The Skolney Blog

THE INVITE I strongly dislike Olivia Wilde as an actress, but she has proven a solid director. Booksmart is one of the best comedies of the last 20 years. I was even softer on Don't Worry Darling than most. The Invite is in between. A chamber piece, taking place almost entirely inside an apartment, it's the kind of comedy where some of the jokes hurt. 3/4 of the cast is great, with Seth Rogen on absolute fire, and Penelope Cruz giving her most captivating performance in years. And Edward Norton again shows a flair for awkward comedy. Too bad the 4th role is Wilde herself, who is totally out of her league. Not enough so to ruin the movie, but a better actress there makes this a classic.  THE ODYSSEY The Odyssey will probably make at least another million just in the time it takes to read this review. Deserved. Look, stupid internet controversies aside, there was never the slightest doubt that Christopher Nolan was going to hit it out of the park with this. He can handle the scal...

1996: Here is where we would have Independence Day, but I already did this one for the  25th anniversary No great 90s movie summer was complete without that great drama, the counter programming to all the big blockbusters. In 1996, that was A Time To Kill, the 3rd time in 4 summers that a John Grisham book became a movie adaptation. And I think this was the best of the bunch.  It's kind of striking to know that this movie with this plot was a big mainstream hit. Set in Mississippi, a couple of rednecks rape a young black girl. The father carries out a revenge killing of the 2 men, and then HIS murder trial makes up the majority of the movie. Mixed in is a KKK uprising. Can you imagine a mainstream, star packed movie like this being made now? The film is directed with absolutely zero subtlety by Joel Schumacher, in his mid-90s commercial peak, where for 4 straight summers, he alternated Grisham movies (1994 brought The Client) and Batman movies. But pitching this at...

TWINS 11 ATHLETICS 8 The 2026 Twins are becoming a rollercoaster. As soon as they seem to have figured it out, they fall apart. As soon as they appear finished, they bounce back.  Sunday's game against the Homeless A's on a blazingly hot day at Target Field (official high of 99°) has them back on an upswing. Joe Ryan was supposed to start, but got scratched. In his place was Connor Prielipp, a rookie who has shown some flashes. He really flashed today, allowing just 2 baserunners through 5, and facing the minimum. The Twins lineup, which has largely struggled since the break, jumped on the A's quickly, plating 3 each in the 1st 2 innings with a fun combo of clutch 2 out hitting and sharp baserunning. In the 2nd, with the bases loaded, it looked like Byron Buxton had lined into an inning ending double play. But on review, Brooks Lee's heads up dive back into 2nd was in time, keeping that inning alive. It proved a huge play, cause right after the A's balked in a run, ...

Twins 4 Angels 2 I made it out to Target Field for my 1st Twins game in nearly 3 months, a gap caused by an assortment of reasons. It was the last game before the all-star break, a sweltering hot day for a ballgame. It was the rubber game against the Angels, the worst team in the AL. The game itself was a little nondescript. Taj Bradley started for the Twins, and went 7 very strong innings. The only blemishes were a pair of solo homeruns, but he wiggled out of a 1st and 3rd, nobody out jam in the 6th.  The Twins didn't get a lot of offense, but 4 straight hits in the 3rd inning gave them 3 runs, and Trevor Larnach homered for a late insurance run. Andrew Morris pitched a 2 inning save, and the Twins had their 8th series win in the last 9, which included the exceptionally rare 2 of 3 at Yankee Stadium.  They hit the break just 48-49, but have been playing pretty well for the last month, and even with a still sub-.500 record are tied for the final wild card and are just a few ga...

1986: John Hughes owned the 1980s, with revered teen classics one after another. For me, his magnum opus, and best movie, is Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Like virtually every movie I liked prior to the 90s, I came to this movie through cable. I got into movie watching on cable around 1988, which would have been right around the time this was getting shown constantly.  We all know the story. That rascal Ferris fakes sick to get out of school, and goes on an adventure in Chicago with his best friend Cameron and girlfriend Sloane.  Whereas most of the Hughes movies at some point aim for some depth and sentiment, Ferris Bueller is just a great time. Hey, we're skipping school for this day, and we are going to have the most fun day imaginable. I suppose enough years have passed to admit that this movie absolutely inspired me to skip school on multiple occasions. Ferris fakes a fever. I think my go-to was a fake headache. I never had grand adventures like this. I did ...

In theaters: DISCLOSURE DAY Steven Spielberg's latest alien movie, this one about a whistle-blower trying to expose the existence of alien life. Like many movies these days, this was picked apart for largely stupid reasons. It has some flaws, sure, like a somewhat unsatisfying finale, and the way those crystal-type things can do whatever the plot needs from them at any given moment. But purely as a conspiracy/chase thriller, it's pretty good. Excellent performances from Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor.  TOY STORY 5 Do they need to keep making these? Well, they still haven't made a bad one. This isn't on the level of those first 3, which are all pretty much unquestioned classics, but it's at least as good as 4. I didn't laugh that much at this, and some characters get sidelined, but it's another sweet movie with something to say about modern tech and screens and all that. It's fun. Good year for Pixar.  SUPERGIRL (2026) Stop me if you've heard this ...