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?

Well, the time has finally come for another funtastic Pixar film to hit the big screen. This Friday, Wall·E touches down on earth, and naturally its impending arrival has got us thinking about those nutty dudes over at Pixar who took giant risks, worked their asses off and revolutionized the world of animation. I'm fully aware that naming your favorite Pixar film is kinda like naming your favorite child, but it's fun to look back over the years and attempt to come up with the one Pixar flick that entertained us the most.

Which do you hold closest to your heart? I'm sure everyone has a soft spot for the original Toy Story, but most folks I've spoken with feel The Incredibles was the best all-around Pixar film. Me? I'm a Monsters, Inc. guy. Yup, that's my favorite Pixar film. I just remember having so much fun watching Monsters, Inc. for the first time -- more fun than I had watching any other Pixar flick (with Toy Story and The Incredibles following closely behind). My least favorite is Cars, though I was sick the one time I watched it and have been meaning to give it another chance. Should I? Which is your favorite Pixar film (feature, not short)? Feel free to tell us why in the comments below ...

The other day I saw The Kingdom, which features a very significant use of a Tootsie Pop. At first I thought, hey that's some good, functional product placement. Then I thought, hey now I want a Tootsie Pop. Then I thought, hey I should give out Tootsie Pops on Halloween. Then I finally thought, hey I should dress up as Jennifer Garner as "Agent Mayes" when I give out Tootsie Pops, for the added movie connection. But later I realized that nobody would get the reference. So, I thought about some other movie-related candy to hand out on Halloween, and I have paired them up with the recognizable movie character(s) they go with. Because what would be more fun when you have to stay home giving out candy than to dress up in a costume appropriate to the treat you're offering?

1. Wonka Bar

As a kid, I thought the Willy Wonka brand of candies existed prior to the release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and that Warner Bros. had just worked with the brand as extensive product placement. In a way, the product placement thing was still the case, but actually Willy Wonka was the name of the man and company in Roald Dahl's original book. The brand was founded, by Breaker Confections, which changed its name, in sync with the making of the film in order for some cross-marketing genius. Of course, when Tim Burton's remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, came out, it could definitely be thought of as product placement for the well-established Willy Wonka brand, now owned by Nestlé. And around the same time as the film's release, a new kind of Wonka Bar premiered in the U.S.

It would be a great idea to dress as either the Gene Wilder version of Wonka, or the Johnny Depp version if you must, and hand out the bars to the kids. Personally, I don't like Nestlé chocolate and would prefer to give out Everlasting Gobstoppers. Plus, that candy is better related to the first movie. But I think kids these days would get the point more with the Bars.

If you saw the first Wall-E teaser trailer, you won't be missing anything by not watching the new trailer. At least, you won't miss anything that will be in the actual movie. However, the new teaser features a fresh sequence involving Wall-E's interaction with the Pixar logo. It's cute, it's funny and it makes you want to give hugs to a lamp and a robot, which is pretty silly but nonetheless the undeniable case. I've always had a thing for retooled logos involving the movie it accompanies (for example Ralph Wiggum singing along to the 20th Century Fox fanfare before The Simpsons Movie), and I've always had a thing for that little Pixar lamp ever since I saw that first animated short, and so obviously I absolutely love this clip. The rest of the trailer, well, that's kinda boring, but only because we've pretty much already seen it before.

Sure, the title character of Wall-E looks like a cross between E.T. and Johnny 5, but who cares? I don't know about you, but I love E.T., and Johnny 5 is also pretty cool when Ally Sheedy isn't around. So, what's the problem? Personally, I'm really looking forward to this next Pixar movie, especially after reading that director Andrew Stanton considers it to be like "R2-D2: The Movie," because it doesn't really feature any dialogue. Basically it's going to be a beautiful, computer-animated silent film. Despite my intense hatred for Cars, I have faith that Pixar will keep on producing brilliant family entertainment, and when Wall-E opens next summer, you can bet I'll be seeing it. Am I really the only who can't wait? It sure feels that way.

With Toy Story 3 coming to theaters in 2010, I keep wondering why Pixar didn't plan sequels to any of its other hits. I guess we kinda got a follow-up to Monsters, Inc., but I'd love to see another whole feature with Sulley and Mike. I'd also like to see a full-length return of The Incredibles. If I had to choose, though, I'd much rather see new, original stories like the wonderful Ratatouille. And I most certainly would never, ever ask for a sequel to Cars. Unfortunately, I wasn't asked, and even if I had been, my answer wouldn't have mattered. Pixar would just go on ahead and make Cars 2. It isn't official, but someone informed the JV Pixar News blog that the sequel would be Pixar's next movie after Toy Story 3. JV has been following the story for a little while; back in June, the blog reported Cars 2 would come as early as 2009 and that a Cars short would be shown with next summer's Wall * E (apparently all these rumors/info originated from statements made by Paul Newman at this year's Indianapolis 500).

Cars was the first Pixar movie to really bore me. Hearing that it will be continued in a sequel is extremely disappointing, because I hate to miss anything the studio puts out. I'd probably eventually force myself to watch it -- maybe it could be an improvement -- but it would take a long, long time. I'd even rather see Finding Nemo 2, despite the fact that I didn't love the first movie (I liked it a whole lot more than Cars, though, that is for sure). Nemo would even make more sense to me as the movie to do a follow-up to. It made the most money of any Pixar movie and I believe it is more popular and more critically revered than Cars. Even The Incredibles made more than Cars. So, I don't get it; why would Disney be most interested in that one? It didn't even win the Oscar, for goodness sakes. In my opinion, it was something of a failure for both Disney and Pixar.

We're back! James Bond touches land, air and sea in this episode as we talk about our favorite Bond cars, the Spy-Fi Archives exhibit coming to the Queen Mary, and the re-opening of the 007 Stage in London. We also talk to a special guest in this episode, screenwriter and Young Bond Dossier expert John Cox -- who takes us into the literary world of the Young James Bond novels, which are very popular right now.

Some links and highlights from this episode:

• The 007 Stage reopens: visit their revamped website and check things out.
• The James Bond Car collection: subscribe and have Bond replica cars sent to you.
• Spy-Fi Archives at the Queen Mary: on exhibit April 7th through September 2007.
• John's amazing Young Bond Dossier site: check out the links to the Young Bond "apache" gadget, and the new Centenary Bond novel coming out next year.

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The already-hyped Transformers flick received another shot of free press this week when the cars that GM licensed for the film showcased at the GM "ten" pre-Oscar fashion event at Paramount Pictures. IESB.net has exclusive video of the cars on the "red carpet" and already speculation has begun that GM could bring a "Transformers Edition" of cars into production. Mike Jackson, GM North America Vice President, marketing and advertising, notes, "Transformers is a compelling project and offers us a global platform for marketing GM products and building our brands, it represents the perfect intersection of entertainment, marketing and design."

Most of the attention directed at the cars in the film has been the switch for Bumblebee from a VW Bug into a brand new classic Camaro. Fans are already a little miffed at the change; I'm not exactly the biggest Transformers aficionado, but even I thought it should have been a Volkswagen, regardless of what high-profile marketing agreements were in place. Other GM products in the film include a Pontiac Solstice (Jazz), Hummer H2 (Ratchet and a GMC TopKick (Ironhide). Since these cars are already on their way to the marketplace, I would assume any Transformer edition would pretty much be the same car but with an Autobot or Decepticon logo on the back. So it's not exactly groundbreaking design, but could fans resist the lure of driving around in their very own Transformer?

This past weekend was full of award ceremonies (including the BAFTAs), many of which fall on the path toward the Oscars.

• The Writers Guild of America presented its awards Sunday. Top prizes went to Michael Arndt for his original screenplay for Little Miss Sunshine and to William Monahan for his adapted screenplay for The Departed. Both scripts are the best bets for the Oscars. Amy Berg also won an award for documentary writing for Deliver Us From Evil.
• It remains a tight race for the animated feature Oscar, but Cars beat Happy Feet for the top honor at the Annie Awards Sunday. So far the former has taken some big awards like the Golden Globe while the latter has won most of the critics' prizes. Other than Best Animated Feature, Cars only won for its music. Flushed Away took home the most Annies (5), and Over the Hedge won 3. Bambi II won the award for direct-to-video titles.
• Sunday's Grammy Awards had some love for movies, honoring the soundtrack to Walk the Line, John Williams' score for Memoirs of a Geisha, Williams' composition "A Prayer for Peace" from his score for Munich and Randy Newman's song "Our Town" from Cars. Also semi-related are the Dixie Chicks' five wins, which make up for the Oscar snub of their documentary Shut Up & Sing.
• The Visual Effects Society Awards were also presented Sunday. The biggest winner was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with six awards, including the two top prizes. Other winners were Flags of Our Fathers, Casino Royale and Cars.
• Maggie Gyllenhaal presented the tech Oscars Saturday. You can look forward to the quick montage of winners shown during the Academy Awards telecast in two weeks.

For me the most entertaining part of the annual Oscar schpiel is not seeing which films get awards and what actors earn the most respect; it's scratching my head through the boneheaded decisions that seem to come a) out of nowhere and b) from a bunch of people who really ought to know a little better. Here are my picks for the seven biggest pieces of silliness regarding this year's Oscar nominations:

7. Borat for best adapted screenplay? Whaaaaat? Did we see the same movie? Don't get me wrong: I absolutely LOVED this movie -- I called it "one of the funniest movies ever made" and I stand by that opinion today -- but didn't most of the funniest bits come from moments best described as "off the cuff," "reaction-driven" and "semi-improvised"? I understand that more of the flick was scripted than one might expect, but c'mon. Unless all of Borat's interview subjects were given lines to read, I really don't see how this nomination makes any sense. I love seeing the movie get some respect, but what a silly way to do it.

6. Click gets nominated for best makeup ... but Pirates of the Caribbean 2 does not? What the hell? Did any of the Academy members see this movie? Yeah, I know that most of the more dazzling FX were full-bore CGI, but heck; the makeup used on Naomie Harris was more impressive than anything in freakin' Click! Fat suits and really lame "old man" makeup is all it takes to get an Oscar nom these days? Sheesh. Plus I just don't like living in a world that calls Click an Oscar nominee.

5. Nominating The Devil Wears Prada for Best Costume Design is like nominating Talladega Nights for Best Product Placement. Welcome to the world of Home Shopping Cinema.

Yes, it's that time of the year again -- time for the ever-popular People's Choice Awards (or, as I like to call them, "The Choice for People Under the Age of 16). Seriously, from glancing at the winners, one can only speculate that the folks actually voting are either teenagers or woman who read nothing but Us Weekly and Star Magazine -- basically, the types of people who think Jennifer Aniston (who won for best female star) is the greatest female movie star on the planet. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but c'mon ...

For those of you lucky enough to have missed the live broadcast, Johnny Depp and his merry band of pirates were the big winners on the movie side -- Depp took home the award for best male star, best male action star (what, no Daniel Craig?) and best on-screen matchup (for his on-screen partnership alongside Keira Knightley), while Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest won for best movie and best movie drama. Gee, ya think that movie is popular, or what? As far as best movie comedy goes, folks just scanned the list looking for whatever Adam Sandler film was out in theaters, choosing Click as their favorite. Not surprisingly, Cars walked away with the award for best family movie (and here I thought Tideland would give it a good fight).

Other winners include Cameron Diaz for best lading lady and Halle Berry for best female action star. Something tells me that best female action star trophy will look pretty sweet sitting next to Berry's Oscar -- man, remember back when we actually took her acting seriously. Sure, it was only for a couple of months ... but those were some special months, huh? Next year's show should be fun to predict -- how about we go ahead and give everything to Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and call it a day?