You know those pictures that fell off of the set of J. J. Abrams’s Star Trek we told you about last week? Well, we’ve been asked to take them down by an outside firm representing Trek-studio Paramount.

Here’s the meat of the email I received-

The company hired by Paramount, BayTSP, Inc., claims to be acting as a representative for Paramount and claims that they feel photos included in the article were in violation of Paramount’s copyright. They asked that I remove the pictures and that I “refrain from using or sharing with others unauthorized Paramount Pictures Corporation’s materials in the future.” Since one of the questions raised in the original post was the question of the provenance of the photos and how exactly Paramount was claiming copyright on the material, it seems that without an answer to those questions, I am severely hindered from determining what Paramount may later claim to fall within their copyright.

Well, since they asked nicely, I did pull the pictures. However, I feel that the questions asked in the post are still valid, and here it looks as if there is someone who may be in a position to answer them. So I’ve sent them following email-

Dear [Sir],

I am in receipt of your email from earlier today and have, in as much as in my power to do so, have removed the seven photos your client, Paramount Pictures, feels is in somehow violation of their copyright. I have also removed an eighth photograph not stipulated in your letter. Please note that I can not be held responsible for any search engine caching or other internet archiving of those images that may have been done to my site beyond my control.

I do have a few questions about Paramount’s actions in this matter that I hope you can answer.

The pictures that I posted were part of an article, which I have retained on the site, where I questioned the reach of copyright claims in the digital age. As such, I felt the inclusion of the photos was necessary as part of that discussion and fell under the aegis of “Fair Use,” using the definition that Fair use “of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting… is not an infringement of copyright.” (17 U.S.C. section 107). Has any consideration been given towards any posting of these pictures under this provision?

Also, in the post, I questioned the provenance of the pictures as pursuant to Paramount’s claims of copyright infringement. Was the photographer working as an employee of Paramount Pictures as an official photographer on the film’s production? If not, when does this subject of an image override the copyright interest of the generator of the image?

I would appreciate any help you could provide in clarifying issues for myself and my site’s readers in order to prevent any similar misunderstandings in the future.

Thank you for your time,
Rich Drees
FilmBuffOnLine.com

If I receive any response, I’ll pass it along.

Over at the website for his upcoming comedy Zack And Miri Make A Porno, writer/director Kevin Smith has put up the film’s production logo, which the director states on his website’s discussion board appeared “on the all the stationary, the chair-backs, the slate.” He does add that the logo probably won’t be used in the actual advertising for the moving, stating he doubts “it’ll be used for the poster or anything.” A pity, as I like the retro, 1970s MPAA rating notice look.

Currently, Smith is editing the Seth Rogen-Elizabeth Banks starring comedy down to a rough cut of one hour, forty-five minutes before he starts test screening it. He also states that they hope to edit a Red Band trailer together, though he’s not sure when or where it would should up.

Via NewsAskew.

“We’ll always have La Isla Bonita”?

Madonna wants to remake the venerable classic Casablanca, according to a story published in England over the weekend. Allegedly, the pop singer wants to reset the classic’s World War Two setting to “in a modern war zone such as Iraq.”

There’s no need to worry that this will actually ever come to pass, though. Since the story only quoted an anonymous source and appeared Saturday in the British tabloid The Daily Mail, I think we can safely write off the whole thing as a fiction invented by a bored “journalist” looking to file some copy before heading out the door for the weekend.

The idea of Madonna wanting to play the Ingrid Bergman Casablanca role, a part considerably younger than the singer’s own nearly 50 years, is a bit of hubris that I don’t think that even the singer herself could reach. Besides which, we’ve already had two movies in the last several years that could be viewed as remakes of Casablanca- 1996’s Barb Wire, with the highly siliconed Pamela Anderson and 2006’s The Good German with George Clooney. Don’t believe me? Go back and watch them again.

This does, however, give me the opportunity of forwarding my own theory of Madoona as Talent Vampire. While, I can’t say how Dennis Rodman’s NBA record fared when he was involved with the singer, I do know that during the time Sean Penn was married to her, he made some really bad movies. Shanghai Surprise (Co-starring guess who?) and We’re No Angels ring any bells out there? And British director Guy Ritchie turned out the entertaining Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, but then meets and marries Madonna and –WHAMMO! He makes Swept Away. Someone needs to put a stake through this woman’s career.

Raise the curtains and light the lights, because there’s some news on the new Muppet film to start off your week!

Jason Segel and Nick Stoller, the writer/star and director of the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall, were recently tapped to develop, of all things, a new Muppet movie. Of course, announcing that the two guys behind an R-rated comedy were going to be guiding the next installment of the family-friendly franchise sounded as crazy as having comic actor/writer Seth Rogen developing a serious film adaptation of the classic old time radio hero The Green Hornet! Oh, wait a minute…

Anyway, the folks over at CHUD have managed to corner Segel and Stoller while the duo were on the publicity tour for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and managed to squeeze a few words out of them concerning their upcoming assignment writing for Kermit the Frog and friends-

Apparently their Muppet film is going to be incredibly old fashioned, with the familiar Muppet characters putting on a show to save an old theater. (The theater from The Muppet Show?). The danger? An evil character wants to tear the place down to get at the oil underneath. It’s sort of current!

Traditionally, the Muppet films have all been developed in-house, first by Muppet-creator Jim Henson and then by his several close associates. However, the recent spate of Muppet projects which have tried to graft them into various works of classic literature – Muppet Treasure Island and the made for television Muppet’s Wizard Of Oz – have not fared too well, perhaps motivating the move to outside writers. Previously, Kevin Smith associate Brian Lynch was approached by the Jim Henson Company to write a Muppet film, though they ultimately passed on his finished screenplay.

1. Superhero Movie (2,960 Theaters, 85 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Uh, is this movie really necessary? I mean, maybe before Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans came around, there was a chance that they superhero film genre was in need of parody. But, even though they both were awful, they did parody a lot of what might be parodied here.

There was a brief time when the Zuckers, the creative minds behind the Airplane movies, were attached to this film. If anybody can bring something new to the drama, they could. But, unfortunate, the film is helmed by the most dreaded phrase in modern day cinema—one of the writers of Scary Movie.

Which one? Apparently, it’s the writer who wrote the scene in the third one aping the Matrix with Eddie Griffin playing a Morpheus-like being yelled at by his wife. Only this time around, it’s Tracy Morgan as Professor X being yelled at by Mrs. X. I guess that guy really thinks it’s funny when black women yell at black bald men.

2. 21 (2,649 Theaters, 123 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Whenever I see the trailer for this film (and, frankly, how could you miss it?), I am humored by the attempts of Jim Sturgess on putting on an American accent. Most of the time when Brits like Sturgess try to sound American, they end up sounding stiff or laconic. The only notable exception is Hugh Laurie from House, his accent is seemless/ But Sturgess sounds a bit like Keanu on Quaaludes. I mean, if I need $300,000 to stay in school, my voice would show a little more emotion.

Another reason why this flick is not high on the list of films I want to see this weekend is the liberties it takes with the original story. It is “inspired by the true story” found in the pages of Bringing Down the House. I haven’t read it, but my wife has, and I trust her when she says that it is a story about a group of MIT students recruited by a retired professor who develop a method to win at blackjack by counting cards. They have a successful run before the casino got wise. Tensions rose and the team broke up.

The movie, being Hollywood-ized, is about a group of MIT students recruited by THEIR CURRENT MATH PROFESSOR who develop a method to win at blackjack by counting cards. They have a successful run WHERE THEY LIVED LIKE ROCK STARS AND HAD SEX WITH EACH OTHER IN DELUXE HOTEL ROOMS OVER LOOKING THE VEGAS STRIP before the casino got wise AND TOOK THEM INTO THE BASEMENT AND BEAT THEM ALL UP. Tensions rose AS CERTAIN TEAM MEMBER GOT COCKY AND WONDERED WHY THEY NEEDED THE PROFESSOR AFTER ALL.

The original story, as it was, was good enough to make that book a best seller. But I guess it just wasn’t exciting enough for Hollywood.

3. Stop-Loss (1,291 Theaters, 113 Minutes, Rated R): I think the lead time on movie production has just about caught up with box office grosses, so this might just be one of the last movies about the Iraq War. This was probably already in the works when the disappointing grosses for films like Rendition and Lions for Lambs started rolling in.

Why do American audiences not want to see films about the Iraq War or the War on Terrorism? Is the US that conservative that it has an aversion to anything critical of those conflicts? Or is it general apathy? Do we know that the war in the gulf is bad, and don’t really want to pay $10 to be reminded of it for two hours?

And this movie doesn’t seem to be the one to change the tide. It deals with the military practice of keeping soldiers active in the military past their discharge date if military need arises. This means that soldiers who have already done a tour of duty in Iraq, and all the horrors that entails, are being forced right back over there.

Is this practice awful? Yes. So, people probably will not want to see a movie about it.

4. Run Fatboy Run (1,133 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated PG-13): I really like Simon Pegg. I had the chance to re-watch Shaun of the Dead recently, and man, he is really a skilled comedian. He’s the kind of guy who can get a laugh with only just a well placed facial expression. And that’s a talent.

So, when I saw the trailer for this movie last year, I made note of it as a “must see”. Pegg co-wrote the film with Michael Ian Black, best known for being a member of The State. How these two got together is beyond me, but only good can come of it.

Pegg plays a man who left his pregnant girlfriend at the altar. Now, years later, she is about to marry another man with a penchant for running marathons (The underrated Hank Azaria). Pegg begins training for the marathon himself in an effort to win her back.

The only question is the director. This is Friends’ alum David Schwimmer’s first feature film. He does have some TV credits under his belt, but movies are a different thing entirely. But, seriously, the movie is written by Simon Pegg and Michael Ian Black. Even I could probably direct it and it turn out okay.

The release of the comedy Drillbit Taylor last weekend has sparked a rather curious phenomenon, a resurgence in interest in the films of John Hughes and in the writer/director himself, who hasn’t been seen in Hollywood for over a decade now.

While in a production deal with Paramount Pictures, the man behind Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science had cranked out a number of story treatments, Drillbit Taylor included, that simply sat around the studio waiting for someone to develop them. (Though for Drillbit Taylor, he receives screen credit under his old pseudonym of Edmond Dantes.)

With Drillbit Taylor, that someone turned out to be Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow. Both are becoming rapidly known for becoming to comedy films today what Hughes was in the mid-1980s, creators of comedies that balanced raucous humor with an undertone of sweetness and a keen understanding of what being a teenager is like.

Back in the 1990s, Hughes shifted his focus from teen comedies to more family friendly fare such as the Home Alone series, Beethoven (1992) and Disney’s live action 101 Dalmatians (1996) before withdrew from filmmaking and retreating to the confines of northern Illinois. His representatives routinely refuse media requests for interviews and his long absence has lead Kevin Smith, who used Hughes’ mythical Illinois town of Shermer as a plot point in Dogma, to call him the “J D Salinger of our generation” in a recent LA Times piece.

Although some may be quick to poo-poo that particular idea, I think Smith is on to something. Both created works with teen characters who felt alienated from the world around them and how they refuse to bow to the pressures of other’s expectations. Those of us teens who sat in darkened cinemas in the mid-1980s identified with the various characters stuck in Saturday detention in The Breakfast Club, hoping that others would see beyond their preconceived notions of whatever social clique we were in. We all wanted to stand up and tell the world to see us as how we were, not how they wanted to see us. We wanted a friend whom we could ditch school and have an awesome day off with. His characters became cinematic friends and we wonder where they are today.

Hughes’ influence on a generation of filmmakers is obvious in the works of Apatow, Rogen, Smith and others. His films have also become such a part of the American cinematic consciousness, that the upcoming documentary American Teen has copied the Breakfast Clubs iconic poster for its own advertising campaign. With this one simple poster, American Teen shows to a potential ticket-buyer that it deals with some of the same themes that Hughes worked with.

It seems indisputable to me that parallels can’t be denied between Hughes and Salinger, even looking past their shared retreat into hermitage. Salinger’s Catcher In the Rye continues to be read today, more than four decades after its publication. Factor out the 1980s clothing and hairstyles and John Hughes’ films still hold up today, watchable and relatable for a new generation.

Updated to remove links to photos. Read more about it here.

Earlier this week, several photos leaked off of a location shoot for J J Abrahms upcoming Star Trek franchise relaunch/reboot/remake/whatever. The photos detailed some scene being shot which included a Starfleet shuttle in the background, the interior of said shuttle, a closeup of a costume, a detail of a control panel and a sign.

As expected, Paramount legal flacks quickly sprung into action, requesting the big name websites that published them take them down, presumably under some murkily worded threat over copyright infringement. This, of course, raises a few questions. Were the pictures taken by a Paramount employee as part of their duties at the studio and on the production? If not, wouldn’t copyright of the pictures belong to the photographer, as he or she is the one who created the image itself?

Also, I think that in some ways, this displays an incredible lack of understanding how the internet works, if these lawyers think believe that the pictures will just magically disappear once they ask them to. People are going to click and save the photos, pass them along to friends and repost them. They’ll be cached by various search engines. This isn’t about trying to get a cat back in the bag, it is about trying to herd a large pack of catnip crazed kitties into a sandwich baggie. It just isn’t going to happen.

But then again, as the recent Writers Guild strike showed us in so many ways, the business side of Hollywood has absolutely no idea of how the internet works and how to use the new media in a way to really service their customers, we the movie-going public.

Star Trek hits theaters in May 2009.

Would you go see a movie called The Incredible Journey In A Crazy Airplane? How about Floppy Coppers Don’t Bite?

These are just two examples of bizarre title translations offered up by the folks over at Madmind in an article about some of the truly odd titles German marketers have given to American movies. Click over to see how the above titles became attached to the comedy classic Airplane and to the Dan Aykroyd-Tom Hanks vehicle Dragnet. Wait until you see what they did to Soylent Green and Animal House!

Personally, I’d be interested in seeing an entire article devoted to the translation of Airplane itself. So much of the comedy depends on word play (“Surely you don’t mean it.” “I do. And don’t call me Shirley.”) that I can’t see a literal translation making any kind of sense to German speaking audiences.

Via CinemaRetro.

Making the rounds today is a purported teaser poster for the upcoming X-Files 2 movie. I say purported as it comes from an anonymous source over at AintItCool and a few other sites are expressing doubts.

Personally, I like the design, so it would be a shame if it was fake. But bravo to the faker.

It is about time that we start seeing promotional materials for the film, with its late-July release getting closer. Of course, there could be a delay as Chris Carter, creator of the original X-Files television series and director of the new film, has stated that he and studio Twentieth Century Fox are at loggerheads over what the film’s title should actually be. Then again, with a design along the lines of what’s below, you don’t need to have a final title ready.

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has gifted us with six new pictures from the Wachowski Brothers’ upcoming adaptation of Speed Racer.

Some folks on the web have complained that the film looks too much like a video game or that the computer effects don’t look realistic. It makes me wonder if those people have ever seen the original Japanese cartoon, because to me, what we’ve seen in two trailers and the previously released photos, indicate that the movie is definitely aping the cartoon’s hyper-realistic look.

Until May 9, when Speed Racer hits theaters, enjoy the following pictures of Emile Hirsch as Speed, Christina Ricci as his girlfriend Trixie and Matthew Fox as Racer X.