William Shatner was recently lamenting on TV the fact that he wasn’t invited to be part of the next Star Trek movie. Worstpreviews has some great insight into this issue.

Apparently since Shatner’s character, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, was killed in Star Trek VII: Generations. Co-writer Roberto Orci indicated that they have not figured out to get around this issue without getting fans upset, but that a Shatner cameo is possible. The current Writers Guild of America strike also prevents changes to the script until after the strike is over.

If you watched Generations, you might agree that it’s hard to be 100% sure that Kirk actually died. At any rate, we’re talking science fiction here, with multiple universes and multiple plot devices. It SHOULDN’T BE that hard to have Kirk appear as far as a script goes. Especially since Leonard Nimoy plays an older Spock against Zachary Quinto as a younger Spock. This movie predates the original TV series in terms of timeline. So why not have Shatner play Kirk’s father or grandfather.

Current cast include Leonard Nimoy, Winona Ryder, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Chris Pine as Kirk. Release date is Dec 25th, 2008, though a proper movie name has yet to be chosen. A fan mockup clip is below, entitled Star XI – The Wrath of Kirk. Also check out the parody clip Star Trek: Frasier further below.

Ali Larter, who plays Niki Sanders in the hit TV series Heroes, just got engaged to boyfriend Hayes MacArthur. She’s been in quite a few films including Crazy, Resident Evil: Extinction, Marigold, Homo Erectus, Final Destination 1 and 2, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Legally Blonde, and others. She’s also done an episode here and there in numerous hit TV shows in the late 1990s.

MacArthur is an actor, writer and producer. In addition to several TV roles, he’ll appear in 2008’s Lower Learning – which is currently filming – along with Jason Biggs, Eva Longoria Parker, Roby Corddry, Monica Potter, and Will Sasso.

No date has been set yet for the wedding.

Not long after Brad Pitt left State of Play, Ed Norton has left as well. Ben Affleck might replace Norton, but Pitt’s exit could spark a lawsuit if he can’t be replaced. Norton and Affleck do slightly look like each other – sort of like cousins. But the only person I can think of that looks similar to Pitt is a very young Robert Redford. (In fact, I maintain that Redford is really Pitt’s father, despite the pictures f Brad’s “parents”.) Does anyone have a time machine?

Other stars in the cast include Dame Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn and possibly Russell Crowe. The movie is based on the British TV mini-series of the same name, which is in the crime/ drama/ thriller category. A clip is below.

American Pie’s Tara Reid is having a bad time. She’s had to suffer through botched cosmetic surgery on her belly and poorly installed breast implants. (Here she is above, before surgery ruined her taut belly.) She’s dropped her live appearance rate from something like $30,000 down to $1500 (I think). Now she’s collapsed in Bali while partying on the weekend, gaining a few cuts and bruises in the bargain. She was taken to hospital and is now recovering in a hotel room there.

Reid will be appearing in 2008’s Land of Canaan, which is murder mystery combined with a psychological thriller/ horror based on a true story of a Nevada town. Tenative release date: July 2008.

As you can see from the video below, she really likes to minimal clothing, though based on how surgery has ruined her, no idea what’ll happen in Land of Canaan.

Nicolas Cage is back as Ben Gates in the conspiracy sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets (aka #2). Also appearing are Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris,Harvey Keitel, Bruce Greenwood and others.

The sequel’s plot suggests that Ben Gates’ great-grandfather had something to do with Abraham Lincoln’s murdder, so Gates sets about trying to clear the family name.

Release date is Fri Dec 21st. A trailer clip is below.

The New York Post reports that John Travolta will not in fact be in the new Dallas movie – which is based on the hit TV series. His role of J.R. Ewing might have been given to Ben Stiller, though this hasn’t been confirmed yet. (Sorry, but I just don’t see either of them suited for the role.)

The movie has been suffering casting problems for a while. Other actors previously let go include Shirley MacLaine, Luke Wilson, aand Jennifer Lopez.

Here’s a video clip of bloopers from the TV series.

Here are some of today’s celebrity birthdays. Most of the people listed have some professional connection to movie or TV work, including acting, writing, directing, producing, composing/ sountracks, etc.

• Christina Aguilera, 27.
• Katie Holmes, 29. 2008: Mad Money, Tropic Thunder, The Other Side.
• Brad Pitt, 44. 2008: Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Chad Schmidt, Dirty Tricks. 2009: The Fighter, Dallas Buyer’s Club.
• Ray Liotta, 53. 2008: Chasing 3000, Powder Blue, Hero Wanted, Crossing Over, La Linea, The Night Job. 2009: Only in New York.
• Leonard Maltin, 57.
• Steven Spielberg, 61. 2008: Eagle Eye, When Worlds Collide, Jurassic Park IV, The United States of Tara, The Talisman (TV mini-series), Nine Lives. 2009: The Pacific, Lincoln, Interstellar, Transformers 2.
• Keith Richards, 64.

Yesterday’s birthdays.
I forgot to post birthdays for Mon Dec 17th, so here they are.

• Mila Jovovich, 32. 2009: Azazel.
• Sarah Paulson, 33. 2009: The Spirit.
• Giovanni Ribisi, 33. 2008: The Other Side, The Stanford Prison Experiment. 2009: Avatar.
• Sean Patrick Thomas, 37. 2008: A Raisin in the Sun, The Burrowers.
• Gregg Araki, 48.
• Peter Farrelly, 51.
• Bill Pullman, 54. 2008: Phoebe in Wonderland, Your Name Here, Surveillance, Bottle Shock.
• Wes Studi, 60. 2008: Comanche Moon (TV mini-series), Three Priests, The Only Good Indian, The Hard Ride. 2009: Avatar, The Last Horseman.
• Jayne Eastwood, 61. 2008: The Echo. 2009: Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning (TV).
• Geoffrey Rowland, 61. 2008: The Russell Girl (TV).
• Eugene Levy, 61. 2008: Gooby, Punctured.
• Ernie Hudson, 62. 2008: Ghostbusters: The Video Game (VG). 2009: Never Submit.

Jessica Simpson stated recently that she wants to be taken as a serious actress and that she thinks the way to do achieve that is to take a movie role with a full-frontal nude scene. Now while she did get down to her “Daisy Dukes” short shorts in the Dukes of Hazzard movie, there were definitely no nude scenes.

Her latest movie, Blonde Ambition, is going straight to DVD, to be in general release on Jan 22nd. However, it is being released in a small handful of theaters in the state of Texas this Friday Dec 21st. Do you think there’ll be nude scenes in this one?

The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman as the villainess Mrs. Coulter, had a lackluster opening the first weekend, and even poorer this past weekend – trumped by Will Smith’s I Am Legend and even Alvin and the Chipmunks.

It probably doesn’t help that the movie has been the subject of Christian religious controversy. Recently, Catholic bishops in the U.S. asked that a review of the movie be removed the website of the Catholic News Service.

Word is that the movie eliminated some of the relgious elements that the book had. While I haven’t seen the movie, it appears that this decision actually did more harm than good – though it’s possible I’m mistaken.

I received a hardcover copy of the book in the mid-90s, but misplaced it and thus never read it. The book cover and the movie trailers are very visually rich, and on that basis alone would I watch the movie, regardless of any controversy. A clip is shown below, and galleries are available at the official Golden Compass movie site.

Lovers of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings books or even the acclaimed trilogy of movies directed by Peter Jackson should be happy to hear that another Tolkien novel, 1937’s The Hobbit, will be turned into a live-action movie. Unfortunately, Jackson will not direct, but he will be the executive producer.

There are actually going to be two movies filmed together, though no word if it’ll be in New Zealand like the Rings trilogy. The first will be released in 2010 and the second in 2011.

The Hobbit is a prequel to the Rings books, and follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, the uncle of Frodo Baggins, who was the main character in the Rings books and movies.

There was an animated TV movie, The Hobbit, in 1977, of which a clip is below.