VIDEO EGGS OVER EASY HIDDEN DVD EXTRAS RATE A BONUS ON FILMS ALREADY WORTH WATCHING.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

I GOT AN E-MAIL a couple of weeks back noting that DVDs were 5 years old. Perhaps it is not as much of a revolution as VHS was initially in making movie watching a home experience, but the new format offers so much more with its clarity and sound and - most important of all - the extras that can be packed on a disc. About one-third of American households have DVD players, and as VHS is phased out, that number will rise.

One form of those extras is called Easter eggs, hidden items that relate to a film such as video clips, amusing outtakes, trailers for upcoming movies and other bonus material hidden. As the name Easter eggs suggests, you have to search for these items. Here are instructions I've gotten on how to find one of some 20 eggs on Baz Luhrmann's ``Moulin Rouge.''

Select ``The Cutting Room'' from the Main Menu and hit ``Enter.'' Highlight the ``Main Menu'' button on ``The Cutting Room'' screen, and then press the right-arrow button on your remote to highlight a windmill; press ``Enter'' for a two-minute clip of Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman breaking up and goofing off.

Sounds like a lot of work. Now, I love puzzles such as crosswords, but I only have so much time and patience. At least with crosswords, the answers are published, not that I ever need them (joke). Speaking recently with Luhrmann and Bryan Singer, I found the directors a bit perplexed about the worth of Easter eggs, although they knew that some people liked them. Luhrmann's first two films, ``Strictly Ballroom'' and a special edition of ``William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet,'' recently came out on DVD, and a special edition of Singer's ``The Usual Suspects'' is out today.

While Luhrmann and Singer took part in preparing the DVD releases, both left it up to others to create the Easter eggs.

``I'm thinking of publishing the instructions on the Web,'' says Luhrmann, admitting he didn't know how many Easter eggs were on any of the DVDs of his films. Singer wasn't even sure if there were any on ``The Usual Suspects''; he thought there might be. (I haven't looked.)

So let's make a deal: Put the eggs on the DVDs for those who love puzzles; find a place to tell us where they are for those of us who'd don't have the time to look. Regardless of whether you can find any eggs on ``Strictly Ballroom,'' ``Romeo + Juliet'' and ``The Usual Suspects,'' the DVDs are worth adding to your collection or at least checking out.

The 1992 ``Ballroom'' is the story of a dancer, Scott (Paul Mercurio), who breaks away from the regimented rules of his local ballroom-dancing federation to dance his own steps while falling in love with his plain-Jane partner, Fran (Tara Morice).

``Strictly Ballroom'' is very simply about oppression and popular revolution, says Luhrmann. ``Ballroom,'' part of the director's ``Red Curtain'' trilogy, is an exuberant, stylish trip; the bottom line is it's a lot of fun.

While ``Ballroom'' doesn't have a lot of extras, the new ``Romeo + Juliet'' (1996) does, including early tests of the film's star, Leonardo DiCaprio. The mythical Verona Beach, where Luhrmann set his modern-day retelling of the Bard's classic tale, is populated by gangs and boom boxes. Although the film has an audacious MTV look, it never diminishes the power of Shakespeare's play. DiCaprio and Claire Danes acquit themselves quite well as the star-crossed lovers, and there are excellent performances from John Leguizamo as Juliet's cousin, the volatile Tybalt, Paul Sorvino and Brian Dennehy. What Luhrmann elegantly proves to a younger generation is that the Bard can be hip and relevant.

Both DVD editions have commentary by Luhrmann.

Singer's ``The Usual Suspects'' is a triumph of casting. The company not only includes Kevin Spacey, who took home an Oscar as best supporting actor for the role of Verbal, but also Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Kevin Pollak and at the time a relatively unknown Benicio Del Toro, who showed the fire that eventually paid off in an Oscar for ``Traffic.'' Singer, who is readying ``X2,'' the ``X-Men'' sequel, credits Byrne with helping to bring the cast together. Though Spacey was a known quantity at the time, no one saw him as a star, and Singer deserves kudos for not only recognizing the talent but getting such great performances out of the cast.

``Suspects'' (1995) is a mind-bending, off-kilter film noir with a surprise ending that makes you want to go back to see it again. Framed by Verbal's testimony to U.S. customs agent Kujan (Palminteri), the film depicts the quest for Keyser Soze, a vicious international drug kingpin whom Verbal describes as ``the devil himself.''

``Suspects,'' too, has director's commentary.

HIS DAY TO SHINE: Whether politics played any part in Denzel Washington's recent best-actor Oscar win for his role as a corrupt cop in ``Training Day'' is almost a stupid question. Of course it did. But it did, too, in John Wayne's win for playing Rooster Cogburn in ``True Grit'' (1969). While I'm not against the Duke winning a statuette, he wasn't necessarily better than either Dustin Hoffman or Jon Voight in ``Midnight Cowboy.'' But academy voters undoubtedly figured that those two would eventually get theirs, which they did, and Wayne was a longtime star at the end of his career.

I'm not sure Washington's performance as Alonzo Harris in ``Training Day'' was his best, though many people, including the L.A. critics, thought it was the best performance by anyone last year. I do know that Washington - who is not only one of our finest actors but also a movie star (not always the same thing) - was simply overdue. But, remember, Jack Nicholson was nominated four times before winning, and other deserving actors and actresses have found themselves in the same situation.

``Training Day'' came out on video last week, just after Washington's win, and if you haven't caught it, I suggest you do. This was Denzel's year; let's hope he has more.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT: In the category of enjoyable diversions is Barry Levinson's ``Bandits,'' out today on DVD and VHS. Starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett, ``Bandits'' is about two escaped convicts and a bored housewife on a bank-robbing spree.

A familiar enough scenario, but Levinson and his cast keep everything loopy enough to make things fun. Willis and Thornton, known as the ``sleep-over robbers'' because they kidnap bank managers the night before, create an ``Odd Couple'' relationship as they pull off their jobs wearing bad disguises.

``You look like Neil Young on that album 'After the Horses,' '' says one of the kidnapees.

``It's 'After the Gold Rush,'' and I was going for the look of the album where he's in the snow,'' says Thornton, who plays Terry, a hypochondriac and a hyper-articulate geek who mostly steals the show in this quirky comedy.

``The Usual Suspects (Special Edition)'' (MGM) lists for $24.98 on DVD.

``Bandits'' (MGM) lists for $26.98 on DVD and $59.99 on VHS.

``Strictly Ballroom'' (Miramax) lists for $29.99 on DVD.

``William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (Special Edition)'' (Fox) lists for $19.98 on DVD.

``Training Day'' (Warner) lists for $26.98 on DVD and $22.98 on VHS.

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Paul Mercurio and Tara Morice mean business in ``Strictly Ballroom.''