Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews7
24601-6's rating
Above Freezing is an above average film that covers the basics of many romantic stories that Hollywood punches out like clockwork every year. If you watch this film, you will witness a man who is not ready to commit to someone. His uncertainty is due to the timing of his own life and not due to the woman he wants to marry. The story is told within a sitcom-like viewpoint with quick lines and phrases that reiterate, and yet place a different spin on the cliches that are so-often heard in American movies. The ending is unique a la Soprano style, as everything falls into place after an hour of agony in a refrigerated florist vault.
The film is short, keeping the agony to a minimum and yet satisfying the viewer with a quick flick about love, commitment, flowers, and mobsters.
4/10
The film is short, keeping the agony to a minimum and yet satisfying the viewer with a quick flick about love, commitment, flowers, and mobsters.
4/10
Pushing Tin lacks the title and actors to attract a broader audience, but the story and its characters make up for that difference. The main characters are airplane traffic controllers who compete with each other through different viewpoints. Pushing Tin focuses on these two characters and how they deal with each other. The movie lacks a strong plot, depth in the other supporting characters, and witty dialogue. However, the symbolic paradigm behind the whole storyline that intertwines these characters into a tension-filled web is very captivating and fascinating once you see the forest and not the trees.
If you have ever strove to be the best in something at any cost, then you may probably relate to the characters in this movie. Don't read any further if you haven't watched it yet--the following contains comments on character development.
Nick Falzone, played by John Cusack, is a John Cusack type of character. He's a fast-talking, fast-driving, hot-shot tin-pushing top gunner who thrives on the stress-errorless nature of his job. The stress he faces is deflected by his self-confidence. He believes that he is the best man at his job and his nickname "the Zone" is what his close friends must call him. When he meets Russell Bell for the first time on a motorcycle, there is an imminent, obvious hostility. Like two wild animals defending their territory, these combatants are prepared to fight their little war. Contrary to other movies where two guys are trying to one-up the other (i.e. Top Gun, Face-Off), the approach of the two characters is the most interesting aspect of the movie.
This testosterone pumping movie with fast cars, big jets, young ladies, and basketball resemble all the elements in a macho men showdown. These men push each other as hard as they push tin. Falzone is usually the aggressor, the initiator of the push. Russell Bell receives his push and deflects it by avoiding him. Russell Bell's approach is similar to the "I'll let you slap my other cheek" idea. He is so much at peace with himself that nothing perturbs him. At least, not on the surface. The supporting characters are merely undeveloped and in the background. Russell's wife, Mary--played by a Charlize Theron double Angelina Jolie, is either seen draped all over Russell or throwing down a couple of vodka shots. Connie Falzone, played by the Australian Cate Blanchett, is either trying to exert her independence or getting laid by her husband--literally and physically. Nevertheless, the audience never has a chance to understand or relate to these characters because they may be merely pawns in this game between Russell and Nick.
In addition, casting Billy Bob Thornton as Russell Bell is a good choice, but making him a half Native American is a little far-fetched like Morgan Freeman's character Red, who is an Irishman in the Shawshank Redemption.
The film can be very ambiguous--but maybe the screenwriters intentionally made it so. For example, I don't believe Connie when she said that she slept with Russell. It doesn't make sense after Russell's transformation when he and his wife had a breakthrough with each other. If Connie did sleep with him, why was she so upset at Nick when she initially found out that he cheated on her and then reverse her feelings while she was drunk on a plane. I believe that Connie was willing to sleep with Russell, but their initial interactions seemed merely harmless. I think that she was just playing on Nick's paranoia that she was sleeping with him. On the other hand, she may have because we don't hear anything about that from Russell--or do we?
Despite these shortcomings, the main point of the movie is clearly made. Consider the scene where Russell is back in Colorado fishing in a cold stream as an allegory for the entire movie. He catches a big fish when Nick arrives and rather than taking a picture of it, scaling and cooking it, telling stories about it, he merely lets it go. When asked by Nick why he did that, Russell replied "He knows I caught him... so I'm letting him go."
When Russell arrived in NYC, he is only concerned with doing his job. However, he runs into Falzone and they become competitors. Nick is constantly biting at his line, and Russell is simply reeling him in slowly. First he does a better job than Nick and then he shoots him up on the court. He's just being himself when singing songs and learning French. His eccentric background makes him a novelty in the eyes of Connie Falzone. He stalls Nick's plane, which infuriated Nick, to save a passenger. At that point, Nick is caught--and he doesn't know it. Russell tries to throw him in the water, but Nick refuses to swim away. It takes a whiplash from a 747 for Nick to get the point.
Whatever your occupation may be, sometimes we find ourselves in a rat race where we have to be the best at everything in the eyes of others to make our point. We become intense, irritable, and jealous. Russell wears his feather in his cap when he works. He doesn't care what others think of him, but he competes with himself and only himself. That feather represents his own identity, and when Nick takes it away--Russell freaks out for the first time. The same goes for Nick's nickname, "The Zone." When he is not addressed that way, Nick loses his own version of that feather.
Maybe this rant is just a rambling about nothing. Maybe this film is about nothing. It all depends on what you can get out of it.
If you have ever strove to be the best in something at any cost, then you may probably relate to the characters in this movie. Don't read any further if you haven't watched it yet--the following contains comments on character development.
Nick Falzone, played by John Cusack, is a John Cusack type of character. He's a fast-talking, fast-driving, hot-shot tin-pushing top gunner who thrives on the stress-errorless nature of his job. The stress he faces is deflected by his self-confidence. He believes that he is the best man at his job and his nickname "the Zone" is what his close friends must call him. When he meets Russell Bell for the first time on a motorcycle, there is an imminent, obvious hostility. Like two wild animals defending their territory, these combatants are prepared to fight their little war. Contrary to other movies where two guys are trying to one-up the other (i.e. Top Gun, Face-Off), the approach of the two characters is the most interesting aspect of the movie.
This testosterone pumping movie with fast cars, big jets, young ladies, and basketball resemble all the elements in a macho men showdown. These men push each other as hard as they push tin. Falzone is usually the aggressor, the initiator of the push. Russell Bell receives his push and deflects it by avoiding him. Russell Bell's approach is similar to the "I'll let you slap my other cheek" idea. He is so much at peace with himself that nothing perturbs him. At least, not on the surface. The supporting characters are merely undeveloped and in the background. Russell's wife, Mary--played by a Charlize Theron double Angelina Jolie, is either seen draped all over Russell or throwing down a couple of vodka shots. Connie Falzone, played by the Australian Cate Blanchett, is either trying to exert her independence or getting laid by her husband--literally and physically. Nevertheless, the audience never has a chance to understand or relate to these characters because they may be merely pawns in this game between Russell and Nick.
In addition, casting Billy Bob Thornton as Russell Bell is a good choice, but making him a half Native American is a little far-fetched like Morgan Freeman's character Red, who is an Irishman in the Shawshank Redemption.
The film can be very ambiguous--but maybe the screenwriters intentionally made it so. For example, I don't believe Connie when she said that she slept with Russell. It doesn't make sense after Russell's transformation when he and his wife had a breakthrough with each other. If Connie did sleep with him, why was she so upset at Nick when she initially found out that he cheated on her and then reverse her feelings while she was drunk on a plane. I believe that Connie was willing to sleep with Russell, but their initial interactions seemed merely harmless. I think that she was just playing on Nick's paranoia that she was sleeping with him. On the other hand, she may have because we don't hear anything about that from Russell--or do we?
Despite these shortcomings, the main point of the movie is clearly made. Consider the scene where Russell is back in Colorado fishing in a cold stream as an allegory for the entire movie. He catches a big fish when Nick arrives and rather than taking a picture of it, scaling and cooking it, telling stories about it, he merely lets it go. When asked by Nick why he did that, Russell replied "He knows I caught him... so I'm letting him go."
When Russell arrived in NYC, he is only concerned with doing his job. However, he runs into Falzone and they become competitors. Nick is constantly biting at his line, and Russell is simply reeling him in slowly. First he does a better job than Nick and then he shoots him up on the court. He's just being himself when singing songs and learning French. His eccentric background makes him a novelty in the eyes of Connie Falzone. He stalls Nick's plane, which infuriated Nick, to save a passenger. At that point, Nick is caught--and he doesn't know it. Russell tries to throw him in the water, but Nick refuses to swim away. It takes a whiplash from a 747 for Nick to get the point.
Whatever your occupation may be, sometimes we find ourselves in a rat race where we have to be the best at everything in the eyes of others to make our point. We become intense, irritable, and jealous. Russell wears his feather in his cap when he works. He doesn't care what others think of him, but he competes with himself and only himself. That feather represents his own identity, and when Nick takes it away--Russell freaks out for the first time. The same goes for Nick's nickname, "The Zone." When he is not addressed that way, Nick loses his own version of that feather.
Maybe this rant is just a rambling about nothing. Maybe this film is about nothing. It all depends on what you can get out of it.