Steven Helmer Publications

My wife and I enjoyed the first season of The Traitors enough to give the second season a try and, after finishing it in record time, here are some of my thoughts: I am just not a fan of the whole reality star thing. For one, I think there is an assumption everyone watching this show watches a lot of other reality shows and I certainly don't fall in that category. As a result, it felt as though I was expected to know who the contestants were in advance.  On top of it, the fact they divided into fractions based on their show/network did kind of ruin this season for me a bit and made me question if their established friendships/working relationships also meant they were revealing their identity as a Faithful/Traitor off camera.  At minimum, there were quite a few put on the hot seat because of what they did on other shows. That felt like an unnecessary cheat, especially when one of the guesses based almost solely on that was correct. On the flip side, there were too many not on...

Synopsis: A recently disfigured ex-violinist is wanted for murder and "haunts" a Paris opera house while taking extreme measures to help a young singer he has become obsessed with. Who's in it? The movie stars Claude Rains , Susanna Foster, Edgar Barrier , Nelson Eddy and Jane Farrar. Review: I recently watched another movie that had Claude Rains in it and thought to myself "it's been ages since I watched Phantom of the Opera ." So, when I had some free time early this morning before heading into the office, I decided to give it a re-watch.  The movie is as good as I remembered. For the record, I do still prefer the 1925 Lon Chaney silent film version slightly more because Chaney's version of the Phantom was quite a bit creepier. However, this movie is a very close second. A big part of the reason for this is Rains' overall performance, creating a Phantom character that was about as unlikeable as you could make a movie villain. He murdered people,...

Synopsis: The bored wife of a successful theater critic decides to write her own play. She is able to get it produced but a drunken, negative review written by her husband threatens both the show's success and their marriage. Who's in it? The movie stars  Bob Hope , Lucille Ball , Marilyn Maxwell , Jim Backus and Rip Torn . Review: I am taking a bit of a lazy day today and, while my wife and youngest daughter were attending a play at our local high school, I ended up searching for a movie to watch. It had been a while since I last saw Critic's Choice and since it was available, I decided to give it a re-watch. My opinion of it was basically the same one I had the first time I watched it, it was OK but not as good as I had expected. I'll start out by saying the film's premise was a good one, mostly because it created a no-win scenario for the critic, Parker Ballentine (Hope). It was clear he didn't want to review his wife, Angela's (Ball) play because, base...

As I've said before, I rarely watch a television series until I know it is going to last more than a season. Life it too short to get invested in something that is going to get cancelled. As a result of that, we had not watched The Traitors  until very recently, when we finally got caught up on all the past seasons of Project Runway. I haven't quite finished the first season of the reality series, which features a group of contestants staying in a Scottish manor and competing to earn money while trying to figure out which three are "murdering" a contestant per night. So, please, no spoilers. However, I do have some thoughts to share: The contestants sometimes take this a bit too seriously. I'm not talking about being overly competitive. This is, after all, a game with money at stake. I do think they sometimes forget it is a game though, whether it is guilt over "murdering" a contestant, almost to the point you would think they actually died, or getting o...

Synopsis: A fracking operation near New Orleans causes a series of earthquakes that release giant, fire-breathing spiders on the city and leave residents in terror as they attempt to escape before being eaten. Who's in it? The movie stars Megan Adelle, Gralen Bryant Banks, Tracey Gold, Edward Furlong and Grant James. Review: I watch a lot of horror movies and, as part of that, have watched more than my share of bad horror films, especially those that were made for TV. However, every once in a while, I'll come across a film that is so terrible, I wind up wondering if some of my brain cells exploded from watching it. The film Arachnoquake is one of those movies. To be fair, I probably should have expected as much from the title. In my defense, however, I have seen a similar film, Lavalantula , that turned out to be surprisingly good so, based on that, I was willing to give this movie a shot this morning. Too bad the film didn't hold up its end. My biggest problem with thi...

Synopsis: Tom Canty is the son of an abusive and criminal father and has spent his whole life in poverty while Edward Tudor is the son of King Henry VIII and the prince of Wales. When the two boys cross paths and realize they look exactly alike, they switch clothes as a prank, only to have the resulting case of mistaken identity result in Edward being thrown off the palace grounds. When Tom tries to correct the situation, nobody believes him except for the Earl of Hertford, who uses the information to blackmail Tom, who is about to be crowned King of England, to do his bidding while arranging for the real Edward's murder. Who's in it? The movie stars Billy and Robert J. Mauch, Errol Flynn , Claude Rains, Barton MacLane and Alan Hale . Review: I didn't intend on watching a movie this morning because I hadn't picked one out ahead of time and only had a limited amount of time to choose. However, I happened to come across The Prince and the Pauper and figured it would ...