Videos

New on videotape

X 1/2 "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (PG). Since none of the cast from 1994's original Flintstones movie would return to carry on the franchise, this ham-handed installment is a prequel that follows Fred and Barney from bachelorhood to marriage. They meet and fall in love with Wilma Slaghoople and Betty O'Shale, then hop a pterodactyl flight to prehistory's version of Sin City for a wedding.

- Ted Fry

XXX "Mifune" (R). Winner of the Silver Bear at last year's Berlin Film Festival, Soren Kragh-Jacobsen's fresh, fizzy Danish screwball comedy is the story of a Copenhagen yuppie whose life changes when his father dies. Back home, he bonds again with his slow-witted brother, by reviving childhood games in which he pretended to be a Toshio Mifune-like samurai.

X 1/2 "Mission to Mars" (PG-13). Brian De Palma directed this wasteful $75 million Disney misfire about Earth's first manned mission to the red planet. The script recycles bits and pieces from "Contact," "2001" and "Close Encounters," all to no effect. The final scenes, which suggest an earnest science lesson presented by a weepy extraterrestrial in an alien planetarium, play like the work of an amateur filmmaker.

XXX "East Is East" (R). Om Puri, who played the frustrated father of a fundamentalist son in "My Son the Fanatic," does a bit of a role reversal in this engaging British comedy-drama about a Pakistani family in England in the early 1970s. This time he's the conservative, and his kids are the ones tempted by the hippie spirit of the times.

XX 1/2 "Coming Out" (no rating). This prize-winning 1989 film is an eye-opening look at sexual repression in East Berlin. It's also a depressing portrait of a confused gay schoolteacher who strings along a girlfriend, doesn't seem to be very good at his job and fumbles his big chance at romance. Previously shown at the 1990 Seattle International Film Festival, it's getting a tape release from Hen's Tooth Video.

XX 1/2 "Dill Scallion" (no rating). Seattle's Billy Burke has the title role in this broad, amiable "mockumentary" about an injured country singer who specializes in "The Scallion Shuffle," a dance that automatically cripples imitators. Jason Priestley, Henry Winkler, Robert Wagner, Willie Nelson and Peter Berg turn up in the supporting cast. Shown at the 1999 Seattle International Film Festival, it never had a theatrical release.

- John Hartl

Also new in stores

Today - "The Night of the Headless Horseman," "A Naxos Musical Journey," "Matchup of the Millennium," "Goodbye 20th Century!," Jerry Lewis in "Rock-A-Bye Baby" and "Who's Minding the Store?"

Tuesday - Disney's "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea," "The Last Great Adventure," John Cusack in "High Fidelity," Sigourney Weaver in "A Map of the World," Billy Crudup in "Jesus' Son," Kathie Lee Gifford in "Model Behavior," David Alan Grier in "A Saintly Switch," "Ministry: Tapes of Wrath," Michael Habeck in "School's Out," Demi Moore in "Passion of Mind," "The Sid Caesar Collection," "National Geographic: Submarine I-52: Search for WWII Gold," "Lost Ships of the Mediterranean," David Arquette in "Ready to Rumble," Famke Janssen in "RPM," Rachel Griffiths in "Me Myself I," Majid Majidi's "The Color of Paradise," Sandra Bullock in "28 Days," "Zoboo's Little Pals," "Play Day at Animal Junction," "Tales of the Kama Sutra," "Buster and Chauncey's Silent Night."

New on DVD

XX 1/2 "The Fly" (1958) and "Return of the Fly" (1960) (no ratings) (Fox Home Entertainment, $35). Vincent Price dominates this pair of creaky but diverting horror films, both presented in their original CinemaScope proportions. The cheapie sequel is notably inferior to the original; it denies the melancholy spookiness of the first film by imposing a happy ending. The disc includes trailers for both films and their remakes, although "Curse of the Fly" (1966) is never mentioned.

XXX "The Fly" (1986) and "The Fly II" (1989) (R) (Fox Home Entertainment, $35). David Cronenberg's imaginative remake, which won an Oscar for its makeup effects (and should have earned a best-actor nomination for Jeff Goldblum), is paired with Chris Walas' inept sequel. Unfortunately, the disc's barebones extras do not include a commentary track by Cronenberg.

XXX "Men in Black" (PG-13) (Columbia, $30 and $40). Barry Sonnenfeld's 1997 science-fiction comedy is Columbia Pictures' all-time top-grosser, so the studio has gone all-out by creating three separate DVDs, one of them a two-disc set that includes plenty of extra features. The $30 DTS "Collector's Edition" single disc may be the best deal: It features a commentary by Sonnenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones, extended and alternate scenes, a Will Smith music video, an original featurette and a new documentary, "Metamorphosis of Men in Black."

XXX "The Lathe of Heaven" (no rating) (New Video, $30). One of the cult movies of the early 1980s, this adaptation of Ursula K. LeGuin's classic 1971 science-fiction novel stars Bruce Davison as a futuristic Portland slacker whose dreams and nightmares seem to come true. Entertainment Weekly called it one of the top 100 science-fiction landmarks, adding that "it's rarely been seen since its original telecast - which only adds to the mystique." The disc includes an interview with LeGuin and Bill Moyers.

Screen gems

John Hartl's tips for when the New Releases bin is bare:

1. XXX 1/2 "Say Anything . . . " (PG-13). Woodinville's Cameron Crowe made his writing-directing debut 11 years ago with this heartfelt romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Ione Skye. Crowe's latest, "Almost Famous," opens in theaters tomorrow.

2. XXX 1/2 "Singles" (PG-13). Crowe's underrated 1992 valentine to Seattle and the early-1990s music scene, starring Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Matt Dillon and Kyra Sedgwick.

3. XXX 1/2 "Jerry Maguire" (R). Cuba Gooding won an Oscar and Tom Cruise a Golden Globe for their performances in Crowe's third and most popular movie.

Video bargain of the week

"It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown" (Paramount Home Video, $13 on tape, $20 on DVD). The most recent "Peanuts" special is packaged with an 11-minute retrospective about the series' late creator, Charles M. Schulz.