What’s Hot

* Last week’s Top 5 VHS rentals:

1. “Erin Brockovich” (2000). Irresistible, hugely satisfying feminist tale about a woman the world didn’t take seriously, who empowered herself by helping others gain justice. This film is a career milestone for director Steven Soderbergh and star Julia Roberts. (Kenneth Turan, March 17) R for language.

2. “Any Given Sunday” (Special Edition Director’s Cut) (1999). An energetic and diverting Oliver Stone-directed soap opera about a professional football that makes a few head fakes in the direction of an iconoclastic examination of the sport but, at the end of the day, comes out squarely for--hold onto your hats--teamwork and unselfish behavior. Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz star. (Turan, Dec. 22) R for strong language and some nudity/sexuality.

3. “The Cider House Rules” (1999). Tobey Maguire stars as an orphan who has stayed on at a vast old New England orphanage to become the assistant to its director, a dedicated and idiosyncratic physician (Michael Caine, who won an Oscar for his role), only to discover the outside world for himself. (Kevin Thomas, Dec. 10) PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexuality, nudity, substance abuse and some violence.

4. “The Whole Nine Yards” (2000). An occasionally amusing comedy about a friendly hit man (Bruce Willis) who moves in next door to a dentist (Matthew Perry). (Turan, Feb. 18) R for some sexuality/nudity and violence.

5. “Reindeer Games” (2000). This noirish tale of an ex-con (Ben Affleck) and the beautiful woman he becomes involved with (Charlize Theron) is hampered by miscast stars and not the most plausible of scripts. (Turan, Feb. 25) R for strong violence, language and sexuality.

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* Last week’s Top 5 DVD rentals:

1. “Any Given Sunday”

2. “Erin Brockovich”

3. “Reindeer Games”

4. “Supernova” (2000). Sharp-looking but dull-playing space adventure that finds James Spader, Angela Bassett, Lou Diamond Phillips and others stuck aboard a medical rescue vessel on a murky mission in outer space. Strictly routine. (Thomas, Jan. 17) PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and sensuality/nudity.

5. “The Whole Nine Yards”

* Last week’s Top 5 VHS sellers

1. “The Tigger Movie” (2000). This brightly colored, upbeat animated film centers on Tigger, Winnie-the-Pooh’s rambunctious friend, who goes in search of other tiggers. Small children will be pleased, but parents and older siblings may grow impatient with the uneven execution that weakens the genuine charm the film sporadically exhibits. (Charles Solomon, Feb. 11) G.

2. “Erin Brockovich”

3. “The Sound of Music” (1965). Audiences loved this Robert Wise-Ernest Lehman adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s last stage musical like no other movie of the ‘60s, some seeing it hundreds of times. It’s an archetypal story: the spunky governess (Julie Andrews) in the gorgeous chateau, taming the chilly master and his adorable motherless tots, with mountains, lakes, Nazis and world catastrophe in the background.

4. “Next Friday” (2000). Sequel to the 1995 hit comedy takes Ice Cube’s slacker hero from South-Central L.A. to a multicultural suburban enclave. Much raunchier and far less funny than the last “Friday.” Tommy (Tiny) Lister Jr., John Witherspoon and Mike Epps co-star. Written and produced by Cube. (Gene Seymour, Jan. 12) R for strong language, drug use and sexual content.

5. “Buzz Lightyear: The Adventure Begins” (2000). Made-for-video spinoff of the “Toy Story” hero.

* Last week’s Top 5 DVD sellers

1. “Braveheart” (1995). Mel Gibson directed and stars in this almost-three-hours epic about 13th century Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace. It’s enjoyable for the first two hours or so as a medieval hiss-the-British Western, but it goes into battle overkill. Winner of five Academy Awards including best picture and director. (Peter Rainer) R for medieval bloodshed.

2. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991). A cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from the future time-travels to 1991 to save a boy (Edward Furlong) who will one day become a resistance leader. With Linda Hamilton as the boy’s pumped-up, gun-toting mother. Directed by James Cameron. This is one wild ride.

3. “Any Given Sunday”

4. “The Sound of Music”

5. “Magnolia” (1999). Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest is a frantic, flawed, fascinating look at 24 hours in the life of nine characters in the San Fernando Valley. Look for Tom Cruise in a picture-stealing role as a male supremacist with a vengeance. (Turan, Dec. 17) R for strong language, drug use, sexuality and some violence.

What’s New

East Is East (2000). This ribald comedy about a Pakistani immigrant father (Om Puri) stubbornly attempting to arrange the marriages of his sons grows serious but emerges as a warm and perceptive treat. With Linda Bassett as the immigrant’s resilient English wife. (Thomas, reviewed April 14) Miramax/Buena Vista: no list price; DVD: $29.99; (CC); R for language, sexual content and some domestic violence.

Mission to Mars (2000). A notably lifeless film about the possibilities of life on Mars. The clunky, unconvincing and just plain bad dialogue leaves this movie as cold and distant as the Red Planet itself. Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins and Don Cheadle star. Directed by Brian De Palma. (Turan, March 10) Buena Vista: no list price; DVD: $29.99; (CC); PG for sci-fi violence and mild language.

Stiff Upper Lips (1999). An amiably rude and mildly out-of-control sendup of turn-of-the-century British costume epics. It’s about a family of upper-class nitwits wandering the Edwardian empire carrying pieces of their lawn and leaving pieces of their dignity behind. Georgina Cates is the prim but passionate maiden and Prunella Scales is her snooty but doting aunt. Peter Ustinov is, of course, “quite mad, you know,” as Uncle Horace. Directed by Gary Sinyor. (Seymour, Aug. 27) Miramax/Buena Vista: no list price; DVD: $29.99; (CC); unrated: mild profanity, sex jokes.

What’s Coming

Tuesday: “High Fidelity,” “Jesus’ Son,” “Map of the World,” “Passion of Mind,” “Ready to Rumble” and “28 Days.”

Sept. 26: “Black and White,” “The Cup,” “Final Destination,” “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas,” “Joe Gould’s Secret,” “The Last September,” “Waking the Dead” and “Where the Heart Is.”

Oct. 3: “East-West” and “Snow Day.”

Oct. 10: “Committed,” “Love and Basketball,” “Shanghai Noon” and “Time Code.”

Commentary by Times critics.

Rental video charts provided by VSDA

VidTrac, sales charts by VideoScan Inc.

Oct. 17: “American Pimp,” “Keeping the Faith,” “Rules of Engagement” and “Toy Story 2.”

Oct. 24: “Center Stage,” “The Idiots,” “The Patriot” and “Up at the Villa.”

Oct. 31: “Frequency,” “Gossip,” “Return to Me” and “Thomas and the Magic Railroad.”

Nov. 7: “M:I-2” and “Titan A.E.”

Nov. 14: “Fantasia/2000.”