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Tom Cruise is good as the hero. Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as the villain. But in the end, Mission Impossible III is a movie that adds up to two pretty good one-hour TV shows about a battle for a doomsday machine.

United 93, a movie about passengers who fought for control of a hijacked plane on Sept. 11, is hard to get out of your mind, no matter how hard you try, according to Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan.

The violin takes center stage in an exhibit at the Library of Congress. The instrument's popularity has cut across economic, racial and regional lines and helped drive new forms of American music, from blues and jazz to bluegrass and swing.

A group of filmmakers who oppose the Smithsonian Museum's plan to produce TV programs with Showtime Networks asks that the terms of the deal be made public. The Smithsonian has said the details are proprietary. Under the agreement, the joint venture has the right of first refusal to commercial documentaries that rely heavily on Smithsonian collections or staff. But the impact on even non-commercial filmmakers is unclear.

The home of Volkswagen -- Wolfsburg, Germany -- hopes to change its reputation as a featureless factory town. London-based architect Zaha Hadid has contributed the Phaeno Science Center, seen as a revolution in building design.

Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan reviews American Dreamz, directed by Paul Weitz. It stars Hugh Grant as a Simon Cowell-like host of an American Idol knockoff. It's is satire that takes on pop culture and politics.

The film adaptation of Christopher Buckley's 1994 satirical novel Thank You for Smoking is about to hit the big screen. He talks with Liane Hansen about the movie from a smoke-filled bar in Washington, D.C.

The documentary Unknown White Male follows the life of a man who awoke one day at Coney Island with no memory. The film tracks his attempts to get reacquainted with his life and the everyday events he can't remember ever having experienced.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party is a mix of Dave Chappelle's sketch comedy and musical interludes. It's a movie inspired, in part, by the 1973 documentary Wattstax. The movie is a fun mix of music and Chappelle at his best.

Suppose the South had won the Civil War and slavery were still a part of America. Kevin Wilmot's mockumentary Confederate States of America dreams up a world where slaves are bought and sold over the Internet, and the U.S. has a tense relationship with Canada.