Two weeks ago, we learned that Paul Newman has lung cancer (or may have lung cancer). And my first reaction was: will he still be able to do A Walk in the Woods with Robert Redford? Or whatever that long-ago confirmed final film is, if not that Bill Bryson adaptation? A couple years back the Oscar-winning actor said he's retiring after one "last hurrah," and it was speculated that he'd be re-teaming with Redford (his partner in both Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting). Unfortunately, the last we heard about A Walk in the Woods, there was no mention of Newman being involved.

Over at MTV Movies Blog, meanwhile, Shawn Adler's first thought was more like: "Is Cars really going to be his last acting role?" And thanks to MTV News, he somewhat received the answer. Apparently, the fine folks at Pixar (who are releasing their latest, Wall-E, this Friday) are including Newman's character, "Doc Hudson", in the script for Cars 2, which is set to hit theaters in 2012. Cars co-writer/director John Lasseter says they're "just waiting to see" if Newman will be able to reprise the role. If Newman can't do it, though, the sequel will be doubly sad, since it will also be missing Joe Ranft, who co-wrote, co-directed and voiced two characters in the first movie. The longtime Pixar collaborator died tragically in a car accident the year before Cars came out.

Would you still want Doc to appear in Cars 2 if not voiced by Newman?

While it may have had an all-star cast boasting the likes of Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, and Tom Cruise, Lions for Lambs appeared without a splash. In fact, it hit audiences with a dull and disappointing thud. Honestly, that partially surprises me, partially doesn't, and partially disappoints me. The film is by no means a masterpiece, nor is it a powerful and hard-hitting political thriller, action film, or drama. However, it does pack a punch against apathy and disinterest, and does so with a passionate and measured hand.

The film focuses on three main interactions – the journalist (Streep) and the politician (Cruise), the professor (Redford) and the student (Andrew Garfield), and the two soldiers and old friends (Michael Pena and Derek Luke), who are in Afghanistan. Each character provides a face to an aspect of today's current war-filled society -- one that brings it out of abstract thought and the printed word.

If you ask my mom about Robert Redford, she'll cite his dreamy blue eyes and his charismatic performances in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. If you ask someone my age about him, though, I bet the Sundance Film Festival is the first thing that will come to mind. For a lot of us, the Sundance Institute has been so influential and important that it overshadows the earlier days, when Redford was "only" a movie star.

Variety reports that the industry convention ShoWest will honor Redford with the Visionary Award when it convenes next week in Las Vegas, a tribute to the Sundance Kid's extraordinary contributions to the world of independent film. Sundance is the largest, most influential film festival in the United States, and it has launched the careers of dozens of filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh. What's more, the Sundance Institute's workshops for screenwriting, documentary filmmaking, and other crafts have helped countless individuals hone their skills.

This will be the first time ShoWest has given out a "Visionary Award," and Redford seems like a mighty fine choice to me. Those dreamy blue eyes have seen a lot of great things happen in the movie world.

With Sundance wrapped, it's time for Robert Redford to get going on his next movie. According to Yahoo/Associated Press, his next project will be an adaptation of Bill Bryson's bestseller -- A Walk in the Woods. He will produce and star while Barry Levinson is planning on directing. Nothing like Into the Woods or Into the Wild, this book focused on Bryson's return to the U.S. after 20 years in England, and how he decided to reconnect with his homeland by hiking the 2100-mile-long Appalachian Trail with a college friend. The account details their struggles with self-reliance, and the people they meet along the way.

Redford says: "It'll be fun. I don't know when I've read a book that I laughed so loud. Also, it's a chance to take a look at the country... The backdrop is pretty terrific, if you stop to think of all the visuals that are possible as they go along that trail." It's about flipping time, I say. The family favorite Charlotte's Web aside (he was Ike the Horse), Redford hasn't acted in a comedy since 1996's Up Close & Personal. The last time he was in a good comedy, well...

Of course, the drama master can't go without some heavier fare as well. After hiking the Appalachians, Redford says he will take on the story of how Branch Rickey helped Jackie Robinson get into major league baseball in 1947. "What Rickey had to do, what Robinson had to go through, and the partnership they had to form, that's a story nobody knows. It's just a fascinating story."

Sundance kicked off this afternoon with the Opening Press Conference, featuring Sundance Film Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore, the President and Founder of the Sundance Institute, Robert Redford, and In Bruges director Martin McDonagh (not pictured). Redford's opening remarks spoke to the Festival as an agent of -- and subject to -- change. Redford cited the Festival and the Institute's efforts to "create product that is different," while Gilmore noted that in 2008, Sundance has "... more new film makers this year than any since our first."

Gilmore also spoke to the New Frontier and Midnight programmes of the Festival, noting how they, in many ways, represent "the most innovative aspect, the most risk-taking aspect of the Festival." The trio took questions from the audience, including Eugene Hernandez from IndieWire's point-blank question about whether the WGA strike will be putting an added focus on this year's Festival as a possible source of new films for distributors. Redford demurred to Gilmore, who noted how "the film people come to Sundance talking about isn't the film people leave Sundance talking about" and suggesting that over the next ten days, anything could happen. Redford was asked about the politics of the Festival, and if 2008's role as an election year would shine a new light on the films here. Redford pointed out the Festival's long-standing commitment to documentary films as an alternate form of political discourse, and when asked if he was endorsing any specific candidate in 2008, Redford simply answered with a drawn-out and slightly exhausted "Nooooo ..." And with that, Sundance began -- so keep it here at Cinematical during the next ten days for all the coverage you need from Park City.

Most of us are probably painfully aware of the stress of the holidays when it comes to familial relationships. Films about families tell the one story that practically anyone can relate to. So in the spirit of feeling better about ourselves I've compiled a list of some of the most dysfunctional families in film. Maybe after taking a look at some big-screen dysfunction, we can sit back and take a little solace in that at least none of us have to sit down to Christmas dinner with any of the people on the following list.

1. Spanking the Monkey

Before he was famous on You Tube for his demented freak-out on the set of I Heart Huckabees, David O. Russell was famous for making the unthinkable; a comedy about incest. Monkey stars Alberta Watson as Susan Aibelli; a lonely and depressed mother who develops a sexual relationship with her son after they are left alone together for the summer. Jeremy Davis stars as her son and the subject of this unlikely coming-of-age story. The film might not be for the weak of heart, but it did manage to win an audience award at Sundance in 1994, and was responsible for turning Russell into the megalomaniac we've all come to know and love.

2. Ordinary People

Besides going down in infamy as the film that beat Raging Bull out of a 'Best Picture Oscar', this 1981 drama about a family dealing with the loss of it's 'favored son' was the directorial debut of Robert Redford. Timothy Hutton stars as the younger brother who is readjusting to life after a botched suicide attempt. Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore also star as the parents to Hutton and Judd Hirsch as the prototypical 'earthy NY Jewish' psychiatrist. So for anyone who watched Mary Tyler Moore as the epitome of 'chirpiness' during the seven year run of her self-titled series, get ready to be blown away, because her performance as a cold and repressed suburban mom is one of the best there is.

I'm sure Jerry Seinfeld and the other people involved with his latest film had hoped it would BEE number one (oh God, that joke was a cry for help, please call my parents), but the top spot went to Ridley Scott's American Gangster. Seinfeld and company still can't complain too much about second place as $39 million is hardly chump change. Last week's number one movie Saw IV hung in there as well, shearing the limbs off the competition for the second week. Here are the final numbers:

1. American Gangster: $46.3 million.
2. Bee Movie: $39.1 million.
3. Saw IV: $11 million.
4. Dan in Real Life: $8.1 million.
5. 30 Days of Night: $4 million.
5. The Game Plan: $3.9 million

The holiday box office season is truly upon us with high profile releases and Christmas themed movies hitting theaters. Here's what's coming out on Friday.

Fred Claus
What's It All About: Santa's black sheep brother Fred gets bailed out of prison and comes to the North Pole to help make toys for the Christmas holiday. Vince Vaughn stars as Fred and Paul Giamatti plays Santa.
Why It Might Do Well: The teaser trailer that came out last year with footage that probably isn't even in the movie was hilarious. Vaughn seems to be playing a variation on his characters from Wedding Crashers and Old School, and he was pretty funny in those roles, and I'm dying to see what Giamatti can do as Santa. If nothing else, the sheer number of theaters this one is opening in will put it in the number one spot.
Why It Might Not Do Well: I tend to bristle when Christmas displays start showing up in stores right after Halloween, and I'm probably not the only one. Might it just be too early for Christmas cheer?
Number of Theaters: 3,400
Prediction: $34 million

Lions For Lambs
What's It All About: Tom Cruise plays a Senator on the rise who crosses paths with an idealistic professor played by Robert Redford and a reporter played by Meryl Streep. Redford directs this film, which is the first drama for Cruise in six years.
Why It Might Do Well: A cast this stellar will definitely get people's attention.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Rottentomatoes.com is only giving this a 38% rating, with critics using words like "talky" and "clunky."
Number of Theaters: 2,200
Prediction: $11 million

I don't have a subscription to ScreenDaily.com, so I can only read the headlines, but those headlines sure are handy. Here are three that caught my eye, all deals taking place in and around the American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica, California.

• Carlos Reygadas' challenging drama Silent Light sharply divided critics when it debuted at Cannes earlier this year, though everyone seemed to agree that certain scenes were indelibly beautiful. Tartan Films has picked up distribution rights in the US; they previously released the director's Battle in Heaven. Expect a limited theatrical engagement. It plays at AFI Fest in Hollywood next week (November 7 and 9).
  

• Blood Brothers (pictured), on the other hand, has united critics: no one seems to like it. Alexei Tan's reimagining of John Woo's A Bullet in the Head has been criticized for being too glossy and lacking substance -- none of which discourages me from wanting to see it. First Look Studios has acquired US distribution rights. First Look has handled genre titles before, often sending them straight to DVD, so a theatrical release is not assured, especially in view of its lukewarm reception so far.
  

• Sukiyaki Western Django, Takashi Miike's English-language Spaghetti Western, apparently confused everybody. Some were disappointed that it not as outrageous as from the versatile and prolific director. First Look has picked up US rights for this one as well, but it's a new, edited version that is 25 minutes shorter than what was previously screened at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. Given Miike's name recognition, this has a shot at a limited theatrical release before heading to DVD.
  

AFM runs through November 7. AFI Fest, which opened last night with a gala screening of Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs, runs through November 11.

[ Via ScreenDaily ]

Lambs just aren't enough for Robert Redford. On November 8, Lions for Lambs hits theaters, the Redford-directed/starring drama about a professor, journalist, and senator in Washington during the battle in Afghanistan (check out the trailer here). Now, because you can't be tired of war, mess-ups, and political drama yet, Variety reports that he's set for more with an adaptation of Richard A. Clarke's memoir, Against All Enemies. Clarke was the counterterrorism adviser for three presidents, and his book criticizes the Bush administration's actions before and after 9/11.

Jamie Vanderbilt wrote the screenplay, and the film is being produced by John Calley under Capitol Films. (Columbia Pictures used to have it, but they had slipped it into turnaround.) However, ol' Red's involvement depends on financing. I imagine they'll pull it together -- especially if they plan to get it out before the 2008 elections. While George W. Bush might not be running again, there's nothing like a little incendiary cinema to heat things up.

The memoir doesn't lack for troubling claims, although these days, many of them have become widely accepted. Clarke says there was a lot of terrorist "chatter" before 9/11, and that he kept making requests for meetings about his information. After the dreaded date, the ex-adviser claims Bush asked him to find evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved, and when he wrote a report saying there was no evidence to support that, he was told to "update and resubmit" the document. And the big one -- that the war on terror that led to the invasion of Iraq played into Osama bin Laden's hands, rather than hurting Al-Qaeda.

Unless you're a big fan of ET -- that is, Entertainment Tonight, not the extra-terrestrial -- you probably missed the first brief look at Lions for Lambs, Robert Redford's next film that has him directing as well as starring with Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep. Back in November, Chris Ullrich told us about Cruise's decision to take on the role, having been handed a whole selection of films to choose from. Was it the right choice? If you liked A Few Good Men and want to see him earnest in a suit, then probably. If you didn't, maybe not.

The movie is about 3 intertwined stories -- a senator debating a crisis in Afghanistan, the reporter who made his career and a professor who is teaching political science and trying to convince a student not to give up his studies and head there. As the clip shows us -- Cruise is the Senator, Streep is the Journalist and Redford is the Professor. In Tommy's first scene, he stands up to look more imposing and less teeny to the sitting Meryl, then she takes over to talk about how a "we" failed to connect the dots and Redford then says: "Rome* is burning, son." And man, that guy can put a lot of heat behind a few words, much more so than Cruise. You can't really go wrong with two of the three pieces, but I'm not so sure about the third which really seems to make for risky business. I've actually liked a lot of Cruise's work, and have enjoyed him as a vet, a vampire and even a disfigured man. But a senator? I'm not so sure.

*Thanks to Allison for the correction. Good ear! MB