Feels so forced and determined to convey a certain emotion that its authenticity is lost. And when there's no sense of authenticity, there's no emotional attachment.
Comment
06/28/08
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Rails & Ties (2007)
34
%
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Reviews Counted:44
Fresh:15
Rotten:29
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Despite the strong cast, Rails & Ties is an emotionally overwrought, not entirely believable melodrama.
Theatrical Release:Oct 26, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Suffering from addiction and depression, Laura Danner (Bonnie Root) drives her car--with her son, Davey (Miles Heizer), inside--onto the railroad tracks, waiting for the train to come and kill... [More]
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Reviews for Rails & Ties
Kevin Bacon turns in a solid, attention grabbing performance as a rigid, scornful man in a deep funk just trying to cling to a familiar world disintegrating all around him.
06/20/08
DVD is the perfect place for a movie like Rails & Ties. Somehow it's easier to block out the often forced nature of the plot and just enjoy the rich performances and the humane themes.
06/17/08
Alison Eastwood has created a film of quiet delicacy, something fragile yet resolute, and shot through with a life affirming thread that is brave enough to suggest that sometimes life does indeed blossom from tragedy.
02/28/08
It's hard to get over the implausibility of the premise in Micky Levy's script, even though the characters themselves acknowledge that they're in a ridiculous situation.
01/02/08
Top CriticThe metaphors flow almost as freely as the tears in this sentimental weepie.
11/27/07
There’s just not much here to recommend at all.
11/12/07
Top CriticOne highly unlikely circumstance after another become laughable, preventing you from being moved by the family tragedies depicted. They beg for tears, but a script this chock-full of holes is unlikely to elicit the desired effect.
11/09/07
Top CriticEveryone involved will move on to bigger and better things and leave this series of unfortunate events behind on the tracks, waiting for a midnight train to put it out of its considerable misery.
11/09/07
I think somehow the filmmakers lost the way, lost sight of the people inside the plot.
11/09/07
Top CriticThe younger Eastwood tells her story with sledgehammer blows.
11/08/07
Either an unsuccessfully manipulative, sappy melodrama or the most deranged concept for a family sitcom anyone has ever developed.
11/08/07
It's not all bad.
11/03/07
In the right hands, this might be the stuff of compelling cinema. Instead, Rails and Ties sinks into melodrama.
11/01/07
While it has the appearance of a made-for-TV weepie, it's well-acted, technically proficient, a solid story with genuine, credible emotions.
10/29/07
...ultimately redeemed by Kevin Bacon's expectedly engrossing performance.
10/27/07
It's closer to a small kind of affecting and simply human story we rarely get to see in mainstream movies anymore.
10/26/07
While it features three strong performance and the debut of a promising filmmaker, the story line is obvious and rather melodramatic.
10/26/07
Top CriticAlison Eastwood makes her directing debut with this ludicrous melodrama, in which a troubled couple and a newly orphaned boy heal each others' emotional wounds against a backdrop of blunt metaphors.
10/26/07
[Director Alison] Eastwood has the advantage of two very fine actors, Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden, who have the ability to lift the most mediocre of material into another realm.
10/26/07
Top CriticLatest News for Rails & Ties
June 21, 2008:
Kevin Bacon turns in a solid, attention grabbing performance as a rigid, scornful man in a deep funk just trying to cling to a familiar world disintegrating all around him. 
More...
October 26, 2007:
Kevin Bacon turns in a solid, attention grabbing performance as a rigid, scornful man in a deep funk just trying to cling to a familiar world disintegrating all around him.
More...
October 25, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Life Has Its Ups And Downs, Darjeeling Is Transporting
This week at the movies we have a lovelorn single dad (Dan in Real Life, starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche), brothers on a train (The Darjeeling Limited, starring Owen... More...
October 25, 2007:
The way Kevin Bacon's brittle heart softens as he finally gets it, about his wife's fearlessness in facing down death, adds to what is shaping up as a big year, following Benicio Del Toro, for Oscar worthy, sensitive surrogate family man role models.
More...
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