E! Online reports that “High School Musical” couple Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron have split up.

They got to know each other through the Disney television show and started dating in 2006.

During the interview with DETAILS in September, Efron made some interesting comments about that his friends recommended him to use his fame to attract some women, “I think a lot of guys would enjoy that. But I’m not really like that. Believe me, I rack my brain thinking, ‘Why am I not out there playing the field?’… But it’s not in my heart.”

So, what was in his heart, then?

Honestly, there is nothing more frustrating than a movie that squanders all potential to make itself decent. With Vanessa Hudgens taking top billing, hopes were not all that high for “Bandslam”, but I went in with my fingers crossed that it might prove itself to be a good teen movie and appeal to the cheesier side of my heart. My dreams were crushed.

SPOILER ALERT!: “Bandslam” is the story of loner and David Bowie obsessed Will Burton, played by new face Gaelan Connell, who has grown up being tortured by the nickname “Dewey” since he was twelve years old. Finally, his mother decides to liberate him from high school hell by moving him to Jersey. Once placed in his new school, Will is introduced to Bandslam “" the “Texas high school football big” event of the year where students all across the region compete for a record deal. He is recruited by the most popular girl in school, Charlotte Banks (Aly Michalka), to manage her new band in hopes of beating her ex boyfriend and favorite to win “" Glory Dogs in the competition.

Despite their differences Will and Charlotte develop an unlikely friendship “" one that shows Charlotte there’s more to life than cheerleading and boys and allows Will to find something he’s truly gifted at. Together they create a band with an original, catchy and I’ll even stretch for touching number “" Phil’s Song. Of course, all of it falls to pieces when Charlotte’s father dies and it comes to light that her trip to the dark side of unpopularity was just a social experiment to please her sick dad. Suddenly the underdogs must scramble for a new lead singer to get them the Bandslam trophy. If you have seen any trailer for the movie you already know who they turn to, ready and waiting with a “voice to die for” to save the day.

Hudgens, who plays Sa5m (the five is silent), is set up to be the loner of Will’s new high school and the girl who steals his heart. They tried their best to make her look homely, but sticking books like “Pride and Prejudice” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” in front of her face did little to make the natural prom queen-esque look of Hudgens more of a bad-ass. It came off more condescending and insulting to any kid who actually does have trouble fitting in. There was also a huge hole in the plot as to why Hudgens was so incapable of making friends. The only revealed source of her angst was losing a talent show in early middle school.

The largest complaint I have about Hudgens’s performance was that her presence in the movie was unnecessary and so obviously an attempt to suck in a High School Musical crowd for higher box office results. The movie is complete with plot, conflict and possible resolution without Hudgens ever being present. Her fledgling relationship with Will distracts from his friendship with Charlotte “" which actually results in character growth and development.

By all predeceasing cheesy teen movie standards, Charlotte’s change of heart after she realizes Will’s “Dewey” nickname actually is “DUI” “" spawned after his father killed a 12-year-old boy in a drunk driving accident should have been the resolution. As the original lead singer, she should have re-claimed her spot as lead singer and helped the band save the day.

Instead, despite Charlotte’s redemption, Sa5m stays as new lead singer and the band ends up performing “Everything I Own” “" which the movie’s demographic will attribute to *Nsync’s first album rather than Bread who recorded the original version of the song in 1972. END SPOILER.

As I said, there was potential for a touching, though cheesy, story if producers had allowed the story to unfold between Will and Charlotte rather than trying to squeeze Hudgens into the movie. Connell does a beautifully awkward job of portraying the bumbling Will, just trying to find his place in high school while struggling with a dark past. Michalka is charming and even funny as Charlotte. Lisa Kudrow’s performance as Will’s overprotective mother is also worth a mention, adding some legitimacy and backbone to the story.

“Bandslam” is also impressive with their music references. If any of the tweens checking this movie come out with a curiosity for Bowie and The Velvet Underground or an appreciation for the history of CBGB then “Bandslam” was a job well done. The truth is that the movie’s strive to add a house hold name to the billing may have squandered the life out of a good story. That kind of sacrifice seems extra sad this week considering the death of high school movie king John Hughes. Unless being forced to attend by your little sibling or cousin, Bandslam is worth skipping.

In tween news – Disney starlets Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens have once again found themselves in way-too-adult situations.

The New York Daily News reported that Hudgens has a new batch of nude photos flying around the internet. The first time this happened in 2007, she made a public apology. There has been no apology this time, but her people claim that the pictures were taken when 20-year-old Hudgens was only 17. Not only does this give them legal fuel to make them disappear, it serves as a publicity move to show that the stripped star learned her lesson and has not actually repeated her mistake.

Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus was granted a restraining order to keep a crazed fan at bay, the NY Daily News reported.

The document says 53-year-old Mark McLeod “shall not harass, threaten, molest, contact or attempt to contact, or in any other manner interfere with Cyrus, any member of her family, her friends, and fellow employees.”

The stalker was arrested on June 22 when he tried to sneak onto a set in Georgia were Miley was filming. He also told police that Miley was responding to his hundreds of letters through secret messages in her Disney Channel show and website. He is currently being held at the Columbia County Detention Center and during his court appearance on Wednesday, his bond was set at $50,000.

BURLINGTON — What could possibly bring girls from age 5-15 together in a huge crowd speckled with a few reluctant brothers and hormone engorged high school boys speckled in on a Saturday afternoon? The answer is Vanessa Hudgens.

The High School Musical star stopped by Burlington Mall on August 1 to promote her new movie “Bandslam.” A mob assembled around the center court to watch Hudgens and co-star Gaelan Connell judge the Boston Bandslam competition and sign autographs.

Hudgens and Connell listened to two finalists before picking Mike Ryan, a Lowell native who performed his own original song, as the winner.

“Bandslam” revolves around Connell’s character Will, who moves to a new town where the end of the year battle of the bands is the biggest event on the social calendar “" “Texas high school football big”. When Charlotte, the most popular girl in school played by Aly Michalka of (Aly and AJ and Disney’s “Phil of The Future” fame) asks Will to manage her new band to win the competition all hell breaks loose. Will recruits his crush “" outsider and loner, Sa5m (the 5 is silent), played by Hudgens, only to find out (shocker) that she is incredible on guitar and has “a voice to die for”. The band realizes they have a unique sound of their own but then disaster strikes, and they have to find out if they have what it takes to stand up for what they believe in.

“I think there is a little bit of everything. The music is great – the parents will appreciate the David Bowie” Hudgens told Blast after the brief autograph signing in the mall’s FYE store. “For kids it is really relatable. There are a lot of awkward scenarios that are fun to live through with this movie.”

“It’s like School of Rock meets Juno and Breakfast Club all in one movie. It has a lot of moments that are really relatable and are not like typical high school movies” added Connell.

Connell also hinted that the film’s actors got a lot of musical inspiration from their filming location, Austin, Texas.

“We were filming in Austin which is a music town and totally awesome, especially while SXSW is going on” Connell said.

“Bandslam” is Hudgens’s first major film role outside of High School Musical, but she has a few projects lined up to help her break out of the “Gabriella” Disney mold. She’ll be in “Beastly” opposite Neil Patrick Harris as well as “Sucker Punch” directed by Zack Snyder “" the man behind “Watchmen”, “300″ and “Dawn of the Dead”. She was able to give Blast a little insight into the Snyder project.

“It is still the very beginning process for me. It’s called Sucker Punch, set in the 1950′s set in a brothel. There’s a lot of action so I’m excited” Hudgens confessed before being rushed off to the next stop on the “Bandslam” publicity tour.

“Bandslam” hits theaters nationwide on August 14.

Remember the first time you saw “Beauty and the Beast,” Disney’s Oscar-winning animated film from the 90s? Remember wanted to be a guest at a majestic castle where silverware and candelabras danced and offered you good? Remember when all you wanted was Belle’s poofy yellow dress?

Though there are many versions of the classic fairy tale, Disney’s is the one most closely associated with the story of the beauty and the beast, and CBS Films’ newest movie, “Beastly,” doesn’t look like it’s going to help you remember any of those things. Starring Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens, the film is described as an “edgy teen romance” and has an angry Gothic school girl instead of a secretly beautiful witch, an addict father instead of Belle’s inventor father and a antihero more along the lines of Sebastian Valmont in “Cruel Intentions” than the Beast from Disney’s definitive film.

Alex Pettyfer stars as Kyle Kingson, the films title “beast.” After inviting and then smiting classmate Kendra at a school party, Kendra casts a spell which transforms him from handsome to disgusting. The only cure? Someone who can love him as he is.

Hudgens is Lindy, the daughter of a drug addict who Kyle caught trying to kill his dealer. Kyle blackmails Lindy with her father’s freedom by gaining her consent to live with him in his Brooklyn home, and hopefully learn to love him.

No word yet on other parallels between the new film and the Disney classic, but it is doubtful that there will be wolves and other angry forest creatures surrounding Kyle’s Brooklyn apartment. A parallel to Belle’s beau Gaston in the original cartoon, though? We can only assume.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Alex Finn, “Beastly” is directed and written by Daniel Barnz. Susan Cartonis and Roz Weisberg are producing the film.

“Beastly” is slated to hit theaters July 30, 2010.