Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: In 1967, Alice, a widowed mother of two daughters, tries to make ends meet by holding fake spiritual "readings" in her living room. Hoping to add a little extra to her act, Alice purchases a Ouija board only to discover her youngest daughter, Doris, is seemingly able to use the board to really talk to the deceased. She decides to take advantage of this without realizing the evil she is unleashing in the process. Who's in it?  The movie stars Elizabeth Reaser , Annalise Basso , Lulu Wilson , Henry Thomas and Parker Mack. You can read my review here:  Movie Review: Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

Synopsis: American teenage girls are devastated when singing sensation Conrad Birdie is drafted. However, the national "tragedy" turns into an opportunity for a struggling songwriter when his fiancée makes arrangements for him to write a song that Birdie will perform during a farewell appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The concert also turns into an opportunity for teenager Kim McAfee, who is selected to give Birdie a goodbye kiss on stage, assuming her protective father and jealous boyfriend will let her. Who's in it?  The movie stars Dick Van Dyke , Janet Leigh , Ann-Margret , Jesse Pearson and Maureen Stapleton. You can read my review here:  Movie Review: Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

Synopsis: When a terrorist blows up a ferry in New Orleans, ATF Agent Doug Collins is called in to help with the investigation. He discovers a link between the bombing and a murdered woman, Claire Kuchever, and his detective skills earn him an invite to join a team using a new technology that lets them see 4 days and 6 hours into the past. At first, the use of the technology is about finding clues to help them find the killer. However, Collins soon realizes the technology might allow them to change the past and save lives. Who's in it? The movie stars Denzel Washington , Paula Patton , Val Kilmer ,  Jim Caviezel and Adam Goldberg. Review: My wife and I finished watching another movie last night and, when Deja Vu came on right after, decided to just leave it on. At first, the film seemed like it had an intriguing plot but after watching it, I came away feeling like it just wasn't as good as it could have been. As I told my wife, I think this would have worked better as a tel...

Synopsis: A group of six strangers are summoned to a remote mansion for a dinner party and learn their host, Mr. Boddy, has been the person blackmailing them. When the lights are turned off, Mr. Boddy is murdered and soon after, the cook is found dead as well. As the night progresses, more bodies begin to accumulate and the group, with the help of the butler, Wadsworth, must figure out who the killer is. Who's in it? The movie stars Eileen Brennan , Tim Curry , Martin Mull , Madeline Kahn , Christopher Lloyd , Michael McKean , Lesley Ann Warren and Colleen Camp . Review: I think I have seen the movie Clue at least 30 times now yet, when I happened to come across it this morning, I figured "what the heck" and decided to watch it again. My reaction to this comedy was the same as it was every other time, it's a movie that just doesn't get old. There are a lot of movies out there that are based off games. Only a very few of them are good. This movie, which is bas...

Synopsis: Laine Morris has a hard time accepting her best friend, Debbie, died of suicide and convinces both her sister and a group of her friends to attempt to contact Debbie using Debbie's Ouija board. The board works. However, instead of contacting Debbie, they inadvertently awaken an evil presence that killed her. Who's in it?  The movie stars Olivia Cooke , Ana Coto , Darren Kagasoff , Bianca Santos and Shelley Hennig. You can read my review here:  Movie Review: Ouija (2014)

Synopsis: German widow Nadja and her son, Elias, board a plane to New York, where she hopes to receive treatment for what appears to be cancer. The plane is hijacked mid-flight and Nadja is shot by one of the men. However, instead of dying from her wounds, as would be expected, Nadja reveals her real condition, vampirism. Determined to protect her son, she soon starts a fight with the hijackers but as her ability to control her disease diminishes and one of the men injects himself with her blood, the plane is soon filled with blood-lusting creatures. Who's in it? The movie stars Peri Baumeister ,  Carl Anton Koch ,  Alexander Scheer ,  Kais Setti and Gordon Brown . Review: My wife and I had time for two movies last night and while I took a quick shower, she picked out Blood Red Sky on Netflix. The movie's description didn't do it a lot of favors, and we both had some serious doubts about the film. However, it turned out to be surprisingly unique and entertaining. My ...

Synopsis: While driving to Los Angeles with her fiancé, Kevin, aspiring actress Monica stops in Houston, Texas to visit her father and learns he is dying from cancer.  Wanting to make sure her dad is as comfortable as possible in his final weeks; Monica agrees to pay the hospital expenses but soon discovers the only way to make the money they need is as an exotic dancer. Kevin reluctantly agrees and Monica is soon bringing in hundreds of dollars per night. However, as she forms a bond with one of her patrons, Chicago, jealousy and suspicion begin to tear the young couple apart. Who's in it? The movie stars Ali Cobrin , Robert Hoffman , Datari Turner , Carmen Electra and Briana Evigan. Review: My wife and I were a bit wiped out after our day trip yesterday and as we sat down on the couch with dinner, I wound up picking out the movie Lap Dance simply because it was the first film I came across. While I had some doubts about the film at first, it ended up being a surprisingly goo...

Our daughters' birthdays are coming up later this month so, before it becomes all about them, I decided to take a day off and do something with just my wife. We wound up taking a day trip to three of Wisconsin's wineries. It wasn't originally going to be three. I had only planned on going to Baraboo Bluff and Balanced Rock wineries in Baraboo. However, it's road work season and when we got to Portage, we discovered getting to Baraboo required a major detour. As a result, our return trip went through Sauk Prairie and since it was right there, we made a return visit to Wollersheim. I think it ended up being a fun trip despite the unexpected detour. We had brunch at Log Cabin Family Restaurant in Baraboo, which was very filling. I had some of their fresh-squeezed lemonade along with a western omelet, hashbrown casserole and a giant cinnamon roll that I shared with my wife (half of it still came home with us). Our first stop after brunch was Balanced Rock Winery since it wa...

Synopsis: Recently widowed Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski has prejudiced views toward the Hmong that have bought most of the houses in his neighborhood and nearly shoots his teenage next-door neighbor, Thao when the latter attempts to steal his vintage 1972 Gran Torino as part of a gang initiation. However, when he saves both Thao and his sister, Sue, from the neighborhood gangs, he inadvertently and reluctantly becomes a neighborhood hero. As he grows closer with those neighbors and the gang violence escalates, Walt decides to put an end to it once and for all. Who's in it? The movie stars Clint Eastwood , Bee Vang , Ahney Her , Christopher Carley and Brian Haley. Review: While Gran Torino has been out for some time now, I never got around to watching the movie until last night, when it happened to come on and my wife and I had nothing better to do. The film was both a surprise and a good choice. Walt (Eastwood) was an intriguing character. You could tell there was a lot of...

Synopsis: Even though he isn't interested in becoming a priest, Michael Kovak decides to join the seminary so he can get his college education and escape his father's funeral home business. After graduation, he is recruited to travel to Italy and participate in an exorcism course. When his religious doubts get in the way, his professor instructs him to spend time with a veteran exorcist. Who's in it? The movie stars Colin O'Donoghue , Anthony Hopkins , Alice Braga , Toby Jones and Marta Gastini. You can read my review here:  Movie Review: The Rite (2011)

One of my first "crops" each spring comes from the composter I keep behind my shed. I throw everything from yard waste to uneaten food in there and can fill all my garden boxes with my homemade soil every growing season. The main catch with that is I do occasionally get something unexpected growing out of that dirt. Roughly 99 percent of the time it's weeds but every so often, I get a bonus plant. This includes the tomato I found growing in my onion patch yesterday evening. I'm not sure what kind of tomato it is yet. The thing that makes this one interesting is I checked that same location the day before and there wasn't any tomato to be seen. This plant, which is more than a foot high, seemingly grew in one day.  It makes me wonder if I should be selling my compost as some sort of plant-growing miracle product.

Synopsis: Chicago private investigators Aberford "Abe" Allard and C. S. "Duff" Duffy are asked by retired Waukesha, WI sheriff Buddy Olson to look into the deaths of Olson's long-time friends Art and Michelle Laskey. The deaths have been ruled a murder-suicide by the local authorities with Michelle as the person pulling the trigger. However, it doesn't take the ultra-observant Duff to determine the police are likely wrong, a determination that ultimately puts the two detectives in a dangerous situation that may require them to use their guns for the first time. Review: I checked Bought the Farm out from my local library last week and finally finished reading it last night. I chose the book because I've enjoyed other Abe & Duff mysteries in the past but, while that was still true about this book, it did leave me with some mixed feelings. The primary attraction to these books, for me at least, are Abe & Duff themselves and this book didn't d...

Synopsis: After failing to complete an assignment about the Industrial Revolution, a group of students are taken on a Saturday field trip to a remote train museum as punishment. When the bus gets in an accident on the way back to school, they walk to a nearby carnival for help and are stalked by a mysterious railroad man, Jack, and his pickaxe. Who's in it? The movie stars Tony Todd , Douglas Tait , David Beeler , Stacey Carino and Hope Jaymes . You can read my review here:  Movie Review: Jack the Reaper (2011)

Synopsis: After a unit on Macbeth  leads to a discussion about ghosts, a group of four high school friends stakeout the house of local mortician Vaughn Ely to prove or disprove rumors of the home being haunted. Believing the house to be empty but seeing the silhouette of a dancing couple in the window, they investigate further, only to discover Ely is home and he is dancing with the body of his deceased wife. An angry Ely kills one of the friends as they flee his house, but the local authorities don't believe the survivors' story, forcing two of them, Abby and Travis, to try to find proof even though it puts their lives in danger. Who's in it? The movie stars Dennis Quaid , Aimee Teegarden , Tony Oller , Stephen Ford and Brett Cullen. Review: I added Beneath the Darkness to my movie library a couple days ago because it sounded like it would be a somewhat creepy film. My wife and I ended up watching it last night and it turned out not to be quite as good as I had hoped....

Synopsis: Chicago vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble is convicted for the brutal murder of his wife, Helen, despite insisting she was killed by a man with a prosthetic arm. While being transported to prison, he is caught up in a prisoner escape attempt and is soon being chased by U. S. Marshals under the command of Samuel Gerard while he attempts to find evidence that proves his innocence. Who's in it? The movie stars Harrison Ford , Tommy Lee Jones , Sela Ward , Andreas Katsulas and Julianne Moore . Review: Neither of us had the energy to go out yesterday evening so my wife and I wound up watching a bit of a Tommy Lee Jones marathon. This included The Fugitive , which neither of us had seen in a long while. After re-watching it, I thought the movie withstood the test of time. The movie, which is based on the television series loosely based on a true story, does a fantastic job getting right to the action. A lot of movies like this will bog things down with a ton of character ...

Synopsis: Brodie Torrance is piloting a passenger airliner from Singapore to Honolulu on New Year's Eve when the plane is struck by lightning and loses power. Despite the odds, he manages to land the plane safely on the island of Jolo in the Philippines. However, with their radio and other equipment damaged, they are unable to alert the airline to their whereabouts and soon find themselves in danger from a gang of rebels that control the island and are looking to collect ransom money for the passengers. Who's in it? The movie stars Gerard Butler , Mike Colter , Yonson An , Tony Goldwyn and Evan Dane Taylor. Review: I briefly considered watching Plane in the past but because the Netflix description didn't quite sell me, I usually ended up picking another movie instead. My wife was the one in charge of picking out the movie last night and finally selected this one. As it turned out, it ended up being a good choice. First of all, as someone who already hates to fly, this ...

Synopsis: When the law firm he works for messes up on a major legal case, Derek Cho is made the fall guy and is fired. As he is being escorted out by security, the building is put in lockdown because of the "Red Eye" virus, a pathogen that causes those it infects to lose their inhibitions and act out their impulses. Knowing the disease makes him immune to prosecution for anything he does while infected, Cho decides to get revenge on his former boss, John Towers, and enlists help from Melanie Cross, a woman who is about to lose her house because of a bank the firm represents. However, they only have eight hours until the virus is no longer a viable defense, getting to his former boss on the top floor requires going through a lot of security and Towers is using the same strategy to try to get rid of Cho first. Who's in it? The movie stars Steven Yeun , Samara Weaving , Steven Brand ,  Caroline Chikezie and Kerry Fox . Review: I added Mayhem to my movie library a couple...

 As a moderate independent, I tend to take the middle ground when it comes to legislation. In other words, it's rarely as good as one party says it is and usually not as bad as the other claims. That said, there are a lot of red flags about the "Big Beautiful Bill" that was just passed by Congress today and only needs Trump's signature to become law. It starts with the number of Republicans who needed to be strong-armed and/or bribed with incentives for it to pass by a very small margin. It includes the very deliberate effort to pass the bill in the middle of the night, when most people were asleep. And the biggest red flag of all is the world's richest man, Elon Musk, who stands to benefit from the tax cuts more than anyone else, effectively ending his friendship with President Donald Trump because he thinks it is bad for the country. As a result, while there are things I am OK with (for example, I personally don't see an issue with a reasonable 80-hour per m...

Synopsis: When Lillian Hubbard goes on trial for the murder of her fiancée, Harley Forsythe, private investigator Michael Shayne is assigned to the jury. After a key witness is killed by a knife thrower in the courtroom, Hubbard looks guilty to some jurors. Shayne, however, believes she's innocent and, after swiping the knife before it could be taken as evidence, sneaks out of his hotel room to conduct his own investigation with the help of newspaper reporter Judy Taylor. Complicating things is photographer Roy Higgins, who is determined to catch Shayne in the act, something that could result in the detective being sent to jail. Who's in it? The movie stars Lloyd Nolan , Marjorie Weaver , Phil Silvers , Janis Carter and Joan Valerie. Review: I was feeling a bit tired and called it an early night last night. Before going to bed, I looked for a film to watch this morning and picked Just Off Broadway because it was the first one that popped up that looked halfway decent. Afte...

Synopsis: Looking to boost sales at his family's London gunsmith business, Jonathan Tibbs travels to America to sell weapons in the wild west and arrives in Fractured Jaw, a town that is caught in the middle of a violent land feud. When he tells residents he is in the "gun business," they assume he means he is a gunslinger and, after a night of drinking, Tibbs accidentally agrees to be sheriff. The only person who knows the truth about Tibbs is the local saloon owner, Kate, who falls in love with him while trying to teach him how to shoot a gun. Who's in it? The movie stars Kenneth More , Jayne Mansfield , Henry Hull , Bruce Cabot and William Campbell. Review: I came across The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw  a few days ago and since the description reminded me a bit of one of my favorite Don Knotts' movies, The Shakiest Gun in the West , I decided to add it to my library. I ended up watching it this morning and it turned out to be an entertaining film. I think the ...

Synopsis: A bounty hunter, Lilith, has vowed never to return to her anarchistic home world of Pandora. However, when the wealthy Atlas offers her too much money to refuse, she agrees to return to Pandora in search of his kidnapped daughter, Tina. With the help of a robot, Claptrap, that has mysteriously been programmed to help her, Lilith is able to locate the teen. Only, Tina hasn't been kidnapped, she is a clone who is hiding from her creator, Atlas, because of a plan to use her to open a secret vault containing advanced technology created by a now-extinct race. Who's in it? the movie stars Cate Blanchett , Jamie Lee Curtis , Kevin Hart , Ariana Greenblatt and Jack Black. Review: I had planned on watching the film Glass last night. However, I discovered none of the 10 movie apps/channels I subscribe to have the film unless I pay extra. So, since I now need to wait until I have time to go to the library and get a copy on DVD for free, I ended up picking Borderlands inste...