Rails and Ties
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Ranked #6 in Drama DVDs
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| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Binding | DVD |
| Brand | Warner Brothers |
| EAN | 0085391176282 |
| Weight | 1 pounds |
| Label | Warner Home Video |
| List Price | $19.98 |
| Manufacturer | Warner Home Video |
| MPN | 117628 |
| Product Group | DVD |
| Product Type Name | ABIS_DVD |
| Publisher | Warner Home Video |
| Studio | Warner Home Video |
| Title | Rails and Ties |
| UPC | 085391176282 |
| Number Of Items | 1 |
| Format | NTSC |
| Release Date | 2008-06-17 |
| Languages | Spanish |
| Languages | French |
| Languages | English |
| Creator | Micky Levy |
| Actor | Eugene Byrd |
| Aspect Ratio | 1.66:1 |
| Audience Rating | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) |
| Original Release Date | 2007-01-01 |
| Region Code | 1 |
| Running Time | 101 |
| Theatrical Release Date | 2007 |
| Director | Alison Eastwood |
| Additional Features | |
| Number Of Discs |
Many products have multiple models (e.g. black edition, white edition, etc.). If you know of any other models of this product with a different MPN/UPC, please add them below.
| Model Name/Type | MPN | EAN/UPC |
|---|
User Reviews: Rails and Ties
Average of 1 Review
Overall
Video Quality
The Film/Movie
Audio Quality 
Special Features 
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The Film/Movie
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HTF DVD REVIEW: Rails and Ties
Ken_McAlinden
reviewed July 6, 2009 at 8:02 pm
reviewed July 6, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Rails and Ties
Directed By: Alison Eastwood
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Marin Hinkle, Miles Heizer
The Film
Rails and Ties tells a story of redemption stemming from tragedy focusing on married couple Tom (Bacon) and Megan (Harden) Stark. Tom is a train engineer who has devoted his life to his fading profession. Tom buries himself in his work even more so than usual when Megan receives a negative prognosis from her oncologist after two previous rounds of aggressive cancer treatment. Even when he is home, he remains distant, frequently retiring to his garage to work on his model train set. Tom's routine is shaken one day when a suicidal woman with her child in tow drives her car over the tracks in the path of his train. Tom makes the call not to stop the train because it would likely result in a derailment. The child, Davey (Heizer), escapes, but is unable to pull his drug addled mother from the car. In the wake of the accident, Davey is put into foster care and Tom is suspended from work pending an investigation. Unhappy with his foster home and angry at the train operator who killed his mother, Davey runs away, and figures out Tom's identity. He approaches him at home, violently angry, but after Tom and Megan calm him down, they begin to bond. The childless couple ultimately allows Davey to move in with them despite the risk to Tom's job and the lack of legal standing as foster parents. This tenuous arrangement brings Tom and Megan together emotionally and provides Davey with an opportunity to heal, even though they all know it cannot last.
Everything about this film is restrained except for the use of metaphor which is poured on a bit thick, starting, of course, with the title. The cast gives low key performances which is the only sensible choice given the melodramatic circumstances that are being dramatized. Things still tilt a bit towards sentimentality, but in addition to the restrained performances, the naturalistic cinematographic and design style employed by Eastwood and her collaborators helps to keep things grounded.
In her directorial debut, Eastwood demonstrates a solid visual sense and a decent facility for working with actors. Seasoned veterans Bacon and Harden hold their own as expected, but the film largely hinges on the performance of juvenile actor Miles Heizer, who manages to convey his character's grief and rage, inclusive of a number of crying scenes, without ever veering into annoying child actor territory.
The film offers few surprises and occasionally overstates its case via repetition, which prevents it from being particularly memorable, but it does manage to create a mildly uplifting story out of a pretty bleak situation.
The Video
In terms of cinematographic style, the apple does not fall too far from the tree as Alison Eastwood and her cinematographer Tom Stern, a frequent collaborator with her father, Clint, go for a look that is more about texture than detail. Other than a few daytime exteriors, lighting is generally arranged to provide a natural and somewhat soft look with noticeable film grain and a production design emphasizing earth tones. The 16:9 enhanced DVD presentation faithfully reproduces this look, although at times it appears that the compression is either smearing the grain a bit or the image is being filtered to allow for easier encoding. Not having seen a theatrical presentation of the film, it is hard for me to determine which the case is.
The Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track lets the front three channels do most of the heavy lifting with minimal activity in the surrounds and LFE. That being said, their is a nice stereo spread across the front channels with directional cues placed widely across the sound field, and fidelity for dialog music and effects is excellent.
The Extras
Extras consist of three Additional Scenes which are presented in 4:3 letterboxed video with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound with available English and French subtitles. They are presented continuously without chapter stops with content as follows:
When the disc is first spun up, the viewer is greeted with the following skippable promotional spots, all of which are in 4:3 video letterboxed when appropriate with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound:
Packaging
The disc is packaged in a standard Amaray-style case with no insert.
Summary
Rails and Ties is a sensitive drama from first time director Alison Eastwood. While the symbolism and thematic material are laid on a bit thick and the plot circumstances feel heavily contrived, these shortcomings are balanced out somewhat by restraint in both cinematographic style and performances by its lead actors. It is presented on disc with a decent 16:9 enhanced 2.4:1 transfer that appears a bit soft, likely consistent with the intended style of the film, with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track that features very little surround activity but a wide stereo spread across the front channels with excellent fidelity. Extras consist of three mildly interesting deleted scenes.
Directed By: Alison Eastwood
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Marin Hinkle, Miles Heizer
| Studio: Warner Brothers Year: 2007 Rated: PG-13 Film Length: 101 minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.4:1 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish Release Date: June 17, 2008 |
The Film
Rails and Ties tells a story of redemption stemming from tragedy focusing on married couple Tom (Bacon) and Megan (Harden) Stark. Tom is a train engineer who has devoted his life to his fading profession. Tom buries himself in his work even more so than usual when Megan receives a negative prognosis from her oncologist after two previous rounds of aggressive cancer treatment. Even when he is home, he remains distant, frequently retiring to his garage to work on his model train set. Tom's routine is shaken one day when a suicidal woman with her child in tow drives her car over the tracks in the path of his train. Tom makes the call not to stop the train because it would likely result in a derailment. The child, Davey (Heizer), escapes, but is unable to pull his drug addled mother from the car. In the wake of the accident, Davey is put into foster care and Tom is suspended from work pending an investigation. Unhappy with his foster home and angry at the train operator who killed his mother, Davey runs away, and figures out Tom's identity. He approaches him at home, violently angry, but after Tom and Megan calm him down, they begin to bond. The childless couple ultimately allows Davey to move in with them despite the risk to Tom's job and the lack of legal standing as foster parents. This tenuous arrangement brings Tom and Megan together emotionally and provides Davey with an opportunity to heal, even though they all know it cannot last.
Everything about this film is restrained except for the use of metaphor which is poured on a bit thick, starting, of course, with the title. The cast gives low key performances which is the only sensible choice given the melodramatic circumstances that are being dramatized. Things still tilt a bit towards sentimentality, but in addition to the restrained performances, the naturalistic cinematographic and design style employed by Eastwood and her collaborators helps to keep things grounded.
In her directorial debut, Eastwood demonstrates a solid visual sense and a decent facility for working with actors. Seasoned veterans Bacon and Harden hold their own as expected, but the film largely hinges on the performance of juvenile actor Miles Heizer, who manages to convey his character's grief and rage, inclusive of a number of crying scenes, without ever veering into annoying child actor territory.
The film offers few surprises and occasionally overstates its case via repetition, which prevents it from being particularly memorable, but it does manage to create a mildly uplifting story out of a pretty bleak situation.
The Video
In terms of cinematographic style, the apple does not fall too far from the tree as Alison Eastwood and her cinematographer Tom Stern, a frequent collaborator with her father, Clint, go for a look that is more about texture than detail. Other than a few daytime exteriors, lighting is generally arranged to provide a natural and somewhat soft look with noticeable film grain and a production design emphasizing earth tones. The 16:9 enhanced DVD presentation faithfully reproduces this look, although at times it appears that the compression is either smearing the grain a bit or the image is being filtered to allow for easier encoding. Not having seen a theatrical presentation of the film, it is hard for me to determine which the case is.
The Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track lets the front three channels do most of the heavy lifting with minimal activity in the surrounds and LFE. That being said, their is a nice stereo spread across the front channels with directional cues placed widely across the sound field, and fidelity for dialog music and effects is excellent.
The Extras
Extras consist of three Additional Scenes which are presented in 4:3 letterboxed video with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound with available English and French subtitles. They are presented continuously without chapter stops with content as follows:
- Tom, working on his model train set in his garage, reminisces about his mother and chasing a train passing near his childhood home when he is interrupted by Megan who asks a tough question. Tom also reveals that he recognized Davey as a kid who frequently used to hang around the train station asking questions.
- While waiting at the train station, Davey interacts with a young girl who ultimately buys him a ticket.
- Megan and Davey discuss the girl from the aforementioned scene who bought him the ticket that he did not use and how to pay her back.
When the disc is first spun up, the viewer is greeted with the following skippable promotional spots, all of which are in 4:3 video letterboxed when appropriate with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound:
- Love in a Time of Cholera DVD Trailer (:35)
- The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters DVD trailer (:35)
Packaging
The disc is packaged in a standard Amaray-style case with no insert.
Summary
Rails and Ties is a sensitive drama from first time director Alison Eastwood. While the symbolism and thematic material are laid on a bit thick and the plot circumstances feel heavily contrived, these shortcomings are balanced out somewhat by restraint in both cinematographic style and performances by its lead actors. It is presented on disc with a decent 16:9 enhanced 2.4:1 transfer that appears a bit soft, likely consistent with the intended style of the film, with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track that features very little surround activity but a wide stereo spread across the front channels with excellent fidelity. Extras consist of three mildly interesting deleted scenes.
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