Any Given Sunday (Special Edition Directors Cut) (UK)

9 / 10
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Life is a contact sport
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 151 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:

Synopsis:
Life is a contact sport and football is life when three-time Academy Award–winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and a dynamic acting ensemble explore the fortunes of the Miami Sharks in `Any Given Sunday`.

At the 50-yard line of this gridiron cosmos is Al Pacino as Tony D’Amato, the embattled Sharks coach facing a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy Sharks owner (Cameron Diaz) who’s sure Tony is way too old-school.

An injured quarterback (Dennis Quaid), a flashy, bull-headed backup QB (Jamie Foxx), a slithery team doctor (James Woods) and a running back with an incentive-laden contract (LL Cool J) also provide some of the stories that zigzag like diagrams in a playbook.

Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
`Full Contact` HBO Making Of Documentary
Three music videos from Jamie Foxx and LL Cool J
Gag Reel/Out-takes including montages
Trailer
Screen Tests & Auditions
Extra footage including 16 deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary
Isolated Score
Stills Gallery
The Art Of Selling
Director`s Commentary
Cast & Crew Commentary
DVD-ROM feature: Grid Iron Challenge trivia game, Weblinks, Complete Theatrical Website, Essys & Reviews, From Screen To Script, Virtual Edit Suite

Video Tracks:
Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1 French

Subtitle Tracks:
French
Italian
English
Spanish
German
CC: English
Portuguese
Dutch
Arabic

Directed By:
Oliver Stone

Written By:




Starring:
LL Cool J
Elizabeth Berkley
James Woods
Dennis Quaid
Jamie Foxx
Cameron Diaz
Al Pacino

Casting By:
Mary Vernieu
Billy Hopkins

Soundtrack By:
Robbie Robertson
Michael A. Reagan
Moby
Tony McAnaney
Michael A. Levine
Paul Kelly
Camara Kambon
Richard Horowitz
Bill Brown
Swizz Beat

Director of Photography:
Salvatore Totino

Editor:
Stuart Waks
Keith Salmon
Thomas J. Nordberg
Stuart Levy

Costume Designer:
Mary Zophres

Production Designer:
Victor Kempster

Producer:
Clayton Townsend
Lauren Shuler Donner
Richard Rutowski
Jonathan Krauss
Eric Hamburg
Dan Halsted

Executive Producer:
Oliver Stone
Richard Donner

Distributor:
Warner Bros

Your Opinions and Comments

10 / 10
Awesome!! Buy it, Now! Great Movie. Great sound. Brimming with Extras. Oliver Stone is a genius.
posted by Slaine on 4/12/2000 20:28
10 / 10
Teriffic film with brilliant extras
posted by ad6 on 10/12/2000 14:06
9 / 10
Now, I`m not the biggest fan of American Football. A bunch of big wimps with "Joan Collins" style shoulder pads is not my sort of fun...but I enjoyed the movie a lot. As a sports movie, Oliver Stone has created a fantastic advert for the game.

The picture is crisp and vibrant, the sound is also exceptional. I do like Special Features and there are loads on here, shame about the crap packaging WB keep fobbing us off with.

Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx really shine and have a good scene together where Foxx goes toe-to-toe with The Godfather.

Now, if they could only make a NBA film like this?
posted by James Clews on 2/1/2001 22:42
9 / 10
Well I bought this movie, because of Al Pacino.This movie had energy, but the story is the same old "from the bottom to the top".I don`t care to watch football movies, because American football sucks and so does L.L Cool.The rest of the cast was ok, but those rappers were so annoying, specially that L.L Cool, I really hate him.Was this really "Oliver Stone" movie, hard to believe.

28llimaH[at]moc.liamtoh
posted by Hamill82 on 9/1/2001 10:38
9 / 10
Any Given Sunday was a pleasant surprise for me. Not being the world’s greatest American Football fan (far too many breaks for my liking), I avoided this film for a while. Eventually though, the lure of a great cast list and Oliver Stone`s direction became too much. Thankfully you don`t need to be a fan of the American game to get into the film, as the themes could easily apply to a number of sports. This is the Director`s Cut of the film, complete with scenes missing from the US theatrical release and DVD.

Al Pacino stars as Tony D`Amato, head coach of the Miami Sharks. D`Amato`s team have just lost four in a row, and to make matters worse he has just lost his star quarter back, Cap Rooney (Dennis Quaid). Up steps young pretender Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx), who after a shaky start quickly becomes the hottest new thing in football (he even has his own rap video!). Unfortunately his success goes to his head and he manages to alienate his teammates, his girlfriend, and his coach. D`Amato, who is under increasing pressure from Sharks owner Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), has to watch his beloved team slowly disintegrate around him.

This film features so many fine performances as to be untrue. It really is an embarrassment of riches. Not only do we get Pacino, Quaid and Diaz, but we`re also treated to great turns from James Woods as the Sharks morally ambiguous doctor, LL Cool J as the teams showboating star running back, Jamie Foxx as Willie Beamen, Mathew Modine, Lauren Holly and more. The acting is superb all round, but Pacino, as usual, shines. Oh, and Elizabeth Berkley shows up just long enough to get her kit off, which is always nice.

Video is anamorphic 2.35:1, and is generally good. I did notice a few minor image problems, but nothing to get worked up about. The blacks aren`t as black as they could be in certain scenes, and this is where grain becomes evident. The football matches themselves are visual feasts, Stone really catches the mood of the games. The use of CGI to enhance the scenes is well done, without being obtrusive.

The disc`s audio is among some of the best in my collection, on a par with Saving Private Ryan, The Fifth Element and Fight Club. The Dolby 5.1 mix really puts you in the centre of the stadium during game time; the roar of the crowd, the shouts of the players, and sub lets you feel every bone-jarring tackle. Music is excellent, and features a variety of rap artists (LL Cool J and Jamie Foxx both have tracks featured), as well as music from the likes of Fatboy Slim and the Propellerheads. It`s safe to say the film is an aural feast.

The extra features are outstanding. On the first disc we have an isolated score in 5.1, two commentaries (one from Stone and one from cast & crew members), and a trailer. The second disc contains deleted and extended scenes with optional commentary, an outtakes/gag reel section, three music videos, Jamie Foxx`s audition and screen tests, football outtakes montage, a landscape montage, a stills gallery and the theatrical poster campaign. A fair amount of DVD Rom content is also included. It will take you some time to plough through the features on offer here.

Any Given Sunday is a great film that has given me a greater interest in the game it showcases. The football set-pieces are fantastic; massive blokes running around, doped up to the eyeballs on painkillers and god knows what else, trying to beat seven shades out of each other... It`s exciting stuff. But the film is about a lot more than just football, and I really can`t do it justice here. You`ll just have to watch it for yourself.
posted by Chris Gould on 22/1/2001 06:24
5 / 10
GReat print of one of Oliver`s more pointless efforts
posted by Richard73 on 23/1/2001 17:28
10 / 10
i hate american football.but this movie is a classic unfairly snubbed at the oscars this is drama at its best with a ton of extras one of the best dvds ever this is a must have movie
posted by flair on 29/1/2001 22:26
10 / 10
A fantastic movie with great special features.
posted by LFC_Lad on 10/12/2002 01:21
7 / 10
Al Pacino makes this movie good!
posted by dobar on 27/3/2003 12:12