Every Given Sunday For Me (Any Given Sunday (DVD))

Member Name: ultras67

Product:	Any Given Sunday (DVD)
Date:	03/11/01 (229 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb Cinematography, DVD Extras, Great performances

Disadvantages: American Football could be a turn off, Acript a little cliched

I was actually on holiday in Thailand when this first came out, there had been very little publicity in the UK so I hadn't heard anything about it. I saw that some of my favourite actors were involved, Pacino, Woods, Modine and it was about American Football so I thought why not. Was I disappointed ? No way.

The script is a little clichéd I have to admit with the changing of the old guard to herald in the new. But most films about sports are. What makes you forget about the relative lack of quality is the performances and the cinematography.

Al Pacino is the intense and stressed out coach of this fictional Miami team. He's got the character nailed to a T as the divorced, old school coach with a minor drink problem. He gets to yell ALOT especially in his final “feet and inches” pep speech in the playoffs. Not as memorable or as deep a character as we are used to seeing Pacino play but he still gives his all.

Dennis Quaid underplays his role as the All American veteran quarterback who gradually accepts that his body has betrayed him after suffering injury after injury during his career. But this works as he is not supposed to be a leading character.

Cameron Diaz portrays a tough as nails owner of the Miami Sharks ( which had been left to her by her father). She is a take charge no nonsense kind of lady and runs her team with an iron hand encased in a soft suede glove. She holds her own along side Pacino with plenty left to spare. For me that is quite a compliment because Al Pacino is just about the best in the business.

The big headed Prima Dona of the Miami Sharks, Willie Steamin Beamen, is played by Jamie Foxx ( who is supposedly huge in America ). He has been a major bench warmer until the fateful game when both quarterbacks above him are injured and he is plunged head first into the game. He promptly throws up and this becomes his trademark. Foxx's character is an interesting study in just ho
w quickly success can rearrange a person's entire life. This character's head gets bigger than Alec Fergusons’.

There are some top names in this movie. James Woods does a fine job of playing the doctor who has to forget his Hippocratic oath so that he can let “the gladiators” play the game they live and in some cases are prepared to die for. Jim Brown makes a showing as an assistant coach for the Sharks, Charlton Heston is cold as ice as the league commissioner and Ann Margaret does a convincing job as the dazed and confused mother of Cameron Diaz's character. ( Got to be honest, I don't know who she is but am told she was big back in the 60s )

Oliver Stone puts you right in the mix. It felt sort of like being in the middle of a elephant stampede complete with the rumbling ground and lots of bone crunching and crackling sounds. Ouch!. The photography in this film deserves special praise. The honours go to Salvatore Totino. He photographs football like a choreographer. Every movement is essential, every shot perfectly framed. And if a full contact sport could be called art, his efforts make it so. In order to get that air of authenticity, Stone actually hired a lot of the guys who film the NFL week in week out so they can catch that perfect spiral.

One word of warning, this is not for the squeamish or faint hearted. With the fast cuts, pacy dialogue and all too realistic hits on the field you could end up reaching for a bucket.

It's a long movie, about 2 1/2 hours, perhaps about 15/20 minutes too long, so pop plenty of popcorn and sit back for an in your face look at american football.

The extras on the DVD are superb. There is a very interesting commentary from Stone about the whys and wherefores of the movie and how it was built. The second disk contains most of the extras though. Deleted / extended scenes. 3 music videos, A making of documentary, the different marketing images
that they came up with to sell the film in different markets ( the UK & America have different covers), a montage of the football scenes, a photo gallery, a quiz, a script to screen trace of one of the vital scenes and a detailed look at the editing process for a scene and how the decisions are made for specific angles and cuts.

The transfer to DVD is superb with crystal clear picture and sometimes all too real bone crunching sound in Dolby digital. The film is in wide screen 2.35.1 ratio.

Summary: