Any Given Sunday (Special Edition Director's Cut) - Oliver Stone Collection (Snap Case) (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)No one can accuse Oliver Stone of being original. In 1987's Wall Street he took the age old story of a youngster being seduced by money and power and turned into one of the most scathing attacks on heartless Capitalism. So predictably Any Given Sunday doesn't really have anything new to say, just a lot of old things to shout.
One negative review of the film said "Stone directs like a deranged rooftop sniper". And with full frontal nudity, severed eyeballs on the feild and a general air of violent intensity it is clear that the film is excessive. But that is also why it works. Stone manages to give the viewer that voyeuristic delight of a peeping tom who's only allowed to look at something for two seconds before he pulls the camera away. As he did with JFK and NIXON, Stone uses every camera angle concievable, but unlike those two films Any Given Sunday never really becomes a flawless whole.
The film tells the story of the Miami Sharks head coach Tony D'amato(Al Pacino looking very angry). His team is on a losing streak, his quarterback(Dennis Qauid) is injured and is replaced by the talented but ego-centric Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx), who according to D'amato "may sell a lot of T-shirts but is ripping the team apart". Now D'amato has got to battle this kid, the greedy ice cold team owner (Cameron Diaz) and a corrupt team doctor who lets injured players on the field despite fatal risks and then justifies it to himself with twisted morality(James Woods). The scenes between these four principles are stunning, and even there Stone refuses to let the camera sit still. It might have been a wiser descision to tone down the off-field scenes.
Any Given Sunday may seem from its reviews as a tradional sports movie, with the big game ending and bonding theme. While it has those, it far too cynical and ambitious to be just about that. Just incase you don't get it, Stone gives you images of Ben Hur (Football as the modern Gladiator arena) and even casts Charlton Heston as the league comissioner. And ofcourse you get the prescribed dose of anti-consumerism ranting.
In final analysis, Any Given Sunday is not a great film or a historical achievement. But its frequently inspired, always fixating and exhausting. When it hits, it hits very hard.

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When a devastating hit knocks a professional football legend and quarterback cap rooney out of the game a young unknown third-stringer is called in to replace him. Willie beaman seizes what may be his last chance and lights up the field with a raw display of athletic prowess.Studio: Warner Home VideoRelease Date: 09/27/2005Starring: Al Pacino Jamie FoxxRun time: 157 minutesRating: RDirector: Oliver Stone

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Rocky IV (1985) Review

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(More customer reviews)I disagree with most of the crtical reviews of this movie 150%! Not only was this movie my favorite Rocky film (YES, even more than the original Rocky), it is one of my all time favorite movies which I have seen dozens of times and NEVER grow old of it. So much so it became the inspiration of the main graphic on my business web site.
Why? For many reasons.
To me the Rocky theme never grows old. It is the classic "Hero's Journey." The underdog in life that is challenged to pull deep within, fight the inner "demons," connect with one's true strength and inner potential and triumph in the end.
What makes Rocky IV different and more potent in my mind is the contrast in themes. In this movie, Rocky is at the top of his game (in fact retire with all the trappings of success) and is forced to look deep within again but for a much deeper and more soul provoking reason. His best friend and original boxing contender -- Apollo Creed -- has lost his life in the boxing ring to the testerone-driven, freakish, goliath-like Russian boxing challenger. This castrophe forces Rocky to do some deep soul-searching about how "he sold his passion for glory." (from "The Eye of the Tiger" song).
How many people in the business world and life in general, sacrifice their passion for glory?! Probably 95+%. Being a business coach, I constantly look for movies, books, stories that coach people in their businesses. To me this movie has that compelling message. "We must fight to keep our passions alive."
The other aspect that I like about this movie is the strong contrast between nature and technology. Rocky flies off to the desolated mountains of Siberia using nature as his training ground, connecting with his true inner strength. The Russian on the other hand uses all the latest high tech gear and non-stop steroids to build his massive robotic body that looks more like a machine. Another valuable lesson.
While technology has tremendous value to our society, how often do we allow technology to rule our lives, stripping us of our of our connection with ourselves and other people, making us feel more like machines?
If you look at this movie as just a boxing movie, you miss the deeper lessons it can have for your life. Go watch this movie with new eyes and see its brilliant message unfold in front of your eyes.

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The Stratton Story (1944) Review

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(More customer reviews)For Baseball Lovers and/or for those whom just enjoy Jimmy Stewart movies, you will love this movie. Stewart plays Monty Stratton, an upcoming WhiteSox pitcher who gets into an hunting accident and loses his leg. Stewart brillianty portrays the one legged man, who musters the strength and courage to go beyond his handicap and triumph against amazing odds. June Allyson excellently portrays his loving, supportive wife. Many top baseball stars of the time also participate in the movie. One of the few baseball movies that races through the entire range of human emotions with tremendous success.

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Chicago White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton is an affable long drink of water with an easy, whiplike delivery and a pitch so unhittable the young phenom racks up consecutive 15-win seasons. But Stratton's greatest victory doesn't come on the manicured green diamonds of our national pastime. James Stewart portrays Stratton, who loses a leg in an accident just as his career is on the rise...and whose triumph over despair and disability leads him to pitch again. Stewart signed on for the role when he realized the film would be an inspiration to injured World War II GIs. The film still inspires. Awarded an Oscar?* for Best Motion Picture Story, directed by Sam Wood (The Pride of the Yankees) and supported by a top cast that includes real-life ballplayers, The Stratton Story is sports biography at its best.

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Million Dollar Baby (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Hillary Swank (Margaret Fitzgerald), who proved her athleticism in her first major role, The Next Karate Kid, demonstrated it again, pummeling a heavy bag with a power left on which I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end. She's very convincing in this movie - both as a young woman from humble beginnings who wants to make a better life for herself, and as a boxer. In Million Dollar Baby, she returns to the visceral emotional range that left us so deeply moved in Boy's Don't Cry.
Clint Eastwood (Frankie Dunn), who has proved himself repeatedly, has perhaps turned in the best performance of his career. At times irascible, intellectual, mournful, instructive, reflective, passionate - in every manifestation, he reaches you. He was brilliant.
And Morgan Freeman is, well, Morgan Freeman. As the narrator of the story, and an actor within it, he lends a soft-spoken touch that ameliorates some of the film's darker elements. He also lent the film a certain amount of boxing sagacity, as he spoke in non-technical and sometimes quasi-technical terms of the basics of boxing.
This film ain't no Rocky. It has an intelligence and compassion that Rocky (and virtually every boxing film ever made, save perhaps Raging Bull) couldn't think to have. Beyond that, it actually has better fight sequences. More often than in most boxing films - certainly the very poor choreography of the Rocky fight sequences - the punches looked and felt real, or as real as "fake" can make them.
Margaret introduces herself to Frankie after a fight and asks him to train her. He turns her down flat, saying that he doesn't train girls. Given her pluckiness, she appears at his gym the next day, punching a heavy bag with all of the skill, style and fluidity of Pinocchio. Finally he agrees to train her ("finally" takes a while, and watching it come to fruition, the subtle changes in Eastwood's character, is a real treat to watch), and soon she is ready for her first fight.
Here's the only similarity to Rocky: she turns out to be a natural, with a wicked left hook and overhand right (at least that I could see) and is knocking out all of her opponents in the first round. Some might think that this is, perhaps, a bit much. However, in the sport of women's boxing, such a thing isn't uncommon. PLEASE don't think that I'm saying women are not good boxers or don't have the same abilities that men do. It's simply that the increasing popularity of the sport hasn't quite yet led to the kind of talent that exists in men's boxing (although, frankly, talent on that side isn't exactly at it's apex). Her superiority over lesser opponents isn't unheard of.
There's so much more I want to say about this film, because from this point forward it moved from being one of the best films of the year - purely on the strength of the writing, and the performances of Swank and Eastwood in particular - to one of the best films I've seen in several years. I'm so grateful that reviewers didn't give away the ending. I'll just say that the ending is layered with surprises, and that it's been a very, very long time that I haven't seen a single cell phone being used (how annoying is that, even with all of the polite requests and warnings?), and also seen so many in the theater remain in their seats long after the movie ended.
It's a brilliant, brilliant film, the kind that makes me want to go back and change the number of stars I've given most movies that I've reviewed, simply so that this 5 star review means more. I recently gave Sideways, Closer, and Finding Neverland 5 stars, and while they are all very, very worthy films - I'd like to give this one six.


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"I DON'T TRAIN GIRLS", trainer Frankie Dunn growls. But something's different about the spirited boxing hopeful who shows up daily at Dunn's gym. All she wants is a fighting chance. Clint Eastwood plays Dunn and directs, produces and composes music for this acclaimed, multi-award-winning tale of heart, hope and family. Hilary Swank plays resilient Maggie, determined not to abandon her one dream. And Morgan Freeman is Scrap, gym caretaker and counterpoint to Dunn's crustiness. Grab your dreams and come out swinging.DVD Features:DocumentariesFeaturetteInterviews

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Any Given Sunday (Director's Cut) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)No one can accuse Oliver Stone of being original. In 1987's Wall Street he took the age old story of a youngster being seduced by money and power and turned into one of the most scathing attacks on heartless Capitalism. So predictably Any Given Sunday doesn't really have anything new to say, just a lot of old things to shout.
One negative review of the film said "Stone directs like a deranged rooftop sniper". And with full frontal nudity, severed eyeballs on the feild and a general air of violent intensity it is clear that the film is excessive. But that is also why it works. Stone manages to give the viewer that voyeuristic delight of a peeping tom who's only allowed to look at something for two seconds before he pulls the camera away. As he did with JFK and NIXON, Stone uses every camera angle concievable, but unlike those two films Any Given Sunday never really becomes a flawless whole.
The film tells the story of the Miami Sharks head coach Tony D'amato(Al Pacino looking very angry). His team is on a losing streak, his quarterback(Dennis Qauid) is injured and is replaced by the talented but ego-centric Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx), who according to D'amato "may sell a lot of T-shirts but is ripping the team apart". Now D'amato has got to battle this kid, the greedy ice cold team owner (Cameron Diaz) and a corrupt team doctor who lets injured players on the field despite fatal risks and then justifies it to himself with twisted morality(James Woods). The scenes between these four principles are stunning, and even there Stone refuses to let the camera sit still. It might have been a wiser descision to tone down the off-field scenes.
Any Given Sunday may seem from its reviews as a tradional sports movie, with the big game ending and bonding theme. While it has those, it far too cynical and ambitious to be just about that. Just incase you don't get it, Stone gives you images of Ben Hur (Football as the modern Gladiator arena) and even casts Charlton Heston as the league comissioner. And ofcourse you get the prescribed dose of anti-consumerism ranting.
In final analysis, Any Given Sunday is not a great film or a historical achievement. But its frequently inspired, always fixating and exhausting. When it hits, it hits very hard.

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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-year 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. and throughout, there's the awesome spectacle of motion, sound and action orchestrated by Stone.

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The Replacements (Snap Case) (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)As shocking as it may be, when you think about it, the football movies of the past, to include Oliver Stone's excellent but dark, "On Any Given Sunday" simply do not match this film. I will even place this film in the all-time greats like "Pride of the Yankees" and "The Natural".
First, we don't need to watch any more tragedies on film, we need to see something that inspires us to overcome, and this film delivers: I'm surprised its considered a comedy! Hackman should get an oscar for this film because his narration and actions drive the film and create yet another complex character from the mind of the master. Hackman's Coach knows that the men he wants to be his replacements are great, he is frustrated that life hasn't shown them that and he wants to set them up for success, not failure. He believes in them as human beings, not just as football players, that if they can get a "second chance" they will shine. His talks with Keanu Reeves' charachter, reveal a candor and leadership style you should really consider. He tells him flat out he wants to see the man and the ability come together because it will be wonderful to see or words to that effect, his belief in the REALITY that Reeves can deliver are stupendous. Later he instructs his Quarterback, in the hour of decision, the leader wants the ball in his hands.
Along the way, Reeves meets a sexy head cheerleader and there is a nice romance where she begins to believe in him, too. The football action scenes are the best yet to grace movie screens, you feel like you are in shoulder pads/helmet again. What I like was how just before the final game that would decide whether they go to the play-offs or not, Reeves gets canned by front-office politics in favor of the arrogant Joe Theismann-type "all pro" quarterback who is afraid he will lose his job. You are not really sure how the film will end at this point, the team follows the leadership of Reeves but are losing under the arrogant vet. The coach gets a phone call.
I will not give away the ending but Hackman's voice over after the game, clinches it, I paraphrase: "All men once they have touched greatness in their lives are changed forever".
AND THIS IS THE POINT!
Just once, do something great in your life! Go all out and let yourself know that you can do it, once you know this you will be changed forever. The world doesn't let you or want you to know that greatness is within your grasp, this is why it beats you down. Find your gift you have been given and act on it, this is the true attitude "replacement" we need and this film shows us how to get it.

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A comedy based on the 1987 professional football players' strike. Gene Hackman plays the coach of the team, Jack Warden is the owner, Brett Cullen is the All-Pro quarterback that goes on strike and Keanu Reeves is the "scab" who replaces the star QB.

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Victory (1981) Review

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(More customer reviews)Despite the obvious knocks on some of the acting, which really isn't bad, and the Hollywood style presentation style of the film, "Victory" is most certainly the greatest soccer film ever, and a real classic.
An inspirational movie set in the late WWII era inside a POW camp, Max Von Sidow, a high-ranking Nazi commandeer, agrees to arrange a "football" match between the POW's and the German national team. This is a propaganda stunt, something which really isn't all that unrealistic considering the Nazi philosophy at the time.
Sylvester Stallone is the star of the film, as the tough American who has an escape plan, but needs to be on the soccer team in order to carry it out. That is arranged through a classic scene in which the real goalkeeper's arm is broken purposely over two bed boards by Michael Cain, a co-star in the film. Cain, of course a Brit POW, is also in on the plan, along with the rest of the team.
A story of human courage and triumph, the inspirational play of the POW football team and the once inconceivable possibility that they can actually win the match against the Nazi's, proves irresistable for the POW's.
The contacts Stallone makes in his brief escape from the camp previously, sets up a half time breakout through the POW team's locker room. Of course when they arrive through the shattered floor of a huge tub via the underground sewer system, Stallone is the first to bail. But would the rest of the team? Will Stallone return to help defeat the Nazi's in a politically charged football match for the ages? You'll have to watch it to find out.
Ultimately this is a great film, the soundtrack is absolutely perfect, the actors and non-actors alike are all very entertaining and the uniquely inspiring storyline makes it an American classic.
Even if you are not a fan of football, this movie can be watched and enjoyed by people of any age. An underappreciated film, undeservingly so, but one that should be on every good American's list!
I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys sheer entertainment as well as some great, memorable actors along with what could be the only up-close look at the great Pele. For a $13 DVD price, it is your duty to own this one.

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In World War II, a group of Nazi officers come up with a propaganda event in which an all star Nazi team will play a team composed of Allied Prisoners of War in a Soccer (Football) game. The Prisoners agree, planning on using the game as a means of escape from the camp.

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The Long Gray Line (1955) Review

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(More customer reviews)I first saw this movie at our local in the late 50`s here in the U.K. The Memory of Marty Maher never left.. Looking through Amazon one evening i noticed it was available. Well done it arrived in 6 days. Some things you order locally take longer than that.After all these years since i last saw it it`s still a great movie and still brings a tear to the eye. Tyrone Power was perfect, sadly nearing the end of his life as Marty Maher. Nothing against John Wayne who i understand was the first choice but this was`nt his part. Maureen o Hara is wonderful. Ward Bond as "That blackhearted master of the sword" as Marty calls him and Donald Crisp as Marty snr. Its a long movie covering 50 years but never you loose interest. Its perfect. John Ford wanted to be remembered as the man who made westerns. Well he made other great movie`s as well. In my opinion this is an equal to The Quiet Man....The Long Gray Line. The best Ford without John Wayne.

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A League of Their Own (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)Why is Geena Davis an Oscar-winner? Watch this flick; you won't need to ask that again. Her sensitive portrayal of Dottie Hinson highlights the many facets of Davis' talents as an actress. I loved watching a piece of history (however dramatized) which took place during my early childhood. Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell were surprisingly good as the loudmouth-but-secretly-caring-and-feeling Mae and Doris. You'll fall in love with Ann Cusack's "Shirley Baker", and poor, homely but super-star batter Marla Hooch is someone you just gotta root for. Tom Hanks gives us his usual fine performance as the arrogant, boozy and cynical (but in for some surprises) coach Jimmy Dugan. The chauvinistic/sexist way the female players were treated (professional baseball in a cocktail waitress costume!?) by management, the public and the press ("...after all, they're only girls.") will incense many viewers, but it's the way things actually were then. For the movie to be made any other way would be less than truth. The way that the real Dotties, Kits, Maes, Dorises and the others dealt with those attitudes surely contributed to social change and enlightenment about the abilities of the female half of our population. A compliment, also, to the casting people; where did they find the older look-alikes? Notably, Lynn Cartwright as "Older Dottie" and Eugenia McLin as "Older Ellen Sue". This movie is for everyone. Comedy with poignant drama. If you like teary endings, bring the Kleenex. The nostalgia scenes will start the flow. Great, great movie.

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