New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

48 21
80 Band's Visit, The
69 Bank Job, The
83 Chop Shop
64 Chronicle of an Escape
46 CJ7
36 College Road Trip
68 Cool School, The
78 Counterfeiters, The
35 Deal
51 Doomsday
58 Felon
59 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
57 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55 Irina Palm
79 Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten
69 Last Winter, The
38 Life Before Her Eyes, The
30 Meet Bill
33 Miss Conception
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
39 Never Back Down
55 Nim's Island
48 Penelope
17 Prom Night
xx Rogue
44 Ruins, The
76 Shine a Light
37 Shutter
40 Sleepwalking
57 Smart People
50 Step Up 2 the Streets
61 Stop Loss
55 Street Kings
33 Superhero Movie
72 Surfwise
54 Tracey Fragments, The
55 Turn the River
55 Without the King
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Rails & Ties
Warner Bros.


8.2

based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for mature thematic elements, an accident scene, brief nudity and momentary strong language

Starring Marcia Gay Harden, Miles Heizer, and Kevin Bacon

Tom and Megan Stark always thought there would be time--—time to have children, time to take that trip to San Francisco, time to fix the problems in their marriage. But Megan's illness and Tom's inability to face the possibility of losing her are stealing all the time they have left. All Tom can do is bury himself in his job as a train conductor, where at least he feels in control and everything runs on a predetermined track--until now. Tom's train hits a car on the tracks in a tragic turn of events that, while not his fault, may still cost him his job. Worse, a young woman is dead and her son, Davey, has been left to cope with the loss of his mother, the guilt that he could not save her not only from the train but from herself...and the anger at the man he holds responsible: Tom Stark. The accident puts the Starks and Davey on their own collision course. But instead of leading to tragedy, this crossing could mean new hope for a woman who has only one chance left to fulfill her dreams, for a man who must learn to open his heart before it's too late, and for a young boy who has never known the true meaning of family. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Micky Levy
DIRECTED BY:	Alison Eastwood
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 17, 2008 Theatrical: October 26, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	96 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

The film's best and most carefully shaded performance belongs to Bacon.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I found the opening third tremendously intriguing and involving, I thought the emotions were so real they could be touched, but then the film lost its way and fell into the clutches of sentimental melodrama.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Everything looks professional if undistinguished.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Reserved, careful and largely predictable in the way it plays out its wrenching emotional crises.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Alison Eastwood's debut feature is slow, deliberate, assured, and shot with a graceful feel for place--none of which is enough to overcome the creaky themes that tie this hackneyed domestic drama together with fearsome symmetry.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Rails & Ties is like one bad TV movie that slammed into another.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Alison Eastwood, whose good looks and last name have served her well as a Hollywood actress, makes her directing debut with this mediocre cancer drama.

USA Today Claudia Puig

While it features three strong performance and the debut of a promising filmmaker, the story line is obvious and rather melodramatic.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

As lovely as some of the footage looks and as committed as are the three lead performances, they serve only to make Rails & Ties play like an exceptionally well-acted and well-made Lifetime movie.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

A heartfelt but dramatically flat portrait of a couple grappling with one tragedy whose lives are profoundly affected by the outcome of another.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

All the astute acting in the world can’t bring such a preposterous story into the station on time and intact.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Nobody feels anything they're not explicitly told to feel. Not even the audience.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The film rings so consistently false that it's more likely to induce snickers and eye-rolling.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The only conceivable reason for Warner Bros. to (barely) release this mush is as a favor to Clint Eastwood, whose daughter Alison directed.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Chock-full of holes.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

K C. gave it an8:
A feel good movie where tragedy and illness in life are balanced with something that is good. It's predictable but it solicits emotions out of you like a good movie should.

Rod M. gave it a10:
Excellent movies. My experience has been that if the critics don't like it, then it is a great movie! I loved the movie, and thought the actors did a supurb job, especially Marcia!

Jay H. gave it a6:
Certainly not the cheeriest of films. Well acted by Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden, especially Bacon. But the film is too melodramatic and it is as depressing as hell. A little less sentiment and more substance and story would have been a plus.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

Rails & Ties Warner Bros.

Rails & Ties
Warner Bros.