May 14, 2021 "The Sentinel" "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and Soccer
A Review of the Newest Jack Reacher Book, an Oscar nominated film, and a couple soccer bets for your weekend.
The Sentinel By Lee Child and Andrew Child
Publication Date: October 27, 2020 Date Finished: January 17, 2021
Rating: 7/10
Lee Child’s series starring the Military Police officer turned wandering nomad that just always happen to stumble upon a huge conspiracy once or twice every year really needs no introduction. Two works in the series have been adapted into big budget feature films starring Tom Cruise (I won’t get into my thoughts on proper casting for films in this post) and a TV series coming soon to Amazon Prime Video. This entry in the series (the 25th full length novel in both chronological and publication order) has a new wrinkle as Lee brought on his brother Andrew as a co-author with an eye for him to take over in a few years (I don’t keep up too much with author’s contracts with publishers, but I’m sure you could see how many more Lee is contractually obligated to produce if you tried hard enough).
I remember when I first discovered the series in 2011 as a freshman in college aimlessly wandering the stacks of the library. I serendipitously picked out the 13th book “Gone Tomorrow” and spent a few hours that could have been used way more productively to read it. I am usually loathe to start a new series anywhere other than the very beginning, but I lucked out as “Gone Tomorrow” is set in New York City, tied with Paris as the best setting for a book in my opinion, and it remains one of my favorites to this day (having said that, if I had started with “The Killing Floor” I still would have been hooked just as much).
The Sentinel starts like most stories in the series do, Reacher gets off a bus and starts considering where in his new destination he can find a burger and coffee and perhaps listen to some good blues music. He dispenses his brand of (sometimes brutal) justice to a bar owner mistreating the band he listens to in Nashville before hitching a ride with a young insurance executive to his next destination, a small town in rural Tennessee that just experienced a cyberattack that means everything in the town isn’t working (the insurance executive is there to work out the ransom between the town and its attackers).
Reacher doesn’t think much of this and thinks he will only stick around long enough to catch a bus to the next place. However, his instincts pick up on a man being followed walking through the town and Reacher intervenes to foil a kidnapping attempt on Rusty Rutherford, the former city IT manager that has become persona non grata in town.
Saving Rusty embroils Reacher in a complex conspiracy that goes way beyond a simple hacker shutting down the city’s computer networks. Reacher and Rusty find themselves up against local thugs, a Russian criminal network, and a gang of neo-Nazis. The wide-ranging story takes many twists and turns and involves many characters, both friend and foe, that all have different motives for shutting down the city’s network or getting it back up again but ultimately, the plot comes to revolve around undercover US agents attempting to keep the secrets of its newest defense system (the titular “Sentinel”) out of the hands of a Russian mole working at a nearby facility.
Like usual, Reacher uses his moral compass, fighting capability, and knowledge to try to right wrongs and stop evil from happening. Part of what bothered me with this entry in the series is a certain arrogance Reacher seems to have. In previous works, Reacher is supremely confident but never crosses the line into arrogance. While in the past he dispensed his brand of justice to those who have done wrong and tried to take advantage of others, there were times when he seemed to go overboard in The Sentinel and the violence felt like it went beyond the bad guys getting their just deserts and into gratuitous territory at times.
I find myself wondering if my expectations were different knowing that Lee Child was not the sole author of one of these works for the first time. I think “If the book said by Lee Child and not Lee and Andrew, would I have judged it less harshly and maybe it would be an 8/10”. There’s no way to know for sure, but I do think knowing there was someone new to the series writing did color my judgment some.
Overall, it was a perfectly fine thriller that kept me turning pages and following along with the story, but it didn’t quite live up to some of the best previous Reacher novels. The plot was a little outlandish and the pace seemed a little slower than I’ve become accustom to in this series. It has faced some harsh reviews since its release that are justified, but in my opinion, it is still a fine work and not one for committed “Reacher Creatures” to miss.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Directed by George C Wolfe
Release Date: November 25, 2020 (Theater); December 18, 2020 (Netflix) Watch Date: May 3, 2021
Rating: 8/10
Like it did for everything else, 2020 really messed up my movie viewing. Normally, I watch a ton of films, including all the nominees for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and then host a big party to see who wins the various honors on Oscar night.
This year I have only seen a couple of the best picture nominees and did not even watch movies biggest night (I think instead I tuned into the Statcast broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball). Since I have yet to see The Father or Nomadland, I can’t really speak on the best actor and actress winners, but I can say this: to have beat out the performances of Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis, Anthony Hopkins and Francis McDormand must have absolutely acted the hell out of those films.
The two leads’ brilliant acting (in what would turn out to be Boseman’s last film) was what really stood out during the almost two hour run time of this film. The story is adapted from the play of the same name by August Wilson, one of the giants among 20th century American playwrights.
The movie tells the story of the real-life Ma Rainey, one of the first blues recording stars as she and her band begin recording a new record with her white northern producers in Chicago in the late 1920s. The band shows up with their instruments on time, except for the young trumpet player Levee (Boseman) who is out buying an expensive pair of new shoes paid for with money he won gambling with other members of the band on their journey north.
Levee is discontent to just be a member of the band playing songs he thinks are old fashioned and dreams of forming his own band and playing his own songs. This leads him to greatly clash with Ma (Davis) who wants to have total control and the last say on everything. Ma recognizes that without her voice, the white executives of the recording company would not have a thing to do with her. She knows the only leverage she has is her voice, and she uses that leverage to extract as much as she can from everyone involved in the recording session.
The session does not go smoothly as Ma is late and constantly making more demands. There are conflicts between Ma and the executives, Ma and the band, Ma and Levee, and Levee and the rest of the band members. The conflicts center around power and racial dynamics, religion, and personal relationships. The conclusion comes rather abruptly and leaves the viewer somewhat devastated for the characters and what has and will become of them.
I have not seen this as a stage play, but I would imagine it would be equally as moving with the right talent in the right roles. If you have a chance, I recommend pulling it up on Netflix or seeing a production staging it near you.
Weekend Winners
Italy Serie A: Lazio @ Roma: Both Teams to Score- No (+180)
I’ve only been betting on sports for a little over a year now and I’m still not that good and rely on my gut too much. I have developed very few hard and fast rules over this time, but one of them is to never bet on college football rivalry games. Whether it’s Michigan and Ohio State in “The Game”, Alabama facing Auburn in the Iron Bowl, or even Washington playing Washington State in the Apple Cup, when conference rivals meet on the gridiron, I want to stay as far away as I can.
Having said that, a local derby in European Soccer is about as close as one can get to a fall Saturday under the lights in Tuscaloosa against the hated Tigers. Even without fans on the curva tomorrow (5/15) you can expect the unexpected in the derby della Capitale. But I still like this bet for a couple reasons.
AS Roma is in quite a state of disarray. They are currently languishing at 7th in the Serie A table 15 points adrift of Champions League qualification and 9 points behind their stadium cotenants Lazio (with Lazio also having a game in hand). In the past two weeks, Roma has been run off the pitch by Manchester United in the Europa League Semi-final, fired their manager and announced that the great one Jose Mourihno will take over at the start of next season. In addition to the sale of the team at the beginning of the season, it has been a disappointing season of transition.
For me, Roma is the best bet to not score. They are in dreadful form and if they want to impress the new boss before next season, they will play the most dour, defensive game possible. Up front, Dzeko and Pedro are well past their best and I think Lazio with three central defenders can stop them. I am a big fan of Lorenzo Pellegrini and Henrikh Mkhitaryan but I don’t think they will provide enough to create a goal.
While I’m staking more on Roma being the team that doesn’t score, it is possible that Lazio could be held goalless. You would never feel good the last few years betting against a team featuring a healthy Ciro Immobile scoring a goal, but it’s the rivalry in the eternal city, anything can happen.
England FA Cup Final: Chelsea vs Leicester City- Chelsea to win in regular time (-113) Draftkings
Wembley Stadium will welcome 21,000 fans for the final of the FA Cup tomorrow (5/15). After a long wait, fans of Chelsea and Leicester City will be able to support their teams in the flesh with a chance to lift a trophy. The sides will also meet in the league on Tuesday (5/18).
Chelsea and Leicester currently sit in 4th and 3rd place respectively in the Premier League table and both are very much still fighting to secure their place in next seasons Champions League with two league matches left. However, despite the importance of a top 4 finish in the league and Chelsea’s looming Champions League Final with Manchester City on the horizon, both teams will be going all out to win a trophy (it would be the first FA Cup triumph in Leicester history).
Leicester has continued to punch above their weight since their historic Premier League title in 2015 with a budget and wage bill that pales in comparison to the so called “Big Six.” Leicester has made some great moves in the transfer market with the acquisition this year of Wesley Fofana really standing out. They have talent across the pitch and are deserving of their spot in the final and position in the league. However, since Thomas Tuchel has taken over from Frank Lampard in January, Chelsea has been one of the best teams in the world. Tuchel has reinvigorated a squad that has seen Russian oligarch Roman Abromovich splash out 8 and 9 figure transfers for several players. As well as the imports from Germany in Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, the most important player in their lineup could be the academy product Mason Mount. I think Leicester mainstay in their title season that now plays for Chelsea, N’golo Kante, could be a huge factor in a midfield with probably Mount and Kovacic. Leicester may be without stalwart defender Jonny Evans because of an injury. Talismanic midfielder James Maddison has not seemed as good since he and a few teammates faced a suspension for breaking COVID protocols.
I like Chelsea’s first choice players slightly better, but what sets them apart is their quality off the bench. Christian Pulisic has been in great form lately and if the situation calls for it, Giroud or Jorignho (despite his misplay to give Arsenal a goal this week) are great to have in reserve.
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