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.
mark-4401
And I even learned a few things...I thought for sure Bacon would hit the emergency brake, and couldn't understand why not till it was explained in the movie, and then I read a thread here by engineers/operators backing it up. (Hitting the car is better than derailing a train-load full of passengers)That poor kid has to be one strong soul to live through and survive his upbringing, watching his Mom killed by a train, and then going through the death of another mother (role-model). I did think it was odd that none of the neighbors, relatives, or family- friends questioned where this new kid came from. But it is California, and having lived there know that people don't poking their nose in other's business... unlike here in Tennessee where you can't get a new cat without all the neighbors noticing!Acting was very well done, as with the directing. The young man portraying the boy was an excellent actor. Many child actors can't do a crying scene without looking VERY fake. Photography, scene preparation, etc all well done. I normally don't like dramas... too slow and all... but this one was done well, except....*************************Major Spoiler**************************It never shows whether Bacon gets the kid or not. It just leaves you hanging. I think that should have been explained.
Robin Cook
I rented this on DVD and am wondering why they took out the Additional Scenes in the movie that are on the Special Features. I was hoping there would be some interviews on the DVD, but alas, had to settle for just the Additional Scenes.This movie has typical Lifetime TV earmarks, but with a lot more to give. I was especially impressed with Miles Heizer in his role of the young boy. It is a good story that gives both character insight angles of the victim and the accidental killer. I applaud the casting done here. Kevin Bacon's role was perhaps the best choice to play this particularly difficult part, and he conveyed/portrayed it very well. I can't think of any other actor who could have pulled it off.The emotional dramas did cause me to pull out some hankies, but they did not dwell on this content in an overdone fashion. I am weary of movies that linger on with many scenes of someone dying in bed of cancer (which was not done at all in a great movie "Who Will Love My Children"), but they kept the IV drip bit scenes to a tolerable minimum. The tears were not associated so much to the cancer bit, but was with how the story was put together ... very, very well done.This young 14-year-old lad, Miles Heizer, is a gem and I really hope to see more of him performing in more films. This movie I recommend when you're in an emotional mood of viewing pleasure. It's definitely worth the rental fee.
george.schmidt
RAILS & TIES (2007) **1/2 Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Miles Heizer, Marin Hinkle, Eugene Byrd, Bonnie Root, Steve Eastin, Laura Ceron, Margo Martindale, Kathryn Joosten. Unlikely melodrama about a young boy (newcomer Heizer) who comes into the lives of a train engineer and his dying wife (Bacon and Harden respectively) after an act of fate occurs binding the three together through their grief. Actress Allison Eastwood daughter of Clint parallels her father in the film-making process in this directorial debut that comes across as a Lifetime TV Movie but she employs many of his skills (i.e. soft fades to black, expert acting, subtle camera movements) that overlook the script's shortcomings.
AD
