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Pushing Tin on DVD (1999)

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Average rating: 62%
1116720121112
3.0
from 1,166 members
 
Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Jake Weber, Kurt Fuller, Philip Akin
Director: Mike Newell
Studio: 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 119 mins
Certificate: 15
User collections: films to be ill in bed with
Genres: Comedy
Languages: English
Hearing-impaired: English
Released: 30/06/2003

Brief synopsis of Pushing Tin

Nick Falzone (John Cusack) is a confident, accomplished air traffic controller whose life is turned upside down when drifter Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) joins his tight-knit work team and threatens to drive him insane. Stakes are high and pressure is constant in the world of air traffic control, making the line between excellence and failure dangerously thin. While jokes provide the team of controllers with an important release from their stressful occupation, a narrow division exists between teasing and animosity.
Mike Newell's careful research of the air traffic control profession, including its frequent emotional toll, lends a high level of realism to PUSHING TIN. Newell combines a depiction of the demandingly precise work done in air traffic control towers with an emotional portrait of the people charged with the safety of thousands of airline passengers and crew every day. The film also features the charming talents of Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 3 stars out of 5 Radio Times

This uneven but fascinating comedy drama from Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell takes a look at the lives of the air-traffic controllers who guide planes in and out of New York's airspace. It focuses on two in particular — super-cool Nick Falzone (John Cusack) and the Zen-like Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton), who challenges Cusack's claim to be the best controller in town. It's not only Cusack's ego that is bruised by his rivalry with Thornton; their wives (Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie) get caught in the crossfire. It may be overly dramatic in places, but it boasts superb performances from Thornton (playing a character so calm and laid-back, he's stood in the turbulent wake of a 747 just to see what it feels like) and Cusack, and contains more behind-the-scenes information than you ever wanted to know.

Rating of 2 
	  stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Often engrossing social comedy set in a fascinating environment, with two men giving each other, and their wives, a bumpy ride; unfortunately it crash-lands half-an-hour before it ends.

Time Out

Working from a quick-fire screenplay, by Cheers writers Glen and Les Charles, Newell meanders through a two hour-plus... Read more on www.timeout.com

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 5 starsreally good, very under-rated

Rusty from Ulllllster! , 11/02/2004

definately in my 10 best of all time. witty, exciting and gripping to the fantastic ending! cusack is superb as the paranoid Nick Falzone, but Billy Bob Thornton steals the show as the cool, so-laid-back-hes-nearly-falling- over Russell Bell who calmly drifts in and wrecks life. top class air traffic control flik....well worth a rent!

  6 out of 11 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsDidn't know what to expect and pleasantly surprised

Lesley Spicer from Gosport, Hants, England , 12/11/2005

Wasn't sure what to expect when I read the synopsis but rented it as we love John Cusack. He didn't disappointing! The rest of the cast were good too. Story line was entertaining if a little predictable by the end. The scene where Cusack visits Thornton to get forgiveness is funny and touching, a great bit of cinema.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 2 starsOvershoots the airfield

Mick1 from London , 22/11/2004

Comedy about air-traffic controllers which quickly meanders off into a tale of male rivalry which fails to rise anywhere near the level of "Tin Men". A dramatic finale brings us back to the control room, but fails to resolve the plot, which is wrapped up in a too-pat ending.

Part of the problem is the leads. John Cusack is witty enough but too much of a jerk to command much sympathy. Billy Bob Thornton is initially enigmatic and interesting but as we never get to see what lies behind that the interest soon palls. Angelina Jolie puts more into her role than it deserves and is shamefully only used for her pneumatic charm.

Nonetheless the dialogue is sharp and there are some entertaining scenes, the time passes agreeably enough.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 2 stars

Croila from REDDITCH , 25/12/2003

Found this movie very slow 'to get off the ground' and predictable. This was a second attempt to watch it all the way through, which I did. Have seen better on the subject.

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 2 starsMiss

A customer from Glasgow , 19/07/2007

love john cusack movies!!!! even he can' t make this good, there are no characters to like or relate to and even though there are patches where the actors shine i was very disappointed with how the movie started and unravelled thereafter.

John Cusack should stick to movies like identity or comedies that give him the chance to show what a great character actor he is.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 2 stars

Croila from REDDITCH , 25/12/2003

Found this movie very slow 'to get off the ground' and predictable. This was a second attempt to watch it all the way through, which I did. Have seen better on the subject.

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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