Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There were so many aspects of this film that frustrated me, not least the highly improbable plot. The film starts with a suicidal mother stopping her car on train tracks with her 11-year-old son inside, who somehow manages to escape before the train crashes into the car and kills her.We learn early on that the wife of the train driver, played by Kevin Bacon, is suffering from terminal cancer. The film centres around the inconceivable bond built between the driver, his dying wife and the 11-year-old son of the lady he killed. All of this happens very quickly as the boy goes from loathing the killer of his mother to seeing him as a father figure.Plot aside, I must say that I found it extremely difficult to understand the dialogue in this movie. Virtually the entire script is mumbled and whispered. Weak plot and an overall poor film.

This is the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood. Daddy Clint must have taught her his cinema's tricks. That influence is seen, even though this was her first.Although not a movie without its flaws, it is human, dramatic and real. It's solid on story, drama and actors's performances, particularly the lead actors: Marcia Gay Harden, Kevin Bacon and especially Miles Heizer. This boy is sensational! He takes the whole movie alone and makes the movie's best scenes, so realistic is his sorrow. I'm kinda shocked that his filmography is practically TV series and almost no full-length movies. How can that be with a boy this talented?? America doesn't know what it missed!!Miles Heizer's character (Davey) is, like Kevin Bacon's character said, a strange boy because he is so mature for his age.

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.

Tom Stark has a lot to deal with as he prepares to take the Stargazer Express up North to Seattle. His wife, Megan, has been told her cancer is inoperable because it has metastasized in her bones. He has been offered to be relieved by a couple of buddies, but being conscientious, he decides to operate the train. Fate conspires against him when a disturbed woman, Laura Danner, decides to commit suicide by stopping her car in the tracks. To make matters worse, she intends to keep her young son, Miles, in the car, so the boy will die with her. Unfortunately, Tom, who has observed the car in the distance, decides not to stop the train, fearing he would derail, thus putting his passengers in danger of death, but killing the suicidal woman.Young Miles is beside himself as he blames Tom for not stopping. The young boy is placed in a foster home with a woman that is a disciplinarian. The lad ends up running away, as he finds his way over to Tom and Megan's home, seeking revenge for what he perceives was a cold blood murder. His arrival changes the dynamics in the house because Megan has decided to leave Tom and go to San Francisco. The boy is instrumental for her staying, as well as for finding peace with herself and for Tom to find redemption for the terrible decision he had to make.Alison Eastwood made her directorial debut with this film, written for the screen by Micky Levy. This team couldn't have been luckier in finding a better cast than what they got. The beginning of the story grabs the viewer's attention, but after the arrival of Miles at the Starks, it changes direction into a predictable domestic drama.Kevin Bacon is one of our most versatile actors. This is an actor who always delivers because he is incapable of giving a fake performance. Same can be said for Marcia Gay Harden. Her Megan shows a woman in pain for what she considers a terrible blow she has been dealt when she contracted a horrible disease she certainly didn't deserve. It is a pleasure watching Mr. Bacon and Ms. Harden because each compliment the other well. Young Miles Heizer, whose work has been basically in television, surprises for the way he holds his own against the stars.Ms. Eastwood shows a promise and one can only wish her well in future projects where she will probably find her own voice in the American cinema.