VIDEO NEWS

What’s New

Animal Factory (2000). Powerful performances, incisive observation and unexpected grace are among the riches to be mined from actor-director Steve Buscemi’s accomplished adaptation of Edward Bunker’s prison novel. Willem Dafoe is riveting as the lifer who takes rich-kid first-timer Edward Furlong under his wing. Columbia: no list price; DVD: $29.95; (CC); R, for violence, rough language, sexual innuendo, drug use.

Claire Dolan (2000). Lodge Kerrigan’s portrait of a high-priced call girl who decides to quit the business and have a baby. With Katrin Cartlidge, Vincent D’Onofrio and Colm Meaney. New Yorker: no list price; DVD: n/a; (CC); Unrated.

Me, Myself & Irene (2000). Jim Carrey has his moments as a schizophrenic Rhode Island state policeman whose two personalities are both in love with Renee Zellweger, but this new comedy from the Farrelly Brothers lacks the warmth that made “There’s Something About Mary” such a hit. Strictly for the hard-core gross-out crowd. Fox: no list price; DVD: $26.98; (CC); R, for sexual content, crude humor, strong language and some violence.

* The Sorrow and the Pity (1972). Nearly 30 years ago, a four-hour, 20-minute French documentary about events that are now six decades in the past opened in this country and astonished audiences as well as critics, just as it had in France. And now it’s back, as impressive as ever. It takes its title, and its tone, from a former Resistance fighter who said yes, there was courage during the war, “but the two emotions I experienced the most frequently were sorrow and pity.” New Yorker: no list price; DVD: n/a; (CC); Unrated. Adult subject matter and some disturbing footage.

Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990). Chuck Workman’s documentary on the languid king of mid-’60s Pop art, painter, movie-maker, entrepreneur and eye of the storm, “Superstar” captures the surface but not the soul of both man and era. Perhaps that’s appropriate: surfaces, after all, were Warhol’s raison d’e^tre. Winstar: $14.98; DVD: n/a; (CC); Unrated.

What’s Hot

* Last week’s Top 5 VHS rentals:

1. “Scary Movie” (2000). Keenen Ivory Wayans, with help from brothers Shawn and Marlon, among many others, sends up the “Scream” franchise and a slew of other horror pictures and skewers the cliches of teen pics with an envelope-pushing dose of raunchy humor. Thanks to Wayans’ all-crucial light touch, the result is frequently hilarious. R, for crude sexual humor, language, drug use and violence.

2. “Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000). Remake of H.B. “Toby” Halicki’s 1974 cult classic about a legendary car thief (Nicolas Cage) who is drawn out of retirement to save the life of his brother (Giovanni Ribisi), also a car thief. The movie, which co-stars Angelina Jolie, features some fine driving, but the problem is not what “Gone” does on the straightaways; it’s how it maneuvers through those hard-to-handle character curves. PG-13, for violence, sexuality and language.

3. “The Cell” (2000). Psychologist Jennifer Lopez enters the mind of a twisted serial killer in hopes of helping his latest victim stay alive. A torture-chamber film about a man who torments women, it puts viewers through as much misery as the people on the screen. R, for bizarre violence and sexual images, nudity and language.

4. “Gladiator” (2000). Director Ridley Scott’s latest is a supremely atmospheric film that shrewdly mixes traditional Roman movie elements--like senators in carefully pressed togas and fighters who say, “We who are about to die salute you”--with the latest computer-generated wonders. Russell Crowe is commanding as the heroic gladiator Maximus. But the movie--too long at 2 1/2 hours--is not as nimble outside the arena as inside. With Joaquin Phoenix as the ruthless young emperor Commodus. R, for intense graphic combat.

5. “Art of War” (2000). Wesley Snipes is excellent as always playing a U.N. covert-operations type, but this B-grade action picture, alternating acceptable action sequences with unconvincing plotting and characterization, makes one wonder why an actor this gifted chooses material this indifferent. R, for strong violence, some sexuality, language and brief drug content.

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* Last week’s Top 5 DVD rentals:

1. “Gone in 60 Seconds”

2. “The Cell”

3. “Scary Movie”

4. “Gladiator”

5. “Shaft” (2000). Director and co-writer John Singleton’s updated take on the 1970s detective who was “Hotter Than Bond, Cooler Than Bullitt” benefits greatly from a galvanic performance by Samuel L. Jackson in the title role. Otherwise this is standard-issue, cops-and-crooks fare. R, for strong violence and language.

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Last week’s Top 5 VHS sellers:

1. “The Road to El Dorado” (2000). Animated tale about two feckless guys looking to get rich quick, who stow away on Cortes’ ship bound for the New World and actually stumble onto that fabled lost city of gold, where their adventures leave them with less materialistic values. PG for mild thematic material and language.

2. “Chicken Run” (2000). Nick Park, British master of clay animation and three-time Oscar-winning creator of “Wallace and Gromit,” and co-director Peter Lord have put chickens front and center with this gleeful parody of prison and escape movies. A delightful pageant of chicken romance, chicken rescue and chicken intrigue that never loses its priceless stamp of individuality. G.

3. “X-Men” (2000). A solid summer entertainment with “The Usual Suspects’ ” Bryan Singer directing British heavyweights Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. It doesn’t take your breath away, but it’s an accomplished piece of work that has considerable pulp watchability and a self-referential sense of humor. PG-13, for sci-fi action violence.

4. “Toy Story 2” (1999). Lively and good-humored with a great sense of fun, it picks up where its predecessor left off. Even if the existential despair of toys never previously interested you, the gang at Pixar makes it all irresistibly comic as well as surprisingly emotional. With the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack. G.

5. “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” (2000). The further adventures of the poundage-challenged Professor Sherman Klump is all Eddie Murphy, all the time--he plays eight roles--but the film’s decision to compete in Hollywood’s trendy Gross-Out Derby means this sequel is a lot less funny than it sounds.

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* Last week’s Top 5 DVD sellers:

1. “Gladiator”

2. “Scary Movie”

3. “Gone in 60 Seconds”

4. “Road Trip” (2000). Uproarious college gross-out comedy from newcomers writer-director Todd Phillips and co-writer Scot Armstrong that finds a bunch of Ithaca College students hitting the road to Austin to intercept a compromising videotape inadvertently sent to the girlfriend of one of the guys. Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart, Paulo Costanzo, DJ Qualls and Tom Green head a smart ensemble cast. Unrated version.

5. “The Cell”

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What’s Coming

Tuesday: “Battlefield Earth” and “Coyote Ugly.”

Jan. 23: “An Affair of Love,” “Bait,” “Cecil B. Demented,” “Disney’s The Kid,” “The Five Senses,” “Steal This Movie” and “MVP: Most Valuable Primate.”

Jan. 30: “Dinosaur,” “Goya in Bordeaux” and “What Lies Beneath.”

Feb. 6: “Dr. T & the Women,” “Urban Legend: Final Cut” and “Whipped.”

Feb. 13: “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle,” “Bless the Child,” “Bring It On,” “Get Carter” and “Woman on Top.”

Commentary by Times critics.

Rental video charts provided by VSDA

VidTrac, sales charts by VideoScan Inc.