‘Apollo 13’ Leads List Of Video Releases

One of the year’s biggest hits tops this week’s list of new movies on video.

APOLLO 13 **** (1995) (MCA/ Universal) $22.98. 140 minutes. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris. In every sense, an out-of-this-world triumph that re-creates one of history’s epic rescues as three seemingly doomed astronauts try to make it home in their crippled spacecraft. Director Ron Howard has made a technically brilliant can-do picture for our sorry can’t-do age. PG (nothing offensive).

CONGO ** 1/2 (1995) (Paramount) 109 minutes. Dylan Walsh, Laura Linney. A jokey, Spielberg-lite adaptation of the Michael Crichton best seller about talking apes, greedy humans, killer gorillas and a mother lode of diamonds in deepest Africa. There are solid special effects and brisk action sequences, but there’s also a surprising lack of thrills and chills. PG-13 (violence, profanity).

FLUKE ** (1995) (MGM/UA) 95 minutes. Matthew Modine, Nancy Travis, Eric Stoltz. The overwrought, oddball adventures of a melancholy golden retriever who is the reincarnation of a yuppie played by Modine. Too dark for kids and too dopey for adults. PG (death and grieving issues, mild profanity).

JOHNNY MNEMONIC * (1995) (Columbia TriStar) 98 minutes. Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren. Visual artist and first-time director Robert Longo paints a juvenile, murky and too-silly-to-believe picture about a high-tech courier (Reeves) on the run when he learns that the chip implant in his brain contains priceless data. R (violence, brief nudity).