Pushing Tin
Directed by Mike Newell
John Cusack, Cate Blanchett, Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie
playing at theaters accessible to everyone - ie - multiplexes, etc.
*  *  *    (three stars)
no time to read the whole review?
THE JIST of MY PROSE
Why? Because we love John Cusack. Why else? Because it's funny - and somewhat entertaining. The Thornton character is underwritten - the ending is really tacked on - but it's fun. The review reflects a bit more love and care than this - let's just say : the second time I saw it, I hated it. The third time : I was ready to settle down and like it.

'Pushing Tin' is an absolute rarity. It’s underlit to show you it’s
purpose. It’s human and down-to-earth in it’s exchanges, it’s
portrait of stressed-out air traffic controllers and it’s sense of fate.
It takes the idea of self-consciousness and jealousy and while
twisting it in a circle of realism, ends up being satisfying enough to
live as a movie, not as a docu-drama. I was able to walk away from
it appreciating it as a human interest story, told sincerely, but
capped with a impression of entertainment. It’s a kind of dualist
cinema, harnessing both character actors and opportunists and
executed in a state of both comedy and blight without being goofy
and melodramatic.

We see the sweat of these men. They are air traffic
controllers. They’re nervous, animated folks. Of them, the most
outward seems to be Nick Falzone (Cusack). Nick is married to
Connie (Blanchett) and has two kids. His life is seemingly perfect.
When faced with a competitor (Thornton) on the job and within his
personal life, Nick begins losing control (of course, he may not
have had complete control to begin with).

'Pushing Tin' easily benefits from a director who has explored the genres
back and front, from drama ('Donnie Brasco', 'Amazing Grace and
Chuck', 'Dance with a Stranger') to comedy ('Four Weddings and a
Funeral', 'Into the West', 'An Awfully Big Adventure') and straight
back again. It enjoys the kind of sitcom mentality of it’s writers
Glen and Les Charles (TV’s 'Cheers') without being the very
definition of a comedy. It plays off of the intimidated low-key
persona of Billy Bob Thornton vying against the denied sense of
self-consciousness masked with the childlike supercool of John
Cusack. They forge a fleshed out and ambiguous rivalry, rich with
assumptions, presumptions and just plain unfriendly interaction.

 In the female court, Cate Blanchett turns in a colorful
performance rich with a wishy-washy and toned-down sexual
energy. Angelina Jolie plays through with a sly hypersexual slink
that could pass for the most intellectual of lap dancers. 'Pushing Tin'
also boasts a terrific supporting cast, each taking their share of the
background to these performers wild ignitions of emotion.

Russell flies into Nick and Connie’s lives as quickly as he
flees from it - he’s just like the dots on the radar scanners - his
existence is stress and when he disappears it will either leave a
breath of peace of a strain of chaos.

[Editorial Note about myself : I never, ever want to see John
Cusack grow old. I don’t want to see him choose some supporting
role in 20 or 30 years and draw my pity for a rambling and comedic
geriatric turn. As said of many young actors (Think : Elvis
Presley), you want to be able to remember them at the very
moment they captured your hearts, which was when I first saw Say
Anything (and the many, many subsequent viewings that followed).
Ever since, whether examining the work prior to that film or his
recent work, this straight character actor has gained popularity with
the momentum of a freight train and has never disappointed us.
Well, almost never ('The Road to Wellville', 'Money for Nothing',
'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil').]
 

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1