The Accountant

2016 Warner Brothers Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 8min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow.

CALCULATE YOUR CHOICES

Ben Affleck stars as Christian Wolff, an Autistic Accountant with hidden talents. He operates a small accounting office in Plainfield, Illinois, that serves as a front for his money laundering enterprise. He assists a farmer and his wife with their tax problems, and is seen living a regimented life in a suburban property. His criminal clients contact him via an unnamed woman, who also organizes his business, identities and life. Christian is hired to audit the firm Living Robotics after the company’s CEO, Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow), and his sister Rita learn of accounting irregularities. They assign in-house accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), who discovered the issue, to assist Christian.

Meanwhile, Treasury Director Ray King (J. K. Simmons) meets with data analyst Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who has a criminal record as a juvenile but failed to disclose this on her federal employment application. He warns her she faces prison if he chooses to reveal the information and assigns her the task of finding a shadowy figure known as ‘The Accountant’ before King retires in a few months. Medina realizes that Christian is using a series of aliases, chiefly names of great mathematicians. She tracks the Wolff identity to the accounting office and adjacent businesses in Plainfield, realizing he is using them to launder money, most of which is then donated to Harbor Neuroscience.

Which is the key to uncovering who The Accountant is, his ties to The Harbor Neuroscience center. The race is on as Christian gets to the bottom of the cooked books and the missing money, The Treasury Department tracks down who, what and where he is, and the bad guys led by Christian’s estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) try to put a lid on the cooked books and the missing money. Along the way we find there is more to the Autistic Christian as he has special skills instilled in him by his Military father as a way to prepare his autistic child for a cold harsh and cruel world.

This is one of my favorites, I have seen it countless times. I went back and re-watched it last night before I watch the sequel The Accountant 2 tonight. Ben Affleck at his best along with Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal and J.K. Simmons. Big fans of all of them, I did want to see more of a relationship between Christian and Anna’s character Dana, felt like that would have been a good road to go down storywise but it wasn’t in the script apparently as she is not in the sequel. So if you haven’t seen it you are missing a good one, give it a go. I hope the sequel measures up, we’ll see tonight.

The Accountant 2 And 3

The Accountant 2 Coming To Amazon Prime Thursday June 5, 2025

A Simple Favor 2 (Another Simple Favor)

2025 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr

Comedy ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Directed by: Paul Feig

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Michele Morrone, Elena Sofia Ricci, Elizabeth Perkins, Alex Newell, and Allison Janney.

Every friendship has its twists.

From Amazon Prime’s Official Website:

Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman. Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.

From Bobby:

Another Simple Favor picks up five years after A Simple Favor ends. Emily is in prison for the deaths of her sister Faith and her Father. Stephanie has gone from Busy Single Mom Blogger to a True Crime Blogger and Author, with a new book just released about Emily’s case and story. She is about to speak at a book release event in a local Warfield, Connecticut Book shop when guess who walks in……

EMILY!?

Who tells Stephanie and everyone there that she has been released from prison on a technicality and that she is going to get married. AND she wants Stephanie to be her Maid of Honor at the wedding in Capri, Italy. Emily informs Stephanie that if she refuses she will sue her for telling her story and using her likeness on the cover of the book without her permission. Realizing that she has no choice and that it might be good material for another book, Stephanie and her PR agent join Emily on her Fiancé’s Private jet and head to Capri, Italy. Whereas you might expect there are more twists and turns than the first movie.

SO what did I think of Another Simple Favor with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively? Absolutely Beautiful! What? No, not Anna ….well yes, Anna. Anna Kendrick is Beautiful. But no…..What? Blake? No not Blake…well ok yes Blake is Beautiful but I’m talking about Capri, Italy. Holy Toledo, absolutely beautiful! Oh take me there now and I will never leave….Ok, back to the movie. It is always a hard job to top the original with a sequel. History has never been on the side of the sequel, they usually pale in comparison.

But I thought it was good, I think you have to have seen the first one to appreciate it. It did take some goofy twists and turns but I think the movie had to to stand up to the first and in a sense poke fun at itself. And I love seeing Anna Kendrick in action. It made me wonder at the end if it was setting itself up for a third installment in the franchise when the mother in law says…”I have A Simple Favor to ask….”

Time will tell……….

Streaming On Amazon Prime

(L to R): Detective Summerville (Bashir Salahuddin), Vicky (Alex Newell), Darren (Andrew Rannells), Sona (Aparna Nancherla) and Stacey (Kelly McCormack) in ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR.

(L to R) Emily (Blake LIvely), Dante (Michele Morrone), Vicky (Alex Newell) and Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) in ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR.

Anna Kendrick stars as ‘Stephanie Smothers’ in ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR.

A Simple Favor

2018 Lionsgate

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 57min

Comedy ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Directed by: Paul Feig

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, and Andrew Rannells.

What happened to Emily?

Anna Kendrick stars as Stephanie Smothers, a widowed mother of a young boy in Warfield, Connecticut. She is a nerdy over-achieving Mom Vlogger with a dark past and secrets to hide. Her son Miles has become good friends with Nicky whose mother is Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). One day as Stephanie is picking up Miles after school, Nicky and Miles express their desire to hang together and have a “Play-date”. Just as Stephanie tells Nicky they can’t because his mom isn’t there to grant permission, Nicky’s mom Emily arrives to pick up Nicky. The boys beg for permission and Emily asks Stephanie if she wants to go to her house for an adult beverage while the kids play.

Stephanie and Emily become good friends and Emily starts asking Stephanie for small favors…..”I have A Small Favor to ask…” starting with watching or picking up her son Nicky because she is very busy with her work. Things progress with Stephanie seeing Miles more than her mother Emily until one day Emily tells Stephanie that she has an emergency trip she must make to Miami for business. Days pass and Stephanie becomes more and more concerned about Emily as she seems to have vanished. Stephanie goes to Emily’s office to find answers and discovers a picture of Emily with the caption “Gotta have Faith”. Sensing a clue, she steals the picture and the mailer that it came in from her office.

Stephanie turns into a private detective and starts investigating Emily’s past and whereabouts and, thanks to a tip from one of her Vlog viewers, uncovers Emily’s dark past. All the while broadcasting her progress on her Vlog. It is interesting how Stephanie in the beginning seems like a nerdy goody two shoes but evolves into a super sleuth with her own dark secrets.

The movie is based on the Novel A Simple Favor by Darcy Bell. I love the twists and turns in this film, ones you never see coming. It is an interesting performance by Anna Kendrick as the nerdy do good single Mom who becomes caught up in the dark and sinister plot involving Emily and her dark past. Blake Lively from the beginning as Emily hints at deeper and darker things to come, you just get the sense there is trouble boiling beneath the surface.

I have seen this movie at least once before, actually I think I did watch it when it first came out and again about two years ago. I watched it last night before I watch Another Simple Favor, the sequel (Now Streaming On Amazon Prime) tonight. I am a couple of days behind given it came out on Thursday but My father ended up in the hospital and threw things off a bit. The good news is he is home and doing well and tonight we get to watch Anna Kendrick in action again!

The Accountant 2 And 3

The Accountant 2 was released to theaters on April 25, 2025. The sequel to the 2016 Film The Accountant starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal and J.K. Simmons sees Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal and J.K. Simmons all reprising their roles. Noticeably absent is Anna Kendrick not returning as Ben Affleck’s love interest Dana Cummings. Just as The Accountant 2 has hit theaters, word of a third installment in the franchise has been leaked. Rumor has it that Anna Kendrick has been communicating with Director Gavin O’Connor about the possibility of reprising her role of Dana Cummings in the third installment of the franchise.

According to Gavin O’Connor he envisioned The Accountant as a trilogy from the very beginning. In the first movie the film explored Christian’s upbringing and how he became the proficient killer and numbers man that he is, the second film is about further developing the relationship with his brother Braxton (Bernthal). The new film has been praised for its humor and dynamic between Affleck and Bernthal, meaning that the movie has succeeded in conveying its themes. Should the third film come to fruition, O’Connor intends to continue expanding Christian’s development of new connections, possibly in the form of a romantic relationship.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly by Mike Miller on April 25,2025 Gavin O’Connor said:

“We always wanted it to be three movies, when screenwriter Bill Dubuque and I started talking about the second movie, it was very important that we didn’t want a love story. We wanted a love story with brothers. We wanted to do a 48 Hours or Midnight Run kind of buddy picture. In the first movie Braxton and Christian don’t even meet each other until the third act, and it’s violent. With the sequel I wanted to explore their relationship and let them try to fix their stuff, I knew that there were opportunities for comedy to be mined out of there, and also for emotion to be mined out of there.”

“So that was very intentional. I mean, how do I bring Anna into the second and then ignore her? The whole point was exploring the brothers and that emotional line between them. That was always the intention, so she was never going to be in the second. But once we came up with a plan for the third film, we asked Anna Kendrick if she was interested in returning as Dana Cummings.. We’ve had conversations. She wants to do it. We just have to figure out how to do it.

“Then the third movie, which is what the plan has always been, is for Christian’s quest for love and connection to be consummated. I don’t know what that’s going to be yet, but that’s the intention. I’m going to probably do something that makes me interested to come to work every day and tell a story. And then, lastly, yes, if it’s going to be Anna, Chris needs to find love and find connection and go off into the sunset. So it probably will be with Dana Cummings.”

The Accountant 2 was released last Friday April 25, 2025 and is currently in theaters everywhere. No word yet when The Accountant 2 will come to streaming, or when we might expect any more news on the third Installment of the franchise. I have not seen The Accountant 2 yet but I am a huge fan of the first movie. I am looking forward to the second and third movies and Anna Kendrick’s return as Dana Cummings.

Sneak Peek At Another Simple Favor Movie Coming To Amazon Prime

Another Simple Favor, the highly anticipated sequel to A Simple Favor, will have its world premiere during opening night of the SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 7 before coming exclusively to Prime Video on May 1.

In the follow-up to the 2018 thriller, Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) reunite on the beautiful island of Capri for Emily’s extravagant nuptials to a rich Italian businessman. Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.