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: After witnessing too much violence, Ray Owens left his life as a Los Angeles police officer to become the sheriff of the sleepy Arizona town of Sommerton Junction. However, when a notorious drug lord escapes federal custody, Ray and his inexperienced staff become the only thing keeping the fugitive and his well-armed henchmen from crossing into Mexico. Who's in it? The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger , Forest Whitaker , Johnny Knoxville , Jaimie Alexander , Eduardo Noriega and Genesis Rodriguez .  Review: My wife and I came across this movie on Netflix a couple days ago and thought the trailer made it look interesting. We wound up watching it last night and it proved to be a good choice. An aging Arnold Schwarzenegger in an action movie seemed sketchy, but he did an excellent job in the lead role, bringing just enough strength and endurance to make him the hero while still occasionally showing his age. I also thought the movie had an excellent supporting cast, o...

Synopsis: Twenty-two years ago, Sarah Connor destroyed Cyberdyne Systems and prevented the invention of Skynet, saving 3 billion future lives. However, she was unable to prevent a T-800 Terminator robot from killing her son, John. When a new Terminator arrives in Mexico, Sarah finds herself protecting a young woman, Dani, with help from a surgically enhanced soldier from the future and the same T-800 that killed her son. Who's in it? The movie stars Linda Hamilton , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Mackenzie Davis , Natalia Reyes and Gabriel Luna . Review: I have had this movie in my library for some time now but didn't get around to watching it because, while I liked the original Terminator , I wasn't as big of a fan of the sequels. However, my wife and I had some time to watch a movie last night and, since I wasn't in the mood to look for something else, I finally selected this one. As it turns out, it was a lot better than I was expecting. One of the things I found I enjoy...