Roger Ebert has clearly seen too many movies -- too many computerized ones of the action sort at any rate -- and he has become bored. The Chicago Sun-Times critic is certainly bored with the ones titled Mission: Impossible and starring Tom Cruise, and he says as much in his review of the film: "Either you want to see mindless action and computer-generated sequences executed with breakneck speed and technical precision, or you do not. I am getting to the point where I don't much care. There is a theory that action is exciting and dialogue is boring. My theory is that variety is exciting and sameness is boring. Modern high-tech action sequences are just the same damn thing over and over again." Numerous other critics have seen the same films that Ebert has and have reached similar conclusions about Mission: Impossible 3. Bruce Newman in the San Jose Mercury News writes that "many of the action set pieces fall strangely flat, and Cruise's attempt to sprint through every scene makes him look more like a wind-up doll than a recognizable human being." Several of the films suggest that M:I 3 is not much more interesting than a standard-issue Alias, the TV series that the movie's director, J.J. Abrams, created, only with more explosions. Michael Sragow in the Baltimore Sun concludes: "It's Alias all over again, without the complex rooting interest." Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe also observes that some of what he calls the "ludicrous" situations set up in the film "just seems commonplace now -- thanks in large part to Abrams and his TV shows." (Abrams also created ABC's Lost.) Still, the film receives quite a bit of applause. Claudia Puig in USA Today writes that "Abrams may have achieved the nearly impossible: taking a predictable, tired franchise and putting his signature style on it so that it feels fresh and cool." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times praises Abrams for coming up with "a solidly crafted entertainment, a diversion that really diverts once it gets down to business." Bob Longino in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says the director accomplished his mission, producing "a solid enough popcorn movie, firmly popped and professionally packaged to kick off the summer season." John Anderson in Newsday, makes a similar point, calling M:I 3 "the perfect summer movie -- fast-paced, action-packed, emotionally engaging (without demanding too much investment), and pure, unadulterated eye candy. Whattya want for 10 bucks? A quarter tank of gas?" Indeed, says Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News, audiences will get what they pay for. "The plot makes no sense ... But logic and humanity would probably gum up the (fire)works." And surely, this movie is not aimed at moviegoers' minds so much as it is at their wallets. As Lou Lumenick in the New York Post predicts, the film "will probably hit the sweet spot at the box-office -- and give Cruise a whole new reason to start jumping on couches."

Salaries paid to top movie stars are coming down, according to Entertainment Weekly magazine, which cites a number of prominent studio execs. Among those who now find it difficult getting producers to consider their $25-million asking price is Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy, the magazine reported. Those salaries can not be justified by the box-office performances of their recent films, the magazine observed. However, it noted, Tom Hanks (who stars in the upcoming The Da Vinci Code) remains "one of the most bankable brand names in the world."

Responding to legions of fans, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment have agreed to release the original versions of the first three Star Wars movies, unmodified by digital enhancements, on Sept. 12. Each of the films, Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983) will be released separately and will be accompanied by a second disc offering the digitally reedited version produced in 2004. They will be withdrawn from circulation on Dec. 31. A promo for the new releases states: "See the title crawl to Star Wars before it was known as Episode IV; see the pioneering, if dated, motion-control model work on the attack on the Death Star; groove to Lapti Nek or the Ewok Celebration song like you did when you were a kid; and, yes, see Hans Solo shoot first."

Fulfilling a promise it made before the debut of United 93 last weekend, Universal said Wednesday that it will contribute $1.15 million towards a proposed $58-million memorial near Shanksville, PA, where the plane crashed. The figure represents 10 percent of the opening weekend gross.

As it moves closer to the final round, the Wednesday "results" episodes of American Idol have begun to overtake the performance episodes. Wednesday's telecast drew a 16.6 rating and a 25 share and helped boost the ratings for House, which preceded it The conclusion of a two-parter registered a 10.2/17 in the 8:00 p.m. hour. But ratings for Fox's Unan1mous, which followed Idol, remained disappointing given the huge lead-in numbers. Unan1mous wound up with an 8.1/12, beaten by Lost on ABC and Criminal Minds on CBS. NBC, which offered yet another edition of Dateline dealing with Internet predators, placed fourth with a 5.6/8.

Rupert Murdoch himself was responsible for launching American Idol on the Fox network, ordering his executives to put it on the air even as they were about to reject it, New York Times TV writer Bill Carter writes in his new book, Desperate Networks, which was published on Tuesday. According to Carter, in 2001 Simon Cowell and his partner, Simon Fuller, had pitched the show to the "Big 3" networks, which had rejected it, before presenting it to Sandy Grushow, head of entertainment at Fox, and his chief lieutenant, Gail Berman. Both execs, writes Carter, had a lukewarm reaction to the pilot -- an episode of Cowell and Fuller's Pop Idol, which had become a huge hit in the U.K. However, their CAA representatives contacted Elizabeth Murdoch, who was then running News Corp's BSkyB operation and was aware of the show's success in Britain and was a fan of it herself. She, in turn, phoned her father, News Corp chairman, Rupert Murdoch, who then contacted Peter Chernin, News Corp's president and COO. "We're still looking at it," Chernin told him. Murdoch responded, "Don't look at it. Buy it! Right now."

CBS today (Thursday) launched "Innertube," an ad-supported broadband video site with original programming. It represents the latest effort by the broadcast networks to expand the distribution of their programming. As CBS, like the other networks, works on measures to placate its affiliates, it also plans to stream "encore episodes" of its primetime shows, and it suggested that the webside could provide added life to those shows that lack broad appeal but attract a large and loyal following. In a statement, CBS chief Les Moonves said Wednesday, "With this broadband channel, we've essentially bypassed cable and created a general entertainment outlet utilizing existing creative and content resources."

ABC's website team was apparently kept out of the loop when the network decided to cancel Commander in Chief this week. Marketwatch.com observed Wednesday that the website had begun offering episodes of the show on Monday, promising additional ones on the day after they were broadcast. However, on Tuesday the network canceled the show, suggesting that no other episodes will be available on the website. However, reports have indicated that three additional unaired episodes of the series have been produced. The network has not indicated whether they will be consigned to the website.

Henry Schleiff is out as CEO of Court TV as Time Warner assumes from Liberty Media the 50 percent of the cable network that it doesn't already own. Broadcasting and Cable magazine said that Schleiff had decided to step down -- he reportedly will retain the title of chairman of Court TV but not that of CEO -- because he "didn't see any particular fit" within the new structure, in which the channel is to become part of Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting unit. There had been numerous rumors recently that Schleiff would take over as head of CNN Headline News channel, but those appeared to be shot down earlier this week by a company spokesperson.