Steven Helmer Publications

One of my favorite things about this time of year is being able to watch, or rewatch, holiday movies. They are inspiring, have some great stories and in the case of Christmas-themed horror movies, often have some memorable villains. And let's face it, without a good villain (even when that villain also happens to be the protagonist), Christmas movies often fall flat. Something I've noticed with holiday movies though is there are often villains that go unnoticed or at least unrecognized for their efforts. Here are five of my examples: Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi, Die Hard (1988) -  To start, yes, I consider Die Hard a Christmas movie. All the arguments to the contrary could also be used to describe plenty of other recognized Christmas films and therefore are invalid in my book.  While Hans Gruber ( Alan Rickman ) is obviously the main villain in this film, Takagi (James Shigeta) deserves recognition as well because what kind of employer holds a company party on Christmas Eve? Th...

Synopsis: Chicago divorce attorney Lucy's hard work has paid off with a Christmas Eve promotion to partner at her law firm. It has, however, come at the expense of her relationship with her family, her best friend, Nadine, and the guy she was once in love with, Matt. When she bumps into Matt at a cafe, it brings back old feelings and soon after, she is transported back to 1999 by a magical rideshare driver. At first, Lucy thinks it is an opportunity to correct the mistakes she made when she was 19 but she soon learns if she makes any changes, it will drastically alter her future and cost her the promotion. Who's in it? The movie stars Eva Bourne, Chandler Massey , Katherine Barrell, Alex Hook and Jenny Raven. Review: I've had A '90s Christmas in my movie library for about a year and as I was looking for a movie to watch, I decided to finally give the Hallmark movie a try. Overall, I think I can safely say it was better than I expected. I don't say this about a l...

Synopsis: Isabel takes her job as an inspector for Santa's naughty-or-nice list seriously and is in line for a promotion. However, when doing a re-evaluation of Charlie, an 11-year-old girl on the naughty list, she falls for Charlie's widowed father, Jason, and breaks a number of rules by dating him. As she puts her job in jeopardy, Isabel realizes there is a lot of gray area between naughty and nice and begins to question the overall system. Who's in it? The movie stars Lacey Chabert , Andrew W. Walker , Cadence Compton, Steve Bacic and Louriza Tronco. Review: My wife and I still haven't found much time to do our annual Hallmark Christmas movie watching but since we were both home at a reasonable hour this evening, I convinced her to at least watch Lacey Chabert's latest film, She's Making a List . Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the magical film we were hoping for. One common complaint I have with films is many get ruined by trying to do too much. This ...

Synopsis: After losing his job, Chris Carver becomes determined to win an annual Christmas decorating contest and its $100,000 prize. His search for additional decorations leads him to a Christmas shop located under a freeway and to the elf running the place, Pepper. Chris purchases a tree based on the song "12 Days of Christmas" but doesn't read the fine print on the receipt. Soon after, the various gifts from the song become real, wreaking havoc on Chris and his family. He then learns he must retrieve the golden rings by 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve or he will be turned into a glass Christmas figurine. Who's in it? The movie stars Eddie Murphy , Jillian Bell, Tracee Ellis Ross, David Alan Grier and Madison Thomas. Review: As someone who is Gen X, I still prefer the 1980s/early 90s Eddie Murphy to the family-friendly movie version today. However, when I came across Candy Cane Lane , I was intrigued enough by the plot to give him and the movie a try. After watching it ...

Synopsis: The 1980 film Airplane! is a movie that has inspired generations of comedy films despite casting actors that, up until that point, had no comedic experience. This book, written by the men who made the movie, tells the story of how the film came to be along with behind-the-scenes tidbits. Review: I first saw Airplane! when I was too young to understand why a good chunk of the jokes were supposed to be funny. As I got older and re-watched the film easily a dozen or more times, I began to appreciate both the comedy and the cultural impact the movie had. So, when I came across Surely You Can't Be Serious at the library, I decided to check it out. I was not disappointed by this choice. The thing that I like most about this book is how it is how the story is told by the people who were involved with the film instead of someone telling the story second-hand. The anecdotes relating to how the film came to be and what happened when the cameras weren't rolling just hit diff...

Synopsis: Gotham City is facing a new villainous threat, Shredder and his Foot Clan have teamed with Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins to turn all Gotham's residents into mutants. As Batman attempts to save the day, he finds himself teaming with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, their alliance is threatened when the turtles prove to be too undisciplined for Batman. Who's in it? The animated movie uses voices from Troy Baker, Eric Bauza, Tom Kenny , Tara Strong and John DiMaggio. Review: I was flipping through channels this morning, looking for something to watch (or at least provide some background noise) while I had breakfast and came across Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . While I rolled my eyes at first, I was also admittedly intrigued and decided to watch it.  It was about what I expected, and I mean that both in a good and bad way. I'll start out by saying the plot of the movie was surprisingly good. The team-up between Shredder (Andrew ...