff to give everyone praise. Check out the gallery below to see our picks for the best and worst dressed celebs from Oscar night.

 Rosemary’s Pick: Jennifer Lawrence managed to stand out on the red carpet in a red Dior dress that fit the starlet perfectly. As the face of Dior, Jennifer has worn dresses by the fashion house frequently, but this one, with the peplum detail and the fishtail skirt, is by far my favorite. She kept the look simple with a backwards necklace, diamond earrings, a ring on each hand, and a box clutch. Her short hair was teased backwards giving the beauty an elegant and sophisticated look, with just the right amount of sexy. I also love the fact that she stumbled over an orange cone on her way to the red carpet. Could Jennifer Lawrence really be any more perfect?

 Frances’ Pick: Considering all the praise Lupita Nyong’o received for her wardrobe this awards season, it’s really no surprise that she was the superstar of the night. Nyong’o dazzled in a powder blue Prada gown with crystal embellishments and a plunging neckline. Her Fred Leighton accessories were simple but beautiful — with a gold and diamond headband that complemented her cropped ‘do. She looked like Cinderella. I’m surprised she didn’t have cute talking animals following her around all night.

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Generally speaking when I hear the term drinking buddies, I imagine a bunch of frat guys tossing back a few cold ones, not romance or the analysis of human relationships, but sometimes the things you don’t expect are the most rewarding.

Such is the case with director Joe Swanberg’s new film, “Drinking Buddies.” When you first see the trailer you realize it’s definitely not a movie about a bunch of frat guys. From the trailer, it seems more like your run of the mill rom-com, but it’s not that either.

“Drinking Buddies,” follows Kate (Olivia Wile) and Luke’s (Jake Johnson) complicated friendship. The two work at a Chicago microbrewery, Kate as the office manager/PR person, while Luke helps brew the beer. It’s basically all beer all the time and the two of them spend their days flirting, telling each other snarky jokes, and getting into all kinds of misadventures. They have so much chemistry you instantly want them to get together. But … oh no, there’s an obstacle, they are both completely unavailable. Luke has been with his live in girlfriend Jill (Anna Kendrick) for six years and Kate is getting serious with an older (and slightly awkward) gentleman named Chris (Ron Livingston).

Everything is setup to make us believe Luke and Kate are just the unfortunate victims of a terrible mismatch and that somewhere down the line they’ll somehow ditch their partners and end up together. When the two couples go on a weekend trip to Chris’s family cabin you think maybe there might even be a partner swap and everyone will end up with their perfect mate without anyone getting their feelings hurt (hey this actually happened in “I Give It A Year”).

Unfortunately, Swanberg is not the type to give us what we want in perfect little packages. As soon as we think we know exactly what’s going to happen between Kate and Luke, things start going in a drastically different direction. The dynamic of the story changes so much it may actually make some people angry enough to dislike the film.

The thing is, the more time the Kate and Luke spend together the more we see that maybe they’re a little too much a like. They are carefree and like to have a good time, but they don’t have a lot of life skills and can be a bit selfish. There’s a point in the movie where you start to realize Kate isn’t always the nicest person. That point is when Luke is helping Kate move into her new apartment and he cuts his hand with a nail. Considering the amount of chemistry the two have throughout the movie you’d think Kate would rush to tend to Luke’s wound, but instead she gets grossed out and has to leave the room. Her behavior in that one scene makes you wonder how and why you ever hoped Luke would leave Jill to be with Kate.

The second half of the film really is a testament to the acting skills of all the people in this film. Wilde especially, shows a range we haven’t seen in her past films. Her ability to go from a fun and beautiful one-of-the-guys type to an incredibly flawed and complex person is remarkable. Kendrick also does a great job with Jill and showing us the importance of the relationship between her and Luke.

What’s even more impressive about this film is that Swanberg did not give his actors a script. He simply told them what he wanted out of each scene and everyone just went with it. The result is a very naturalistic and casual feel throughout the film. For some it might seem a little too scattered and slow, but it’s refreshing to see a film that actually plays out like real life.

“Drinking Buddies,” opened in New York on Aug. 23 and will continuing opening in limited theaters through October.

Pitch Perfect movie poster (courtesy of Universal Pictures)

While the title may recall thoughts of the TV show “Glee,” “Pitch Perfect” has all of the catchy beats and snazzy dance numbers without the PSA feel.

In fact, it’s established very early on in the film that the similarities between the popular TV show and “Pitch Perfect end with the singing. A cameo from Christopher Mintz-Plasse during an audition scene reveals the following jab, “This isn’t a high school club where you can sing and dance your way through any social issue or confused sexuality.”

The kids from Barden University aren’t here to preach, they’re here to sing some kick ass songs and have a good time. The film is director Jason Moore’s first film project (he’s usually seen on Broadway doing productions like “Avenue Q”). It’s also writer Kay Cannon’s (“30 Rock”) first venture into film writing.

Loosely, based on the non-fiction book by Mickey Rapkin, “Pitch Perfect” feels like a musical version of “Mean Girls.”

The film follows Beca (Anna Kendrick), an antisocial aspiring DJ, through her first year in college. Beca is perfectly content hanging out at the campus radio station or mixing beats alone in her room, but her father has other plans. Upset by her lack of effort to fit in, he offers her a deal. He tells her that if she gives the college thing a real chance and still doesn’t like it by the end of the year, then he will pay for her to move to Los Angeles.

Suddenly Beca does a complete 180 and decides to join an all girl A Capella group, the Barden Bellas. Normally the Bellas wouldn’t give Beca and her alt girl persona a chance, but they are in desperate need for new talent after a very embarrassing incident at nationals. Aubrey (Anna Camp), the overbearing leader of the group, has a bad habit of throwing up when she’s nervous (you can use your imagination to figure out how that scene went) and after “the incident” most of the Bellas leave the group.

Thus, Aubrey and her sidekick, Chloe (Brittany Snow) end up with a new, more unconventional group. The new Bellas include an array of memorable characters, each with her own archetype. Cynthia Rose (Ester Dean) is a lesbian with lots of swag and a gambling problem. Lilly (Hana Mae Lee) is the soft-spoken Asian-American anime character. Lily is so quiet none of the other girls can ever hear what she says, which gives her the opportunity to say things like “I ate my twin in the womb.” Stacie (Alexis Knapp) is the resident slut…she says so herself. And finally “Fat Amy” (Rebel Wilson) is the loud-mouthed blonde who created the derogatory nickname as a way of beating others to the punch.

Aubrey takes her girls and tries to whip them into shape for competition season–Aubrey’s main goal in life is to make it back to nationals, redeem herself and beat the Treblemakers (the school’s all male A Capella group and their biggest rival).

The rivalry between the Bellas and the Treblemakers runs so deep that the girls are forbidden from having any kind of relationship with them. Any Bella who is caught having a romantic relationship with a Treblemaker is immediately kicked off the team. It kind of puts Beca in an awkward situation since she has instant chemistry Jesse (Skylar Astin), a young Dane Cook look-alike who plans on becoming a film composer. Their friendship may be forbidden, but we all know exactly how things are going to end up from the moment they set eyes on each other.

Therein lies the only real problem with this film– everything is extremely predictable.  We know that eventually Beca will decide that being part of a team is better than hanging out in her room all day. We know that Aubrey’s iron fisted way of leading the Bellas isn’t going to work out. We know that Jesse and Beca will have a “we beat all the odds” romantic kiss at the end, but somehow that is all irrelevant.

The musical numbers are so wonderfully arranged they make even the most anti-choir viewer want to get up and sing. Really, the mashups in this film are 10 times better than anything you’ve ever seen on “Glee.” With a broad soundtrack ranging from Blackstreet to Bruno Mars, to Ace of Base and The Bangles, there’s a little something for everyone in there.

Kay Cannon’s writing balances out the fuzziness from all the singing perfectly–most of the jokes are snarky and well timed. Although there are a few eye roll inducing lines that the film could have done without. For example, all the characters have a strange obsession with using “aca” in front everything—“we’re going to have aca-babies,” “that’s aca-awesome,” aca-why-don’t-you-shut-the-hell-up.

Aca-annoyingness aside, the film is 113 minutes of fun and laughs that you don’t want to end.

“Pitch Perfect” hits theaters on Sept. 28.

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