One note of caution: it comes WITHOUT instructions. You will need your emachine handbook to explain how to take the desktop cover off and how to insert the memory.

Robert has two dreams: becoming a songwriter and landing Marc. Likewise, Marc also has two dreams: landing a role on Broadway, and finding a handsome boyfriend. In addition to their friendship, Robert and Marc have one thing in common: "girlfriend" Cynthia, who is trying to find a job (one job in particular, that is). Marc and Cynthia decide to share an apartment. One day, while staring out the window of their new apartment, Marc discovers the man of his dreams (a musician with stunning good looks, of course).

Marc explains to Robert the concept of the "Grand Gesture". Its when you swallow your pride, buy flowers or something, and let that special person know you're in love with them. Easy for Marc to say, since he is good looking and popular with the gents. Not so easy for Robert, who gets turned down by the card store cashier. Humiliated, Robert gives up on good-looking boyfriends.

Here is where the story varies from the typical Streisand plot. While ugly-duckling Streisand becomes the beautiful swan by using her voice, her talent or (in the most fictional of plots) a makeover, Robert stays plain old Robert. Can Marc see past Robert's dull exterior? Can Marc see past the musician's beautiful exterior? Will Robert get the courage to do the "Grand Gesture" to Marc?

Those are the questions to be answered in Broadway Damage. By the way, what's with the title? Alhough the movie explains what "broadway damage" is, I'm not sure it was the best choice for the title. Personally, I would have chosen "The Grand Gesture".

Back to Streisand... If you love "The Mirror has Two Faces", you'll love Broadway Damage. If you hated "Mirror", chances are you'll still like Broadway Damage, anyway.

An automatic is a personal defense unit, part human part machine, which is manufactured to protect its owner and uphold the law. They all talk, look and act the same (like Olivier Gruner). By the way, this is probably Olivier's best film. This role suits him perfectly.

The problem: the company that manufactures automatics is about to have a billion dollar loan recalled unless it comes up with something new. A day before a major press conference, a company supervisor attempts to rape Nora (an employee). In his attempt to protect her, an "Automatic" accidentally kills the supervisor.

To avoid a scandal, the company head hires a hit squad to kill the offending Automatic and Nora. Of course, this Automatic is anything but helpless. Here the action starts and never lets up.

To my suprise, something of a romance develops between Nora and this Automatic who, like the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz, is in search of his heart. To my even greater surprise, the romance part of this story actually works.

With action, romance, great villains and a surprise plot twist, Automatic has become one of my personal favorite films, along with Terminator and Robocop. Enjoy.

As with all horror sequels that suffer from the "sequel syndrome", it is a must for things to get a little more out-of-hand, more unreal, and more supernatural. The villain, in this case the Tall Man, becomes virtually indestructible. Whereas there was one sphere in the first, he we have as many as 30. While there were a limited number of deaths in the first, here we have whole towns that have been killed.

The story is very simple. Something has happened to Mike Pearson and he is afraid he will turn into another Tall Man. So, he races to the place where he can confront the Tall Man. Of course, the Tall Man also wants this confrontation, so he guides Mike to where he has his followers and his dimensional doors.

Reggie, concerned about Mike, follows closely behind. At the beginning of the movie, he is trapped by the Tall Man, who frees him for no apparent reason. And no, the reason does not become apparent later in the movie. Though dead since before the first movie, Mike's brother Jody also appears in this movie. Mike is having trouble figuring out whose side Jody's incarnation is on. So did I.

This director/writer has a penchant for unpopular endings. The ending of Phantasm I was a let down to the point that it was "clarified" to allow for sequels. (The beginning of this movie actually attempts to clarify what has happened in I to III in a manner that seems to make it all fit together.) Notwithstanding, the director/writer again chooses an unpopular ending.

Perhaps hoping for another sequel, the story ends when Mike is left dying (and we believe he will die), and the Tall Man has won. Reggie chases after the Tall Man, but we don't see him again. Instead, we see a scene of Reggie and Mike when they were younger in Reggie's ice-cream truck driving along in their hometown. In the background, we hear the voice of a dying Mike. Somehow, I also hear sequel. This is also a common symptom of the "sequel syndrome" (ie, having to leave the door just a little open).

The most eerie aspect of Phantasm IV is that it stars all of the original actors. They all look (much) older and should, since this movie was filmed 19 years after the original. This allows the director to insert scenes of the original, even outtakes, to help complete his story and to help explain what is happening. This really adds a sense of realism otherwise difficult to accomplish.

Overall, it is a good movie. However, it does not have the emotional depth of the original. Furthermore, the triumph of evil over good, the apparent death of Mike, and the apparent second death of the Jody "incarnation", added to the disappointment I felt as the movie concluded.

When she finally goes to the police, she manages to convince the skeptical officers assigned to the murders that their may be some validity to her story. More willing to believe her, a TV talk show host/reporter (played by Perry King) tries to befriend her and interview her on his show.

Slowly, the killer moves in on her. The clairvoyant knows he (or she) is near, but her power doesn't reveal the face to her. Nor does the director give this one away. We have to wait until he is ready to reveal the killer, but once he does, it all makes perfect sense.

Overall, I found this movie to be a pleasant surprise. Suspenseful, cleverly written, well acted, it will keep you guessing until the end, when the killer finally and unexpectedly, is revealed.

Or so we read on the box of this DVD. Of Italian origin and first released in 1973 as "Macchie Solari", Autopsy has not aged well as a horror movie. Interestingly, I believe the original title referred to suns spots, which are a recurring theme in the movie.

Autopsy starts brilliantly depicting a number of suicides that invariably end up in the autopsy room, where we meet the protagonist played by Mimsy Farmer. Mimsy is studying forensic medicine and writing a thesis on how to distinguish between real and fake suicides. Something happens and Mimsy begins to see the cadavers moving around.

After this promising opening, the movie strays away from the moving cadavers and turns into a murder mystery. A young woman that Mimsy briefly meets in her apartment is found dead in what appears to be a suicide. However, dead woman's brother (played by Barry Primus) is convinced that it was murder.

Eventually, Mimsy realizes that the dead woman's brother, who is also a priest, is correct. By then, other suicides/murders start occurring around her, and even she becomes the target of one attempt. Suddenly, she doesn't know if she can trust the priest, her father, her father's business associate, her boyfriend (who also is a target of a murder attempt) or even herself.

By now, this movie is no longer a horror film. Instead, it has become a classic who-dunnit film, with occasional sunspot flare- ups depicted a certain intervals. Surprisingly, the mystery is actually well-done. Agatha Christie couldn't have written a better murder mystery.

Why the movie was titled Autopsy in English is beyond me. Scully and Mulder (X-Files) spend more time in the morgue than do Mimsy and Barry. Furthermore, the autopsies in the X-Files are sometimes even more graphic than in this movie. I can only speculate that the studios felt that "Autopsy" would draw more movie-goers than "Sun Spots". On the subject of sun spots, the movie tries to suggest a relationship between sun spots and suicides, which doesn't really fit into the murder mystery.

Overall, it is an excellent movie-if you like mysteries. But a horror movie it is not, certainly not one of "unspeakable horror".

When she finally goes to the police, she manages to convince the skeptical officers assigned to the murders that their may be some validity to her story. More willing to believe her, a TV talk show host/reporter (played by Perry King) tries to befriend her and interview her on his show.

Slowly, the killer moves in on her. The clairvoyant knows he (or she) is near, but her power doesn't reveal the face to her. Nor does the director give this one away. We have to wait until he is ready to reveal the killer, but once he does, it all makes perfect sense.

Overall, I found this movie to be a pleasant surprise. Suspenseful, cleverly written, well acted, it will keep you guessing until the end, when the killer finally and unexpectedly, is revealed.

When she finally goes to the police, she manages to convince the skeptical officers assigned to the murders that their may be some validity to her story. More willing to believe her, a TV talk show host/reporter (played by Perry King) tries to befriend her and interview her on his show.

Slowly, the killer moves in on her. The clairvoyant knows he (or she) is near, but her power doesn't reveal the face to her. Nor does the director give this one away. We have to wait until he is ready to reveal the killer, but once he does, it all makes perfect sense.

Overall, I found this movie to be a pleasant surprise. Suspenseful, cleverly written, well acted, it will keep you guessing until the end, when the killer finally and unexpectedly, is revealed.

When she finally goes to the police, she manages to convince the skeptical officers assigned to the murders that their may be some validity to her story. More willing to believe her, a TV talk show host/reporter (played by Perry King) tries to befriend her and interview her on his show.

Slowly, the killer moves in on her. The clairvoyant knows he (or she) is near, but her power doesn't reveal the face to her. Nor does the director give this one away. We have to wait until he is ready to reveal the killer, but once he does, it all makes perfect sense.

Overall, I found this movie to be a pleasant surprise. Suspenseful, cleverly written, well acted, it will keep you guessing until the end, when the killer finally and unexpectedly, is revealed.

Beneath this slogan on the cover of the DVD, we have blood dripping. At a glance, it seems this is a horror movie related to some serial killer and 911. This is NOT the case.

This movie is about Jimmy and Tom. Jimmy is a trained paramedic and driver of an ambulance. No one wants to be his partner, until Tom comes along. Tom soon discovers what the problem is: Jimmy is into recreational drug use. Jimmy also uses the ambulance to visit his family, buy drugs and have sex.

Instead of finding another job, Tom decides to try to fit in with Jimmy and soon begins the recreational drug use. Tom gets kicked out of his apartment and ends up moving in with Jimmy. At this point the drug use becomes routine. Tom becomes unable to hold other friendships and even fails to start a relationship with a nurse who finds him attractive.

Jimmy controls Tom's drug use, to the extent that he tries to keep Tom from overdosing or abusing the stuff. Things began to fall apart when Jimmy's grandfather, an intravenous heroin user, dies. To cope with the pain, Jimmy begins taking heroin intravenously. And in his usual monkey-see monkey-do manner, so does Tom.

At this point, the joyride is headed to hell with a handbasket. Jimmy and Tom become increasingly irresponsible with their ambulance, began looking ill, and become unable to fund their habit.

They finally get caught trying to cheat the guys who sell them the drugs. These chaps fire a gunshot straight through Tom's hand. In an attempt to escape, Jimmy loses control of the ambulance and his life. Tom survives and recognizes he is a drug addict and needs help.

This is not a horror movie nor a thriller (the DVD box calls Broken Vessels an action/thriller). It is an intense drama which tells the story and effects of drug abuse. Todd Field and Jason London are brilliant in their portrayals of Jimmy and Tom, respectively. Both are worthy of Oscar nominations. In general, the movie excels in many areas, and benefits from a great script and competent direction.

When I picked up this title, I noticed two things: the words "I spit on your grave" in blood-shot red; and a scantilly clad lady with a knife in her hand. I thought, "Well, this is just one more slasher film. Probably so bad you'll have to laugh."

Boy, was I dead wrong.

I Spit on Your Grave is one of the most disturbing, terrifying and thought-provoking movies I have ever seen. It begins quite peacefully when Jenny (Camille Keaton) arrives in the country to write a book. She's rented a cottage by the river. Pretty, slender, and from the big city, she catches the eye of four locals. They try to catch her attention, but appropriately, she ignores them.

Unhappy that she has refused them, the four decide to teach her a lesson. One day, while she is in her little canoe sunning, they come by in a motor boat and take her away, against her will, to a hidden part of the woods. I can't even begin to describe what happens in this movie's next chapter. All I will say is that I was horrified, petrified and practically moved to tears. If you cannot imagine what it is like to be helpless and at other people's mercy, just watch this movie.

One of the four guys orders one of the others to kill her so she won't witness against them. Unbeknownst to the other three, the supposed killer is unable to complete his task. Presumed dead by the three, she slowly recovers from her injuries. Once recovered, she only has one purpose in her mind and heart.

One by one, she plots the death of her four attackers. What is amazing in this movie, is that during each act of revenge, you wonder whether or not she will succeed.

Brilliantly directed and acted, I Spit on Your Grave is a classic. Camille Keaton's performance is so stunning the whole thing seems like it is actually happening. You just don't get performances like this from Meryl Streep or Sally Field. This is raw and real. But be warned, this is NOT for the faint of heart.

Three copies exist of the demonic book called "The Ninth Gate". Balkan has acquired one and believes that his may not be authentic. He hires Corso (Johnny Depp), some type of book mercenary, to determine which of the three copies is authentic. Corso travels to Europe, views the other two copies, and determines that the three are authentic but not identical. All three books have nine similar drawings, but only three specific drawings of each book are to be used to assemble the nine needed perform a mysterious incantation. Corso figures out how to identify the correct nine drawings. With this information, Balkan attempts to recite the incantation, which does not work. Corso's mysterious follower, who may be the Devil herself, tells him that Balkan failed because one of the drawings he had was a forgery. She then tells Corso where to find the remaining drawing. At the end, we see Corso headed to the ruins referenced in the book, presumably to recite the incantation. It is assumed the incantation will give him unlimited power.

As simple as this plot is, this lengthy movie leaves a number of unanswered questions such as: What exactly is Corso going to do at the end? Who is the woman who mysteriously followed him throughout the movie? Why did he not recognize her immediately (she looked exactly like the drawing in the book)? Why did she choose him to have the correct nine drawings? What exactly is the mystery of the ninth gate?

Perhaps the director assumed most of us had read the book upon which the movie is based and knew the answers to these questions. I also believe the director couldn't decide what kind of story he was telling (mystery, drama, suspense...) and couldn't develop his characters. At the end, the protagonist is not any better for what has happened or any worse; instead, he seems unchanged (and as one-dimensional as he was at the start).

Though his character learned nothing during the move, Johnny Depp sure did an excellent job as Dean Corso. The rest of the cast is also competent in this otherwise dull movie.

The best part of this movie: Streisand's brilliant performance. As for Redford, I seem to have trouble reading him in a number of scenes.

In short, if you like Streisand, you must have this.