Rating: Summary: Great Review: I am actually SCOOPER'S BROTHER, not Scooper. I noticed his review and decided I must get back at him. I was also a crowd extra for this movie, and I WISH my face was in it! I hate to say that my bro doesn't know what he's talking about, but when it comes to sports, he doesn't. So here's the REAL scoop:This is officially the best football movie I've ever seen. The acting was NOT bad, as my bro said, the imagery kick a**, lion roars and all, and it was NOT mediocre. You'll never think about football in the same way again. Believe me. When something so well-done and artistic is made about something as classical as football, the result is huge. It's a good movie. Buy its DVD. And BTW, Jamie Foxx was really good in this movie. (Just rubbing it in to my anti-sports twin brother :>] )
Rating: Summary: Missing the point Review: It's funny. Many of the reviewers here most likely didn't play football - ever. The feelings that a real player experiences were shown quite well in this film. Some of the athletes were in it for the $$. Others wanted to win. Others wanted to make it out in one piece. Pretty realistic stuff. Don't focus on who wrote it, directed it, or even who stars in it. Focus on who you know who has EXPERIENCED it. Gain a better understanding of the talent, nerves, and mindset that is required to make it through a game where injuries are inevitable, fame is often elusive, and you know you're going to get hit, slapped, bruised, and sometimes beaten by the guy across from you. This film shows how it is. Leave the subplots for the sissies. They are there for entertainment. The rest is the reality. If you want pure entertainment, see "The Longest Yard." If you want some real football, see this. . .If you've lived it, see it. If you haven't, see it anyway.
Rating: Summary: ANY GIVEN SUNDAY Review: ONE OF THE BEST INSIDE FOOTBALL MOVIES THAT COULD EVER BE SEEN.ALE PACINO AT HIS VERY BEST.THIS MOVIE IS ACTION PACKED.HARD FOOTBALL HITTING.TO INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM.TO INSIDE THE COACHES OFFICE.AND THE BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT.WHAT REALLY GOES ON BETWEEN THE OWNER WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL,AND THE COACH WHO KNOWS MORE THAN WHAT MEETS THE EYE.A VERY CLEVER MOVIE.WHERE THE BEST PLAYERS ARE NOT JUST THE PLAYERS IN UNIFORM.A VERY SURPRISING ENDING THAT WILL LEAVE EVERYONE CHEERING.EVEN THE CRITICS
Rating: Summary: These Reviews are Missing Out Review: Firstly, can we all by now accept that entering an Oliver Stone movie is not entering the synthetic movie structure of plot, typical structure, and conclusions? If your looking for an exercise in gratuitous football highlights that are slow motion, drawn out, and played out in the typical methods of main stream football movie, this is not the movie to see. This movie, through its excruciating attack on the senses with quick panning cameras, attempts to bring to the forefront the downfall of modern sports. The camera is capitalism, barraging you with quick framed, brutal action shots, as the economy of modern sports does to the modern day sports fan. The players are severely motivated, but by greed, media, and power; and use drugs, sexual exploitation, and language to achieve these means. That the locker room scenes are drawn out and the game scenes are terse parallels modern capitalist ventures in sports. The team, victory and games are secondary aspects and are only driven by money, the behind the scenes action. The game is the pain killers, owners, player relations, contract negotiations etc.. Comparing this movie to Wildcats or some other claptrap sports movie is apples to oranges. Stone isn't out to show the viewer a good time, he's out to show the viewer what he already sees everytime he watches a sports game. Not liking this movie is a controlled reaction by Stone and an extended metaphor to our quick panning capitalist notions of athletic excellence which are dubious at best.
Rating: Summary: Exhilarating Sports Spectacle. Review: Oliver Stone returns with "Any Given Sunday," which is probably the best football movie ever made. Stone, using his usual visual brilliance and complex writing style, creates a movie that is fun but effective, intelligent and sometimes thoughtful. There are ideas here. What Stone does is make a movie about football where the characters are just as important as the action going on in the field. We care just as much about the characters than the game. This is Stone's best film since "Nixon." He's usually known for political, provocative and satirical masterpieces like "JFK," "Natural Born Killers," "Nixon" and "Talk Radio," but here he examines the sports industry and perfectly exploits how football has become some sort of religion in our society. He also examines the elements of the athlete and what an athlete goes through in life. This isn't some boring chicken job where the director is afraid to explore real issues about the sports world and show some of it's less-popular or glamorous realities. Stone is a director not afraid to take chances, and that's why I admire him. In "Any Given Sunday" he also pumps up the volume with a rock/rap soundtrack and bone-crunching sports sequences. He doesn't just show us a game, he takes us INTO a game. The performances are superb as well, especially Al Pacino who burns the screen with a fury. The camera work as always is superb as is always the case with Stone. The screenplay surprisingly has it's meditative moments and complex ideas and an entertaining plot.
Rating: Summary: Put away the sharp objects Review: ... a very technically gifted filmmaker, and this movie is typical of the intensity his work is known for. To say that I enjoyed it wouldn't be quite right, because it's hard to say you enjoy something so reeking with cynicism, but it was nice to see a first-rate cast (and fun football cameos) go through their paces. I didn't see the film in the theater, so I don't know the entirety of what the "Director's Cut" added, but one omission is pretty obvious. It involves an extreme on-field injury that was most likely cut because of making the audience laugh at it's raw outrageousness. Keep an eye out for it.
Rating: Summary: Not One of My Favorites Review: Since I was a crowd extra for this movie (big game against the Dallas Knights, and I was a Knight,)you'd think I would advocate it. I simply cannot do that. It *may* be a good football movie, but I wouldn't know, since I'm not a football fan. I'm simply reviewing as an honest person who hates all sports but gave this movie a try. In my opinion, the symbolism was way overdone, and any film with that much slow-mo and overdubbed lion-roars can only come across as corny. I don't know if Stone was responsible for the screenplay, but I'm sure he was responsible for some of the quality of the acting, which was remarkably unremarkable. The dramatic scenes fall flat from lack of anything innovative about them. Jamie Foxx's dramatic scene could have saved the movie, but instead it only added to the mediocrity of the whole picture. The only remarkable thing about Any Given Sunday, in my opinion again, is the obvious amount of effort that went into it. Somebody somewhere tried very hard to make a landmark, unforgettable movie that glorifies football and places it in a completely abstract light. It didn't quite work, though. All it was for *me* was a three hour fidget session, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. In all, I was exceedingly relieved that I didn't have a close-up in one of the crowd scenes. It would have been just a little too mortifying. That's how mediocre I found the film.
Rating: Summary: Big disappointment Review: After all the hype about this movie, it was such a major letdown to see. Oliver Stone may be the most overrated director of our generation. The scenes are not realistic at all, instead while watching the movie you feel like you're inside a video game. And Cameron Diaz is absolute horrible as the chick owner. Don't waste your money.
Rating: Summary: Pacino at his best Review: An Oliver Stone film about american football...mmm what a good film that would make. Being an Australian and not fully understanding your game this film was more about the power and pressure that falls onto these young athletes stars, also goes behind the scenes to see the glamour and the cover up that only the americans could do to their stars. Any way Pacino is in one of his best performances yet and personally I could not fault with wonderfully crafted masterpeice
Rating: Summary: Oliver Stone fumbles this one big time. Review: Any given Sunday is a piece of crap. This opinon is comming from a big football fanatic. Stone edits this film like a bad rap video on acid. Yes, I hate rap/hip-hop music but I could have let it go by without to much pain with a believable screenplay and well developed characters. Any given Sunday drops the ball on this notion. I heard when this movie was released, most players and coaches in the NFL, walked out of the movie. Even the great Al Pachino can't save this one. I came out of the movie with a headache and a great feeling of disapointment. Women, get that remote control ready for some rare, male full frontal nudity. I put this movie up against showgirls anytime.
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