DIGITAL L.A. : GOODIES ON DVD ARE MORE REASON TO CHECK OUT FILM.

Byline: David Bloom 

DVD Express (www.dvdexpress.com) has been spotlighting various DVDs in recent weeks for their excellent use of all the extra little gizmos and gadgets the great new format allows.

Of course, DVD Express is trying to move some discs. But their lists are fun to go through, and the best of these are generally worth checking out for some of the state-of-the-art features they offer in this new medium.

Sometimes, of course, the discs they've spotlighted are worthwhile less for cinematic than technical achievements.

For instance, the modest buddy film ``Rush Hour'' with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker is loaded. Its raft of goodies includes a behind-the-scenes look at the production and another short feature, deleted scenes, tons of audio commentary by director Brett Ratner and a music video by Dru Hill.

If you have a DVD-ROM drive in your computer, you can play the disc's interactive game, read a printable version of the script that also links to corresponding scenes in the movie and find more information on the film's stars.

Does anyone care about all these goodies for a film that, well, wasn't exactly the second coming of ``Citizen Kane''? The director Ratner certainly does.

During a panel at last month's Video Software Distributors Association convention in Los Angeles, Ratner talked about how he learned to direct, and it wasn't really the film school he attended.

Rather, Ratner said, his best teacher was endless reruns of films on laser disc that included commentary tracks by directors such as Robert Altman (who was also on the panel, to Ratner's evident awe). And some of the other tidbits are quite instructive as well.

``Watching a movie with an isolated score is an amazing experience because you really understand what the director and composer are trying to do,'' Ratner said.

Sure enough, the ``Rush Hour'' disc includes film composer Lalo Schifrin commenting on his score, using an isolated soundtrack that plays under the visuals without special effects or dialogue to get in the way. Call it Intro to Film 101.

Net notes

For a free forecast of your fate in the stars, hitch your wagon to iVillage.com, the woman-oriented Web site where astrologer Kelli Fox is giving away free charts these days. Fox can be found at www.ivillage.com at the astrology section. For once, you may not mind someone asking what your sign is.

iVillage, by the way, is one of a handful of companies that have recently cut deals with PeopleLink Inc. to use the Santa Monica company's new PORCH Light technology. I won't bore you with the tortured basis of the PORCH acronym; it simply lets a site's visitors know when the proprietor is online and able to talk.

PeopleLink - which will turn on the PORCH Lights at sites run by GTE, StarMedia and IGN.com in a couple of weeks - said the technology makes it easier for people to know when, say, an online auction's creator is around to answer questions.

Gamer notes

So you recently gave in and bought a PlayStation because it's gotten so darned cheap (now $99), and your children so darned insistent. But then you got sticker shock from the games, which can cost $50.

Here's a budget-minded alternative: Go for the older titles, in different packaging, under Sony's own greatest-hits promotion or those of other companies now ``republishing'' their aging hits at around $20.

The republished games are usually guaranteed winners that have just gotten old. Trade publication GameWeek estimates there will be 200 such republished titles by year's end.

Speaking of cheap, the PlayStation price cut makes it a pretty tantalizing purchase right now. The cuts were expected, as Sony props up suddenly flagging sales of the 5-year-old machine.

But maybe you should resist this temptation if you haven't already given in. Sega's Dreamcast, the first of the next-generation gaming consoles, hits U.S. stores Sept. 9.

And it will cost only $199, double the PlayStation, for radically, and I mean radically improved graphic power, Internet connectivity and more.

Though the PlayStation has a huge, wide-ranging library of games to choose from, the better deal at this point is probably the Dreamcast, which will launch with 16 to 24 available titles.

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Photo: The DVD version of ``Rush Hour'' is loaded with commentary by director Brett Ratner.