Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: A former United States marine, Chris Van Home, now lives in a small village in Iraq after spending some time as a mercenary. Needing money to fix the well, Chris agrees to join his brother, Henry, on a mission to abduct employees being evacuated from a Chinese-owned oil refinery, believing they are hunting down a man who attacked them years earlier. Instead, he learns he is inadvertently helping a mercenary group led by Owen Paddock, who is looking to re-start the refinery and steal oil. When Henry is killed by Owen, Chris reluctantly teams up with Luo Feng, an ex-Chinese special forces officer who was tasked with protecting the evacuees, to stop Owen. Who's in it? The movie stars John Cena , Jackie Cha n, Chunrui Ma, Pilou Asbæk and Wenli Jiang. Review: I came across Hidden Strike on Netflix a couple days ago and since the John Cena/Jackie Chan team up sounded intriguing, my wife and I ended up watching it yesterday evening. Overall, it ended up being an entertai...

Synopsis: After discovering an uncanny resemblance to wanted outlaw Steve Carson, Texas Ranger Dave Wyatt poses as Carson in the hopes of catching a gang that has been breaking men out of jail only to kill them for the reward money. The ruse works as planned and Dave soon finds his life in danger with only fellow ranger Panhandle Perkins and attorney Tex Haines available to help him. Who's in it? The movie stars Tex Ritter, Dave O'Brien, Guy Wilkerson, Patricia Knox and Charles King. Review: I've had Flaming Bullets in my library for several weeks and finally decided to watch it this morning, mostly because it was only about an hour long and I was running a bit behind. The film was about what I expected it to be, nothing overly special but still entertaining. The premise was an intriguing one. On one hand, the gang of outlaws, led by Sid Tolliver (I. Stanford Jolley) were killing other outlaws rather than innocent people. However, since they were crossing a line by preme...

Synopsis: After terrorists hijack a deadly satellite weapon developed by the Soviets during the Cold War, James Bond is given the task of figuring out who was responsible and stopping them. To do this, he needs the help of a Russian computer expert and must defeat a former MI6 agent/former friend he believed was dead. Who's in it? The movie stars Pierce Brosnan , Sean Bean , Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen and Judi Dench . You can read my review here:  Movie Review: GoldenEye (1995) ___________________________________________________________ Here are some reviews of other 1990s action movies: Movie Review: The Fugitive (1993) Movie Review: Speed (1994) Movie Review: Waterworld (1995) Movie Review: Daylight (1996)

My oldest daughter turned 21 today and since she had no interest in celebrating at a bar, I decided to take her to the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend since she's both a talented artist and is working toward an art history degree. It was our first time there and turned out to be a great choice. First of all, when it came to price, you will have a hard time finding a better deal. It was just $50 for a "crew" of up to four adults. This in itself is considerably less than we can usually expect to pay on family outings ( House on the Rock , for example, cost us more than $100). Adding to that value, however, is it is a membership fee that lets us re-visit as many times as we want for up to a year without paying anything more. It doesn't even need to be the same group. We can bring grandmas, uncles, friends, etc. The museum isn't overly large; it took us between an hour and 90 minutes to walk through it. It does, however, have quite a collection with some rooms al...

Synopsis: Three bumbling employees working for a conservation magazine travel west with their editor to investigate why the buffalo are being slaughtered. When they arrive, they discover a local outlaw's plot to cause a Native American uprising as part of a scheme to eventually claim the entire western territory for himself and his outlaw buddies. Who's in it?  The movie stars Moe Howard , Larry Fine , Joe DeRita, Adam West , Nancy Kovack, Mort Mills and Don Lamond. You can read my review here:  Movie Review: The Outlaws is Coming (1965) ________________________________________________________________ Here are some reviews of other movies from the 1960s: Movie Review: Midnight Lace (1960) Movie Review: Five Minutes to Live (1961) Movie Review: The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1962) Movie Review: Space Probe Taurus (1965)

Synopsis: A year after her sister, Melanie, went missing, Clover and four of her friends visit the last place she knew Melanie was alive to pay their respects. After getting a clue from a local convenience store clerk, the group heads to Glore Valley, a deserted town that was destroyed by a mining disaster with only the visitor center remaining. Soon after arriving, the friends discover they are in a time loop, terrorized by monsters and other deadly traps on a repeating cycle until they can survive until dawn. Who's in it? The movie stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino , Odessa A'zion, Ji-Young Yoo, Peter Stormare and Belmont Cameli. Review: I came across Until Dawn while scrolling through movies on Netflix as I waited for my wife to get done at her sewing studio. I had never heard of the video game that inspired this film but thought it looked intriguing. We ended up watching it yesterday evening and it more than exceeded our expectations. I tend to be a bit critical about m...