Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: After using the device to transport themselves to another universe, Stuart ( Kevin Sussman ), Bert ( Brian Posehn ) and Barry ( John Ross Bowie ) discover they are in a world dominated by an AI overlord that punishes anyone who shows any sort of aggression. While Bert and Barry go to Caltech in search of answers, Stuart goes in search of Denise ( Lauren Lapkus ). My Thoughts: What happens to the other versions of Stuart and company? Since they didn't run into other versions of themselves, I can only assume they replaced their alternate versions. Do those versions get transported to the universe they traveled from? Are they also using their own version of the device? Are they confused about what is happening? Along those lines, why didn't anyone recognize Bert and Barry? Stuart apparently owns a comic store in every universe (or at least the ones we've seen). Shouldn't the same standard apply to his friends? Barry and Bert worked at Caltech and yet Ramona No...

Synopsis: In a dystopian Pasadena ruled by Barry Kripke ( John Ross Bowie ), comic bookstore owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) is visited by an alternate version of himself and learns an accident with a device invented by his friends has caused an alternate reality. He, along with geologist Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn) search for the device and with help from his former girlfriend, Denise ( Lauren Lapkus ), try to bring the world back to its normal state. My Thoughts: This should have been a movie. Not necessarily a feature-length Hollywood-budgeted film but maybe a 60-to-90-minute pilot that deep dives into the main plot and sets up the story for the rest of the series. There was an awful lot being crammed into the 30-minute episode, making it seem rushed and making it difficult to become invested. I have so many questions about dystopian Pasadena. For one, when did society collapse? The episode suggested it happened during Stewart's lifetime but at the same time, everyone seemed...

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: In the year 2033, the Earth is a desert wasteland following a collision with a comet and 95 percent of the world's water supply is under the control of a tyrannical corporation that is determined to gain control of the remaining 5 percent by any means possible. The only person standing in their way is a tank-driving hero from Australia. Who's in it?  The movie stars Lori Petty, Malcolm McDowell , Ice-T , Don Harvey and Naomi Watts . Review: It had been pretty much forever since I had seen Tank Girl . So, when I came across it this morning on one of my movie channels and had some free time, I decided to re-watch it. As has been the case when I've seen it in the past, I enjoyed every minute. The thing I like about this movie is it manages to be funny while, at the same time, is a pretty decent action movie. Tank Girl/Rebecca (Petty) is facing off against a well-armed army and has everything working against her from almost the very beginning. At the same time, she...

Synopsis: After his colleague, Dr. Karol Noymann, is killed during an atomic weapon experiment, Dr. Adam Penner resigns in protest of the weapons research. Soon after, he is visited by an alien possessing Noymann's body, warning him of an impending invasion and destruction if the humans don't surrender first. Penner's warnings are ignored and Earth soon is soon facing defeat. The planet's only hope is Penner being able to make the invisible aliens visible. Who's in it? The movie stars John Agar , Philip Tonge, Jean Byron, Robert Hutton and John Carradine . Review: I have had Invisible Invaders in my movie library for a few weeks and, since it had been a little while since I last watched a classic alien invasion film, I figured I'd give it a try this morning. Overall, it was OK but not a movie I would describe as particularly spectacular. The movie does have some good things going for it. For example, the aliens have quite a few advantages over the humans - t...

Synopsis: The evil scientist Dr. Who has discovered a large deposit of Element X at the North Pole and his excavation is being financed by a rogue nation that is looking to use the element as part of its plan for world domination. When his robot replica of King Kong fails to function correctly because of the element's radiation, he instead captures the real King Kong and enslaves him. Who's in it?  The movie stars Rhodes Reason , Mie Hama, Linda Miller, Hideyo Amamoto and Akira Takarada. Review: I've been a classic Japanese monster movie fan since I was a kid and do occasionally find time to re-watch some of my favorites. This included this morning, when I came across King Kong Escapes . It had been a while since I last saw the film and didn't remember a whole lot about it, but it ended up being a good choice. And that isn't just because of the main villain's name (which sounds like the title character from Doctor Who ). One thing I liked about this movie was ...

Synopsis: The Enterprise discovers a human outpost has been completely obliterated and, after a short fight with the lizard-like Gorn, pursue the alien ship in an attempt to destroy it. However, another alien race, the Metrons, intervene by disabling both ships and sending both Kirk (William Shatner) and the Gorn captain to a deserted planet so they can fight each other in hand-to-hand combat. My thoughts:  While there are some who insist James Kirk ( William Shatner ) is a great captain, this episode seems to contradict that. His decision to pursue the Gorn ship even though he was outgunned and the end result would likely cost him the Enterprise and the lives of his crew. There is brave and then there's just stupid. And yes, I know he was trying to delay an invasion. They were, however, deep into space, giving them time for a strategic retreat and an opportunity to come up with a better game plan. It was probably Shatner's famous overacting, but Kirk even seemed a bit insan...

Synopsis:  Synopsis: A TARDIS malfunction forces an emergency landing in San Francisco on December 30, 1999. While there, a newly regenerated Doctor must prevent his nemesis, the Master, from stealing his new body. Who's in it? The movie stars Paul McGann, Eric Roberts , Daphne Ashbrook, Will Sasso and Yee Jee Tso. Review: With Doctor Who in hiatus and with an uncertain future, I've been starting to get a bit of an itch for the series. As a result, I decided to take the time to rewatch Doctor Who: The Movie , a film I remember enjoying more than I was supposed to but also didn't remember a whole lot much else about. After re-watching it, I still think it is a better film than some Whovians give it credit for. McGann only plays the Doctor once, in this movie, so his sample size is limited. However, I didn't hate his performance. Was it as memorable as David Tenant or Tom Baker? No. At the same time though, I thought he carried himself well enough to provide the charac...

Synopsis: From the moment Austin Shelby met Hekalu Selba, he disliked the Martian nobleman and suspected it wasn't just because of the affection his girlfriend, Jan, showed toward Shelba. Shelby's suspicions are confirmed when Selba attempts to obtain his formula for an atomic ray gun, going as far as to take Shelby and Jan prisoner. Shelby then learns Selba is working with a race of Star Men with plans to conquer the solar system. Review: I picked up a copy of The Revolt of Star Men  both because he was an author from my hometown of Beaver Dam, WI and because I needed a book to serve as a palate cleanser before reading another Agatha Raisin mystery. I finished the book tonight and will admit it exceeded my expectations. I was a bit skeptical when I started reading the book, mostly because it is a story that was written nearly 100 years ago and long before human space travel was a thing. I figured, at minimum, the material would be severely dated to the point the story would c...

Synopsis: After being fired from her weekly fitness show because she's too old, former movie star Elisabeth Sparkle answers an ad offering a way to regain her youth called the Substance. The drug works as advertised, creating a younger version of her who goes by the name Sue and immediately finds her own stardom. However, Sue's success and beauty quickly make Elisabeth jealous while Sue, inconvenienced by the need to switch places with Elisabeth every other week, begins skirting the rules, causing Elisabeth to age faster. Who's in it? The movie stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley , Dennis Quaid , Gore Abrams and Oscar Lesage. Review: It's once again too cold for my wife and I to go out (she is feeling a bit under the weather anyway) so we stayed in this evening and searched for a movie to watch. I picked out The Substance because it sounded like it would be an interesting thriller. Unfortunately, while the plot was intriguing, my wife and I both thought the execution ...

Synopsis: In danger of losing their funding because of a skeptical benefactor, a team of scientists work to prove they can use lasers to see into the past and, eventually, into the future. Instead, a time warp sends their entire lab 5,000 years into the future, when Earth has been destroyed by war and mankind is on the verge of wiping itself out. They attempt to return to their own time so they can try to warn people before it is too late but their journey encounters complications that send them too far into the past. The film also goes by the title Time Warp . Who's in it? The movie stars Scott Brady , Anthony Eisley , Gigi Perreau , Abraham Sofaer and Tracy Olsen. Review: I came across Journey to the Center of Time on Amazon Prime last night and, while I am always a bit skeptical of time travel movies, it sounded interesting enough to give it a try. I ended up watching it this morning and it ended up being what I expected. Not necessarily in a good way. The premise of the mov...

Synopsis: A successful cosmetic company owner, Janice Starlin is informed sales are decreasing because she is the face of the company and her customers see her getting noticeably older. When the eccentric Dr. Eric Zinthrop shows he can reduce aging with a serum he created using royal jelly from a queen wasp, Janice agrees to fund his research on the condition she is used as one of his test subjects. The serum works and she is soon twenty years younger. However, the serum comes with an unexpected side effect, she periodically turns into a deadly wasp-like creature. Who's in it? The movie stars Susan Cabot , Anthony Eisley , Michael Mark, Barboura Morris and William Reorick. Review: I am a fan of most Roger Corman movies and when I came across The Wasp Woman on Amazon Prime, I decided to add it to my watch list as a result. Truthfully, it wasn't one of my favorites from the director, but I also didn't hate it. The film is pretty much what you'd expect from a movie ma...

Synopsis: A mysterious and powerful alien force destroys everything in its path on the way to Earth, forcing a newly refitted starship  Enterprise  into duty before it is completely ready. Admiral James T. Kirk is given command, much to the dissatisfaction of the ship's current captain Willard Decker, causing the two to butt heads as a mix of the original Enterprise crew and new faces speed toward danger. Who's in it? The movie stars William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Stephen Collins and George Takei . Review: While I don't consider myself a Trekkie, I do enjoy at least some aspects of the Star Trek universe, including most of the movies. That's why, when I saw it was showing on one of my movie channels, I took the time to re-watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture . As has been the case with past viewings, my opinion of the film remains mixed. I'll start out by saying there are a lot of things this movie does right. For one, I like how the movie re...

Synopsis: Years after dinosaurs repopulate the planet, the climate proves to be incompatible in most regions and they die out except for a few isolated regions near the equator that have been declared off limits to humans. Needing dinosaur DNA for a heart disease drug his pharmaceutical company wants to produce, executive Martin Krebs hires a covert extraction expert, Zora Bennett and paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis to lead a team to collect DNA from three giant dinosaur species. Their already difficult and highly illegal task becomes even more complicated when they rescue a family from their overturned boat and then end up shipwrecked themselves. Who's in it? The movie stars Scarlett Johannson , Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Luna Blaise. Review: While my wife and I are both fans of the Jurassic Park franchise, our disappointment over Jurassic World Dominion was a bit reason why we didn't pay to see Jurassic World Rebirth at the theater (I didn...

Synopsis: A pathologist becomes obsessed with fear and how the emotion can cause people to die. After conducting a series of experiments, he discovers a parasitic creature that grows when people are scared and can only be stopped when someone screams. He captures the creature in an effort to study it closer but, in doing so, puts people in danger. Who's in it?  The movie stars Vincent Price , Patricia Cutts, Judith Evelyn, Daryl Hickman and Philip Coolidge. Review: The Tingler was on my "to-watch" list for a few months before I finally got around to watching it with my daughter several years ago and was pleasantly surprised by it. Since it had been so long, I decided to re-watch it and it still proved to be an unexpected treat. The film takes a little while to get started, with the writers building up the suspense up until the point he finally finds and captures "the Tingler." Unlike way too many other movies though, it does prove to be worth the wait because o...

Synopsis: After a series of magnetic abnormalities lead to strange occurrences and numerous deaths around the planet, Dr. Joshua "Josh" Keyes determines it is the result of the Earth's core slowing down, a catastrophic event that could result in the destruction of the planet. With the help of the world's governments, he and a team use a special transport, known as Virgil, to borrow into the Earth's layers and attempt to restart the core with nuclear bombs. Who's in it? The movie stars Aaron Eckhart , Hilary Swank, DJ Qualls , Stanley Tucci and Christopher Shyer. Review: I am burning off vacation time at my day job and had this afternoon off as a result. In between doing some household chores, I wound up re-watching The Core for about the dozenth time and it remains one of my favorites. I am not going to go as far as to say this is a perfect movie. Some of the stuff seems a bit farfetched and the film does "yadda yadda" over some of the science r...

Synopsis: After killing more than 200 people, Jason Voorhees is finally captured by the government and is being held in a secret research facility. He manages to escape custody and kills everyone inside the facility except for a government scientist who lures him into a cryogenic chamber before freezing him and herself. Nearly 450 years later, their frozen bodies are discovered by a team of archaeologists exploring now-abandoned Earth and are brought on board the spaceship. Soon after, Jason once again rises from the dead and goes on a killing spree. Who's in it?  The movie stars Kane Hodder , Lexa Doig, David Cronenberg, Markus Parilo and Lisa Ryder. Review: Full honesty here - while I recognize the Friday the 13th movies for their cultural significance, I am not as big of a Jason Voorhees fan as you might think. Frankly, I have always considered him to be a bit overrated (and even a little wimpy) when compared to other horror movie bad guys.  Jason X , however, is one of ...

Synopsis: After inventing a telescope that lets him see deep enough into space to see the distant past and a meteorite crashing in Africa long before human life, Dr. Janos Rukh leads an expedition to find the meteorite and after doing so, harvest an element dubbed Radium X. Rukh correctly believes Radium X can be used to heal people, but his exposure causes him to become infected and kill anything he touches. He is able to get his condition under control with the help of his colleague, Dr. Felix Benet. However, his obsession grows to the point his wife, Diana, leaves him for another man, and he grows even more isolated. When he learns Benet and another colleague, Sir Francis Stevens, have used his research for their own gain, he fakes his death and seeks revenge. Who's in it? The movie stars Boris Karloff , Bela Lugosi , Frances Drake , Frank Lawton and Walter Kingsford. Review: I started watching The Invisible Ray a couple years ago but got interrupted after the first 15 minu...

Synopsis: In 2020, after colonizing the moon, mankind has its eyes set on exploring more of the solar system and launches a 3-ship mission to the planet Venus. After one ship is destroyed enroute and a landing party loses communication, another crew is sent to the planet's surface on a rescue mission. There they encounter dangerous prehistoric creatures. Who's in it? The movie stars Basil Rathbone , Faith Domergue, John Bix, Georgi Zhzhyonov and Gennadi Vernov. Review: As I was scrolling through movies last night in search of something to watch this morning, I couldn't decide between a comedy, mystery or science fiction and ended up picking the last category at my wife's suggestion. I chose Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and, after watching it, regret not choosing another genre. Let's start out by saying this movie, which was originally filmed in the Soviet Union then edited and dubbed in an attempt to hide that fact, was clearly filmed in the Soviet Union and...

Synopsis: Three years after her test pilot boyfriend, Bruce, crashed in a restricted region in Mexico, Susan Winter, believing he may still be alive despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, insists on conducting a search. Despite warnings, she and three men fly into the region, which they learn has high levels of radiation. They discover the radiation has caused many of the native species to grow gigantic in size. However, their biggest surprise is the cyclops that traps them in a cave. Who's in it? The movie stars Gloria Talbott, James Craig, Tom Drake, Duncan "Dean" Parkin and Lon Chaney, Jr. Review: I had another movie in mind for this morning but while looking for that one, I came across The Cyclops . Since it had been a while since I watched a Lon Chaney, Jr. film, I figured I'd give it a try instead and wasn't disappointed. The movie is pretty much what you would expect from a 1950s science fiction film. The wild "monsters" are clearly just ...