The Skolney Blog

1992: So here is where it all began, the career of my favorite director of all time. But way back in 1992 I didn't know who the hell Quentin Tarantino was. And what the hell was a reservoir dog? This movie was not on my radar at all. It wasn't until a couple years later when Pulp Fiction came out and forever changed what I thought a movie could be that I went back and checked out Tarantino's debut. And even then I wasn't quite into it. It took years and repeat viewings to fully appreciate it. The movie retroactively has achieved a kind of legendary status, but it wasn't much of a hit at the time. The origin of it is pretty well known, that Tarantino wrote it while working at a video store, and the script found its way to Harvey Keitel, who helped get it made.  I saw it after Pulp Fiction, and wasn't that into it on first viewing. Whereas Pulp was kind of nonstop iconic scenes and had a lot of action and violence, Dogs is at times a lot more slowly pa...

In theaters: SMILE A fairly well made horror in places, and led by a strong lead performance by Sosie Bacon. But it ticks some of my biggest horror movie pet peeves, from the annoyance of characters always doing first guess stupid things, to one of those "nope, this isn't over" endings.  AMSTERDAM  David O. Russell assembled one of the most incredible casts in any film in years for this sort of truth based conspiracy caper. The comedy never pops, and the story becomes deeply convoluted by the third act. But this movie is enjoyable because there is always at least one terrific actor on screen at all times, mostly doing interesting things. Top honors to Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and, yes, Mike Myers.  HALLOWEEN ENDS I wasn't even sure I was going to see this, after Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills were both awful. But it was a Friday with nothing else to see. I actually think this one was...watchable. It at least has a couple of ideas in it, albeit shoddily execu...

VIKINGS 34 CARDINALS 26 For two weeks, one question loomed over the Minnesota Vikings. What would we see after the bye week?  Turns out, on Sunday we saw, well, basically the same thing we saw for previous weeks. We saw an offense that at times looks surgical, but that occasionally stumbles. And we saw a defense that gives up a lot of yardage but proves opportunistic, particularly late. And that's okay. You know what? This team now sits at 6-1, and is proving week after week to be a team that is exceptionally easy to root for, and that displays flair and guts. We got out to one of our customary hot starts. The first drive ended in a touchdown, as Kirk took off running, then showed some actual wheels and dove into the endzone. Two drives later Kirk tossed a score to Johnny Mundt and we had a 14-3 lead. Arizona's offense didn't reach the endzone until DeAndre Hopkins made a brilliant one handed catch late in the 2nd.  Kirk got us into position for a 56 yard field goal, but Gr...

Gophers 31 Rutgers 0 Finally got out to a Gophers game on Saturday. Honestly the perfect fall weather was more of a draw than the team. Mid 60s, not a cloud in the sky....and cheap tickets on Stubhub. They were cheap cause this team had lost 3 straight, pretty much incinerating any chance that this could be any kind of special season. No Big Ten West title. No major bowls. We'll see about the 2 big trophy games, but there is no cause to be optimistic. But on Saturday the Gophers at least reverted back to their early season dominance, smothering the poor Scarlet Knights, notching their first shutout of a conference opponent since 2004. That was so long ago the Twins won a playoff game the same year.  Rutgers best player was their punter. And after he pinned the Gophers at the 1 for their first drive, they set about a 99 yard, over 10 minute drive to go up 7-0. Their 2nd drive was also a fairly long TD march. And that was it. The game became an incredible bore to be honest. Other tha...

Thursday: [Cardinals 42, Saints 34] Oh goody, the week before facing the Vikings Arizona suddenly decides to look formidable again. Although I doubt Kirk will get tagged for 2 pick sixes.  Sunday: [Commanders 23, Packers 21] Even on the bye week the Vikings get a big win! The Packers 2nd double digit lead blown in 3 weeks. They only scored 2 offensive TDs. Even a late push by the refs couldn't save them. And they have to play at Buffalo next week. Fabulous!  [Panthers 21, Buccaneers 3] You know things have gotten very bad for Brady when even his media cheerleading squad can't find silver linings. Of course they ARE blaming his OL and a lack of run game. Nah, sorry, we've been told for 20 years that Brady does it all by himself. So this is all on him too.  [Cowboys 24, Lions 6] That potent Lions offense from September has vanished. Dallas got Dak back, but the A story with them is that elite defense, which makes them a legit super bowl contender.  [Giants ...

Thursday: [Commanders 12, Bears 7] Another TNF classic. Both teams stunk. The Bears would have won if Darnell Mooney, who last week made an all time top 5 catch on us, simply made a pretty easy grab at the goal line.  Sunday: [Jets 27, Packers 10] What a delight! Now, I'm not going to get suckered in and pronounce the Packers done. They're still going to be there in December, but Rodgers is not going to be able to flip a switch and become invincible anymore. And...are the Jets actually good? TBD.  [Steelers 20, Buccaneers 18] What a delight! Brady gets beat by a Steelers team that was one of the worst in the league, and again was exposed for being a terrible teammate when cameras caught him yelling at his OL. No wonder Gisele is dumping his ass.  [Falcons 28, 49ers 14] The 49ers remain one of the league's more puzzling teams. Atlanta might be a 1st place team if the refs hadn't screwed them last week in service of Brady.  [Giants 24, Ravens 20] The Giants...

VIKINGS 24 DOLPHINS 16 Another week, another grind. I knew this Miami game was going to be a struggle. They're all struggles. Doesn't matter who they're facing, this Vikings team will make us sweat in the 4th quarter.  But this team has found itself in a great place as they hit the bye week. 5-1, two games clear of the Packers, and already getting me to dream of home playoff games in January.  Going in we knew Miami was down to 3rd string rookie QB Skylar Thompson, with the banged up Teddy Bridgewater ready just in case. No matter. This was going to be a 4 quarter game. Nothing seemed any different with our defense, at least early. Thompson hit throws to usually wide open receivers. He even ran on us a couple times. But, through 3 drives Miami had nothing to show for it. Patrick Jones got a sack to end one drive. One drive ended scoreless due to FIVE Miami penalties. That third drive just ended in a punt, but it also took out Thompson, who banged his thumb on a helmet and w...

One of my all time right movies at the right time.  In 1997 when it came to my movie obsessions nothing beat Scream. After that movie it was all about self-referential teen horror. And I spent the back half of the year obsessively awaiting the sequel.  But first there was the undercard. IKWYDLS was also written by Kevin Williamson and rushed into production after Scream hit. This thing got made pretty damn fast. They shot it in the waning days of my senior year of high school, and it opened less than a month after I started college.  But the most important moves were casting Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar. I mean, holy shit. Dream casting. This was the era of actress megafandom, and almost nobody ranked higher. I had been a huge fan of Hewitt's for a while cause of Party Of Five. And Gellar had just recently become a fave cause of Buffy. So yeah, pop these two into just about anything and I was going to be nuts about it. The timing could not ha...

Thursday: [Colts 12, Broncos 9 OT] Damn, sure wish I had Amazon Prime so I could have watched every second of this. What in the hell has happened to Russell Wilson, seriously? If this is what he is now this might be the fastest collapse ever from a great QB. And Denver gave up 3 1sts, players, and a fortune for him. Yee-owwwch.  Sunday: [Giants 27, Packers 22] Is it possible the Packers are just not that good? Is it possible the Giants actually ARE good? By the time I woke up the Packers already had a multi-score lead, so I didn't even check in til late. But Rodgers had a couple chances to end the game and didn't and got burned. I have been tricked before into thinking the Packers are sinking for good, but the NFC North is very winnable.  [Patriots 29, Lions 0] Lions had the highest scoring offense in football, then get blanked. So is this just a Lions moment or is Belichick getting his defensive swagger back?  [Buccaneers 21, Falcons 15] I cannot believe it i...

VIKINGS 29 BEARS 22 Kevin O'Connell is still just 5 games into what will hopefully be a long head coaching career, but he has been getting a crash course in what it's like to be a Viking. It will be wild, and often will cause blood pressures to skyrocket. But under his leadership, this Vikings team is already showing a level of calmness and poise in those tense moments that speaks very well of him, and bodes very well for the future. Now, it of course didn't have to be tense at all on Sunday with the lowly Bears in town, but that is not the Vikings way. They WILL make things difficult.  For most of the first half it certainly didn't look like there would be any Sunday tension. The first half was mostly a beatdown. The Vikings first 3 drives all ended in touchdowns. Kirk Cousins set a new team record with 17 straight completions to start the game. Many of those were to Justin Jefferson, who set a new career high in  catches, and even completed a pass on a nifty trick pla...

It's over. Praise Jebus it's over.  My opening day expectations for the Twins were mild. Even after the pitching trades and the stunning signing of Carlos Correa I only picked them to go 81-81. They felt like a mediocre team with a couple high end players at the top. What this Twins team instead wound up being was, by quite a margin, the least enjoyable contending Twins team of my life.  And yes, hard as it may be to remember, this Twins team spent most of the season not just as a contender but in first. 108 days in fact they spent at least tied for first. The last of these days was in early September. This was before a collapse so complete that it wiped away any of the good this season brought. It's all been discussed and rehashed over and over, both as the collapse was going on and now at the end.  This team's high water mark was a 27-16 record in late May. Even at this point I don't think anybody really thought they were good, just that they could emerge as the b...

Thursday: [Bengals 27, Dolphins 15] The big story here was not the Bengals getting back to 2-2, but the Dolphins reckless and ultimately disastrous decision to quite obviously lie about Tua Tagovailoa's concussion situation last week, and then put him back on the field in this game only to see him clearly suffer another one. So now their budding franchise QB could be longterm screwed.  Sunday: [Giants 20, Bears 12] The Giants got 2 QBs hurt in this game and the Bears still couldn't beat them. Giants are definitely the worst 3-1 team. Bears are the worst 2-2 team. Vikings, please don't lose to them.  [Seahawks 48, Lions 45] Well this was just silly. The Lions offense can clearly score with anybody, but how do you give up 48 to a Geno Smith-led offense? [Bills 23, Ravens 20] A huge early swing game in the AFC. The Ravens had a 17 point lead, but blew it just like the Miami game. Buffalo re-establishes themselves as the best team in the AFC.  [Eagles 29, Jaguars ...

VIKINGS 28 SAINTS 25 It is the Vikings Way. They must always make things harder than they need to be. Rarely has that been more on display than during Sunday morning's game in London, where what should have been a relatively easy Vikings win turned into the second straight heartstopper. The Saints were without Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, and starting QB Jameis Winston. And yet they held a 4th quarter lead on us, and were within one final kick from taking things into overtime. Going in I had hopes that this would be that game where the offense took a step up into consistency. The early returns were good. The opening drive felt like week 1. A lot of creativity. Thought we had a TD to Osborn before it was called back on a cheap OPI call. But Mattison took it in on the next play and we led 7-0. But then the offense sputtered. Cousins threw an interception that sent the KCDS crowd into ecstasy, even though it was more just a great play by the safety. Still, the Saints took that spark ...

Purdue 20 Gophers 10 Silly me. As cynical as I am about Gopher football, even I was starting to buy in. Not just that they could win a very weak Big Ten west, but that they might win it on merit. Those opening 3 blowouts over crap teams was one thing, but I really thought crushing Michigan State IN East Lansing meant something. Meant that this Gopher team was different. Nope. Not different. That was proven Saturday as the Gophers welcomed an unranked Purdue in for Homecoming, and proceeded to play like complete shit and lose 20-10. For some reason Mo Ibrahim did not play. Supposedly his ankle was too hurt, yet there he was standing on the sidelines in full uniform with his helmet on.  With him out the Gophers offense was shit. They ran for only 47 yards on 25 carries. But hey, we have a 6th year QB who is supposedly an NFL prospect. Surely just this once you can put the game in Tanner Morgan's hands and he can go win a game for you. Nope. Morgan did have a TD pass dropped into an i...