Hang On--Next Week’s Releases Look Better

THIS WEEK’S MOVIES

This might be a good weekend to mow the lawn, visit the beach one last time before the warm weather bids it adieu, or contemplate your navel. A great time for going to the video store it’s not.

Only two movies of interest--though not much interest--make their video debut, following theatrical release earlier this year:

* “The First Power” (Nelson, $89.98, R) stirs occult elements into police drama, brewing up a dumb, violent film that wastes the talents of star Lou Diamond Phillips. Still, the serial-killer concoction--also featuring Tracy Griffith and Jeff Kober--showed a little strength at the box office, grossing more than $20 million.

* “Full Fathom Five” (MGM/UA, $79.98, PG), however, sank out of sight--maybe because it’s just another sub-”Abyss,” sub-”Hunt for Red October” underwater action film, all about a submarine captain trying to (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) avert nuclear war.

Maybe the best thing to do is check back through the last couple of week’s movie-on-tape releases, to see if you missed anything rentable. They include “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Disney’s “Peter Pan,” “Nuns on the Run,” “A Shock to the System,” “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” “The Last of the Finest,” “Firebirds,” “Strapless,” “The Guardian,” “Boom Town” and “Khartoum.”

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Perhaps the smartest idea is to wait until Wednesday, when not just one but several noteworthy movies arrive on cassette, including “Stanley and Iris,” “Stroszek,” “The Spider’s Stratagem,” “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T,” “I Love You to Death,” “The Final Alliance” and “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” (the first videocassette to have its MPAA rating switched from X to the new NC-17).

And two days later (next Friday) comes “Pretty Woman” (at a very pretty price of $19.99).

OTHER NEW VIDEOS

Aerosmith’s “Pump” is one of the best rock albums of the last few years--all the more amazing considering how long in the tooth its once-seemingly-washed-up makers are. Now the dazzling sound (the CD features overwhelmingly rich production values) is matched by some very special visuals. The band had a camera in their vicinity throughout the creation of the album--from the songwriting stage right through recording and mixing. The resulting 110-minute documentary is titled “Aerosmith: The Making of Pump” (CMV, $19.98).

Now that country stars Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson have settled their differences with a veteran folk band over the use of the Highwaymen name, you can enjoy the new 95-minute concert tape “Willie, Waylon, Cash & Kris: Highwaymen Live” (CMV, $19.98) guiltlessly.