Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: Rookie New York police officer Megan Turner kills an armed robber and is suspended when the robber's gun can't be found. Soon after, she accepts an offer from wealthy commodities trader Eugene Hunt to share a cab and begins dating him only to learn he is a serial killer. With no evidence to corroborate Eugene's confession and put him behind bars, even after he kills her best friend, Megan finds herself stalked by Eugene and must find a way to stop him before he harms anyone else close to her. Who's in it? The movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis , Ron Silver, Clancy Brown, Louise Fletcher and Richard Jenkins. Review: My youngest daughter had to work, my wife was at her sewing studio, and my oldest daughter was doing her own thing, so I found myself with time to watch a movie yesterday evening. After looking at several options, I settled on the film Blue Steel (not to be mistaken for the John Wayne movie by the same name) just because it sounded interesting and had...

Synopsis: In 13th Century France, squires Jean de Carrouges and Jacques le Gris serve the same lord, Count Pierre d'Alençon but while Jean shows that loyalty to Pierre and the king by risking his life in battle, Jacques is clearly the count's favorite, spending his time at court and being gifted land and a title that Jean feels should be his. Things come to a head when Jean's wife, Marguerite, accuses Jacques of raping her. Unable to get justice from Pierre, Jean convinces the king to let him fight Jacques in a duel to the death. If Jacques loses, he will be posthumously found guilty. If Jean dies, Marguerite will be burned at the stake for perjury. Who's in it? The movie stars Matt Damon , Adam Driver , Jodie Comer , Ben Affleck and Harriet Walter. Review: I wound up re-watching the film Patton in between mowing the lawn yesterday and, when that movie was over, The Last Duel came on. This was a movie I had considered watching before but mostly because of the 2 1/2...

I didn't have anything planned this Labor Day except to mow my lawn. The rain we got mid-week resulted in the grass being tall/thick enough to burn through the batteries so, while waiting for them to recharge, I wound up using my camera to get some photos of the birds visiting the bird feeder in the front yard, including a yet-to-be-identified furry bird. Here are some photos: ________________________________________________________________________ Here are some previous bird feeder photos: Just a Random Bird Feeder Photo Bird Feeder Photos 4/28/2018 and 4/29/2018 Bird Feeder Photos 11/10/2018 Bird Feeder Photo

Here are some random thoughts I had after re-watching Star Wars for what was probably the thousandth time: What was the point of lying to Luke? I get keeping secrets when Luke ( Mark Hamill ) was a child but a warning about who his father was would have had him much better prepared and at very least, would have helped him understand why his Uncle Owen (Phil Brown) was so reluctant to let him leave. Are runaway droids a problem on Tatooine? The Jawa's main source of income comes from re-selling unclaimed droids which is only a good business model if there are a lot of them just wandering the desert. Not to mention the decision to put restraining bolts on them to keep them under control. Are they sentient enough to realize they are being used as slaves and seek freedom at every opportunity? Overall, Princess Leia takes the destruction of her home planet and the loss of her family surprisingly well. Did Leia ( Carrie Fisher ) even take the time to mourn them after the Death Star was ...

  I walked out behind my office building to take some trash to the dumpster in between storms and there was a pair of sandhill cranes walking over by the train tracks. It's not the first time I've seen them behind the office, but it also isn't a common thing. It's been at least a couple years. I just wish it wasn't so dark out because it was very hard to get a good photo with my camera while staying far enough away to avoid scaring them.

Synopsis : Stuart ( Kevin Sussman ) and his friends arrive in a universe where everyone can read each other's minds.  After learning the device is missing a piece in the previous universe, they attempt to retrieve it from Cal Tech and make an unexpected discovery. My Thoughts: The whole mind reading thing has been done before but this might have been one of the most realistic takes on that. I loved how the characters "heard" both thoughts that were relevant to the plot along with various other thoughts that popped into their minds because that is the kind of thing I would expect had I had the ability the read thoughts. I also liked how it didn't cause unnecessary drama. That would be the usual expectation with something like this, someone hearing a thought, taking an offense to it and things spiraling out of control. The episodes on this series are already trying to cram a lot into a very short amount of time and something like that would have bogged things down too m...