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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 45060
Released: November 3, 2009 |
| Our Price: $7.62 |
| Used Price: $6.45 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/03/2009 Rating: R
Description of Any Given Sunday (Special Edition Director's Cut) (Keepcase):
Any Given Sunday, Oliver Stone's salute-cum-exposé of pro football, belabors some pretty obvious points for nigh onto three hours; but between the frenetic editing, the pounding rap-music beats, and several flashy performances, it's certainly never dull. Al Pacino, coach of the fictional Miami Sharks (the NFL declined involvement in this production), struggles with the most time-honored of sports movie dilemmas: what to do with the old friend who's past his prime and the young hotshot who could save the franchise but first has to learn what being a team player is all about. Comedian Jamie Foxx does a marvelous dramatic turn as the rookie quarterback whose ego and talent are equally impressive, while Pacino seems more at ease in Oliver Stone Land than any actor since regular James Woods (on hand as well as a sleazy team doctor). Prowling the sidelines, shouting spittle-flecked orders, seizing up in almost physical pain when a play goes the wrong way, Pacino is as unashamedly--and entertainingly--hyperbolic as Stone's whirling montages of boiling storm clouds, bloodthirsty fans, and players smashed into the mud. (Once again football, perhaps the most sophisticated of team sports, is viewed cinematically as a bunch of guys hitting each other in slow motion.) Unfortunately, all the self-conscious mythologizing and pumped-up macho posturing that Stone can muster doesn't conceal a clichéd, slapped-together script, whose few good ideas (mostly about race in America) jostle about with several hoary, terrible ones--including a too-literal analogy of football players as modern gladiators. (To drive the point home, Stone includes Charlton Heston--the aging Ben-Hur--in one of many star-powered cameos.) All in all, Any Given Sunday is never dull, but never very enjoyable, either. --Bruce Reid
Any Given Sunday (Special Edition Director's Cut) (Keepcase) Reviews:
Power, Submission, Authority 
2009-12-15 - This may be the best sports movie I have ever seen.
This movie is special for what it lacks, a specific perspective:
That of the fans. What you see are the atheletes, their families,
the coaches, the press, the doctors, ...basically everybody
associated with the business of football. And what you do not see
are the fans in the stands, and their relationship to the game of
football. And that is what gives this movie a focus that other
sports movies do not have.
An athlete is like a superhero, out in the public eye. But can he
espcape that scrutinity. Does he have a "secret identity"? As in,
if I do the opposite, then maybe I can hide? But in this movie, the
way the atheletes live their lives, is to ignore the fans (the public)
altogether, as if they do not exist. And that is how they stay sane,
by not seeing (or experiencing) the superhero aspects of being
a professional athlete...They play for each other, and the press, whose
careers are as intimately associated with the business (game) of football
as theirs are.
Yet, though the athletes themselves see the game, their spouses (families)
see the business (the money). This represents a conflict of interest in their
relationships with each other on the field, and what they as individuals would
like in their lives. The Cap desires a wife, a family, but she loves the attention
(and privileges) of being a wife in the stands. He realizes he does not have
a family, only The Game. His players could use him as their captain, whilst
he feels a need for...Is football the answer?
Power. Submission. Authority. Three simple words, used by many, but
what do they mean?
A promising athlete has POWER over the scouts who wish to draft him.
Beemer's girlfriend would rather he go to college via an educational
scholarship. But he sees this as her attempting to make him feel insignificant,
illiterate. Whilst others idolize what he can do on the field, make him feel
important. A woman has power over a man who desires her. A gifted athlete
has power over a scout, a coach, or a team, who want him to play, for them.
Hence, he might make demands, or ignore them altogether.
A coach has AUTHORITY over an athlete, if that athlete thinks the coach
can help him with his game, make him a better player. An athlete who desires
to be coached will SUBMIT to that coach. Submission is about being willing
to obey. It is about listening, to the coach. But if an athlete does not, that
relationship is broken, and the coach no longer has authority over that player.
And if an athlete listens, but does the opposite, will the coach who desires that
player not get frustrated and leave? Authority versus Power, is a game that
can get ugly. I need you to do as I say. I want you to help me, not hold me back.
What does a player want? What does a player need?
The game. The business. The family.
Fame. Fortune. Love.
Does a coach care more about a player, or the team?: His career, or another's
life? One of the players might die, but if he manages to stay alive just one more
game, he can retire rich. It is a "tough" decision, made easier because the player
cannot imagine life as a poor man. He figures he will lose his wife and children
if he does not "make it", provide for them, financially. But of spirituality, what food
or clothing, provisions for the body (and not the flesh), can he give his family, he
who would trust in riches? Neither a victim, nor a victimizer be. What would you
do? Let him play? For whether he lives, or dies, his family might be made "better
off".
...Beemer wants to be the Cap. But do his teammates? The team, has power
over Beemer. Because without his teammates, Beemer is "out of steam". And
so the coach isolates Beemer in an attempt to coral him back into the fold. The
teammates will not do as Beemer tells them to do. Because Beemer does not
delegate, does not share the glory, does not have person skills.
In Beemer's personal relationships, he finds that women want to use him. He
does not feel needed by them, like his coach made him feel needed. Maybe
his girlfriend who wanted him to get an education was different. If you love
somebody, would you use that person? Does a coach think, If you guys don't
win, my career will be over? And does a woman who files for divorce, and
expects the courts to award her financial compensation, is she thinking, I
remember when I was "playmate of the month", scoring all those "touch downs",
now I need a "retirement plan", because "the coach" has found another? Some
are born "gifted" while others have a "bad knee".
And then there is the daughter who either loves football, or is still trying to please
her dad. But she cannot seem to relate to these males, and their unwritten rules
of conduct. "You know how your dad would have done this...He would have done
it over a beer"...Some rules and regulations are not found in a rule book, such as
the answer to the question, Where is the mess hall? She feels ignored, despised,
not taken seriously, or as an equal, not invited to the game...Why don't they like me?
It is as if the game has power over her, and does not want to submit, to her. Her
lack of authority, frustrates her. Why can they not see my wisdom, my reasoning,
my logic...This, is best, for the team. She is easy on the eyes, has power over men.
But she wants authority too. Where does that leave, the coach? I quit. I want out.
I want, I need, a beer.
Personally, I hate football. And watching this movie, I remember why. It is the drugs
that hide the symptoms but do not cure the disease. It is the threat of spinal chord
injuries. It is the pretense of religion (witness the all-seeing eye team logo) and
family values (witness the character played by James Woods). It is the padded
helmets, covered with a hard shell, verging on metal. It is that paradox, of athletes
who are supposed to be the epitome ("pity me") of physical perfection and good
health, but who seem closer to death than the fans in the stands. Football and video
games are perhaps a way for males who are in a state of "shock and awe" to unplug from
reality and retreat to the safety of "make believe and illusion" where they can continue
their lives, learning nothing important aside from how to throw a ball, or push a button.
Males seek athletic scholarships in fear of the alternative, a life spent in "prison labour
camps" called "work zones and support payments". Yet, How realistic is this movie? Is
football really this bad?
I like this movie, for it demonstrates that football is for sodomites (Note that neither
aggression or passivity are indications that a male is a sodomite): Football is for males
who desire to abuse themselves with mankind, for males who despise the gift of God
(which is woman), and for males who desire to lie down with mankind as with
womankind. A sodomite is a male who is ungodly and wicked: That label covers a lot of
different kinds of behaviour. Males who enjoy playing, or watching, football, are not godly:
They are sodomites. And they seem to be the majority these days...Neither a victim, nor a
victimizer be. I hate football, but I like this movie. If you are an anthropologist, a sociologist,
or a theologian, you might like this movie too.
A Great Homage to Tradition, Excess, and America
2009-11-28 - I really enjoyed this film even though I am not a football fan and have only watched a few games in my whole life, it is obvious Stone is a real fan and made this as his love letter to the sport. It is fun trying to pick out all the real football stars who have cameos in this film, and even Charlton Heston!!!. Pacino's speech about the tradition of football to the young Jamie Foxx is quite inspiring. Foxx really sells his role and convinces me he deserves his star on the hollywood sidewalk. Lawrence Taylor is a lot of fun to watch. The film really covers all the bases and you get to feel what it is like to be in the huddle under stress and trying to spot the receiver through the chaos. My only criticism is that the shaky cam thing was a bit overdone, and I would have liked to have seen fewer jump cuts in the middle of the action, and Cameron Diaz was a bit hard to take. I think it is a 5 star film on balance for what it acheives as a memorial to the sport in all its facets good bad and ugly.
Great Movie
2009-10-15 - Not "just about Football" This movie ROCKS!! It is always moving, giving you insight to the game of Football and of Life. Great acting: Al Pacino delivers a wonderful performance and all the actors play their parts excellent. Watch this movie you will not be disappointed. I do not even like Football, but this movie was great.
GREAT PRIMER FOR NFL SEASON
2009-09-23 - It was great to revisit this classic--hadn't seen it since it was in the theaters almost ten years ago. Stone does a masterful job of rendering caricatures to realistic, if some times slightly cliched, characters. Blu-Ray makes the fooball scenes almost as good as the Dallas mega screen [especially on my 120" projection screen] and anyone following today's NFL scene is reminded that the more it changes the more it stays the same--just more so. Testosterone-soaked, often maudlin,full of intrigue and action--who can resist!
Stone Tackles The Ugly World of Football 
2009-07-27 - Like the players in American football, Oliver Stone's had his ups and downs. Any Given Sunday is actually one of the director's most accessible works and resonates more with Stone's earlier and mid period work like Wall Street than it does with his work on US presidents. Any Give Sunday works because it's coherent, not left field like the Doors, or rambling like the stylish but disjointed Alexander.
As with most of his best tales, Any Given Sunday presents a battlefield of morality. Every single person in the film - the Coach, the Quarterback, the Hotshot Team owner, etc have to decide what it is they have to do to survive, but also to honour their own integrity. With a star cast that's easy on the eye - Diaz, Quaid, Foxx, and Pacino returning to form, Any Given Sunday may have received mixed reviews but that's because Stone refuses to make a film that's easily classifiable (it's not your typical American football movie nor a serious drama). Nonetheless, for Stone fans, this is undeniably enjoyable and engaging stuff.
