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Rails & Ties (2007)
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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
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
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. Full Review |
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6/10 |
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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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C- |
The metaphors flow almost as freely as the tears in this sentimental weepie. Full Review |
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There’s just not much here to recommend at all. Full Review |
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1/4 |
One 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. Full Review |
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Everyone 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. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
I think somehow the filmmakers lost the way, lost sight of the people inside the plot. Full Review |
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1.5/4 |
The younger Eastwood tells her story with sledgehammer blows. Full Review |
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1.5/4 |
Either an unsuccessfully manipulative, sappy melodrama or the most deranged concept for a family sitcom anyone has ever developed. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
It's not all bad. Full Review |
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C- |
In the right hands, this might be the stuff of compelling cinema. Instead, Rails and Ties sinks into melodrama. Full Review |
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B- |
While it has the appearance of a made-for-TV weepie, it's well-acted, technically proficient, a solid story with genuine, credible emotions. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
...ultimately redeemed by Kevin Bacon's expectedly engrossing performance. Full Review |
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3/5 |
It's closer to a small kind of affecting and simply human story we rarely get to see in mainstream movies anymore. Full Review |
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2/4 |
While it features three strong performance and the debut of a promising filmmaker, the story line is obvious and rather melodramatic. Full Review |
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1/4 |
Alison 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. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
[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. Full Review |
CommentLatest 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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