The Skolney Blog

1972: Okay, The Godfather is one of the most acclaimed, most iconic, most talked about films of all time. What can I possibly add?  It was only pretty recently that I even watched these movies in full. I have a lot of holes in my pre-90's film viewing, what can I say?  They did stick this thing back into theaters for the 50th anniversary, so I got to see it on the big screen, and yeah, got into it the most ever.  Everyone knows the story. Everyone knows the famous lines and scenes. Al Pacino has one of the great character arcs ever. Marlon Brando with one of the most memorable performances of all time. Incredible cast. Iconic score. It's one of the few films released before my time that really lives up to its reputation.  1992: Not many movies are as purely enjoyable as this one is, at least when basketball is the focus. Even fewer are as good in their first 20 minutes as this. I could watch that first long basketball sequence over and over. T...

In theaters: CYRANO The well worn Cyrano story gets a pretty lively update here. It's a musical, and most of the musical sequences are very good. Peter Dinklage is just terrific as Cyrano, Haley Bennett is very sweet as Roxanne, and Kelvin Harrison is a very likable Christian. It's a better Oscar flick than some movies that got way more love.  X A fun slice of grimy, raunchy sex and gore. This horror flick is genuinely disgusting at times, and also throws out plenty of skin. I appreciated that it didn't hold back at really anything. Cast is game across the board, with the super underrated Mia Goth and the omnipresent Jenna Ortega as the highlights   ALICE This story of a slave (Keke Palmer) who escapes off a plantation only to discover that it's actually the 1970s should be better. It's itching to give off some blaxsploitation energy (A whole sequence revolves around a Pam Grier film) but comes off as very bland. It's also way too rushed. This thing either neede...

Okay, the slap. It was weird. Will no doubt laughed, then saw Jada was upset and felt compelled to act (even though she has humiliated him a LOT in recent years). The joke itself wasn't that good, but it hardly warranted retaliation. It certainly made Twitter a blast the rest of the night.  I'm always most interested in the 4 acting categories. Will Smith won as expected, which made for quite the scene.  I was rooting for Kristen Stewart, but I'm not mad that Jessica Chastain finally has an Oscar. Just wish it was for a better film. The guy from Coda won and gave a nice speech. It was sweet that the woman from Minari stood there holding the trophy so he could sign.  Arianna Debose won. Well deserved.  Coda won Best Picture, which I believe makes it the first such winner that I have not seen at the time it won since, I think, Shakespeare In Love.  The only thing Power Of The Dog won was best director. Dune won a bunch of tech awards. Billie Eilish won. That's coo...

LUCA (best animated feature) Lower level Pixar for sure. The animation looks as great as ever, and the movie is easily likable, but absolutely nothing about this stands out.  ENCANTO (best animated feature) It's fine. Look, I was probably never going to watch this in my life if not for the Oscar nod. The animation is excellent and colorful, but the story didn't do much for me and the songs did even less. It's not a movie for me anyway.  THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES (best animated feature) Well, this was a surprise. I would never have watched this movie either if it hadn't been nominated, but it turns out to be not just my personal pick to win in its category, but also one of the best animated films in years. This thing is so damn fun, full of energy and spirit and lively animation, and at times it is also VERY funny. I especially loved hearing Olivia Colman ham it up as an evil smartphone. It gets a little overwhelmed by its own sci-fi plot in the last 30 minutes or so...

Was I dreaming? As I often do, I fell asleep with my phone on next to me. Listening to whatever. I don't even remember. But I wake up some time later, and when I grab my phone to shut it off for the night I see a notification on my phone....that the Minnesota Twins had just signed Carlos Correa. Seriously.  The cheap ass Twins signed the #1 position player free agent available, to a 3 year, $105 million deal. The Twins have already been very un-Twinsian of late, having made 3 big trades in the week-plus since the lockout ended. They traded Mitch Garver to Texas. They got Sonny Gray from the Reds. And the swung a bonafide blockbuster with the Yankees, getting Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela while dumping Josh Donaldson, and all of his remaining contract. The Donaldson move cleared a lot of payroll off, but the expectation was that either that money would go to a couple more pitching additions, or that the Pohlads would just pocket it.  Nobody saw this coming. I wouldn't get too at...

After watching The Batman, it is clear to me that sometime in the past, writer-director Matt Reeves watched David Fincher's Seven and thought "needs more Batman." We have seen darker Batman before. The Nolan films got pretty dark at times, and Zack Snyder, well, he tried his best. But The Batman is easily the darkest film adaptation of the character yet. It out grims them all. The Batman has no attachments to any previous iteration or timeline. It starts with Batman having been Batman for a couple years. Quickly the main plot gets going with the first of a series of murders being committed against various Gotham officials by The Riddler. Batman's investigation has him cross paths with Selina Kyle aka Catwoman, who has her own connection to the goings on.  The three big feathers in The Batman's cap are: 1. The fact that this is the first movie version of the character that really focuses on him being a detective. That's been touched on in the past but has never...

I don't know what the fuck is gonna happen. The Kwesi'n'Kevin era is an unknown. We have some idea perhaps of what some of the differences will be, but fact is we can't say for certain who will stay, who will go, who will come. But I'm still gonna do that position by position thing. Cause the people demand it.  QB: You may have heard something about how Kirk Cousins has a $45 million cap hit for 2022. It is basically the only thing the dipshits at Skor North have talked about for months. They would have you believe there is no chance the Vikings will keep Kirk. Yet almost everything the team and players have said points to Kirk returning. Fact is that unless some team swoops in and offers a deal that is frankly too good to pass up (i.e. multiple very high picks and then some), Kirk Cousins WILL be the week 1 2022 starter under an extension that will find some middle ground between a major pay raise and a major pay cut. Behind him, no reason to think Kellen Mond won...