Typically, when a sports movie comes out, we're told by the filmmakers that what we're watching isn't really about sports at all; its about life. In the case of Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, I'm tempted to go along with the life-not-sports line because the film seems so transparently a playing-out of Stone's conflicted feelings about Hollywood. (This qualifies as life, doesn't it?) Al Pacino plays Tony D'Amato, the head coach of the Miami Sharks football team, now on a losing streak. The film ostensibly slams the country's win-at-all-costs culture, but I've rarely seen a movie that put such a premium on the thrill of victory. Any Given Sunday is a powermonger's fantasy about saying screw you to the front office while still winding up on top . . . Angela's Ashes, directed by Alan Parker, converts Frank McCourt's whimsical coming-of-age memoir into a sodden, drizzly thing. No blarney will be found here, but also no spirit, no humor, no depth.

Related:

• Archive: “Movie Reviews”
• Articles by Peter Rainer
• Table of Contents: Jan 3, 2000 issue of New York | Subscribe!