Steven Helmer Publications

We had late-night tornado sirens last night which, fortunately, led to no damage but did leave both of us feeling exhausted today. So, rather than try to focus while watching a new movie, I decided to put on Alien because I'd seen it enough times to know what happened if I fell asleep. Here are some thoughts I had while re-watching it: I am admittedly not a science expert but I'm pretty sure smoking cigarettes in an oxygenated environment, like Nostromo would have had, isn't a good idea. Then again, they were using flame throwers without incident, so I guess the only danger as far as this movie was concerned was lung cancer. Why did the entire crew need to go to the planet? Nostromo had a shuttle, why not just send two or three to the planet on that rather than risk everyone's lives and the ship itself? John Hurt 's death scene is one of the best things about this movie. He did come a bit close to overacting, but he was one of the few crew members to go out in ...

Synopsis: After superhuman David Dunn, now known as the Overseer, tracks down Kevin Wendall Crumb, aka the Horde, and frees the teenagers Crumb has kidnapped, the two men battle it out but are soon both captured by a team led by Dr. Ellie Staple, who institutionalizes the men in the same facility currently holding supervillain Elijah Price, who now calls himself Mr. Glass. Dr. Staple tells the men their powers aren't real and instead are the result of delusions created by a brain condition she believes she can surgically correct. Glass, however, suspects they are being lied to and works out an escape plan that will also expose the truth. Who's in it? The movie stars Samuel L. Jackson , James McAvoy , Bruce Willis , Anya Taylor-Joy and Sarah Paulson. Review: My wife and I planned on watching Glass last summer, after first watching Unbreakable and Split . However, the movie wasn't available on any of our streaming services or at our library and I wasn't sure I'd...

Synopsis: A serial killer calling himself Splitface is demanding money from seemingly random people then murdering them anyway. Police Detective Dick Tracy is assigned to the case, much to the chagrin of his jilted girlfriend, Tess Trueheart, who soon finds her own life in danger. Who's in it? The movie stars Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Mike Mazurki , Jane Greer and Lyle Latell. Review: The movie Dick Tracy has been in my film library for several weeks, but I wasn't completely sure if I wanted to watch it. I've never read the comic, and my only knowledge of the character came from the somewhat terrible 1990 Warren Beatty movie, so I just didn't know if I would enjoy it. I finally decided to give it a try this morning and it was admittedly pretty good. One of my biggest concerns about this movie was I was afraid the film would assume I read the comic and therefore would need no introduction to the characters, villain background, etc. That, however, turned out not ...

Synopsis: A recently widowed Barb drives to a remote lake in Minnesota to honor her late husband's final wish and stumbles upon a kidnapping. With no cell signal and the nearest town two hours away, she attempts to take matters into her own hands against the well-armed kidnappers. Who's in it? The movie stars Emma Thompson , Judy Greer , Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden and Gaia Wise. Review: My wife was scrolling through our movie channels while having breakfast this morning and came across Dead of Winter. At first, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a movie I would enjoy enough to justify it making me feel cold (I had enough of snow and cold this year). However, it turned out to be an interesting watch. There were a couple things that really stood out for me about this movie. One of the main ones was the choice to have the main protagonist, Barb (Thompson) be someone in her 60s rather than in her twenties or thirties. This added a whole new element to the character becau...

Synopsis: A category 5 hurricane causes severe flooding in the town of Annieville, South Carolina, leaving those who didn't evacuate trapped. To make matters worse, the hurricane has brought a swarm of aggressive bull sharks and a single great white shark with it. Who's in it? The movie stars Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak,  Djimon Hounsou , Alyla Browne, Stacy Clausen and Dante Ubaldi. Review: We decided not to go out last night (once again because of the weather) and instead stayed home and watched a movie. I came across Thrash on Netflix earlier in the day and, figuring it had been a while since I last watched a shark-related movie, we gave it a try. It turned out to be a good choice. To be honest, there wasn't a whole lot about this movie I would describe as unique. Like plenty of other movies, it featured sharks in a populated area and those sharks always seemed to be hungry no matter how much they ate. However, this was one of those times when a movie did...

Synopsis: After her mom is killed in a tragic surfing accident, Beckett and her father (a famous author) move to Manhattan so she can attend a prestigious prep school. However, when a student commits suicide and Beckett learns it wasn’t the first time, she becomes suspicious. After some investigation, she discovers the school’s faculty members aren’t what they seem. Who's in it? The movie stars Sophie Curtis, Kelly Reilly , Graham Phillips, Sarah Sutherland and Stephanie March. Review: The outdoor chores I had planned for this weekend were put on hold because of rain. Since the rest of the family went out to do their own thing, leaving me in a quiet house, I ended up re-watching Innocence because I couldn't remember a whole lot about it. Now I remember - it isn't a very good movie. There are a couple major problems with this film. The first is it takes an eternity for something to happen in it. Sure, we see her mom die (well, actually, she just disappears) and her classmat...