Pushing Tin (3½ Stars)

I don't often watch films at random. I don't have television (i.e. I'm unable to receive television broadcasts) so I don't flick through channels and watch something out of boredom just because it's on. I plan my viewing carefully. I almost always know what I'm going to watch tomorrow. It might be a film I've seen before, or a film recommended to me, or a film I've read a review of. There's always a reason I watch a film. But not this one. I'd never heard of it, I just watched it. How did that happen?

I wanted to watch a film called "Mr. Holland's Opus", which was very strongly recommended to me by a friend. I checked online, and the DVD costs £3.50. Too much for me. But further searching told me that there was a box of three films that includes "Mr. Holland's Opus" for only £1.99. A good price, considering the usual rental price in England for one film is £2.50. So I bought it. And this is one of the other two films. I read the description on the box and decided to watch this first.

John Cusack plays Nick Falzone, a self-confident New York air traffic controller. As I understand now, after watching the film, air traffic control is not just about guiding aircraft through the sky so that they take off and land safely, it's also about doing this optimally with the least possible delays. This is a critical job in this area where three of the world's largest airports, JFK, Newark and LaGuardia are within 20 miles of one another. Nick is the best at his job, until Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) is transferred from a smaller airport. Russell is eccentric and anti-social, but he's good at his job. He also has a beautiful wife Mary (Angelina Jolie) who is an alcoholic. After Nick has a one-night stand with Mary the professional rivalry turns into a personal battle.

The film is difficult to classify. It's not really a comedy, but it's not quite serious either. It shows the confusion of people sitting at screens all day arranging blips in a 3-D computer game with thousands of lives at stake. I found the film difficult to relate to. So far from my own world. I encourage any of my readers who have seen this film to leave comments

Click here to view the trailer.