Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Roland E. Zwick As "Rails and Ties" opens, locomotive engineer Tom Stark (Kevin Bacon) is having the kind of day most of us wouldn't wish on our own worst enemy; his 41-year-old wife, Megan (Marcia Gay Harden), has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and a mentally ill young mother has committed suicide by parking her car directly in the path of the train he is conducting. As is customary in such cases, Tom is put on temporary suspension pending an investigation of the crash. He also has to come to terms with the imminent loss of his wife, who laments the fact that the couple never had a child and that she will die without ever having truly lived. Meanwhile, the dead woman's 11-year-old son, Davey (Miles Heizer), who has miraculously escaped the tragedy (it was intended as a murder/suicide), seeks Tom out to confront him about running over his mother, but stays to find a surrogate family of sorts with Tom and Megan - with all the messy legal ramifications that that entails.Needless to say, given the plot as outlined above, "Rails and Ties" isn't exactly designed to be a passel of upbeat fun. Still, those with a taste for serious, thoughtful, humanistic dramas will find much to cherish in this film. The Micky Levy screenplay focuses, primarily, on the complex marital relationship of Tom and Megan, as they struggle with why Tom has never been able to fully commit himself to either the marriage or the prospect of being a father.Given all the various tragic elements that meet up in this single drama, the movie could easily have become awash in sentimentality and bathos. Instead, the subtlety and restraint of Alison Eastwood's direction, along with the richly understated performances (especially by Harden), keep the suds from rising too much to the surface. The result is a movie that deals authentically and truthfully with some highly unorthodox and rather touchy subject matter. "Rails and Ties" may pluck on the heartstrings a little too freely at times, but the tears and throat lumps it elicits are, for the most part, honestly earned.

tomasetti The movie was very heart wrenching. It is all very real for everyone in the audience, thanks to Patricia Hayden's superb portrayal of a woman ready to give up the fight.The only issue I had with the movie lies in the boy who lost his mother to suicide - he goes on to blame the train conductor! Violent fits of rage both directly after the accident, and midway through the movie when he seeks homage. The sons knows as soon as his mother parks her car on the tracks what she is trying to do. He tries in vein to pull her from the car. The train is already coming too fast - however he feels that it's not basic physics, rather someones fault.Now, it's possible that the boy - after losing his mother - is looking to blame someone - anyone - for this tradegy. That is a common coping mechanism. However there's no way that the coping mechanism kicks in minutes after the accident. When you see the kid in the first 10 minutes of the movie being forcibly restrained by police officers trying to go-for-throat on the conductor, you can't help but to begin to begin to dislike the child (not totally).However, whatever redeeming qualities there are in the boy go out the window when he rejects hospitality from what looks like a temporary foster home. He does not smoothly make the transition from poor kid losing his mom to adopted child of this new couple. He risks almost becoming a protagonist within the first 20 minutes of the movie.I believe the writers could have created another vehicle for the boy to intrude himself into the train conductor's life other than blind rage towards a man who was just doing his job. Or, if they kept that vehicle, more should have been done in the way of exploring the boy's grief. Either way, cut out the scenes that force the audience into either disliking the boy or thinking there's something perhaps mentally awry with him.6 out of 10 stars

coprogirl Just saw my second showing of this film from Alison Eastwood. The movie is well shot and directed, with superb acting from the leads. The story ties together the tragedies in the lives of 3 people: a childless couple, Tom an Meg(Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden) who are grappling with Meg's metastatic cancer, and a young boy, whose mentally ill mother parked her car on a railroad track with the intention of killing them both. The journey these three take together moves from despair to hope. The emotions feel real and the film moves along evenly and deftly under Eastwood's direction. I hope we see more films from Ms. Eastwood, she made a very watchable film with wonderful acting.

Vic_max I started watching this movie because it sounded like it involved something about a train accident. It does, but that's not what this movie is about. What got me is the sad clip of the train engineer's wife looking at her mastectomy in the mirror - couldn't stop watching after that. The story is both tragic and uplifting - but most of all it's compelling to watch once you get started.Storywise, it starts out with a mother who commits suicide by placing her car in front of an approaching train. The train engineer makes a judgment call to hit the car instead of risking a sudden stop. Eventually, her son finds his way into the lives of the engineer and his terminally ill wife... and the story progresses from there.The story itself is unusual and that made it a somewhat novel experience. The acting is amazing - esp. by Marcia Gay Harden (the ill wife). It's definitely a show worth watching if you're looking for a well-done drama.