Pushing Tin Crashes and Burns

Thursday, April29, 1999 Page9 - Pushing Tin crashes and burns By JOHN ELI.:.IS Falzone's life. He ,destroys his never once seems sincere. Editor Emeritus marriage ·by sleeping with Whether he is apologizing to Bell's wife, and almost loses his own wife, or seducing In Pushing Tin, Holly~ood his job after nearly causing two Bell;s, Falzone always seems has yet another blockbuster -mid-air collisions. like a greasy meatball without flop. In the fine .tradition of a As the plot slowly builds any sauce. Kevin Costner fill}l, Pushing towards the finaf. cataclysmic Cate Blanchett and Angelina Tin is a movie that makes an collision between Falzone and Jolie have very little screen interminable epic out of point Bell, the audience is left asking time. Unfortunately, that is a less drivel. In fact, producer a single quest19n: "Why did I good thing. Blanchett came Art Linson's _ (Great come?'' Although director nowhere near her Oscar-nomi Expectations, The Edge) latest Mike Newell- (Donnie Brasco, nated performance in last attempt at the big screen makes Four Weddings and a Funeral) year's Elizabeth. Jolie, who Waterworld and Tin Cup look was_ undoubtedly aiming for performed competently in : like Oscar contenders. suspense, his film has Hackers, was also a disap Pushing Tin is about the all the teri- pointment. The director high-stress world of air traffic - spent so much time filming controllers. The movie her ample chest that he begins by looking at the payed little attention to the life of uptight controller ~;&;~.,?~-~IT~!!II!IIr:;:-0~l deficiencies in her act- Nick Falzone (John • -ing. Cusackj, the best -air Even the normally handler -at New excellent Thornton fell York's Terminal ___ · · · well below the mark. The Radar Approach .f · character of Russell Control center. if Bell had absolutely Falzone's life is k.:;..... no substance; the picture of Thornton played urban- happiness: -the same enemy he has ·a ~ealthy "@ turned-friend r~lations?ip with \~ti "-. ·that can be found his wife - (Cate ~'4ft-,_, in a thousand other films. Blanchett), two happy ""''tr-'r"' : · .; A thousand better films. A children, . and co-workers ""'"''t:ZW~®Mtit;J.£;~-~-,&~~/- wet noodle. thousand films that do not also who worship him as a god. His ,y To make . mat- star John Cusack. sickeningly picturesque life -is ters worse, the film is just as After watching Pushing Tin, I shattered, however, by the flavorless. it is easy to understand why arrival of the slightly insane None of the actors in Ronald Reagan fired all the Russell Bell (Billy Bob Pushing Tin were on top of nation's air- traffic controllers Thornton) ~nd his voluptuous their games. In fact, some in the 1980s. This is certainly wife (Angelina Jolie). With the would wonder _if they ever had not a movie to watch prior to a arriva-l of· Bell, Falzone has a game in the first place. John transatlantic flight. Audiences serious competition for the first Cusack has destroyed many almost find themselves praying time. A rivalry quickly devel- lead roles in the past, but none for a fiery airplane crash just to ops between the two men, a as thoroughly as that of Nick relieve the exhausting bore rivalry ~hat slowly Falzone. Cusack's character dom. .

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