Customer Reviews

Any Given Sunday (Widescreen Director's Cut)

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

this movie has a lot of good things going for it.one of them is the
great ensemble cast.this includes Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz as the
marquee names.however,i don't think they were the stars of the
show.that distinction is shared with the supporting cast.there are some
big names here.Jamie Foxx and Dennis Quaid are both terrific.LL Cool J
also puts in a strong performance.James Woods give his usual good
performance.in smaller roles,but no less effective,are Matthew
Modine,Aaron Eckhart and John C.McGinley.Lauren Holley,though, puts in
a very strong performance and really impressed me.the movie also has a
high degree of realism during the scenes on the football field.you can
hear every bone crunching hit wit astounding clarity.and there is a
high energy atmosphere for the most part.there are some down sides to
the movie,though.one of these is the running time,at over two and a
half hours.i felt they could have shaved off maybe twenty minutes.also
i felt that the movie doesn't always follow through with the momentum
it builds.it gets a bit tedious at times.finally,the scenes with
Cameron Diaz and Al Pacino together.i felt Pacino tended to overact a
bit,and Diaz seemed a bit out of her depth.Diaz was pretty good
otherwise.anyway,for me,Any Given Sunday is a 3/5

I'm not a football fan. In fact all I know about the game is that there is a ball that must be moved from one end of a rectangular field to the other. Stone decided to draw parallels between this modern game and the gladiators in Ancient Rome. The suggestions were anything but subtle, what with the grunting, clashing sounds, the numerous shots of Ben Hur and the actual references in the film you couldn't help but notice.

Although this movie is ostensibly about football, I came away from it learning a bit more about life. The movie is about an old coach (Al Pacino) whose love of the game has blinded him to life's real pleasures, an injured QB (Quaid) who is easily manipulated by others to continue playing even if it is detrimental to his health. The daughter (Diaz) of a dead football 'baron', who seeks to fulfill her father's lost hope for a son, and a rising star (Foxx) who is blind to everything but his own gratification. From these cast of characters Stone creates drama.

This movie is exciting even for those, like me, who aren't too interested in football. The game scenes seem more like gladiatorial battles than actual football games, and you are left wondering if we have really changed from those Romans thousands of years ago, the way 'we' love these slugfests.

As some earlier reviewers mentioned, Stone appears to be slightly biased in his portrayal of the management of these teams. They are definitely out to make money, but I doubt they are as ruthless as they were made out to be. He should have had some perspective in this movie so as not to make it seem like the management were the 'baddies' and the players hapless pawns.

Overall, this was a great movie. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes drama. For those with kids, you might want to watch it beforehand as it has some sexual scenes, nudity and quite a lot of obscene language.

In Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, the audience gets hit by cliches as fast and as hard as the fictional Miami Sharks' quarterbacks get hit by other players during the film's opening game. The audience also get hit hard by the (overly) kinetic editing, both of the film and of the mish-mash adrenaline pumper of a soundtrack, featuring an assortment of rock, rap, and techno beats. Stone and co-writer John Logan push (overly) to get us to buy into their vision of the NFL as a modern gladiatorial arena, and frankly, it doesn't always work; Logan would later get his gladiator fix by co-writing Ridley Scott's crowd-pleaser, well, Gladiator. Still, Logan and Stone manage to score some points with their (overly) broad script which tries to give us an all-encompassing view of modern professional football. Inevitably, it proves too much, and the writing just proves too wide in scope to create a balanced and clear film, though it does have its shining moments, such as when Coach D'Amato (Al Pacino) has comments on the (overly) commercial persona the NFL has adopted, or when Cameron Diaz's character's mother describes the "tragedy" that is her daughter.

Pacino, completely at ease in an Stone flick, gives his first real performance in a long time. Both in his in-game frenzy and in his drunken, sadder scenes, Pacino delivers the goods. Comedian Jamie Foxx also turns in a winning dramatic performance as the rookie quarterback. Come to think of it, the whole cast is stellar and all perform well. Stone seems to bring out strong, almost flamboyant, performances in his actors, and in Oliver Stone films, that's very appropriate. However, the MTV-inspired soundtrack and cinematography detract from the serious delivery of some of the film's concepts. At times, the film seemed more an extended music video than anything else.

Any Given Sunday is a rough movie, both in terms production and in content. The film, despite its lengthy runtime, still feels like it left much of its ideas unsaid; the script just tries too cover simply too many characters and concepts, leaving many of the key players in a somewhat shallow and cardboard like state. Still, Any Given Sunday is an entertaining movie, and fans of football, Oliver Stone, and movies overloaded with dizzying amounts of music and testosterone will no doubt be pleased by the time the credits roll.

Among Oliver Stone's work includes "Any Given Sunday" (1999), as good and realistic a sports movie as has ever been made. It features an over-the-top performance by Al Pacino as a veteran pro football coach who can still motivate his over-paid, over-sexed, over-drugged, slightly thuggish, mostly black (except for a few White Aryan Brotherhood linemen) mercenaries with a speech that sends Knute Rockne to the bench.
He reportedly is working on the story of the 1934 Republican industrialists who recruited Marine hero Smedley Butler to overthrow Franklin Roosevelt, which was the genesis of "Seven Days in May". We are still waiting for Tinsel Town to take on Kennedy stealing the 1960 election. It could be a long wait. If any producers are reading this, I am offering my services at the Writers Guild minimum.

but this movie is excruciating to watch if you're a true football fan (that is a fan of the strategy, rather than the hip-hop/Texas dumbass cultures it often represents). Stone does do a good job of capturing all that is wrong with professional ball. But none of it is anything that a football fan doesn't already know. The only thing he puts any humanity into is the Dennis Quaid character. And that storyline uses, what, 15 minutes of the 3 1/2 hours of rap, drug use, misogyny, money-grubbing and power tripping that we have to sit through to endure this film. How long can a movie be? Well, when the credits start rolling before the dialogue is even finished, you know somebody other than yourself had a problem with the film's length.
This movie is way over the top in every category except 'heart'. And heart is a true athlete's greatest attribute. So in comparison to Rudy or Hoosiers or Brian's Song or almost any other sports flick out there, this film is a travesty. If, however, you want to compare it to Wall Street, it's probably one of the truer business movies available. I personally was expecting to see a football film. Instead I wasted 3 1/2 hours of my life watching corruption. I can do that come Monday at work.

Maybe after coming off the Super bowl high of watching Tom Brady and the Patriots win for the second time in three years I was expecting more from "Any Given Sunday." Everything seemed to line up - the cast, with Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid and James Woods; the director and writer Oliver Stone; the concept, a behind the scenes look at the NFL under the fictional guise of the American Football Association. Unfortunately, all these promising pieces added up to a nothing more than every sports cliché in the past thirty years of filmmaking crammed into one movie.

The story is really Pacino's, as the aging Coach of the Miami Sharks (clever twist in the Dolphins, huh?) facing the challenges of a changing league. His owner has recently died, leaving the unbelievably obnoxious Diaz as the current Owner, always breathing down his neck and forcing her uninformed will upon him. Owner is concerned with television ratings, possibly moving the franchise - tons of other motives other than winning games. Coach is also trying to manage Foxx as the Young Hot Shot. Young Hot Shot has recently come on the scene when the Old Star (Quaid) was injured. Coach and Old Star are of course very close and belong to the same philosophy, but Young Hot Shot is taking over the game with every play, ignoring Coach's plays and doing his own play-calling - but succeeding. So Coach has a dilemma - when the playoffs start does he go with Young Hot Shot, who the cameras (and Owner) love, or with the tried and true methods of Old Star?

Well, Young Hot Shot has isolated himself from the rest of the team with his brash comments and rise to a household name (in all of about three games). So Coach goes with the unconfident Old Star in the first game of the playoffs. But all the while Young Hot Shot has been learning his lesson, quietly nodding in understanding during Coach's rousing halftime speeches. So when the time comes and Old Star is again injured, Young Hot Shot is ready to step in. By this time, though, Coach has accepted Young Hot Shot's unruly methods and allows him to just go for it, and they of course, win the game.

Sound familiar? It should. It's the plot of about every sports film ever made. We don't even need actual names to describe it. I expected so much more from Stone. In an attempt to show what pro sports is "really" like, he apparently thought the story wouldn't matter. We focus on almost everything but football - the egos of the characters, the ulterior motives of the owner, the inaccurate news reporting - but not football. The games are reduced to darkened, rainy war scenes, with people loosing eyes (literally), front flips over defenders, and someone getting injured on almost every play.

Whether or not football is actually the way Stone depicts it, he did not paint a convincing picture whatsoever. Essentially, the owner cares *nothing* for the players, the coaches clear players to play when they are one hit away from having an aneurism, and the players intentionally don't block on the front line because they don't like their quarterback. Sorry. I don't buy it. Stone paints the league as a dark, depressing, unforgiving torture chamber, with games no more sophisticated than a fourth-grade scramble in the park. Football is the most complex game on the planet - why not show even a little bit of that? Instead of the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots - who chose to have themselves introduced as a team rather than individuals - we get the tough to swallow Miami Sharks, who all *hate* each other. A team like this would never make the playoffs - never. And then, to make it even worse, all of this is thrown together in a horrendous MTV-style montage. The movie is edited like a commercial - it just feels like a collection of scenes, not a movie.

I do not recommend this film, especially if you love football and are hoping for a good sports movie. It's a war film in the costume of a sports film, and apparently Stone doesn't think the audience is intelligent enough to understand this for themselves, because he includes scene after scene of gladiators fighting in the coliseum, ramming the analogy down the viewer's throat. He should stick to the war/crime movies, and stop trying to impose the genre on innocent films.

I am not a movie critic so I can't get into all of the details on cinematography, directing,screenplay and scriptwriting. I just know that this was a damn good movie. It was interesting from beginning to end. When I saw it in the theatre I didn't want to get up to go to the restroom and once I bought it I had to watch it right away.
I thought the action was amazing...I'm a football fan and I enjoyed the hits, the sounds, the views from the players....I enjoyed it all.
I hear lots of people complaining about how long the film was...well I guess that shows how much I enjoyed it because I never noticed that it was any longer than any other film because I was into it from beginning to end.

I thought that Jamie Foxx gave a wonderful and believable performance in his role as Willie Beamon. Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz and Lauren Holly (as usual) did not disappoint. LL Cool J looked like he fit right in with the rest of the cast and I enjoyed the antics of so many of the other characters. LT Taylors performance was great and I had no clue Bill Bellamy had any athletic skills. As a sports fan I especially enjoyed trying to pick out current and former NFL athletes and coaches throughout the film.

Needless to say...I found every aspect of the film enjoyable and I have watched it over and over again. If you like lots of on the field action, lots of hits, lots of contact and great acting from the likes of Al Pacino, you will love this film. You'll watch it over and over again...like I do!

First of all, I would like to say that all the people reviewing the movie on how Cameron Diaz looks and how long it is, are retarded. How do you rate a movie based on its length? How does that affect the acting and the intense screenplay and perfectly written script. Despite the length, I have watched this movie nearly 20 times and not once did I have a second thought on how much I loved it. The plot is a prefect example of the struggles that the modern day NFL goes through. Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, James Woods, Cameron Diaz, and the legendary Al Pacino all star in this movie and do an excellent job. I think Oliver Stone is one of the best Directors/Producers out there, I mean first Scarface now this? I can't wait to see what's next!

The football Scenes in this movie are breathtaking. It's damn crazy when you see how far into the play they really go. Watch the movie and you will see what Im talking about. Just watch how real these hits are. It's 100% real.

In general, with the huge cast of stars, the great filming style, and the feeling you get of being inside the plays after watching one of the awesome games, this movie gets a 5 stars. In fact I give it 6. And to add on to that, the special features in this film are awesome. Buy this DVD, you will not regret it, no matter how long the movie is.

I like Oliver Stone. On the whole, I do enjoy his directorial style but he has a tendency to belabor a given point. "Any Given Sunday" was a fair football movie that could have been a great sports film if skillfully edited to a more reasonable 2 hour length. Aside from its bladder busting 157 minute endurance, it was a fairly entertaining study of modern day football not too far removed in attitude and tone from "North Dallas Forty". But times as they say are a changing and Stone addressed the new economic realities of creative stadium financing, a new breed of athlete acutely aware of lucrative endorsement possibilities that go hand in hand with success on the gridiron, and Stone played the "race card" to some clever advantage. Comedian Jamie Foxx was wonderful in his dramatic turn as a third string quarterback who suddenly finds himself the object of media and public attention as surprise replacement to "Cap" Rooney, the injured, aging star of the Miami Sharks, nicely defined by Dennis Quaid. As veteran head coach Tony D'Amato, Al Pacino was given carte blanche to let fly with his signature fiery bombast at times directed to players individually or collectively, the franchise ownership (Cameron Diaz), the team doctor (James Woods) or anyone else who crossed his purposes. The remaining cast was rounded out superbly with a host of wonderful performances including but certainly not limited to Jim Brown, Ann-Margret, Lauren Holly, Charlton Heston as the Commissioner, and Clifton Davis as a shrewd big city mayor. On the whole I'd say this was an entertaining and sometimes provocative glimpse into the world of professional sports and big time American pop culture on any given Sunday afternoon.

Oliver Stone's movie about professional football is very tough, very hard-driving, almost as visceral as "Natural Born Killers", and often very funny as well. It's a movie punctuated by three or four football games, but the meat of the movie is in between, the clash of egos and ideologies. Stone is not afraid (and never has been) to take it to absurd levels, in his style as well as in the content, and if there is any serious flaw in the movie (other than the ridiculous casting of a totally out-of-place Cameron Diaz), it's that he puts in too much and holds nothing back. But then subtlety has not been Stone's M.O. these last few years. The cast, aside from Diaz, is fantastic. Al Pacino must've felt that all the screaming characters he has played in his career needed to be fused into one, and here he is, on the sidelines--Ricky Roma meets Tony Montana meets Colonel Slade meets Sonny Wortzik by way of Bill Parcells. But even with a cast so varied, Jamie Foxx manages a complete takeover of the movie as Steamin' Willie Beamen, fleshing out a complex character with an incredibly varied performance. There's a wonderful and very relevant side-story involving an injured player, while a shady older doctor (James Woods) and an idealistic younger doctor (Aaron Eckhart) clash in their ideas of what to do with him. Dennis Quaid is also great as the injured veteran QB whose wife (Lauren Holly) goes from delightful to despicable all too quickly. Hall-of-famers Jim Brown and Lawrence Taylor also add fire, but the real star of the show, as in all Oliver Stone movies, is Oliver Stone. The movie is best viewed on a big screen, at very high volume, and a six-pack probably wouldn't hurt either.