{"id":18602,"date":"2014-09-26T22:04:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T02:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=18602"},"modified":"2016-01-17T22:10:11","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T03:10:11","slug":"any-given-sunday-1999-15th-anniversary-directors-cut-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/26\/any-given-sunday-1999-15th-anniversary-directors-cut-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Any Given Sunday (1999) 15th Anniversary Director’s Cut [Blu-ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Oliver Stone\u2019s \u201cAny Given Sunday\u201d is a film that literally anyone can watch. Because while it\u2019s certainly a sport films centered on the industry of football, its central themes are relatable to anyone. While on the surface it\u2019s about business and athletes, and competing, mainly \u201cAny Given Sunday\u201d is about a group of people trying desperately to out run the clock of time, and gain some sense of security for their future before father time catches up on them. When we meet these people in the narrative, many of them are at the beginning of their short careers trying to build a future, while others find their windows of opportunity closing and desperately cling to any chance to secure their future for themselves and their family. Stone composes a very richly defined ensemble drama about the football industry and how demanding it is both as an arena for skilled athletes, and athletes anxiously trying to bank on the momentum of their popularity, as fleeting it may be.<\/p>\n

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Jamie Foxx garners the most compelling of the slew of sub-plots, as Willie Beaman, a new draft pick for the Miami Knights, whose sudden surge of popularity after a few successful games manages to transform him in to his own worst enemy. Driven by a life of poverty, Beaman finds himself on the receiving end of big press and endorsement offers, and anxiously tries to touch on every potential moneymaking opportunity, all the while convincing himself that he\u2019s the best player on his team of already struggling athletes. Though Foxx\u2019s turn as Beaman allows for some truly despicable plot turns, Beaman is still a very empathetic character driven not so much by ambition as paralyzing fear that he\u2019ll in poverty, while his contribution to his sport will have been in vain. There\u2019s also coach Tony D\u2019Amato and Christina Pagniacci, both of whom are at odds on how to create a richer legacy for the Knights as their losing streak turns off both fans and investors alike.<\/p>\n

Cameron Diaz gives a top notch turn as Pagniacci, the heir to the team that her father once owned, who is struggling to decide on selling the team, or upholding her dad\u2019s legacy, while D\u2019Amato is eager to drive the team in to winners again and refuses to give up on what he\u2019s worked so hard for. Al Pacino is fantastic as the decreasingly motivated D\u2019Amato who is facing a new school of business men and women and is devoted to the Knights to a fault. Every single person we meet in \u201cAny Given Sunday\u201d has something to take away from this team\u2019s welfare. Whether it\u2019s John C. McGinley\u2019s slimy opportunistic sports commentator, to James Woods as the team doctor who provides medical information on the team members only selectively for the sake of their game play, it\u2019s really all delineating shades of gray and people struggling to find something they can take with them after so many years in what is a demanding and fast paced profession. \u201cAny Given Sunday\u201d is a richly composed and well acted ensemble piece, and one that spotlights the life of the athletes and the ticking clock that works against them.<\/p>\n

Featured on the Director\u2019s Cut Blu-Ray is a Director\u2019s Commentary with Oliver Stone who discusses in wonderful detail about filming the movie, working with the cast, and how the movie fits in to his list of personal projects. There\u2019s an Actor\u2019s Commentary with Jamie Foxx who discusses working with Stone, his character and his own performance. Though not as entertaining as Stone\u2019s Foxx is still an interesting personality. The new feature \u201cAny Given Sunday: Anything Can Happen\u201d is a thirty minute retrospective featuring interviews with Stone, NFL stars Marshall Faulk and Willie McGinest, and many more, all of whom speak on the movie, its authenticity, and its connection to the realities of working in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cFull Contact: The Making of Any Given Sunday\u201d is a twenty seven minute HBO produced documentary that looks behind the scenes of the film and is your basic documentary on production. There are thirty minutes of deleted and extended scenes, many of which were injected in to the Director\u2019s Cut. All scenes feature director\u2019s commentary. There\u2019s a trio of music videos from LL Cool J, Jamie Foxx. There\u2019s the seven minute reel of Auditions and Screen Tests, a Gag Reel, and the twelve minute \u201cFootball and Landscape Outtakes\u201d which features shots of the field and plays that didn\u2019t make it in to the movie. There\u2019s the \u201cInstant Replay\u201d which is solely about the film\u2019s football sequences, \u201cProduction Stills and Advertising Gallery\u201d which feature two galleries of more than 140 photos and marketing materials, and finally a theatrical trailer for the movie.<\/p>\n