Rating: 
Summary: 2nd worst movie ever made
Review: If you're wondering, the worst movie ever perpetrated on the human species was "It Happened In Athens", a 1962 peace of drivel starring Jane Mansfield. "Any Given Sunday", dollar for dollar, however, should really take first place, everything else equal. Until this production, there had never been a movie with more cliches than actual words of dialogue. Having covered the NFL for more than two decades, I can assure you and Oliver Stone that Al Pacino's conflicted coach would not have had that "need a dozen fewer prunes at lunch" look if he were indeed leading a team into the playoffs. His next stop, after the heartless, greedy owner got through with him, would have been to another team offering more money.
Jamie Foxx, with his primadonna quarterback antics, might look compelling on celluloid, but in a real NFL locker room, he would have wound up with a large foreign object stuffed in his "gem protector". Mr. Stone placed himself on-screen in the announcing booth and was shown actually rooting for Big Al's squad. This might play in high school, but it's unrealistic and unprofessional in the big-time.
Finally, grunting and groaning actually does occur during a game. But the linemen don't lose two quarts of bodily fluid on every pass-blocking episode, and, quite frankly, nobody ever needs to see Gatorade residue that up close again Oliver Stone shot these sequences so tightly that we lost perspective. Even the television networks, known to hype and grind anything remotely interesting into the dust, understand that slo-motion is best used sparingly. Three or four instances of this cinema technique would have been sufficient. But to turn a fast-paced sport into a gladiator movie with valium-induced choreography helped made this film only slightly preferable to a visit to the dentist. I saw it for free, and still want to get back at the guy who treated!
Rating: 
Summary: technically great, and a subtle plot
Review: "Any Given Sunday, you can win or you can lose - but can you lose like a man?" - Oliver Stone didnt exactly win with this one, but in my mind, its a solid movie. most of the complaints against this movie are that it is too long (partially true) and that it has NO plot (totally untrue).
the movie is about team-play, ambition, ego-struggles and competition in general. Oliver Stone has penned a brilliant script and woven a tight and subtle story here for the discerning audience. the viewer will have to carefully observe the subtle interplay between various people to really appreciate what is going on in their minds and how each person changes as the movie progresses. this is what the whole plot is about and since its not exactly very obvious, the movie is lost on many.
however, the acting is still brilliant (even cameron diaz). the editing is just top-rate, the quick cuts and sharp angles to capture the excitement on the field is just terrific, but it might be a bit of an eye-sore for people who prefer the safe soft, long & slow shots. another outstanding highlight is the music, very very apt and and adding to the mood in each scene.
On the whole, a top class movie.
Rating:
Summary: Oliver Stone Almost Ruins This One...
Review: "Any Given Sunday" had all the potential to be the best football action flick to date. A stellar cast, great script, and capable director. While the movie was still very enjoyable, it still came up short in the realized potential catagory.The cast is the true strength of this movie. Obviously Pacino is excellent as the "coach on the bubble" who is struggling to hold his team and his life together at the same time. Cameron Diaz is given her first opportunity to show that she can ACT in this movie, and she plays the role perfectly. Even Jamie Foxx comes through as the "new style" athlete who rules through hype and personality more than anything else. Dennis Quaid is his usual reliable self as a "Marino/Young" who is nearing the end of a fantastic career. The downside to the film is the artsy-fartsy filming techniques used during the action scenes. If you love football and hate headaches both as much as I do, then you will probably be irritated too. You can't make out anything in the blurry, fast-moving style that Stone chose to film in, and big headaches are the only result. Now I'm not Stone bashing, but I just think it really took away form the potential of the movie. Otherwise, it's an engaging script with a cleaver ending. Probably will appeal to sports fans more than anyone else, but it's still a good football movie.
Rating:
Summary: Should Have Rented ANY OTHER MOVIE
Review: "Any Given Sunday" is a rare study in just how inept a film can be. For those who truly haven't seen a lousy film lately, this is a must rent. It takes the oft-scorned, "No Editor Necessary" approach that so many films these days succumb to. We get everything with this film. Every incoherant plot twist, every useless sub-plot, every poorly acted scene, every badly cut exchange between two actors talking to different cameras, every badly written dramatic exchange...it's all there. Indeed it is good that Oliver Stone in his graciousness allowed us to see that this is indeed one of the worst films of all time and there was nothing left on the editing room floor to redeem it. Punctuating the oppressive boredom in two places, is, to no surprise, Al Pacino, who first pins Fox's ears back in a wonderful scene where he lectures about what it in fact means to be a quarterback. The movie's best scene, (I'll admit, my hair stood up on the back of my neck) is Pacino's pep talk right before they take the field in the last game. The words and tone that Pacino uses are wonderful, though wasted in this sea of in your face filmmaking.
Rating: 
Summary: MTV editing, flash, crunch, no soul
Review: "Any Given Sunday" is Oliver Stone at the bottom of his game: a flashier, louder, cruder, LONGER LONGER LONGER and soul-less version of "North Dallas Forty." There are some interesting camera angles, innovative football shots and a good performance by Al Pacino, but that's about it. The story is all over the place and the dialog is not particularly well written; the movie is about 40 minutes too long; characters suddenly change their outlook near the end of the film, with no apparent motivation; Stone's trademark incredible cynicism about women is in full form (the wife of an incredibly banged-up 39-year-old quarterback HITS HIM IN THE FACE when he says he won't play next year, and Cameron Diaz just yells constantly); there is male full frontal nudity; a player loses a BODY PART on the field (was this supposed to be funny?); at one point we're suddenly asked to start caring about these people when all of the previous movie had been a biting, over-the-top (way over) indictment of pro sports; and just too much bouncy, quick-cut editing, an announcement of BIG MEANING, when there's no story there. I love football. I didn't absolutely hate this, but giving it five stars as some have, is completely astonishing. Spend your 2 hours and 45 minutes (or whatever, it seemed longer) elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: The Inside Look at Professional Pigskin
Review: "Any Given Sunday" is the only football-based movie in modern-day entertainment that doesn't hold back on anything at all. It shows the true events of a common professional football team. Their ups and downs are both included; this movie isn't just football; it dives into the lives of professional athletes and is very descriptive in that it shows how they(players) often get wrapped up in greed, hate and envy. It shows of how friends can turn against each other in the case of greed and it shows things such as the players and coaches opinions of the mass media. The players and management study their sports on and off the gridiron. When the movie shows the game going on, it feels like you're playing. It is right there with the play and every sound made and movement is right with you and it shows everyone what it is really like. Contrary to other football movies like "The Replacements", it doesn't say that the good guys always win. BELIEVABLE STORY. Pacino does another very convincing and emotional role and Jamie Foxx does fairly decent in one of his non-comedy roles. If you look at this in the eyes that "it's just a football movie" then it will seem far too long. But, if you understand it's depth and truancy of the sports world, you'll enjoy this. A WINNER
Rating: 
Summary: another masterpiece
Review: "Any Given Sunday" keeps the unmistakable style of Oliver Stone, especially seen in Natural Born Killers, transporting it this time in the new, agitated, full of events world of american football. Al Pacino is the coach of a football team, owned by the greedy Cameron Diaz, team that passes through difficult times, after 4 consecutive defeats and the injury of the best 2 quarterbacks. In this moment enters Beaman (Foxx), the "always substitute", and he doesn't miss the unexpected chance awarded by the coach. By his style of play, spectacular, but not caring about the tactics and the schemes, he wins the heart of the fans, but enters in the disgrace of the coach. The world of football is an eternal source of stories or problems that can be used in a movie. After he showed us wars, from many points of view, the murder of JFK, the agitated history of The Doors, or the satire against the media in Natural Born Killers, Oliver Stone enters on an unused territory so far. And he does it in style, with an exceptional movie. One thing must be clear: this is not a movie only for football fans, but for everybody. Because it's not a movie necessarily about football, but about team spirit, about friendships, joys or troubles, a film with strong characters played by really special actors. A film that will keep your interest at high levels, despite its long runtime, by the fabulous style of Stone, but also by the story, full of events dictated by interests or the rush for money, that many times dims freindships or any bit of morality. During the movie, you are taken through the backstage of american football. You will discover a dirty world, full of interests and passions, far of the beauty observed from outside. Al Pacino is a character caught between the desire of winning every match no matter what and the friendship that ties him with "old" Rooney, who injures himself at the beginning. Beaman is a young football player, selfish, insensitive, but with an extraordinary talent. Many times, the sudden pass from anonymity in the spotlights can bring with it major changes in the character's personality, changes that can only be bad. That's what happends to Beaman. The selfishness, the interest only for himself, bring major misunderstandings between him and his teammates or his coach. Al Pacino has the tough mission of bringing the team to the desired levels, calming down the spirits and also making the difficult decision concerning the quarterback: Beaman or Rooney. New or old. Talent or team player. Although the script is very good, the film wouldn't have had the same value without Oliver Stone on board. He shows us again, one more time, his great talent. By his awesome way of filming, that reminds us of NBK, the fast paced, incredibly real dialogues, or last, but not least, the full of significance "inserts" with what he feasted our eyes and mind also in NBK, you actually feel that you are a part of this world, that you are really inside it. You can't even blink without being sorry. Again, the camera moves very quickly, this agressive style, of fast filming, "short" editing, strange angles or permenent camera movement, being a characteristic of many Stone movies. And the "inserts" have a special meaning again, especially in the scene of the dialogue between Foxx and Pacino, maybe the best and most significant of the whole movie. All in all, another success for Oliver Stone. A movie added to his impressive collection of masterpieces, of the most varied and original director of our times.
Rating:
Summary: "Any Given Sunday" is the best sports film since...never!
Review: "Any Given Sunday", starring Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz, directed by Oliver Stone, is possibly THE best sports film EVER! The film follows a football team, losing, that discovers its star football player through getting one injured. Much of the film is in the background of the players' lives between games, but the football games are perhaps the most exciting I've ever seen! I prefer this movie to ANYONE!
Rating:
Summary: Another One of Stone's Gems!
Review: "When a man looks back on his life, he should be proud of all of it, not just the years he's been in pads and cleets" says the elder statesman of football LT to young Beaman. The modern day gladiator drama that is football explodes on the screen in all the digital surround glory that is Oliver Stone. His tale of a civil war within another male institution is explored here much as it was in PLATOON.
The DVD quality is one of the best I have seen. The opening half-hour football sequence is bone-crunching, pulse-pounding, and unfolds much like scenes in JFK, DOORS, and NATURAL BORN KILLERS. Try to spot all of the real-life football hereos such as Johnny Unitas, Jim Brown, LT, and Barry Switzer. (THOSE ARE PRETTY EASY TO SPOT SINCE THEY GET A LOT OF SCREEN TIME BUT THERE ARE PROBABLY OTHERS THAT IF YOU BLINKED YOU WOULD MISS THEM). Stone's use of fantasy teams instead of using actual teams(although the CROSS-TOWN DOLPHINS are mentioned!) works very effectively.
Rating:
Summary: Too much all at once
Review: 'Any Given Sunday' is a difficult movie to watch. It has lightning-fast editing and much of the dialogue is drowned out by rock, pop, and rap music. Oliver Stone is a talented director, and their are scence which are good, but the story is a complete mess. Also, I think most people would find Cameron Diaz as the owner of a football team a little implausable.
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