Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and their assorted pirate family members have landed again and the first wave of critics have arrived to pounce on them. Clearly the critics are no match for the pirate force -- as even they readily admit. Nathan Lee, writing in The Village Voice, commented: "Long before the third, fourth, or fifth climax in this endless, obligatory summer diversion, I slunk into my seat in a passive, inattentive stupor, fully submitting to the fact that I hadn't the slightest idea what the hell was going on." Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News warns: "Beware my hearty: It will tie your rum-soaked brain in knots." Several critics suggest that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End should have been called At Wit's End. Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times is one of them. "Three hours of very high-octane confusion" is the way she describes it. But Ty Burr in the Boston Globe says that's what makes the Pirates films special -- the "damn-the-torpedoes excess, larded on by producer Jerry Bruckheimer without a care for expense or even common sense. These movies go too far -- visually, narratively, abaft and abeam -- and still the filmmakers keep going, headed for the waterfall of spectacle run amok."

Critics attending press screenings of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End were not permitted to bring cell phones -- if they included cameras -- into the theater with them. (Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star wrote that he was even ordered to return his Nintendo DS gaming device to his car.) Critics were also handed a notice from Disney asking them to observe the usual guidelines of film criticism: "Please do not reveal the many plot resolutions that occur throughout the film ... in your articles, on your program, online, on your blogs or in any other format. We hope you appreciate there are many Pirates fans who will enjoy their moviegoing experience so much more not knowing in advance the outcome of the many plot twists."

French actress Marina Hands, who won the best actress award for her performance in Lady Chatterley at this year's Césars ceremonies -- the French equivalent of the Oscars -- has been cast by director William Friedkin as fashion figure Coco Chanel in his forthcoming Coco and Igor about the tempestuous affair between Chanel and composer Igor Stravinsky. Friedkin told an interviewer at the Cannes Film Festival that his film takes place in 1913, at the time that Stravinsky's ballet, "The Rite of Spring" opened as a catastrophic failure and Chanel's perfume, Chanel No. 5, had become an enormous success. Actress Audrey Tautou (The Da Vinci Code) is expected to star in another film about Chanel -- before she became famous.

Disney CEO Robert Iger has backed off -- a bit -- from his earlier call for movies to be released in theaters and on DVD at the same time. Speaking to the annual meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in Anaheim, Iger said, "What I really meant was I thought that we had to listen to the consumer and make content available more aggressively, which meant that I thought at the time that the window, meaning the time that movies are in theaters, would probably collapse and should collapse." However, Iger added, such a move would not necessarily result in moviegoers staying at home to see the latest release. Attracting them to the theater, he said, requires making "the product more compelling, which means everything from digital theaters, digital cinema to just a better movie-going experience." He predicted that the window between the time movies are released in theaters and on DVD will continue to shrink. "I don't think we're going to get to a point where everything is available at all times, but you will see, thanks to technology, a lot more available than ever before."

Stone Phillips, who has co-anchored Dateline since the NBC news magazine debuted in 1992, will be leaving the show next month, the network announced Tuesday. The cost-cutting move, which came as a surprise even to NBC news staffers, will reportedly result in a change in Dateline's format. Ann Curry will introduce the program, and individual correspondents will do a studio intro of their own stories, according to trade reports. Phillips issued a perfunctory statement expressing appreciation to his colleagues and saying that his 15 years with the program had been "wonderful." He did not return calls from reporters. Daily Variety reported today (Wednesday) that Phillips had been pressing for harder news stories on Dateline, which has increasingly been churning out crime stories and lurid accounts like its ratings-grabbing To Catch a Predator series. Last Sunday, when it included a solid bit of investigative journalism about the Army's decision to shun an apparently effective body armor vest and a Brian Williams interview with outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, its ratings nosedived further. One Dateline staffer told Variety that Phillips's dismissal could be taken as "a sign that the Dateline that everybody watched and liked is turning into something else."

Seventeen-year-old Jordin Sparks became the clear favorite to take the latest American Idol contest when results are announced tonight (Wednesday) after she nailed a ballad, "This Is My Now," written for the show's online songwriting contest, while competitor Blake Lewis performed the same song unimpressively. "You just wiped the floor with Blake," Idol judge Simon Cowell told Sparks. The show drew a huge 16.3 rating and a 25 share. Nevertheless those numbers were 15.1 percent below those from the comparable Idol performance finale a year ago, when Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee competed for the title - though in fact, it has been runner-up Chris Daughtry who became the star from last year's Idol crop.

Just when it was being reported that Rupert Murdoch had encountered a stone wall in his effort to meet with the family that owns the Dow Jones Co., publishers of the Wall Street Journal, to discuss his $5-billion bid for the company, the Journal reported today (Wednesday) that the family plans to meet today to discuss the offer. According to the Journal's report, the family may also discuss the possibility of looking for other possible buyers. But the newspaper observed that Murdoch appears determined to acquire Dow Jones and would likely best any other offer for it. Murdoch has said that he would rename the as-yet-unlaunched Fox Business Channel the Wall Street Journal Channel if he acquires the company.

Two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner Apolo Anton Ohno iced the championship on ABC's Dancing With the Stars Tuesday night. The speed skater, along with partner Julianne Hough, beat out two other couples who scored high marks themselves on the dancing talent contest. In fact, Ohno wound up just two points ahead of former 'NSync member Joey Fatone and partner Kym Johnson and just three points ahead of Laila Ali (the daughter of Muhammad Ali) and partner Maksim Chmerkovsky. However, the vote by viewers went overwhelmingly to Ohno. Surprisingly, the show drew a slightly larger audience than the final performance installment of American Idol, which aired an hour earlier. Dancing's 16.5 rating and 25 share between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. made it the highest-rated show of the night. (Idol averaged a 16.3/25.) It peaked in the 10:00-10:30 p.m. half hour with a 17.2/26.

Last week's Dancing With the Stars semifinals, along with solid ratings for a 75-minute season finale of Grey's Anatomy, lifted ABC to a rare win in total viewers as it edged out CBS, the usual winner. However, the penultimate two episodes of American Idol and a strong performance by House gave Fox the victory among adults 18-49, the demographic group most pursued by advertisers. ABC averaged a 7.0 rating and a 12 share for the week. CBS placed second with a 6.8/12. Fox followed with a 6.1/10, while NBC trailed with a 4.7/8. Meanwhile, the 2006-07 season officially closes tonight (Wednesday) with CBS expected to take the crown among overall viewers and Fox, among viewers 18-49.

CNN has decided to lift the $25 annual fee it charges for its Pipeline online video service, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday. Commenting on the cable network's decision, the newspaper said, "It appears CNN was unable to overcome the popular notion that, like butterflies, clicks are free." CNN plans to lift the charge on June 1 and to give some subscribers refunds. On July 1, Pipeline will reportedly be folded into a redesigned CNN website.