Any Day

Fighting Demons starts out interestingly enough but quickly treads a well worn path and soon goes into heavy handedness and banality.

Sean Bean is Vian a former boxer released from 12 years in jail for beating a man to death. On his release, he is unwanted in his old boxing gym and his single mom sister reluctantly allows him to stay with her young son with the proviso that he does not drink and stays out of trouble.

Vian tries to pull his life back together as an ex-con, he gets a job in a diner, he gets on well with his boss (Tom Arnold) and even gets a girlfriend (Eva Longoria) who seems to be stalked by a rival suitor which the film never delves in.

Things seem to be going well, Vian get tempted to drink every now and then but he resists however his nephew is involved in an accident which causes distress, he falls out with his boss because Vian does want him to date his sister for no reason at all and his girlfriend finds out that he has done time.

The film also has some Christian spiritual undertones in the movie and it all dissipates with a weak finish about trying to find redemption for his crime.

As a minor low key film it is well acted although Sean Bean is clearly too old for his character.

An ex-boxer comes out of jail after 12 years and tries to re-build his life. It's a familiar tale but for a small film it does punch above it's weight for large periods.

It's all fairly low key apart from the final half hour but a decent cast make this fairly enjoyable. Sean Bean isn't the most versatile of actors but I thought he did a good job here showing a vulnerability he doesn't always get the chance to show. Eva Longaria also does a good job and the chemistry between her and Bean does a lot to drag the film along. Good support is provided by Tom Arnold and Kate Walsh and there is a promising performance by Nolan Gross as Beans young nephew.

Whilst this could have been annoyingly predictable a decent script makes this more interesting than expected. Although not without it's faults ( some of the scenes towards the end are a bit clumsy) I'm surprised that as it stands this has such a low rating 5.0 (651 votes). Based on that rating I wasn't expecting much but this was far more enjoyable than expected.

Well worth watching if you have a spare couple of hours to kill.

I see why not everyone liked "Any Day" but I did personally find enough to like in it to merit a 5/10 rating. There was some good atmosphere, acting, and music which makes up for some of the hokey parts and the somewhat unsatisfying ending. I was hoping for a little more resolution at the end, but perhaps that's better than the film running on too long. I'd say it's worth watching for free on TV or streaming if you have the time, though I do like the four main actors to begin with. So, it's a decent B Indy film. Did IMDB increase the minimum review length? Now I need two paragraphs of text or something?

I spent 5 minutes of my life resetting my IMDb password to tell you that this is the most bizarre and stupidest movie I've ever seen. There is no defined tone. The protagonist is flat, flat, flat. This movie is whiter than the movie White Girls. What was going on in that house party / dance scene? just what. There is a scene transition every 30 seconds with the strangest music. The kid plays a robot playing a kid. I am so sorry for the people involved in this film. Someone did them very, very wrong. Of all the Sean Bean movies that he dies, his character survives this, but we'll see if his career does. I'm still just very confused about how this got made. Do people read scripts anymore?

"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 (literally)and Vian is imprisoned. After the opening credits, we are informed that we 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 (played by 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 heart 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 utterly and completely lost in this movie. How did she end up in this mess? 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 from the 2015 Palm Beach International Film Festival were featured. I had never heard of "Any Day" and literally took a chance on this, simply on the fact that Longoria is in this. I shouldn't have, and in all honesty, I cannot recommend this movie to anyone. Viewer beware!