This week week I'm feeling like one of the Scooby gang. Each trailer I see provides a clue that leads me to the next. For example:

Space Chimps
"From one of the primates who brought you Shrek," says the trailer. Obviously it's not the funny one. This computer animated tale of chimps being launched into space is chock full of jokes from the "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" school of humor. There's the slow-mo walk from The Right Stuff, a slip on a banana peel, and a pratfall followed by "that's gotta hurt." Younger kids may enjoy this one, but the string of cliche jokes is quite irritating. I begrudgingly cracked a smile only once, which is a good indicator that I should avoid this one. As is required by law for all animated features, Patrick Wharburton is one of the voice actors (I love his work as Brock Samson on The Venture Brothers). Monika first posted about this one last June.

Entertainment Tonight reports that Lindsay Lohan will star in the true life crime film Manson's Girls. Lohan will play Nancy Pitman, a pampered surfer girl who fell under the thrall of Charlie Manson's "charms". News of Lohan's casting hit when the film's producer, Brad Wyman, spilled the beans to ET. (I guess she has a thing for 'celebrity murderers'; I mean she's already in a film about John Lennon's murderer (Chapter 27), and now the granddaddy of all wackos?)

On August 8th, 1969, Charles Manson directed four members of his 'Family' to the home of an absent Roman Polanski and his pregnant girlfriend Sharon Tate. By the morning, Manson's followers had brutally murdered five people (including Tate). Pitman never took part in the brutal murders of Tate and four other people that night. But, she was eventually charged with being an accessory after the fact and served 18 months. There were even rumors that she returned to the Tate house with Manson after the murders to help plant false evidence.

So far, there isn't much info about the film, but since the title is Manson's Girls, I can only assume that they are going to need to hire a few more gals to fill out the cast. Likely, to take on the roles of Manson devotees Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian. Not to mention who is going to play the head loon himself, Charlie. So while Girls might have the potential to be a half decent movie, the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Especially if Manson's Girls turns into some horrible hybrid of Helter Skelter and I Know Who Killed Me.

Do you want to see a film about the Manson girls? And shouldn't it be called Manson Girls Gone Wild?

The most annoying thing about following movie news and patronizing film festivals is the pesky waiting. You hear about a film, you get excited, and then you wait. And then you wait more. Once you hit that 365-day mark, it's no longer just an exercise of patience, but trying to come to terms with the fact that you might never see the movie at all, or might never see the movie again. It seemed that this is what would happen with Chapter 27, which premiered back in January of 2007, but now, finally, the film is going into limited release this week.

To refresh your memory: this is the film about John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, and details the days that lead up to the infamous day. It's got Lindsay Lohan pre-clean up, and Jared Leto all body-morphed. In an interview with New York Daily News, Leto talks about morphing into the pudgy killer, and his take on the role.

I hate to borrow material from another film critic, but a colleague of mine offered the following words after we finished watching Chapter 27: "It's like a feature-length version of De Niro's 'You talkin' to me' speech from Taxi Driver -- only without Scorsese, Schrader or De Niro." I repeat that sentence because it perfectly encapsulates my own opinion on the deadly dull and seriously dreary Chapter 27, a movie that promises to offer some insight into why Mark David Chapman, on one chilly night in 1980, shot the beloved John Lennon to death. But after 90-some minutes of J.P. Schaefer's writing/directing debut, I was no closer to understanding Chapman's motivations than I was 90 minutes earlier. I know it has something to do with J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, but any other specifics are lost beneath waves of babble, tedium and pretense.

Lead actor Jared Leto earned himself a producer's credit on Chapter 27, and it's blatantly obvious from the first few frames of the flick that the young actor really, ahem, beefed up for the role. And Leto wants you to know it, which is why we see Chapman parading around in his tighty-whities for two or three scenes. Jared might as well look directly into the camera lens and scream "Look how much weight I gained for this role!" To make matters worse, Leto (who, to be fair, has done some excellent work in movies like Panic Room, American Psycho and Requiem for a Dream) opts to brandish a rather nasally high-pitched squeak of a voice, which makes Chapter 27 feel like a straight-faced parody of Capote. And I don't think that's what Leto and Company were going for.

Not content with rumors of romantic entanglement with Lindsay Lohan, Jared Leto managed to get gout while effectuating what all the sources are calling a "dramatic weight loss," from his fattified role in the movie about the killing of John Lennon, Chapter 27.

Gout is an incredibly painful form of arthritis where crystals (crystals?!) form inside a joint, and crunch up against each other everytime the joint is moved. This then causes further nastiness like swelling in the surrounding tissues and, probably, incredible grouchiness in the victim. Leto, frontman for the, um, totally awesome band 30 Seconds to Mars, is not the only important historical figure to suffer from the disease. He joins the ranks of other eminent men like Ben Franklin, Karl Marx, Benjamin Disraeli, Pablo Neruda and Alexander Hamilton in coping with his crystally joints.

To be fair, and to add context, Mr. Leto was quite excellent (and extremely skinny) in Requiem for a Dream. And we do actually quite love him in roles like his in American Psycho and Fight Club (where he was the "something beautiful" Ed Norton destroyed). But he will perpetually hold a little heart-throb place in my heart as Jordan Catalano.

Of course, he didn't look all that gouty last night, when he rolled up in a biodiesel powered army vehicle (all the bling of a hummer, with less environmental guilt) ...

A ton of set pics from the film Chapter 27 have showed up online and feature a healthier looking Lindsay Lohan paired up with an overweight Jared Leto. Before you girls go bonkers over the sexy actor's new appearance, he actually gained weight on purpose in order to take on the role of John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman. And, from the pics, it appears the casting folks did an excellent job because Leto looks exactly like him.

Awhile back a rumor broke loose right before casting for Chapter 27 was announced that Leto and Lohan were dating. Could it be the two lovebirds gained weight together? Maybe Leto was Lohan's savior. Oohh, if we're lucky they'll be some behind-the-scenes footage of both of them pigging out. Well, that's if Lohan's publicist doesn't shoot herself by then. Chapter 27 will chronicle Chapman and the woman he befriends in the days leading up the murder of John Lennon.

Note: The gallery of pics are located on Jared-Leto.Org, however you must register first to gain access.

[via JoBlo]

Lindsay Lohan admitted in a Vanity Fair interview that she has dabbled in drug use and her weight loss last year was the result of bulimia.  The young actress, who was hospitalized this week for a severe asthma attack, told the magazine that after 2004's Mean Girls she experimented with drugs "a little". She denies using cocaine in the interview, but openly discusses the bulimia that led to her sudden skinniness. "I was making myself sick," Lohan admits.

Is this really a big shock to anyone? Anyone who witnessed Lohan's shrinkorama over the past year, as she went from curvy and sexy to stick-like and sickly-looking, knew the girl had an eating disorder; with the crowd she's been running with and the late night partying, the drug use shouldn't come as a huge shock either. Why is it that if an actress admits drug use, it's no big deal, but if someone actually takes a photo of it, ala Kate Moss, it's a huge-ass scandal?

Lohan, one of the hardest-working actresses in Hollywood at the moment, has been maintaining a busy schedule -- she costars in A Prairie Home Companion, due out in June, and the just completed Just My Luck,  has been filming Emilio Estevez's film about Robert F. Kennedy's assasination, Bobby, another project called The New Girl in pre-prod, and is due to begin filming another assasination film, Chapter 27, about John Lennon's murder, in two weeks. Lots of work, lots of Hollywood pressue to be thin, blond and beautiful, and lots of hanging out with the skinny, rich, partying crowd in Hollywood (can you say Paris Hilton? I knew you could), apparently added up to lots of pressure on Lohan to morph from curvaceous, freckly redhead to ultraskinny blond. Here's hoping she finds her way back to the uniqueness that set her apart from the rest of the Hollywood Barbie doll wannabes, and that she keeps her head on straight.

Actress Lindsay Lohan has been hospitalized for an asthma attack, but is expected to be released soon, according to her publicist. Lohan was admitted to a Miami hospital Monday night after having difficulty breathing. Lohan was in Miami to celebrate New Years with her family. Her publicist said she's had asthma since she childhood, and that Lohan said in an email the humidity in Miami may have contributed to her attack.

Lohan is to begin shooting on her next film, Chapter 27, about Mark David Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon, in about two weeks.  Lohan will play a fictional character who befriends Chapman, played by Jared Leto, in the days before the murder.