Steven Helmer Publications

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...

Synopsis: After a sweatshop scandal severely damages Runway's credibility and puts the magazine at risk of losing advertisers, Miranda Priestly's boss, Irv Ravitz, forces her to hire Andy Sachs, now an award-winning but unemployed newspaper reporter, as the magazine's features editor. Miranda is less than receptive to the idea, especially when Andy's well-written articles fail to draw an online audience. Then, when things seem to finally be turning around, Irv's sudden death puts the magazine's ownership and future into question. Who's in it? The movie stars Meryl Streep , Anne Hathaway , Stanley Tucci , Emily Blunt and Lucy Liu . Review: I think I've mentioned my wife's favorite movie is The Devil Wears Prada . So, when she heard there was going to be a sequel, she circled the date on her calendar. Since I am a great husband, I also made note of it and bought us tickets for opening night last night. I entered the theater with quite a few doubts ...

Synopsis: Aspiring writer Andrea "Andy" Sachs has limited fashion knowledge but takes a personal assistant job at Runway magazine, believing it will look good on her resume and open doors. Her boss, Miranda Priestly, is notoriously demanding and abusive, quickly admonishing Andy for her lack of fashion sense and berating her for failing at the most impossible tasks.  Andy sticks it out, however, and soon finds her footing and earns Miranda's trust. However, the long hours and constant phone calls threaten her relationship with boyfriend Nate and her other friends. Who's in it? The movie stars Anne Hathaway , Meryl Streep , Emily Blunt , Adrian Grenier and Stanley Tucci. Review: My wife and I had time between watching a terrible zombie movie and going to bed and found ourselves watching The Devil Wears Prada . It's a film we've seen before and even after re-watching it, we still think it is a solid, entertaining movie (it's even one of my wife's favo...

Synopsis: Tom Canty is the son of an abusive and criminal father and has spent his whole life in poverty while Edward Tudor is the son of King Henry VIII and the prince of Wales. When the two boys cross paths and realize they look exactly alike, they switch clothes as a prank, only to have the resulting case of mistaken identity result in Edward being thrown off the palace grounds. When Tom tries to correct the situation, nobody believes him except for the Earl of Hertford, who uses the information to blackmail Tom, who is about to be crowned King of England, to do his bidding while arranging for the real Edward's murder. Who's in it? The movie stars Billy and Robert J. Mauch, Errol Flynn , Claude Rains, Barton MacLane and Alan Hale . Review: I didn't intend on watching a movie this morning because I hadn't picked one out ahead of time and only had a limited amount of time to choose. However, I happened to come across The Prince and the Pauper and figured it would ...

Synopsis: While driving to San Diego with her brother, Cal, Becky Demuth gets sick and they need to pull over on the side of the road. When they hear a child calling for help from the nearby tall grass, they decide to find him. However, when they get separated and can't find each other or the road, it becomes apparent there is something else going on. Who's in it? The movie stars Laysla De Oliveira, Patrick Wilson , Avery Whitted, Will Buie, Jr.  and Harrison Gilbertson. Review: My wife had a photoshoot yesterday and as is often the case, was wiped out afterwards. She ended up in bed early last night as a result, so I found a movie to watch. This ended up being In the Tall Grass. I saw this movie when it originally became available on Netflix and, while I remembered parts of it, couldn't remember if it was a movie I enjoyed. After re-watching it, I decided it was an OK film but nothing I'd consider memorable. I think the biggest problem with this movie (and possibly t...

Synopsis: A bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, sees Christmas as nothing more than a "humbug" and makes sure everyone around him knows that. However, the ghost of his former business partner arranges for the three Christmas spirits to visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve and force him to see why he is wrong. Who's in it? The movie stars George C. Scott, Frank Finlay , Angela Pleasence, David Warner and Edward Woodward. Review: It is way too cold outside today, cold enough to leave me a bit breathless just walking from my car to the grocery store. So, since the Green Bay Packers had a later game and I had the house to myself, I decided to re-watch this version of A Christmas Carol .  I've seen quite a few versions of this film, but this one is easily at the top of my list of favorites. I think part of the reason for this is Scott (despite not having a strong British accent) was very convincing as Ebenezer Scrooge. He had a strong presence in the film that was both believable ...

Synopsis: Henry Fleming (aka "the Youth) grows tired of drilling with his Union Army regiment during the American Civil War but when they are finally sent into battle, he ends up being one of the men who flee rather than fight. Embarrassed and ashamed, Fleming rejoins his unit only to discover they didn't know he deserted and assumed he had been killed. Determined to face his fears and earn a "red badge of courage" by being wounded in battle, Fleming begins taking unnecessary risks that earn him praise. Who's in it? The movie stars Audie Murphy , Bill Mauldin , Douglas Dick , Royal Dano and Tim Durant . Review: I saved The Red Badge of Courage to my movie library a few days ago because I haven't read the book since high school and figured the film might provide a reasonable refresher about the story. As it turns out, it did both and ended up being an enjoyable watch. I'm not going to go as far as to recommend this movie as a replacement for reading ...

Synopsis: After going off to college, Christopher Robin returns to the 100 Acre Woods with his new wife so he can reconnect with the friends everyone else thinks were imaginary. However, he soon learns Winnie the Pooh and Piglet have killed the other animals and angry over his abandoning them, have turned feral. He and a group of women on a retreat have their lives in danger as a result. Who's in it? The movie stars  Nikolai Leon ,  Maria Taylor ,  Natasha Rose Mills ,  Amber Doig-Thorne and  Danielle Ronald . Review: This wasn't a film that was particularly high on my list of movies I wanted to see. However, it was readily available on Peacock and since my wife and I wanted a horror film, gave it a try. Frankly, I wasn't impressed. I'll give the movie a few points for uniqueness. I mean, when you think of killers, Winnie the Pooh would probably be the last character that would come to mind. Other than that image though, there's really nothing special about t...

Synopsis: Shortly after moving to Madison, Delaware with his widowed mother, teenager Zach befriends his next-door neighbor, Hannah despite the unfriendliness of her father. After hearing Hannah scream, believing something bad happened to her and getting no help from the inept police department, Zach breaks into her house with one of his classmates, Champ, and inadvertently learns her father is author R. L Stine when he accidentally releases the monsters Stine had trapped in manuscripts of his books. Who's in it? The movie stars Jack Black , Dylan Minnette , Odeya Rush , Ryan Lee , Halston Sage and Amy Ryan . Review: As someone who never read the Goosebumps books when I was younger (they didn't even come out until I was in high school), I wasn't overly enthusiastic about seeing this movie when it first came out. However, my youngest daughter is going to be auditioning for a play based on one of the episodes from the series based on the books and, since I couldn't fi...

Synopsis: When former actress Margaret McGinty is murdered, her lodger, Harold Taylor appears to be guilty. However, Jane Marple is on the jury and, by being the lone holdout, causes a mistrial. Believing Taylor is innocent, Marple decides to investigate the murder herself and puts her life in danger by joining a theater company so she can search for the person she believes McGinty was blackmailing. Who's in it? The movie stars Margaret Rutherford , Ron Moody , Charles 'Bud' Tingwell , Ralph Michael and Francesca Annis . Review: I've had this movie in my library for a couple of weeks and, after enjoying both Murder Ahoy and Murder, She Said , decided to take the time to watch it. Overall, I have to say the film proved to be worth my time. Once again, while I'm not a fan of the literary version of Miss Marple, I do find the film version much more enjoyable. Part of this was because of Rutherford's outstanding performance, which had just the right mix of serio...

Synopsis: D'Artagnan, the hot-headed son of a former Musketeer, travels to Paris to follow in his father's footsteps. When he arrives, he learns the Musketeers no longer exist and, eventually, he and three former Musketeers, Athos, Aramis and Porthos, must stop a plot to start a war with England. Who's in it? The movie stars Logan Lerman , Matthew MacFayden , Milla Jovovich , Orlando Bloom , Gabriella Wilde and Christoph Waltz. Review: When this movie came out in 2011, I decided not to watch it because, in my opinion, if you've seen one Three Musketeers movie, you've seen them all. However, after seeing a YouTube video of one of the fight scenes, I figured I would give the film a try and watched it last night and early this morning. As it turns out, I was right, if you've seen one, you've seen all of them. I'm not saying there weren't some memorable scenes from this film. Some of the fight scenes, for example, were pretty fun to watch and, to be ...

Synopsis: In 1987, teenager Javed Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants living in Luton, England, is introduced to the music of Bruce Springsteen. Inspired by the lyrics, he begins taking steps to achieve his dream of being a writer. However, this eventually puts him at odds with his conservative father. Who's in it? The movie stars Viveik Kalra , Kulvinder Ghir , Nell Williams , Aaron Phagura and Dean-Charles Chapman . Review: I ended up getting this movie on DVD through Netflix after my wife (who is a big Bruce Springsteen fan) saw a preview for it on another movie. We finally had an opportunity to watch it yesterday afternoon and, after seeing it, I have to say I enjoyed it. To be honest, I wasn't really sure if that would be the case because, based on what I saw in the previews, it looked a lot more like a movie she would enjoy than one I would like. But, there was actually quite a bit about this film that got me interested. I think the part of this that real...

Synopsis: When a drought threatens to cost Dan Evans his ranch, he quickly agrees to accept $200 and escort captured outlaw Ben Wade to Contention City and put him on board the 3:10 train to Yuma. However, Wade's gang is determined to set their leader free and, with the town drunk being the only one willing to help, the odds of Dan completing his task alive are slim. Who's in it? The movie stars Glenn Ford , Van Heflin , Felicia Farr , Henry Jones and Robert Emhardt . Review: This film has been on one of our movie channels on multiple occasions but, every time I've attempted to watch it, I always managed to get interrupted and, because of that, never made it past the first few minutes. I was, however, able to find the time to finally watch this film in its entirety this past weekend. Unfortunately, I don't think it was as enjoyable as I was expecting it to be. Overall, I liked the plot of this film. Dan (Heflin) is a reluctant gunman who only takes the jo...

Synopsis: Greg Heffley planned to spend his summer vacation playing video games. However, when his dad bans video games in the house and offers to get him a summer internship at his company, Greg instead spends his summer pretending he has a job at a local country club so he can spend time with his friends. You can read my review here: https://wizzley.com/movie-review-diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-dog-days-2012/

Synopsis: When her college roommate comes down with the flu, literature student Anastasia Steele fills in for her and interviews billionaire Christian Grey for their college paper. Ana finds him intimidating and is surprised when the billionaire makes it clear he is attracted to her. However, he has no interest in a romantic relationship and, instead, wants her to be his submissive. In order to remain with him, the reluctant Ana must decide whether to agree to his "contract" and be willing to become his sex slave. You can read my review here:  https://wizzley.com/movie-review-fifty-shades-of-grey-2015/

Synopsis: Needing money to help her parents, outgoing but unambitious Lou Clark takes a job as an assistant to wealthy banker who recently became paralyzed after being struck by a motorcycle. As she begins to develop feelings for him, she learns he has made plans to go to Switzerland so he can end his life and she begins working in earnest to change his mind. Who's in it? The movie stars Emilia Clarke , Sam Claflin , Jenna Coleman , Charles Dance and Janet McTeer . Review: I'm not a big fan of tear-jerker movies like this one and usually do my best to avoid watching them. But, my wife loves them and, because I'm a devoted husband, I will occasionally watch one with her. That was the case with this film, which we watched last night after she borrowed it from our local library. When I first started watching this with her, I wasn't really sure what to expect from it because, at least at first glance, it looked like it would have the same basic plot movies like...