The Skolney Blog

Twins 2 Pirates 0 That's baseball. When I saw that I was going to be going to a Dallas Keuchel start on Sunday, I was not optimistic. Keuchel had toiled in St. Paul for a while before getting a call-up. He had a decent start against Arizona, before getting lit up by the Phillies. It wasn't even a certainty that he would get another start.  But they tossed him back out there against the Pirates, and he took a perfect game into the 6th inning.  Once Keuchel finally got that elusive first strikeout things were off. Maybe what he was throwing was slop, but he was getting lots of weak contact and was cruising. As for the issue of run support, that was slow to come. But a pair of singles and an Edouard Julien sac fly pushed one run across and Julien doubled home another. That was it. Other than that there were 16 more strikeouts, including, hilariously, 3 more from Joey Gallo in 3 at bats after being inserted as a pinch hitter. But the 2 runs was enough. Keuchel took the perfecto in...

In the summer of 1998, Marvel meant absolutely nothing to me. I knew OF it, by osmosis pretty much and by a lot of time spent hanging with friends at Mall Of America's comics shop. And to me, comic book movies were pretty much just Batman and Superman.  Certainly never heard of the character of Blade. So when I was seeing the trailer for this movie, I didn't even know its origin. Star Wesley Snipes was the bigger draw at that point, although even there Snipes stellar early 90s run had turned into a collection of mediocre thrillers.  There was little to indicate that Blade would be a great film in its own right, and certainly nothing hinted at a film that for years since has been credited with resurrecting the entire genre of the comic book movie. Instead, yeah, it really is both those things. There have been a LOT of great comic book movies in the last 25 years, but Blade still has a place up near the top. Blade literally has one of the greatest opening sequences i...

1973: I was pretty sure I had seen American Graffiti, but it had been literally decades ago. And I remembered it being pretty good.  And as luck would have it, they ran a Fathom Events screening for its 50th anniversary, so I got to go see it on the big screen. And now I think I must not have ever seen it, because it isn't pretty good. It is fucking fantastic, one of the best films of the 70s (that I've seen), and a film whose DNA exists in countless movies that followed.  This was George Lucas's first hit. He had made THX 1138 but that wasn't a hit. This wound up being one of the biggest hits of all time at that point. And it got him a best director Oscar nomination.  The film takes place over one night in 1962. It's the last day of school, with much of the principal cast having graduated. The meandering, episodic film follows a collection of characters through the night. There are shenanigans, love stories, and lots and lots of driving. Like all great ...

In theaters: TALK TO ME From A24, this is one of the year's best horror movies. A creepy hand enables a bunch of teens to temporarily become possessed by the dead. It's a drugs metaphor, but well done. Never really scary, but it maintains a creepy tone throughout. Excellent breakout lead in the Kerry Washington-esque Sophie Wilde.  TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM Easily the best Turtles flick since the early 90s. The standout with this is the very cool, original animation style. It's deliberately sloppy but looks really great. It might have stood right there with Across The Spiderverse, but this one doesn't have all that much of a plot. It's decent enough, though, and the movie is pretty funny. Some fun voice casting too.  THE MEG 2: THE TRENCH The first Meg was decent. I guess. I've forgotten it, to the point that I didn't even know a couple supporting characters in this sequel were carryovers. But this one falls short at even being campy junk. ...