Regina Hall Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Are you one of the remaining fans who contributed to the $90-million haul Scary Movie 4 brought in at the box office? If so, I hope that series star Anna Faris wasn't what drew you to the horror-spoof shenanigans, because common sense says that she's likely not sticking around for the newly announced Scary Movie 5. Cinema Blend has it on good authority that the Weinstein Company is gearing up for a fifth trip to the comedy well. Only this time around the objective appears to be orbiting Hollywood's favorite new buzzword: reboot.

Now rebooting a franchise that, by design, is a free-flow of unconnected, topical plot points from entry-to-entry means that the studio plans on getting rid of the one thing that unites all of the films together: Anna Faris as the delightfully vacant Cindy and Regina Hall as Cindy's amusingly verbose best friend Brenda. Personally I think that's a terrible idea, as Faris and Hall play so well off each other that they are, by far, the only good thing remaining about the series. But if the agenda is to reboot the franchise, then that means they've got to go.

From the business side of things it does make sense. More recognizable than Anna Faris is the Scary Movie brand name, so Joe and Jane Moviegoer are not going to be up in arms at the thought of a Cindy-less romp around familiar gags involving various bodily functions and people hitting their head on things over and over and over. All most will care about is seeing a new Scary Movie popping up in their local theater listings for the weekend, so the Weinsteins are fiscally wise to cut out the one element of the film that's going to have a fixed price tag upfront. Considering Scary Movie 5 is bound to make similar returns with another cute final gal in its lead, the currently hurting studio doesn't have much incentive to keep her around.

Well, I guess you have to admire a gal who has relatively 'meager' talents, but has managed to survive long enough to actually maintain a movie career. Although, when your movie is made by T&A monthly (A.K.A Maxim), I guess it's not like you will be headed for that Oscar podium any time soon. Variety reports that Carmen Electra is set to star in Maxim's Mardi Gras. The ensemble comedy also stars Nicholas D'Agosto (Rocket Science), Josh Gad, Brett Harrison, Arielle Kebbel, Danneel Haris, Regina Hall, and Becky and Jessica O'Donohue. Phil Dornfeld will direct Josh Heald's script about three best friends on vacation in the Big Easy, and are on the hunt for the ultimate party. Of course they find it, and then plenty of wackiness and gratuitous nudity will ensue.

The magazine for men who are too embarrassed to go buy real pornography first announced its intentions to get into the movie business back in July. There were three projects in the deal between the magazine and Sony Screen Gems, and Mardi Gras was the third title they had announced (some of their other jaw-droppingly crappy titles include Maxim's Virginity Rocks and Fired Up). I guess Mardi Gras will now go to the top of the pile; it is set to begin filming on location in New Orleans starting April 29th. If you can't get enough of Electra, you can always go catch Meet the Spartans -- although you might want to hurry, since that film is probably headed for the discount DVD bin any minute now.

See the expression on Ice Cube's face in this photograph? I wore that same expression for the entire running time of First Sunday. The transition of the holiday movie season into the barren movie wasteland of January is always a jarring one. For the past three months, it seems like I've seen nothing but Oscar-caliber movies -- masterful films by outstanding filmmakers working from amazing scripts. So maybe First Sunday just pales in comparison...

But I don't think so.

No, this is not yet another sequel to that terrific Ice Cube comedy Friday, as many have suspected. Sunday tells the story of "new" characters Durell (Cube) and LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan). As the movie opens, the boys are picked up by the cops for their involvement with some stolen wheelchairs. They are sentenced to 5,000 hours of community service, the owner of the wheelchairs comes to collect, and Durell finds himself broke. Things get even more desperate when Durell's ex-girlfriend (Regina Hall) tells him she intends to move to another state with his son...unless he can come up with $17,000 to pay off a debt. So Durell and LeeJohn do what anyone in their shoes would do -- they decide to rob a church. And of course, after a night amongst good Christian folk, they learn that crime is bad and God is good and blah blah blah.

As much as I know you're hoping that First Sunday is some sort of extension of Ice Cube's Friday franchise, I'm sorry to say that it's not. Nope, this is an entirely different film -- although it appears as if Cube is finally putting aside those cheesy family-friendly comedies in order to take on a project that might actually be worth seeing. When we first brought you news on First Sunday, all we knew at the time was that Ice Cube was set to star as one half of a team of thieves who decide to rob a church. Playwright David E. Talbert, who's made a name for himself writing "gospel-tinged" plays for the past 15 years, boarded the pic as its writer-director.

Now, Variety reports that a host of other thesps have joined the party; they include Tracy Morgan (I imagine he'll be Cube's partner-in-crime), Katt Williams, Malinda Williams, Regina Hall, Chi McBride and Loretta Devine. Sony's fairly successful genre label Screen Gems will be shoveling out this masterpiece, and I have to give them credit for mixing it up as of late. They scored hits with Stomp the Yard and The Messengers, and although word on Vacancy wasn't all that bad, it didn't do as well at the box office as its siblings. Next on the agenda for Screen Gems will be Resident Evil: Extinction and This Christmas. As far as Ice Cube goes, there is a chance we'll see him team back up with Chris Tucker for another Friday flick (what would they call this one, The Friday After the Third Monday of the Month?), although I wouldn't count on that happening anytime soon. Well, not unless you have about $40 million to waste on a crappy Tucker performance.