The Skolney Blog

VIKINGS 39 PACKERS 22 The Vikings opened their 2026 season by beating the Packers by 17 points. You might think that means the Vikings kind of dominated the game. But oh, how that wasn't the case. These two teams have played each other 132 times, and this has to go down as one of the goofiest, weirdest entries.  If you believe in omens, the Vikings season couldn't have begun much worse. On the opening drive, on Kyler Murray's 1st pass, he threw a hideous lob ball interception, firing up all the smelly Packers fans who infiltrated the purple palace.  The Packers didn't move the ball, but their rookie kicker (named Smack) hit a long field goal. The rest of a bad first quarter saw the Vikings fall behind further, as Christian Watson had an 81-yard catch and run touchdown through a Vikings secondary that spent much of the day looking hideous. Following that TD came the biggest blow. On a scramble, Murray slid down and got hit (illegally) by two Packers. The good news is it ...

Let's get this out of the way quickly.  I think the Vikings are winning the NFC North at 10-7. I think the division could be won by anybody and could finish in any order. So, in that scenario, why not just pick the Vikings? I don't expect Kyler Murray to have a sensational season, but I do think he will be an effective playmaker and distributor. I expect a big Justin Jefferson season. Addison and Jennings will get theirs (both are playing for their own dollars). I think Hockenson has something left. The run game has never been satisfactory under KOC, but, well, hopefully, this year, it's an asset. We got a healthy Darrisaw. If Brandel can hold down center, the OL should be rock solid. And the defense could be the best we have had since peak Zimmer. Gone are some of the crappy veterans. The run defense has been an evergreen issue, but with Banks and Orange added to a talented bunch of youngsters that should improve. Linebackers are good, and Dallas Turner is primed for a sta...

In theaters: THE END OF OAK STREET The kind of fun late summer movie that always goes down well. A suburban neighborhood is mysteriously transported from the 80s to the age of the dinosaurs. Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor have to keep their family (including daughter Maisy Stella!) safe. Watching Hathaway fire a shotgun at dinos is quite enjoyable. I really liked this movie, even though its ending backs off one of its more daring twists.  COYOTE VS ACME A movie that Warners tried to bury for tax purposes finally sees the light of day. And it deserves to be seen. It's a really fun, zippy mix of Looney Tunes and live action, centered on the coyote suing ACME for always making defective products that keep him from catching that roadrunner. Will Forte, a great match for material, is the lawyer the coyote hires. Pretty much all the usual characters pop up, but this is mostly a coyote tale. Lots of clever comedy here, and even a sweet little bit at the end that recontextualizes a relati...

1986: We now arrive at the first movie I cared about.  I was 7 years old in 1986 (do the math, I'm old), and by far my favorite bit of what would later come to be commonly called "IP" was the Transformers. I watched the animated series all the time. I had tons of the toys. And then here comes this movie. So I didn't understand things then about TV seasons or character continuity or all that. I just knew the show and characters. So I probably didn't even know what the movie itself was, other than thatnit was a movie. I had only seen a few movies in theaters at that point, and I think they were all tied to birthday parties. So Transformers: The Movie marked the first time I went to a movie because I wanted to see that movie. I have some vague memories of seeing the commercials for it. I didn't know anything about release dates or anything like that. I don't even remember what theater I saw this at. Honestly, I don't even recall the experience...

PHILLIES 7 TWINS 5 Okay, we had some fun. We had some laughs. But it's time to admit the Twins aren't only not making the playoffs, they never were.  Since I last set foot in Target Field, we had the trade deadline. And for the first time in years, the Twins were absolute buyers (albeit buying from the bargain bin), bringing in starting pitcher Dean Kremer and relievers Jeff Hoffman and AJ Minter.  The other thing that happened, though, is that the Twins went in the tank. They came into Sunday 4-7 since the deadline. Hilariously, this hadn't cost them too much ground in the "race" for the 3rd wild card, cause all these other teams "fighting" for the spot have stayed bad, too.  But Sunday proved one thing pretty conclusively. We have all been fooling ourselves. The Twins are not at all eliminated from the playoffs, but they will NEVER make it.  Sunday was close to a must win game. The Phillies had clobbered the Twins in consecutive games, including the Fi...

"Marvel is cooked," they said. Idiots. The 4th MCU Spiderman entry, Brand New Day picks up shortly after the end of No Way Home, where everybody forgot who Peter Parker is. Peter is still Spiderman, and still fighting bad guys, and working with the police. Good. It's a tired trope to have the cops hate Spiderman. But he has no friends, and still stalks MJ and Ned on social media (not in a weird way). The only people he sort of has are a friendly police chief, and Frank Castle! Yes! Jon Bernthal's Punisher is in this, and quite a bit. Obviously, he is toned down from his show, and there's a lot more comedy in his testy relationship with Peter.  The early part of the movie is kind of an extended montage, pushing through about 4 years, just long enough for MJ and Ned to finish college, return to NY, and be involved in the plot. The main plot involves a mystery figure or entity or something taking people over, and going after Damage Control, the government...

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 ...

1986: I'm not sure there is another film quite as quintessentially 80s as Top Gun. This film made a superstar, launched a major directing career, and added to one of the great producer runs of all time. I personally was very late in ever getting around to watching Top Gun. By the time I did, probably a good decade after it came out, I largely knew the movie through its brilliant parody Hot Shots. I mean, I still can't watch Top Gun without chuckling at some of the moments directly spoofed.  Tom Cruise had already had a couple of notable movies, but this was his first blockbuster smash, that cemented him as a major movie star. He's certainly given better performances, but he's so effortlessly good here as the cocky flyboy that it stuck as his screen persona for a long time. Tony Scott was almost a total unknown as a director, having made only 1 film to that point, but he was a perfect choice by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Scott's style wa...