Any Given Sunday (1999)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

People are voting emotionally.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Any Given Sunday (1999): Dir: Oliver Stone / Cast: Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, James Woods: Great look at professional football and the stresses behind it. Title suggests time that one cannot pin point into the future of a victory that will eventually happen. Al Pacino stars as the veteran coach for the Miami Sharks who feels his ability fading after they suffered their fourth consecutive loss. Cameron Diaz plays the daughter of the deceased owner who is under pressure due to the losses. Dennis Quaid plays a quarterback who is injured during opening game. Jamie Foxx plays the new star player whose fame goes to his head. Complete with Oliver Stone's trademark political views as applied to other films such as J.F.K and Nixon. Pacino is at his best as a coach down on his luck but not without resources. Whether the Miami Sharks succeed is not the point as to what he will do to counter a possible replacement. Diaz as the daughter of the former owner steals her scenes as she forces issues perhaps with certain regret in the end. Quaid as the injured quarterback struggles with his marriage but will attempt a comeback despite his age. Foxx realizes his celebrity ego and makes amends as well as opportunities. James Woods plays a corrupt physician whose tactics are risky to players. While repetitious, the action is rousing. Theme regards regaining the glory and keeping it alive. Score: 9 / 10

Any Given Sunday is the best football movie ever made, a master piece by Oliver Stone.The good. Perfect editing. The way the images are melded just sucks you right in. Great photography. Excellent score and music. Superb football action. Razor sharp dialogs. Complete characters. Solid cast that fit incredibly well together. Very involved story with a good number of sub-story, all interesting and well developed. Nicely paced scenario, with good emotional breaks and powerful action scenes. It's a long film with lots of meat and every minute is worth it, they even used the final generic to pitch us the epilogue. Nicely done. Great ending.The actors. Al Pacino is playing his best role here. He gets away from his usual angry almost psychotic roles into a more mellow and near sentimental human being, but still very much troubled and imperfect. Cameron Diaz, for once, plays a hard nut to crack, tough, nowhere near nice and she does it extremely well. Dennis Quaid plays the hero, again, and does it superbly as he always does. Jamie Foxx does his thing as the cool and bitter professional athlete.Now for the smaller roles that round up this flick and elevate it to greatness. LL Cool J plays the money grabbing star to perfection. Matthew Modine plays a institutionalized game-first team doctor who faces Aaron Eckhart as the do-gooder in a battle over the health of the player. Jim Brown is the perfect tough defensive coach with a heart of gold and a head full of the glory days. Lela Rochon is the sweet intelligent life partner of the third string quarterback. Lauren Holly is the hateful witch trying to control her legendary husband. Lawrence Taylor captures our attention as the bruised captain and keystone of the defensive team. Bill Bellamy plays a young receiver. And Andrew Bryniarski denotes himself as the rough angry offensive line man.The bad. The opposing team design. The costumes look like they were done last minute, not part of a professional football league.The ugly. Nothing, it's near damn perfect.The result. A football movie that's so well made, anyone can enjoy it. See it.

The first thing that strikes about Any Given Sunday, is its slowness: the lack of dynamism is so noticeable that is it very hard to finish the long 2h30.The second aspect that emerges is the global heaviness of the movie: whether it is the convenient, predictable and a bit cliché script, or the actors sometimes overacting, or the gaudy cinematography or the omnipresent soundtrack almost giving a powerful headache especially during the game scenes.Sure, there are a few positive points such as a few (rare) well written dialogues, or Al Pacino that, while not very subtle, is rather convincing, but it is not enough to make this movie really attractive and a classic of its kind.

With an all-star cast it's very difficult to pick fault with this movie. My only gripe was the odd "pat on the back" style lines that slipped in here and there, motivational war speeches after seeing the light etc but they certainly don't detract from what is an epic movie. The odd corny line here and there is almost unmeasurable in this 2hr40min marathon of high octane action and passionately acted masterpiece.Still find it hard to believe it was filmed in 1999!! Seems like it was just released this year every time I watch it (5 times now). Each character is integral to his or her own part and you're never left wondering why they had a part in the first place. Whether it's Pacino's lead role on film or Lauren Holly's minor character of Quaid's "Cap Rooney" wife.....they all have fantastic screen presence and have you relating to them straight away. Life and death struggles was a bit of an overstated tag line, but certainly you start to bond and feel every painful emotion and physical blow the team (Miami Sharks) endure.I personally haven't felt an emotional football or even sports movie like this since All The Right Moves back in the early 80's with Tom Cruise. From Pacino and Foxx down to minor coaching cameo actors, they all have 3 dimensional roles. This movie could've easily have been over 3 hours long and it would still be over too quick. I only wish that Oliver Stone would direct a hockey epic like this instead of the comedy mishaps we always get like Slap Shot, Youngblood and Goon!! A solid 8/10 for a film that brings out some of the best performances from Pacino, Quaid & James Woods. Foxx is brilliant in making you feel compassion early on for his character to feeling utter disdain and contempt as his alter-ego grows and grows and loses touch with why he started playing football in the first place.