Turbulenzen - und andere Katastrophen

Director Mike Newell's `Pushing Tin' is about the turbulent life of air traffic controllers. Its delightful and thought-provoking screenplay is not intended for the usual `airhead' moviegoer. So please put on your thinking cap for this one. The film stars John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, and Angelina Jolie. Thornton and Jolie executed average `plane' performances. However, Cusack and Blanchett rose high with theirs. I do not blame Billy Bob or Angelina for not going up to par with John and Cate. Maybe, Billy Bob and Angelina were way too much in the clouds on and off the set, or maybe it was just that their characters were not fully developed in the script. Even though i am not `Pushing Tin' as one of the best film of 99, it is still one that you should put on the `safe landing looking' section. *** Average

Okay, several parts of this movie were a bit far-fetched; (the wake turbulence from a heavy jet being one of them)but from a technical standpoint I can say that the phraseology, hazing, harassment, and ego trips are very accurate. Why? In a word, pride. Perhaps false pride at times, but pride nonetheless. The U.S. air traffic control system handles more traffic in a single day than any other country does in a week. Check the numbers, kids. It's true. The training is rigorous and relentless, and, at the risk of sounding like a commercial for the Marines, if you happen to be the one out of about a thousand who makes it through training to become a full performance level controller, it becomes a badge of honor. Very few people can do it. It is a close-knit family, which was also displayed in the film. If you'll notice the scene where a particular departure didn't "tag up" and one controller didn't notice it, several others jumped in to help out, and all joking and hazing stopped. Forgive my preaching, but this is the first movie that actually gave a somewhat accurate view of my profession, so hopefully I can be forgiven for being protective. (By the way, if I was married to someone who looked like Angelina Jolie, I'd keep her in the woods away from the slugs I work with, too.)

John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett and unfortunately come together to create this sad excuse of a film called "Pushing Tin."

The absence of humor, plausible plot, lack of chemistry between the lead actors as well as the slow pace made me realize that I had made a mistake watching "Pushing Tin." The pace is so slow that I had enough time to go out and get fast food, eat, come back and not miss a thing.

In fact, the best thing I can say about this film is that they survived this film and are going to be in better films. "Pushing Tin" is nothing more than good talent gone to waste.

Another brilliant performance by John Cusack, and an equally cool one by Billy Bob Thornton. These two actors work so well together, and provide a superb onscreen chemistry. There's some lovely visuals in there too, especially of the traffic control screens, or the standing on the runway video.

The story is sometimes odd, and the characters derail in the wierdest fashion, but it's a nice story and has a message for all competitive people out there. You won't laugh insanely, but you'll giggle. A very enjoyable film.

Pushing Tin takes a unique subject matter, a job that affects almost everyone in America, and compelling lead character in the midst of a moving internal struggle and absolutely ruins it. Why did the director and/or producer have to try and make Top Gun for Air Traffic Controllers? The first scene of this movie was so laughable I almost walked out. These filmmakers adapted this movie from an article, as the opening credits state. Too bad they used the Hollywood cookie cutter to do it. Mr. Cusack and Mr. Thornton are enjoyable as usual and so was Ms Blanchett, unfortunately that is not enough.