Any Given Sunday (1999) review

Professional football coach Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) of the Miami Sharks has a lot to deal with: his team is on a multi-game losing streak, club owner Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) is threatening to relocate them to Los Angeles, his offensive coordinator Nick Crozier (Aaron Eckhart) wants his job, his starting quarterback "Cap" Rooney (Dennis Quaid) is badly injured so he has to put in shaky third stringer Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx) ... but then once Willie "settles in" (by ignoring the play calls) and starts winning, Rooney "heals up" and Tony has to decide who to use as his main signal-caller.  You can't really question the authenticity of it - it's based on a novel by former NFL defensive end Pat Toomay and features legendary players like Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown - and the topics covered are still relevant twenty-five years later, such as the "concussion issue," unethical doctors, a lack of African-American coaches or owners, college athletes not being properly compensated, etc.  As expected, it's filmed in an overheated, ultra-stylized manner, with cuts every few seconds (if not quicker), slow-motion and blurred effects, shots of swirling, ominous clouds, frequent screaming ... and a playoff game in which a player actually loses an eyeball.  Stone's approach is overly-literal - there is footage of Ben-Hur and then Charlton Heston himself pops up as the league commissioner - and non-fans might experience sensory-overload, but there's no denying the Vietnam Vet (who appears as an announcer) finds the violence to be exhilarating.