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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...gets even worse. In some versions of M theory--the latest rage in physics, which attempts to meld relativity and quantum theory--there may be more than three dimensions of space and more than one dimension of time. What does that mean? Even the experts have no clue. "We're trying to understand it," says Harvard theorist Cumrun Vafa. "It's quite mysterious...
Does that mean you could go back, kill your own grandfather and keep yourself from being born--a seeming absurdity? Maybe not, say some physicists. In one interpretation of quantum physics, the world splits at each moment into an infinite number of universes that proceed in parallel; if you killed your grandfather, it might be in an alternate universe, so it would have no effect on the universe you inhabit...
...theology of painting" is how one of Diego de Velazquez's 17th century admirers described his work. What did he mean? That the work was true; that it represented a truth about nature, as theology did about God; that this truth was conclusive, beyond further argument. In a culture ruled by King and church, where the arts were easily accused of frivolity and sensuality, this was a colossal claim. Very rarely, an artist gets to transform the conditions of his culture--not just add to them or jog their evolution, but alter them decisively. This is what Picasso...
Basically, it's your mean, very mean, standard sports story: an aging coach (Pacino) who is on a losing streak; a great veteran quarterback (Quaid) whose winning spirit has gone south; a cocky kid (Foxx) who needs some life lessons before he can step into the starter's shoes. The up-to-date spin on this tale is provided by the tough and scheming owner (Diaz), who has inherited the team, the Miami Sharks, from her more benign father and wreaks a certain amount of nontraditional havoc before she gets some sort of comeuppance...
Director Oliver Stone, who wrote Any Given Sunday's screenplay with John Logan, may be momentarily in a nonpolitical mood, but that does not mean he has given up his preoccupations with paranoia, greed and the brutality of American life. He sees his warriors as innocent animals, the purity of their violent athletic endeavors under constant threat of corruption by people trying to make a buck off their pain. Or, in the case of a particularly noxious sports reporter (John C. McGinley), a know-nothing who thinks he knows it all, just trying to make a name for himself...