Happy New Year to all my brothers and sisters. May 5769 kick a whole lot more ass than 5768. While over 98% of Hollywood takes the day off, here's what's happening:

Variety reports that Michael Bay has taken a page from Christopher Nolan and will shoot "at least three action set pieces" using IMAX cameras during Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Usually I'd reserve this spot for a Bay joke, but I truly think this is a great thing for a film like Transformers. The action scenes in the last one felt claustrophobic (especially toward the end), and so utilizing IMAX would allow Bay and Co. to open it up and really have fun with the thing. Visually, this could add a lot to the film. Hopefully they'll use it for some massive robot battle. Other films also mentioned in the article as possible contenders for a similar IMAX approach include Iron Man 2 and Y: The Last Man.

Looks like the old gang is making a play for Spider-Man 4 (and 5?), as Kirsten Dunst told MTV that she's "in" when asked whether she'd be returning to the mega-franchise as Peter Parker's old lady, Mary Jane. However, she did follow that up with "I'm not saying anything. I know there's rumors ..." -- which, in actor-speak, means "We're still negotiating and I'm not really allowed to open my big mouth." I'd expect a big announcement soon stating the return of Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst for a back-to-back shoot of Spider-Man 4 and 5.

Thomas Dekker (aka that dude who stars in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is in talks to snag a lead role in MGM's remake of Fame, so says The Hollywood Reporter. The original 1980 film, which was nominated for six Oscars, follows several aspiring young performers and teachers at the prestigious New York Academy of Performing Arts. Considering the times we live in, I envision this update to feel like a mix between Step Up, You Got Served and American Idol: The Movie.

Much more after the jump ...

• Legendary actor Paul Newman passes away at the age of 83.
• Cinematical sits down with Daniel Craig and Marc Forster to discuss Quantum of Solace. What happened to the line, "Bond, James Bond?" Check out these new images from the film. Oh, and James Bond doesn't think he'll ever seduce a man.
• Could Steven Spielberg direct Superman?
• Exclusives: Images from Steven Seagal's Kill Switch. First poster for Clint Eastwood's Changeling. New poster for Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. Trailer for The Pleasure of Being Robbed.
• Fan Made: Holy hottie Hellgirl! Cozy up to some nifty Star Wars slippers. What do the economic bailout and The Dark Knight have in common? Look out ... it's Angelina Jolie: The Doll.
• Odd News: From Wanted to ... Moby Dick? American Psycho: The Musical? Awesome! Someone wants a Lethal Weapon 5 ... but who?
  
• Countdown: Five Fall/Winter Trailers to Watch, Four Casting Choices for Brett Ratner's Batman, Three Awesome Movie-Related T-Shirts to Buy, Two Photos of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland ... and one week in review!
• Cinematical Seven: Top Movies Within Movies Since 2000, and Sex Addicts on the Silver Screen.
• Fan Rant: Leave Keira Knightley's skinniness alone!
• They're Back: Captain Jack, Ghostbusters, I Am Legend prequel, Cars 2 gets an earlier release
• Insert Caption: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
• Interviews: Gary Cole and Spike Lee
• Reviews: Eagle Eye, Nights in Rodanthe, Choke, Miracle at St. Anna
• And finally ... Cinematical hits up Fantastic Fest.

"Every time I get a script it's a matter of trying to know what I could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell. It's like falling in love. You can't give a reason why." -- Paul Newman

This just in: Legendary actor Paul Newman passed away late last night of cancer. He was 83. Throughout his career in Hollywood, Newman was nominated for countless awards, including Oscars (nominated for ten and didn't win until his seventh time ... and stayed home the year he won!), an Emmy and even a Grammy. Newman's most memorable roles came in films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Color of Money (for which he won an Oscar), The Hustler, The Long Hot Summer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Sting, Cool Hand Luke ... and so many more. In his down time, Newman was married to Joanne Woodward for 50 years, and is also very well known for his philanthropic ways, his race car driving and business ventures (Newman's Own ...). His final role came as the voice of Doc Hudson in Pixar's Cars.

More from our Cinematical writers after the jump. Feel free to share your favorite Newman moments in the comments below ...

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?

This morning I was happy to read a post at the Orlando Sentinel, which said that they spoke to Paul Newman's agent, Toni Howard, and she says the reports that he is terminally ill with lung cancer are "not true."

For a while, official confirmation had seemed inevitable. Paul Newman had pulled out of production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, which he was slated to direct for Connecticut's Westport Country Playhouse. He looked frail during a Polo for Children benefit with Martha Stewart. And the most brow-raising of them all -- he handed over his ownership of Newman's Own to charity.

So, the rumors started to bubble up -- he was diagnosed at a center in New York, was getting treatment, was terminally ill ... so on and so forth. But then I started finding reports that were much more cryptic, saying that he is"doing nicely." Now, Jam Showbiz!/AP reports that friend and writer A.E. Hotchner (who helped start the salad dressing company) says that he is, indeed battling cancer. "I know that it's a form of cancer," Hotchner told The Associated Press. "It's a form of cancer and he's dealing with it." He went on to say: "He's battling. He's doing all the right stuff. Paul is a fighter. He seems to be going through a good period right now. Everybody is hopeful. That's all we know." Mr. Newman, our thoughts are with you.

Ah, election years. Everybody's talking about politics instead of Paris Hilton for a change. The Daily Show gets really good. And everyone wants to know who's supporting who. As far as Hollywood is concerned, we have some answers. CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon has looked at the July presidential fund raising disclosures and pulled out the celebrities to see where they stand. You can read the full list over at Deadline Hollywood Daily, but let's take a look at some of the highlights, shall we?

Tom Hanks, Danny DeVito, and Tobey Maguire are some of the big names who contributed to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Will Smith and Jamie Foxx are all about Barack Obama. Oliver Stone digs John Edwards, (but secretly suspects him of starting the Vietnam War). Bill Richardson must contribute to the Director's Guild, he's got Steven Spielberg, William Friedkin, and James L. Brooks on board, in addition to Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer (no word on how The Ghost and The Darkness voted). Rudy Giuliani got some highly coveted Mafia support from The Sopranos' Tony Sirico. John Lithgow surely made an over-the-top theatrical gesture of placing his check in the mail for Chris Dodd. Dennis Kucinich has the lowest profile group of supporters, with Hector Elizondo probably the biggest star of the bunch. Note: This is the first time Hector Elizondo has been the biggest star in anything, including delicatessens.

82-year old Paul Newman apparently announced his retirement on Thursday's Good Morning America, declaring "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to." He also added: "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed-book for me ... I've been doing it for 50 years. That's enough." Newman's last major role in a film was as an elderly Irish gangster John Rooney in Sam Mendes' underrated 2002 film Road to Perdition, and he had a role in the recent Pixar film, Cars, which is unseen by me. The host of the program didn't ask Newman about A Walk in the Woods, which was supposed to be his big reunion film with Robert Redford. The project, which would have been based on Bill Bryson's book, is about an author who hikes across some American wilderness with his pal. So scratch that, I guess.

I'm not sure what roles Newman will be most remembered for, but I do think that, as the years go on, The Hustler and Cool Hand Luke will continue to climb higher and higher on the list of critically-acclaimed films. The Newman performance in each film is as good, in my opinion, as any work Brando ever did. There's also Hud, which seems to be gaining in respectability as the years ago on. Sadly, his pairing with Hitchcock only produced the yawn-worthy Torn Curtain, and like every other actor, he had his share of real turkeys, but overall, I think Newman can hang up his spurs safe in the knowledge that his legacy is secure.

For the past half century, Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals has honored the greatest names in entertainment. Since 1951, it has given its Woman of the Year award to Katherine Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Meryl Streep and others of tremendous talent. In 1967, it began handing out a Man of the Year award, too. Recipients have included Paul Newman, James Stewart, Robert DeNiro and Steven Spielberg. This year's winners are Scarlett Johansson and Ben Stiller.

Now, I know I could be in the minority here, but I just don't see Johansson and Stiller being in the same boat as some of the past honorees. But I think maybe the theater group hasn't chosen Johansson specifically for her acting (or her gallbladder). I think they just want the "Sexiest Woman Alive" to lead their parade (perchance in a Cinderella costume?). As for Stiller, well, I'm sure he should be a fun guy to have around at a premiere party for HPT's latest theatrical production. He isn't the first comedy star to be honored, and at least he's still in his prime, unlike 1993 honoree Chevy Chase.

Looking through the list, it seems most of the elder greats have already been given awards in the past, but surely there must be somebody more deserving than these two. Okay, granted Stiller is a huge box office success this year, though his draw is likely temporary, but Johansson hasn't shown herself to be a great actress and so far she's been "box office poison." Who should have gotten the awards instead?

Director Arthur Penn is probably always going to be remembered for Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, but Penn had a few films under his belt before his ultimate in "glamorized gangsters". The 84-year-old director was working in films up until the late 80's and has served as an executive producer for the TV series Law & Order.

The Hollywood Reporter announced that Penn has been selected to receive the prestigious Golden Bear at this year's Berlin Film Festival. The director will be in attendance at a gala on the 15th of February to receive the lifetime achievement award. The festival is showing 10 films in total during a retrospective program at the Deutsche Kinemathek -- Museum for Film and Television that will end with the gala. Director of The Berlin Festival, Dieter Kosslick said, "Arthur Penn's films of the 1960s and early 1970s reanimated the crises-ridden American cinema. He is a great director, who deeply influenced the American cinema d'auteur". The retrospective of the director's work includes the Penn's first film The Left-Handed Gun; the film re-tells the legend of Billy the Kid as a sexually confused and psychologically tortured youth. The part was originally intended for James Dean but went to Paul Newman after Dean had passed away.

You have to admire a director who dared to present one of America's greatest folk icons as a sexually ambiguous neurotic, and in 1958 no less. For that alone the man probably deserves an award.

Good ol' Val Kilmer has worked almost continuously since his first Top Secret! film, even if he seems to swim in and out of the spotlight. Lately, he's been back in, sailing from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang into a number of other works from the current film Deja Vu to a musical stint as Moses and a television miniseries. Now, as he's profiled by the new editor of Black Book Magazine for its December/January issue, he muses over a life of salad dressing.

I guess in-between scenes and jobs, Kilmer has amused himself by coming up with alternative salad empire to compete with the likes of Paul Newman's "Newman's Own." He's got the branding, the idea, and the motivation all set to go. In his own organic food company, Kilmer would have ValZone. Get it? Val's Own? The logo would be a picture of Val, all prosthetically enhanced to resemble Newman. Where Newman lists the charities that will benefit from the proceeds, Kilmer will list his expenses, as the dressing would be "100 percent organic, 100 percent profit." On the list include his car and his kids, and yes, they were listed in that order. If imdb is right in suggesting that Val learned he was getting divorced from CNN, then maybe his imagination is fuelled by the looming prospect of killer alimony.

While it's obviously supposed to be funny, it comes off a bit oily. Perhaps a better place for Kilmer's food empire musings would be on SNL, although now the joke has already been spoiled.

[via Radar Online]