Virtually every critic is remarking in reviews of Oliver Stone's World Trade Center that this is not your typical Oliver Stone movie. No conspiracies. No politics. No anger. No controversy. Indeed, writes Amy Biancolli in the Houston Chronicle, "Oliver Stone has made a film that is unrecognizable as an Oliver Stone film. Beyond a manifest passion for the material, nothing about World Trade Center suggests Stone is its director." Likewise, Phillip Wuntch observes in the Dallas Morning News,"Stone keeps reins on his own political agenda and directs what's possibly his only film that will play comfortably in the reputed heartland." Nevertheless, A.O. Scott in the New York Times argues that Stone may have been the ideal director for this project. "There is really no other American director who can move so swiftly and emphatically from intimate to epic scale, saturating even quiet moments with fierce emotion. He edits like a maestro conducting Beethoven, coaxing images and sequences into a state of agitated eloquence," Scott writes. Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer describes the film as "stunning in its simplicity and aching details" that "honestly and honorably earns its emotions." The film also has some significant detractors. Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times writes that it jibes with "the business-as-usual norms of sentimental studio moviemaking" and thereby winds up feeling "forced, manufactured and largely -- but not entirely -- unconvincing." And Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal comments that the movie "manages to give truth the ring of hackneyed fiction."

Escalating the battle for the family audience, Fox Filmed Entertainment has lured Walden Media, the production company responsible for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, away from the Walt Disney Co. "Disney needed us less than other companies that are striving to get into that area," David Weil, chief executive of Anschutz Film Group, Walden's parent company, told today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times. "Fox recognized that their needs and our interests overlapped." The newspaper said that Walden executives met with four studios before signing with Fox. Under the deal, Fox will release five or six Walden-produced movies annually, beginning with Mr. Magorium's Emporium, starring Dustin Hoffman, next year. Walden is owned by Phillip Anschutz, who also owns the Regal Theatres chain, the nation's largest, as well as Staples Center in Los Angeles and the L.A. Kings hockey team.

Strong performances by its filmed entertainment unit -- in particular, the blockbuster performance of 20th Century Fox's X-Men: The Last Stand and Ice Age: The Meltdown -- sent News Corp's profits soaring during its fourth quarter, the company reported Tuesday. In a conference call, News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch remarked, "This should put to rest any remaining doubts about the sustainability of our film business." In its SEC filing, News Corp reported that its net income rose to $852 million from $717 million during the same quarter a year ago -- a 19-percent rise. Those figures included a $134-million gain from the sale of radio stations in the Netherlands and Germany. The company also reported rising profits in virtually every division, including its Fox broadcast network and its Fox News cable network. A conspicuous exception was its newspaper group, which saw profits drop to $170 million from $252 million, and it HarperCollins book publisher, which reported a $6-million loss against $12 million in profits a year ago.

In what must seem to many like one of the oddest product-placement deals for an action film, the British underwear company Sunspel, which uses a coat of arms as its insignia, has announced that it will provide Daniel Craig's boxer shorts in the upcoming James Bond film, Casino Royale. "This is a major deal for us so everyone is really excited. There's a lot of interest in the film so we know there's going to be a lot of interest in Sunspel," a Sunspel spokeswoman said in a news release. The questions naturally arise: how will anyone know what sort of underwear Craig will be wearing? And, even if he's shot inelegantly in his shorts, how will anyone be able to read the label? (This wouldn't be the first deal of its kind. In Back to the Future a female character deduces that the male lead's name must be Calvin Klein because "it's written all over your underwear.")

NBC returned to the gridiron last Sunday in fine form, with its preseason opener lifting it to a tie with CBS for the week among adults 18-49. The Hall of Fame Game drew 10.6 million viewers and was the highest-rated show in advertisers' key demographic. CBS remained well ahead in overall households, however, averaging a 5.1 rating and a 9 share for the week. NBC pulled into second place with an average 4.5/8, while ABC and Fox tied with a 3.6/6. Meanwhile, a tight race continued among the three network evening news programs. In total viewers, NBC led with 8.4 million. ABC was in second place with 7.7 million, while CBS placed third with 7.2 million. The race was tighter among 25-54-year-olds, with NBC and ABC tied for that demo.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. CSI: Miami, CBS, 7.7/13; 2. Without a Trace, CBS, 7.3/13; 3. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 6.8/11; 3. (tie) NBC NFL Pre-season Football, NBC, 6.8/12; 5. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 6.7/11; 6. America's Got Talent, NBC, 6.5/11; 7. NBC NFL Pre-season Pre-Game, NBC, 6.4/12; 7. (tie) Without a Trace (Sunday), CBS, 6.4/11; 9. 60 Minutes, CBS, 6.3/12; 10. So You Think Can Dance (Wednesday), Fox, 6.0/10.

America's favorite news personality does not anchor any of the network evening newscasts. According to a Gallup Poll, she is ABC's Diane Sawyer with "the highest overall net favorable" results. ("Net favorable," the poll explains is the percentage of favorable responses, minus the percentage of unfavorable responses; in Sawyer's case, 88 percent of those polled rated her favorably; 12 percent, unfavorably.) Charles Gibson of ABC and Brian Williams of NBC tied for second, while CBS's Bob Schieffer placed fourth. CNN's Anderson Cooper followed, making him the favorite cable news personality, well ahead of Katie Couric, who ranked No. 11, and Bill O'Reilly, who ranked No. 14. But, as an indication of how the American public regards TV newscasters overall, the poll also found that 27 percent had never heard of Gibson; 29 percent had never heard of Schieffer; 38 percent had never heard of Williams; and 39 percent had never heard of Cooper. By contrast, only 2 percent said that they had never heard of Diane Sawyer. Following the release of the poll, NBC issued a statement saying, "Nielsen Media Research polls our audience every single night and they tell us NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams is the largest single source of news in the country. Period."

Fox News Channel gave extensive live coverage to Tuesday night's Connecticut primary election results, which saw incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman defeated by Democratic challenger Ned Lamont. while MSNBC stuck with taped programming augmented with a banner showing the results. As reported by the Johnny Dollar website, CNN carried Lieberman's concession speech live, but failed to dump out of commercials while Lamont was declaring victory. FNC carried both speeches live. The race was closely watched by conservatives, who are expected to support Lieberman's independent candidacy in the general election.

Two media giants came under a regulatory cloud Tuesday when questions were raised about the timing of stock options granted to key executives. In separate statements, Cablevision Systems and Pixar Animation said that they were reviewing the option grants. For its part, Cablevision also announced that it was delaying release of its second-quarter earnings statement while the matter was under review. Pixar, which was recently acquired by the Walt Disney Co., said that none of its stock-option grants went to CEO Steve Jobs but that they did go to Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, who now have prominent positions at Disney. In June, Apple Computer, another company headed by Jobs, reported irregularities in stock-option grants between 1997 and 2001. As was the apparent case with Pixar, several of the Apple grants were reportedly dated just before sharp increases in the company's stock, raising questions about whether they may have been post dated in order to benefit the recipients.

The casting of a Broadway musical will become a TV reality series when NBC launches You're the One That We Want, a midseason show in which viewers will select the leads for a revival of Grease on Broadway. (The show's title was lifted from a song title in the musical.) It will be produced by Kathleen Marshall, who will serve as a judge on the TV show, along with Jim Jacobs, the co-creator of Grease, and theatrical producer David Ian. The Grease revival is scheduled to open on Broadway in June 2007, with tickets going on sale in December. It is being produced by BBC Worldwide Productions, the commercial subsidiary of the publicly funded British broadcast company. Meanwhile, auditions for Season 6 of Fox's American Idol kicked off at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena Tuesday.