The Skolney Blog

2001: They don't make em like this anymore. The star-led, mid-budget thriller used to be a cinema staple. Michael Douglas starred in a bunch of them. For me none was better than Don't Say A Word, just a slick, engrossing genre entry and hugely rewatchable.  I feel like this one has largely been forgotten though. It's assembled from a lot of other movies for sure. There's a lot of Ransom here, and some Primal Fear (from the same director). It has that thing a lot of these movies have, where no matter what it has to end in either a gun fight or a fist fight. Here we get both. Douglas's daughter is kidnapped by Sean Bean in one of his many villain roles. Douglas (a psychiatrist, also a genre staple) has to obtain some mysterious information from a hospitalized girl (Brittany Murphy) to get her back. Within the day. Oh, and it's Thanksgiving. There's also a detective (Jennifer Esposito, who should have been a bigger deal) on the trail. This movie was, is, an...

In theaters: FLAG DAY Sean Penn directing and co-starring with his daughter Dylan Penn? That could reek of nepotistic self-indulgence, but I actually thought this was pretty good. Dylan (a dead ringer for a young Robin Wright) is really great. She absolutely could and should be in things independent from her dad. The movie flubs the ending though which is poorly staged (no way it actually happened like that). THE CARD COUNTER I don't understand poker, so movies about it could go either way with me (Rounders was riveting). This isn't really about poker that much, more just a backdrop for the Oscar Isaac character who is one of those movie characters who is mysterious for the sake of being mysterious. I still don't really get why he does what he does in this movie. I liked the casting of Tiffany Haddish in a more serious part.  BLUE BAYOU A thoroughly engrossing drama about a Korean born American (director Justin Chon, who I was unfamiliar with but who is great) facing deport...

First off, can the WNBA please stop scheduling Lynx home playoff games opposite Vikings home games? They lose EVERY TIME! The Lynx season ended abruptly on Sunday in a single elimination loss at home to Chicago. I certainly didn't see this coming. I thought things layed out very well for them to at least make a finals run. Now yes, the format is probably unfair, that you can finish with the 3rd best record in your sport and be done in 1 game. But it is what it is. It didn't seem like the Lynx were vulnerable. They won 9 of their last 10. They were 22-6 since that 0-4 start, and 17-3 since they were 5-7. Aside from the Clarendon injury they were about as healthy as they'd been all year. But they're done. I only saw the highlights but it appeared to be a very poor game. In particular Collier was bad. Look, it has always been unfair to expect her to be a new Maya Moore just cause she is a forward drafted.out of UConn who was a ROY and is very versatile. But Fowles can'...

VIKINGS 30 SEAHAWKS 17 0-2. Coming off one of the biggest regular season gut punches ever. An entire fanbase and media feverishly calling for the heads of Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins. An entire era of Vikings football seemingly on the precipice.  In comes Russell Wilson, who has tormented you for a decade and who you have never beaten. Oh, and you don't have Dalvin Cook. Time will tell what Sunday's desperately needed victory will mean. Whether it is a one week feel good story or the start of a major run.  But it felt like one of the most important wins of the Zimmer era. First off it was just electric to be back at the purple palace for a real game. The crowd was the loudest I have heard it there since the Saints playoff game. The awesome new introductions, complete with fake snow, got everyone jazzed beyond belief.... ...and then Seattle went right down and scored on their opening series, with really no resistance. I mean, alright, I knew this was not going to be a low scor...

BOWLING GREEN 14 FLECK'S FRAUDS 10 Seriously. That happened. The Gophers lost, to Bowling Green, a team they were 31 point favorites over. At home. On Homecoming. It is the most embarrassing moment of the PJ Fleck era. And he deserves the humiliation. A disgrace like this falls squarely on the coaching. Fleck did not take this game seriously. As we have so often seen with him, his team played down to the level of competition. Not acceptable. If you want to be taken seriously, your team needs to roll a scrub like Bowling Green. The offense was asleep from the start. The OL got worked. Tanner Morgan was atrocious. The run game sputtered. Key mistakes killed drives. They led just 3-0 midway through the 2nd quarter. But this defense just shut out Colorado. All Fleck had to do was not do something moronic to spark the underdogs. So naturally he went for a 4th and 1 around his own 30. And called one of those idiots plays that requires the back to gain 4 or 5 yards. And it was a tackle fo...

Twins 3 Blue Jays 1 Well whaddya know? The Twins actually finished 4-3 in games I went to this year.  My last Twins game of the year Friday night happened to coincide with the first start of Jose Berrios at Target Field as a visitor. And the home team dealt a blow to Jose's hopes of pitching in the postseason.  It wasn't that Berrios was bad. He just had one little slip up and got no run support. It's like he was still a Twin. To open the 3rd inning, Simmons walked, Arraez laced one down the right field line that turned into a triple, and Byron Buxton drilled the first pitch he saw over the centerfield fence. Just like that it was 3-0. The Twins didn't mount any real serious scoring threats before or after, but they didn't need them.  Bailey Ober was Berrios's opponent, and he was masterful. Arguably the best start of his career. You could just feel how in command he was. 4 hits, 6 Ks. The only Jay he let get past second was the last one, as Rocco yanked Ober im...

CARDINALS 34 VIKINGS 33 You know it's bad when I get philosophical after a loss. There is so much that took place during this devastating loss, the 2nd straight Vikings loss that should have been a win in a fair, just world. But we do not live in a fair world. We live in this world in which the Minnesota Vikings are just undoubtedly cursed. Bad things happen to this team, with such unceasing regularity, that I don't know how the existence of a curse can be in dispute. How else do you explain a game in which: We won the turnover battle 2-0, including a Nick Vigil pick six. We win the sack battle 3-1. Dalvin runs for 131 yards, with some of the widest holes he has ever had.  Kirk throws for 244 and 3, AND outrushes Kyler Murray. We hold superstar DeAndre Hopkins to just 1 catch after the 1st quarter.  Our OL showed vast improvement in both phases from last week.  We only commit 3 penalties all game. Our kicker hits TWO 50+ yard field goals. And yet we still lose on a shanke...

BENGALS 27 VIKINGS 24 OT This game used up every second of the 70 minutes of gametime. And for probably 68 minutes of it, the story, win or lose at that point, was going to be about the Vikings and their self-inflicted mistakes. But then in an instant we were reminded that this is the NFL of 2021, and that no matter what the outcome of a game appears set to be, ultimately that is in the hands of officials who can and will say and do whatever the hell they want to anyone, anywhere, at any time. The first half was often ugly. I expected a fair amount of rust from the Vikings offense, and I got it. They didn't look good, and as it has been for years, when the Vikings offense does not look good it is almost entirely due to the offensive line. My cautious optimism about that unit based off their solid preseason work was proven immediately unwarranted. They were awful. Like an unwelcome rerun from previous years, here was Kirk getting no time to throw, being forced into dumpoffs, getting...

GOPHERS 31 MIAMI OF OHIO 26 Is a "moral loss" a thing? If so this was it.  With their opening week loss to Ohio State out of the way, the Gophers seemed all set up to now run off a series of wins over far weaker competition. First up the mighty Miami (of Ohio), over whom they were 18 point favorites. It didn't take long to see where this was going. Miami fumbled on their opening series. Gophers turned that into a touchdown. A couple drives later they drove about 90 yards to a touchdown. Another touchdown was added later. They kind of screwed up a 2 minute drill before halftime, but hit the half up 21-3, were getting the ball to start the 3rd, and seemed fully in control. Nothing to worry about. Except soon everything was to.worry about. The offense had an ugly 3 and out to start the 3rd. Miami drove rather easily to a touchdown. And just like that a runaway is a ballgame.  The Gophers offense was now a stalled mess of stuffed runs and poorly designed pass plays. Miami inc...

Do I still care? About the Vikings, sure. About the greater NFL? I'm not so sure. The 2020 NFL season, and particularly the playoffs, I have not forgotten. The open, blatant rigging of the whole damn thing for Tom Brady. Even now when I hear or see a reference to what occurred I get furious. We have an illegitimate defending champion. The league did this and nobody cared. The NFL manipulated their product to get the exact outcome they always wanted. They knew the day Brady went to Tampa what would happen. And make no mistake, they know who will win the next super bowl too. It's just a question over what storyline they want. Do they want a Brady repeat? To have him become the first QB to win multiple super bowls with multiple teams? Or is the story the NFL wants that Aaron Rodgers, in his theoretical last ride with the Packers, goes out on top by finally getting back to the super bowl and winning? Or does the NFL want a Patrick Mahomes redemption arc, leading the Chiefs back to ...

It had been a long time since I had gone in to an MCU movie with lower expectations, or knowing less about the movie, than Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. It's a new character. The trailers had been pretty uninspiring. Could the MCU have its first real dud?  No. Shang-Chi is pretty good. I'd put it pretty far down on my MCU rankings list, but that's more of a reflection on how good this franchise has been. Even undeniably great movies can't crack the top 10.  Simu Liu is awesome in the title role. Marvel really is so underappreciated at casting. Here's an actor with few credits and nothing big and yet he can handle all the drama and comedy and do his own fight scene stunts and he has tons of charisma. Tony Leung is terrific as his father, the best kind of villain who isn't all bad. You get why he is doing what he does.  I was wary of Awkwafina, cause she can sometimes be too much. But this movie uses her very well. Not all of her comic relief works, b...

Ohio State 45 Gophers 31 I expected a massacre in the Gophers opener last night. I think 38-10 was my prediction. So in that respect this wasn't too bad. The Gophers moved the ball on their opening drive but got no points. Then OSU quickly put up 10 points and the rout was on. The Gophers fortunes turned when they went for a 4th and 1 deep in their own end. Mo Ibrahim busted off a long run and a few plays later Tanner Morgan tossed a touchdown. Then the Gophers strong run game led them to a second touchdown and they had the lead. It felt like a chance to add on right before halftime that went for naught would prove costly. You can't blow scoring opportunities in games like this. And indeed the Buckeyes immediately retook the lead after halftime. To their credit the Gophers fought back to get the lead back on Ibrahim's 2nd TD run. Then they got burned for a long touchdown pass on a busted coverage. A strip sack turned fumble return touchdown on the next drive put the Gophers...

Cubs 3 Twins 0 On the same day Kenta Maeda had Tommy John surgery that will keep him out for all of next year and more than likely end his days as a top starter, the Twins welcomed their prized acquisition from the trade deadline. Joe Ryan, the starting pitcher the Twins got from Tampa Bay in the Nelson Cruz deal, made hi big league debut at home Wednesday night against the Cubs. The Cubs have been the worst team in baseball for like 3 months. Good soft spot to give the kid his debut.  And Ryan looked good. Mostly. He got in a sticky situation in the 3rd, looked about to get out of it, but then gave up a 3 run homerun that elicited enormous cheers from a crowd that had to be majority Cubs fans. So, one shaky inning and one bad pitch.  On some nights that would not have doomed Ryan to his 1st career loss. But on this night the Twins lineup put forth easily one of their sorriest performances of the year. No runs. Just 2 singles by Brent Rooker. A couple walks. That's it. Absolut...