In the first movie high school seniors are intent on losing their virginity. In the second they are college freshman building on this experience. "The `American Pie' movies succeed where many other comedies aimed at the youth market falter: they manage to be both lewd and sweet, exploiting the natural prurience of young people, while implicitly comforting their raging anxieties," A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times .  Each film earned more than $100 million at the box office and a horde of teenage fans despite being rated R. On the first "Beneath the Crust" disc the cast and filmmakers explain how they approached memorable moments like the series's signature sex act, performed with an apple pie and various other encounters that turn messy and sometimes disgusting in ways both hilarious and mortifying to adolescents.  On the second "Beneath the Crust" the director J. B. Rogers, the writer Adam Herz and several of the actors explore the inadvisability of trying to inject dramatic complications into a comedy in which phone sex between a young couple makes more sense than examining the fissures in their relationship. "We didn't need Dr. Freud to show up," says Chris Klein, who plays Oz in the films.  "People love these characters," Mr. Moore said. Since the other DVD's had long been available, he added, it wasn't fair to ask fans to pay extra for the latest infusion of material. Of course they still have to buy DVD's of the movies to get "Beneath the Crust," and it is stressed on both discs that all the new material will be available once again, not free, on a super edition of "American Wedding."  Jane Bentley (Frances McDormand), a pot-smoking, free-loving Los Angeles record producer approaching 50, is hard at work (and play) putting out an album by a British rock band half her age. This includes an involvement with the band's lead singer (Alessandro Nivola), not to the exclusion of the occasional third bedmate. But Jane's days in a youth-oriented culture are numbered in Lisa Cholodenko's film. And there's trouble with her son (Christian Bale), whom she neglected in childhood, and his fiancée (Kate Beckinsale). With its music from the 1970's and early 80's, the movie "fudges the era," but it reconfirms Ms. Cholodenko's "talent as an acutely observant chronicler of upscale bohemian subcultures," Stephen Holden wrote in The New York Times .  2003. Columbia TriStar. VHS, $103.99; DVD, $24.95. 103 minutes. Closed captioned. R.  No passion or humor leaks through the solemnity of Ronald F. Maxwell's lumpy three-and-a-half-hour Civil War film. This is history with a capital H. A prequel to the even longer "Gettysburg" (1993), this movie shares its predecessor's tendency toward ponderous sermonizing but has none of its forerunner's grasp of the flow of history. In an unwieldy time frame, events are confusing. Robert Duvall is Robert E. Lee and Stephen Lang a fiery Stonewall Jackson. War may be hell, but " 'Gods and Generals' makes going to war feel like going to church" (Holden).  2003. Warner. VHS, $22.98; DVD, $27.98. 225 minutes. PG-13.  A log bounces into Geppetto's workshop and is carved into a figure come to life (if that's the term) in the person of Roberto Benigni. After that it's hard to tell what's sadder: Geppetto's belief that Pinocchio is a child puppet or Mr. Benigni's need to play one. In any event, the dubbed mouths of the Italian cast are badly out of sync in "a movie so bad that it quickly enters the pantheon of wreckage that includes `Battleship Earth' and `Showgirls' " (Elvis Mitchell).  2002. Miramax. VHS, $103.99; DVD, $29.99. 108 minutes. Italian with English dubbing. G.  A former Chinese imperial guard (Jackie Chan) sets off to find his father's murderer with the help of his fast-talking but helpless sidekick (Owen Wilson). Mr. Chan has found the Western mainstream formula: get a mouthy American archetype to provide the patter while he leapfrogs through the martial arts stunts. Adrian Biddle's cinematography is stunning, and Mr. Wilson pockets his share of the movie with his slacker megalomania. "There's not a scene in `Knights' that doesn't go a beat too long, but such longueurs could be attributed to waiting out the laughs the filmmakers are confident will come" (Mitchell).  2003. Touchstone. VHS, $20.99; DVD, $22.49. 107 minutes. Closed captioned. PG-13.  Other new titles of interest, some of which may have had a theater release, appeared on television or been on videocassette or DVD in earlier editions.  LA FEMME NIKITA: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON. In the television version of Luc Besson's 1990 film (released last week in a DVD special edition by MGM), Peta Wilson stars as a street punk turned into a sleek assassin for a government organization called Section One. The USA Network production exploits all the old action and flair of the premise while softening the character of Nikita (Annie Parillaud in the movie). "The series may not be original, but it is swift, engrossing and escapist," Caryn James wrote in The New York Times . "Sometimes that's all you want." 1997. Warner. DVD, $99.98, six discs. 978 minutes.  LIFE AND DEBT. Avoiding talking heads spewing mumbo jumbo, Stephanie Black's documentary approaches globalization by going directly to Jamaican farmers and factory workers overwhelmed by hard-nosed lending organizations like the International Monetary Fund and policies that amount to economic Darwinism exercised by the United States and multinational corporations. The writer Jamaica Kincaid adapts her narration from her book "A Small Place." At one point she advises potential tourists: "When you sit down to eat your delicious meal, it's better that you don't know that most of what you are eating came off a ship from Miami." 2001. New Yorker. VHS, $49.95; DVD, $29.95. 86 minutes. No rating.
DVD reissues of "American Pie" and "American Pie 2" will include a free DVD called "Beneath the Crust," with new behind-the-scenes material about each movie.