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"Any Day" (2015 release; 101 min.) brings the story of Vian (played by Sean Bean). As the movie opens and the opening credits roll, we see him at a party, drunk and getting into an argument with another guy. Vian, a professional boxer we later learn, ends up pummeling the guy to death and is imprisoned. After the opening credits, we are informed that as are "Twelve Years Later" and Vian is released from jail. Not knowing where to go, he is turned away from his former boxing club and in desperation goes to his sister Bethley Kate Walsh. She very reluctantly agrees to let him stay for two weeks at her house, as long as Vian doesn't booze. It's not long before we see Vian in the grocery store and getting to know Jolene (played by Eva Longoria), and he asks for her phone number right then and there. Along the way, Vian is also desperately looking for a job and catches a break when he gets a cooking job at a pizzeria managed by Roland (played by Tom Arnold). To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this movie is written and directed by Rustam Branaman, best known for his acting work in front of the camera. I can see the good intentions of this movie: tough guy with a good hard is re-entering society and really wants to do right this time around. Unfortunately, the scrip is incredibly weak and utterly predictable. There is no tension to speak of in the movie. Worse, the scenes where the emotions get high, are utterly unbelievable. As I was watching this, I felt sorry for the wasted talents of Eva Longoria. She looks completely lost in this movie, and it's easy to see why. I admit I struggled to make it through the end of the movie but I somehow did. You don't have to suffer the same fate...I saw this movie recently at the Silverspot Theater in Naples, FL, where a bunch of movies that played at the recent Palm Beach International Film Festival were featured. I had never heard of "Any Day" and literally took a chance on this. I shouldn't have, and in all honesty, I cannot recommend this movie to anyone. Viewer beware!
Critic from criticise - "it does what it says on the tin". Pay no attention Bean-peeps, we will make our own minds up 'cos that's what we do!
The purpose of film trailers is to give audiences a flavour of the film, so that they can see if it is to their tastes and worth paying a trip to the cinema. At least, that’s what they should be. But, now we’re at a point in film marketing where trailers, arguably, give away a little too much Indie film ANY DAY is another victim of these kinds of trailers, in which the whole film is shown in its 2-and-a-half minute lengthANY DAY is a film that could have been tidied up a little more in the editing suite. The story is pretty much all over the place with some details that are clumsily left unexplained for no good reason, and many dramatic contrivances spiral the plot out of control, making a right royal mess. Also, the PG version I watched had quite a few colourful words that were very poorly dubbed over – you’re foolin’ no one if you can see Sean Bean’s mouth saying ‘fuck’, yet words along the lines of ‘botheration’ are what you can hear. It’s a film that is still in its rough cut state. But, more than that, it’s unsuccessful in its suspension of disbelief in that it leaves a visible gap between how the story would play out and how it does play out; it’s trying to have its cake and eat it by inhabiting a world of rough-tough runaways, but one that has a dewy-eyed fairy-tale story.Having said that, Sean ‘always-killed-off’ Bean and Kate Walsh give perfectly decent performances, and the young Noah Gross is a particularly warm and charming screen presence, who demonstrates the very bright career he has ahead of him. It has its heart in the right place: it wants to be a redemption story, told with fairly broad strokes. But, there is a fundamental problem in the way the relationships play out, which just aren’t convincingly done so.Although, that’s not a reason to wholly dismiss it offhand. Along with the three central players, Tom Arnold (playing Vian’s only friend, Roland) and Eva Longoria (Vian’s sweetheart, Jolene) are both very good, and they’re all working their best with material that’s, ultimately, a little flimsy and all over the shop.ANY DAY isn’t a bad film by any means. Writer/director Rustam Branaman clearly shows that he is passionate about the story and is enthusiastic in his telling it. But, he’s so enthusiastic that, like a child who is so excited about all their new toys, he ends up making a bit of a mess. If that doesn’t sound like something that would interest you, just watch the trailer below, and be done with it. If it does, be strong enough to resist your cursor wondering down to the ‘play’ button.ANY DAY is released on VOD on 1st April in the US, and in selected US theatres on 1st May.
Sean Bean’s mouth saying ‘fuck’
What To Expect: A suspect script is kept alive by a good cast and acting, but only for the first half One time, Tony Soprano ranted about modern men and actors, saying half of ‘em were all pussies. He said they need to go back to the likes of Gary Cooper, who said less but meant twice as much business. That’s kind of like Sean Bean, an actor I like. I’m sure if this movie had a different cast it could well have been awful instead of a movie that barely manages to be average, or mediocre even. That’s all this movie is at the end of the day and not really worth endorsing. But it might be interesting to some, who might be fans of Sean Bean, Tom Arnold or Eva Longoria, who put the hours in here and at least don’t phone it in. They make the best out of a severely questionable script in this little story driven drama.It’s the old ex-con seeking redemption yarn here, with (Vian) Sean Bean released from the can after serving 12 years for beating a drunken pissant to death, viciously, after he is attacked by him at a party. Returning to his small town, Bean finds many doors are closed for an ex-con trying to go on the straight and narrow, especially one with a violent disposition. Vian tries for refuge through the innocence of his nephew and his single mother sister. He also tries his luck with Eva Longoria (I mean, who the fuck wouldn’t?) and is given refuge flipping burgers by Tom Arnold, who is running a struggling diner.That interaction with Longoria in particular, when they first meet, exposes just how bad the script for this movie truly is. The dialogue is out of this world terrible, so bad that you can almost read it on Bean’s face (wow, they’re making me say that?) Even so, Bean’s performance is stellar, despite being in a lowly movie like this. I like Sean Bean and his understated stoic performances, which is exactly what’s going on here. It’s also hard not to root for him, almost in a Rocky Balboa sort of way, as he attempts to regain his status as a man. Tom Arnold is also in there, it’s always good to see him, in a full role too. Not one of these super cameo jobs. The guy has barely aged at all either!Towards the end though this movie becomes really fucking stupid. It loses its way and clearly hasn’t got a clue how to wrap things up. And the allure of Eva Longoria, pasting over the cracks in this movie, can’t really make up for it either. The ending itself is ludicrous and kind of jumps the shark. And so, Any Day slips into maybe some other day. With a better writer.Not a bad attempt, despite the sheer hatred it’s getting, but so so at best.
*** This review may contain spoilers ***I noticed this new release has only had one other review by Paul Allaer who seemed to dislike it very much . My own motives for seeing it was simply down to seeing a film before it went on general release and the fact it contains the novelty of a film starring Sean Bean where he plays an American character as in he doesn't speak with a broad Yorkshire accent . The remake of THE HITCHER was the only other film I can think of when Bean did this !!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!! After seeing AD I have to agree with Paul that it's not a great film and I agree with him the reasons why it's not a great film . It is a redemption plot and an all too obvious redemption plot and one with all too predictable twists . If someone says " No drinking or else" you can guarantee there will some drinking going on and else will indeed happen . One key plot turn quite literally rips off a scene from THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and a prior scene to take us there indicates this is a Christian film , though to be fair to the movie it's not really propaganda and doesn't equate atheists as being terrible people and believers as wonderful . It's up to the viewer's interpretation to take a certain scene as literal divine intervention or as a dream . That said the character interaction between Vian and Roland as they work all day together in a kitchen does have a ring of truth to it and the cast are very likable . Just a pity they weren't working with stronger material
I’m most certainly not the type of person to get sucked into a family drama with a religious underlining but, ANY DAY was able to do so. It’s fair to say it’s the cast who make it worthwhile. Sean Bean (covering up his accent) spearheads the all-star cast in a tale of forgiveness and redemption. Writer/director Rustam Branaman is clearly passionate for the story and his characters. Even if the film is slightly uneven, it emerges as being quite strong with several really strong and unexpectedly great performances. I was however confused by the PG Version screener I watched since the film clearly has colorful dialogue, it’s just dubbed over to be less threatening.Vian (Sean Bean) is a fighter who also happens to be an alcoholic. He drunkenly gets into a fight and accidently kills a man. Twelve years later, he’s sober, out of prison, and ready to start over. He moves in with his sister Bethley (Kate Walsh) and her young son Jimmy (Nolan Gross) who he quickly forms a bond with. Starting over isn’t easy and Vian has trouble finding a job until he meets Roland (Tom Arnold). He runs a pizza joint and sees something in Vian. The two form a quick friendship and his life seems to be on the right track. He even meets an amazing woman named Jolene (Eva Longoria) and is quickly falling in love with her. Soon, one bad thing after another happens and his life begins to spiral out of control once again. If he wants to be a better person, he will have to battle his own personal demons.There’s only one issue with the film keeping it from being exemplary: it feels disjointed at times. Things get overlooked or are never resolved. It almost makes the film feel incomplete. While I’m on the subject of things that don’t quite work, the term overly dramatic comes to mind. With those complaints aside, the top notch performances from the cast is worth the price of admission alone. Sean Bean is the man, regardless of what type of film he may be in. He gives a strong, multi-layered performance and quite the opposite of what we are used to seeing from him. Every second he’s onscreen, you still get the feeling he would kick our asses at any time. Longoria and Walsh, who are sometimes underrated, once again prove how great they can be. The surprises here are Tom Arnold and Nolan Gross. Arnold proved long ago he wasn’t just riding in on his ex-wife’s coattails but is every bit as talented, if not more so. The young Gross delivers this incredibly sweet performance and expertly captures the innocence of being a kid.While nowhere near perfect, the film has it’s heart in the right place. The strong performances and the theme of redemption and hope easily gets under your skin, hell, it might even make you cry (I’m a man, dammit! I never shed a tear, I swear).
Sean Bean plays an alcohlic boxer struggling for spiritual redemption in Rustram Branaman's meldorama with religious undertones A fine cast is wasted in actor Rustam Branaman's directorial debut, a ham-fisted melodrama about an alcoholic boxer seeking redemption after serving a twelve-year prison sentence for killing a man in a drunken brawl. Starring Sean Bean, Eva Longoria, Kate Walsh and Tom Arnold, Any Day features a faith-based subtext awkwardly shoe-horned into its old-fashioned tale that has the dated feel of a Warner Brothers '30s programmer. Available on VOD for the last month, it's now receiving a limited theatrical release that will surely be a fast fade. Bean certainly has the necessary strong physical presence for his role, as demonstrated by so many scenes featuring him strenuously exercising that they make Rocky look like a slacker. But both he and his female co-stars are unable to overcome the narrative contrivances, with only the appealingly low-key Arnold and talented child actor Gross managing to provide credible characterizationsRelying heavily on the clichéd use of time-lapse photography to enhance the ominous mood, the film also features not one but two renditions of the Bob Dylan song "I Shall Be Released" whose lyrics provide its title. But much like the cover version heard in the opening and closing moments, Any Day feels strictly ersatz.
Sean Bean dies a lot. At least, that’s the traditional take on the British actor’s on-screen career. He dies a lot. Sean Bean doesn’t die in Any Day, but the sneakily faith-based drama is preoccupied enough with his character’s rocky post-prison resurrection that he might as well have, if only to make his eventual rebirth pack the kind of legitimate punch it’s sorely missingThe film casts about for some kind of dramatic upheaval to drive the narrative and its many characters’ evolutions, but instead of settling on one of the many problems Vian has on his plate, the film’s third act all but invents one. Any Day features a series of out-of-place shots of Jimmy lazing around on his bike, gauzy and dreamy-like, that are initially confusing, before suddenly snapping them into sharp focus. Any Day features a third act twist that’s baffling and bizarre—see The Reveal—the kind of thing that feels ripped out of a particularly bad soap opera or a Nicholas Sparks film. Built on a number of ludicrous contrivances, Any Day eventually pushes its disparate pieces together into a misguided and oddly unsettling storyline that places a premium on faith, the blind kind, the kind that doesn’t concern itself with questions or logistics, or even the most basic of instincts
Any Day falls into the painfully crowded trough between not-bad and seriously not-good movies: On the one hand, it's painfully clichéd and cast largely from the teeming pool of has-beens and never-weres who keep low-budget filmmakers awash in onscreen talent. On the other, it bypasses the usual genre (horror/thriller/erotic) route and is surprisingly subtle in the way it deploys the conventions of faith-based filmmaking: Bethley's occasional allusions to prayer and her conviction that God will provide are entirely in keeping with her character, a single mother who's done her share of partying and is having a tough time making ends meet, but knows that the future of her child–and to some degree her wayward brother–depends on her ability to hold it together and roll with the metaphorical punches…that is, until disaster strikes and her entire makeshift family must pull together.None of which is to say that Any Day is a movie poised to stand alongside top-notch blue-collar dramas like White Palace or The Good Girl. Only that it's better than many of the movies with which it will be jostling for attention on Netflix and it would be nice to see it find an audience.
Any Day Any Day is blessed with a proliferation of odd details, but writer-director Rustam Branaman doesn't seem to realize how strange they are, or how interesting they could have been if heightened a little. For instance: Of all the challenges that might confront a washed-up boxer fresh off a twelve-year stretch for a manslaughter rap, the unlikeliest might be the eleven-year-old school bully. Such is the weird life of Vian (Sean Bean), an ex-con who finds redemption by making pizzas. But instead of embracing, or really even recognizing, the oddness of his own script's details, Branaman makes everything as flat as Bean's laconic affect, the film's title, and its theme music ("Pensive Canon in D Major for Indie Drama," apparently). Besides the subplot about a middle-schooler bullying a middleweight boxer, the film has a cameo appearance by legendary action film screenwriter Shane Black and a pretty girl who decides that dating Tom Arnold might be fun. Seeking atonement for his crime while repairing his relationships with his sister and her son, who was born while he was in the penitentiary, Vian gets his first post-prison job at a pizza joint managed by Arnold, whose sloppy charm pops against all this oblate dullness like the most interesting guy at a title insurance office. Fumbling toward Vian's redemption, Branaman stumbles, handling a tragic death and a ghostly visitation with fists of ham and the dialogue of a man born with no ears
As a faith-based movie out to create a tale that celebrates repentance and emotional connection, “Any Day” stumbles every step of the way. A stunningly amateurish effort, the feature strives to create a tragedy out of stupidity, hitting every cliché imaginable as it lumbers from scene to scene. The actors gathered here are left with nothing to work with, trying to make the best out of a bad situation, yet only they manage to make the picture worse. Abysmal, manipulative, and often caught with its shoelaces tied together, “Any Day” is either one of the most poorly edited features I’ve seen this year, or director Rustam Branaman is trying to pull off a colossal cinematic prank. “Any Day” doesn’t follow a direct plot, with choppiness reducing the feature to random scenes of distress, most centered on Vian’s inability to think for himself. There are a few twists along the way to shock the movie back to the life, but it all registers as desperation, with Branaman scraping the bottom of the barrel to force the viewer to like these characters as they strive to overcome their flaws. Performances aren’t helpful, with Bean especially bewildering with a terrible American accent, trying to mimic Brando, but he mostly looks constipated. “Any Day” attempts low-budget style (time-lapse photography is preferred) and teases the idea of heartwarming faith-based dramatics, but it’s one of the worst pictures of the year, never missing an opportunity to embarrass itself through shoddy filmmaking, which sucks the life and significance out of the entire endeavor.
decent cast faces an uphill battle of Sisyphean proportions in "Any Day," a cliché-ridden, heavy-handed redemptive drama written and directed by Rustam Branaman..British actor Sean Bean, sporting a quiet rumble of a working-class American voice, plays an embittered boxer who has just been sprung from a 12-year stint in prison for fatally pummeling a man during an altercation.With nowhere to go, he stays with his sister (Kate Walsh), the single mom of an angelic son (Nolan Gross). But soon he gets back into the swing of things, dating a woman he hit on at the supermarket (Eva Longoria) and finding work at a pizza joint run by Tom Arnold's Roland.When you hear Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" played over a sequence involving a guy who's just done time, you have a fairly good sense that the element of understatement will unlikely be an option.Making good on that feeling, Branaman signals every upcoming plot shift with all the subtlety of one of the ex-con boxer's lethal punches.By the time the film reaches a faith-based, third-act crescendo, Bean, Walsh and company, despite their best efforts, look like they know they've been beaten, while the score's mournful strings wring out whatever pathos remains untapped.
“Any Day” is a well-intentioned disaster, only slightly redeemed by a committed performance by Sean Bean, whose talent proves nowhere near enough to make this manipulative tripe more digestible. It is the kind of film that opens with “I Shall Be Released” and actually gets less subtle from there. Worst of all, what at first feels like a mediocre character drama becomes something more insidious when writer/director Rustam Branaman uses unspeakable tragedy as an unearned device in a morality play. The tonal problems start early. Vian is so “aw shucks” nice to everyone around him that Bethley’s protestations make her come off as cruel. He has a polite conversation with Jolene on their first meeting and Bethley just berates him. It’s a weird dynamic that, like a lot of “Any Day”, feels like a screenwriting idea that was never developed. Worst of all, the structure of “Any Day” demands that something must happen to test Vian’s sobriety and non-violence. So we wait for it. And wait. And we get bored because Branaman is defiantly uninterested in these characters. Everyone we meet is merely set-up for the final act. And so characters do and say things that don’t feel organic in the slightest. They are all devices for the “message” of the film, which does a disservice for audiences looking for better faith-based films, ones in which religion is correctly portrayed as an essential part of real lives instead of fabricated mouthpieces. “Any Day” goes from boring to manipulative, and I’m not sure which is worse.Finally, there’s something really weird going on with the film’s language and rating. It’s almost as if they decided halfway through that they needed to get a PG to hit the faith-based audience that the movie needs to succeed. And so the entire piece is dubbed like a network TV version of a feature film. Vian twice says “sham” when the character clearly said “shit” and people in “Any Day” say “freak” way more often than in normal life. I mention it because it’s bizarre but also because it’s not hard to believe that this is a project that wasn’t exactly planned out before they started filming. Trust me. You don’t need this sham.
An earnest, utterly predictable indie that wastes a couple of decent performances in service of a hackneyed and weak script, Any Day is less a bad film than a negligible one.Any Day suffers from a low budget, but more than that it feels like an unfinished, half-baked project. While Bean is generally good, in some scenes you hear a trace of his native Irish accent; at other times, the film appears to be inexpertly dubbed. The script is simplistic and overly complicated, drawing in new characters only to abandon them, unresolved. It's simply a mess, with a script that squanders its modest but real resources.
Sean Bean, when will you start acting in decent films again? You’re too talented to languish in a world where “Any Day” was in any conceivable scenario the best script that came your way. Throughout every maddening beat, it’s clear Bean struggles to keep the film going. There’s no way he could have possibly thought it was going to turn out well once production got under way and he could watch the dailies, but one has to give him credit for trying.
Usually when an actor answers the question, “What drew you to this film,” their answer is that the script was so phenomenal they just had to do it. That’s what you do. You read the script. You’re in or you’re out. So, my question is, did Sean Bean, the man best known for never making it through an entire film, not read the script before agreeing to star in Any Day? And if he did, I want to know what exactly about the script he liked. Was it his character Vian’s wide vocabulary? No. Was it Vian’s complex and intriguing backstory? Definitely not. Was it the fact that he got to make out with Eva Longoria? Probably.Any Day is a story about redemption. Bean plays Vian, who was just released from jail after killing a man twelve years earlier. That is legitimately all we know about his past. He gets into a fight at a bonfire in the first two minutes of the film, and punches the guy to death. Meanwhile nobody does anything to stop him. What? Vian is now seeking to integrate back into society, but struggles to get anyone to overlook his past. From the beginning, the film leaves viewers unsatisfied as to why Vian is so troubled that he drunkenly killed someone for no apparent reason. That’s something anyone would want to know, and a question that a skilled writer and director would know to answer. But, sorry Rustam Branaman, you are not a skilled writer or director.The entire film, you cling to the hope that you’ll learn more about that night, or anything about Vian’s past to explain his alcoholism, but Branaman focused so much on creating a walled up, tortured character that he forgot that you have to let some light in to have sympathy for Vian. Vian is so closed off that I have trouble believing that Eva Longoria’s character, a seemingly financially successful and intelligent woman would be attracted to him. But who knows, maybe some women like a man whose answer to every question is “yeah” and often looks confused when he needn’t be.Vian seeks refuge with his sister, and single mother, Bethley, played by Kate Walsh, best known for her role as Dr. Addison Montgomery in Grey’s Anatomy. Walsh is the only actor in this film who showed any indication that she actually went to acting school and knew what she was doing. Her performance was emotional and believable, and honestly the only reason I managed to finish this film. But even her bearable performance couldn’t drown out the ringing in my ears from the atrocious threading of words Branaman calls a script.Bean grunts, groans and stumbles through this movie all the way to the end credits. Branaman attempted to send a message of redemption and the innocence of childhood (through the means of Bethley’s impossibly wise son Jimmy), but failed miserably. He left plotlines to wither and die, and made no attempts to seep into the depths of creative writing. Using “What’s your sign” as a pick up line? “Never give up” is the film’s tagline? Really?Try again Rustam Branaman. Or don’t. Please don’t.
