DVD GOES TO THE OSCARS.

• Position: Review

Seemingly within moments after the Academy Awards ceremony has ended, there is a stampede to get the winning pictures and performances back into the theaters to capitalize on the box-office boost an Oscar triggers. Once the dust and glitter have settled and every last ticket sale has been mined, it's on to the home market. If you're going to watch the winners in your living room--whether for the first time or to view them again--the choice should be DVD. Not only are the picture and sound far superior, the extra features often provide insights and entertainment in their own right, making the extra cost of DVD vs. VHS worthwhile.

Boys Don't Cry (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 116 minutes, $34.98) brought relatively little-known Hilary Swank the best actress award for a stunning tour de force portrayal of Brandon Teena, a woman who chose to live as a man, ultimately leading to her brutal murder. Swank's previous roles in much more lightweight pictures--"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The Next Karate Kid"--and on the TV series "Beverly Hills 90210" did nothing to prepare audiences for the depth of her acting ability. Chloe Sevigny's performance as Teena's confused lover earned her a well-deserved best supporting actress nomination, though she wound up losing to Angelina Jolie. Interviews with the cast go beyond fluff and actor-speak, but it is the commentary by director/co-writer Kimberly Peirce that is most riveting, as she lays out the factual events behind the picture and what drew her to put the Brandon Teena story on screen.

Girl, Interrupted (Columbia Tristar Home Video, 127 minutes, $27.95) is a prime example of a star vehicle being taken over by a member of the supporting cast. The film itself pales in comparison to previous mental hospital-centered pictures "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) and "The Snake Pit" (1948), as does Winona Ryder's leading role when matched up with those movies' Academy Award-winning protagonists, Jack Nicholson and Olivia de Havilland, respectively. The dramatic context proves just too pretty, with the mental facility more like a girls' dorm--with one sterling exception. Jolie's performance as a sociopathic inmate who, nevertheless, is alternatively charismatic and poignant steals the picture, a bravura effort that well merited her best supporting actress Oscar. The problems of the film may be laid at the doorstep of director/co-writer James Mangold, if his seemingly endless commentary on...