VIDEO EXTRA INCENTIVE BONUS FEATURES AUGMENT 'ENEMY,' '15 MINUTES' DVD RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Extras, extras, see all about them.

It's been all the added features on DVDs that have made them so attractive to film buffs. Two films out today, ``Enemy at the Gates'' and ``15 Minutes,'' offer perspectives on how much is enough and what's not enough.

``Gates,'' starring Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins and Rachel Weitz, is about a duel between two snipers during the World War II siege of Stalingrad. Law plays Vasily Zaitsev, a real-life Soviet hero. Raised in the Ural Mountains, Zaitsev impresses a Red political officer, Danilov (Fiennes), with his sharpshooting abilities during a failed attempt to dislodge German troops poised to overrun the city.

When Nikita Khrushchev (Hoskins) is sent in to try to find a way to rally the Soviet troops, Danilov suggests making Zaitsev a hero to rally around, publishing his exploits as a sniper and adding up his number of kills daily as if he were Barry Bonds chasing the home run record. The tactic works as the Soviet troops hold on, but the movie, like the German troops, soon begins to bog down.

A love interest is introduced in Tanya (Weitz), a Jewish militia fighter bent on avenging the death of her parents, who were killed by the Nazis. What develops is a competition between Danilov and Zaitsev, whom Tanya prefers. Complicating matters is the fact that the Germans have sent in an ace sniper of their own, Maj. Konig (Ed Harris), to take out Zaitsev, and a deadly game between the two begins.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (``Quest for Fire,'' ``The Bear,'' ``Seven Years in Tibet''), ``Gates'' raises a lot of interesting aspects of the historic conflict - how the Soviet propaganda machine worked, the fate of Jews inside the Soviet Union, the Russian strategies, the German strategies, etc. This is a DVD that calls for a lot of extras as, say, New Line included on its ``Thirteen Days'' disc, which featured as part of its new Infinifilm series plenty of historical background about the Cuban missile crisis.

The ``Gates'' DVD features the usual - a ``making of'' documentary, cast interviews and some deleted footage. It is interesting that the filmmakers created their Stalingrad from the ground up because they couldn't find an authentic place to shoot, but the disc surely could have used a section devoted to the real history of what was one of the most crucial battles of the war. That aside, the film, as noted, has other problems. Ultimately the excellent performances, the battle scenes and particularly the tense duel between the snipers help you overlook them.

``15 Minutes'' has its problems, too, but the DVD isn't one of them. This Infinifilm edition contains commentary by director John Herzfeld, deleted footage with Herzfeld's commentary, a music video, ``True Tabloid'' and ``Does Crime Really Pay?'' documentaries, cast interviews, Robert De Niro/Edward Burns rehearsal footage, ``Oleg's Video'' (actual footage captured from actor Oleg Taktarov's perspective), and a fact and trivia subtitle track. New Line has also made these features easy to access as you're watching the film.

Does ``15 Minutes'' really need all this? Probably not, but it makes the DVD more fun. Herzfeld (``Two Days in the Valley''), who also wrote the script, takes a rather cynical look at the connection between fame and violence. De Niro plays Detective Eddie Flemming, a celebrity New York City cop, who investigates the death of a Russian immigrant couple who have perished in a suspicious-looking apartment fire. He encounters Fire Marshal Jordy Warsaw (Burns) at the arson scene, where they both conclude the victims had been brutally murdered first.

Flemming takes Warsaw under his wing as they pursue the murderers, who turn out to be a pair of Eastern European emigres, Emil (Karel Roden) and Oleg (Oleg Taktarov). The pair had killed the couple for spending the money from a robbery they had committed in Europe. The killers are fascinated with America's fascination with crime. Flemming has been celebrated for his capture of a serial killer who was judged innocent because he was insane, and the case is receiving renewed attention because the killer is to be released because he has been ``rehabilitated.''

As it turns out, Oleg is an amateur filmmaker, hooked on Hollywood. (He tells the customs officer he came to America because of ``It's Wonderful Life'' and calls himself Frank Capra at one point.) After stealing a video camera, he starts making a movie of the pair's lives of crime, becoming more adept as he goes along.

All this is a little too pat a setup, including Flemming's relationships with Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer) and his tabloid TV show, ``Top Story,'' which helps Flemming gain fame and with his girlfriend, a television reporter. The story also goes over the top at the end. But ``15 Minutes'' grabs your attention, even if it's a bit like a train wreck at times, and Herfeld has an eye for coldly looking at his subjects - fame, the media - while using the same tactics: handheld footage, rapid MTV cuts.

BEAUTIFULLY SKETCHED: Speaking of Harris, the actor is becoming one of those stars whose name on the cast list makes a film automatically more attractive. If you missed ``Pollock,'' which came out a couple of weeks ago on DVD and video, you should check it out for his Oscar-nominated performance. Films about artists and writers are always problematic because it's impossible to capture that line between madman and genius on film, and ``Pollock'' is no exception. But Harris, who also directed, offers a fascinating portrait of the troubled abstract expressionist. Since Pollock was a very physical painter who worked on giant canvasses, he gave Harris a very dynamic model. Marcia Gay Harden, who plays Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner, gives an equally explosive performance, for which she won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress.

``Enemy at the Gate'' (Paramount) is $29.99 on DVD and for rent on VHS. ``15 Minutes'' (New Line) is $26.98 on DVD and for rent on VHS. ``Pollock'' (Columbia) is $24.95 on DVD and for rent on VHS.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Joseph Fiennes, left, and Jude Law play Soviet soldiers trying to repel the Nazis from Stalingrad in ``Enemy at the Gates.''

(2) Edward Burns, left, and Robert DeNiro star as New York cops chasing media-obsessed killers in the so-so thriller ``15 Minutes,'' which benefits greatly from several DVD extras.