Station Agent

Pros: Characterization, photography, performances - especially by Dinklage
Cons: A slightly pat ending

There are times when the life of a hermit seems fleetingly attractive. Those days when the phone won’t stop ringing, the violin gets lost, the kids are squabbling, someone’s at the door and the cat is barfing. All before 8 am. This is when the idea of ...

Pros: Dinklage, Clarkson, Cannavale, McCarthy's script and direction
Cons: Symbolism is obvious

Journeys play an important part in the lives of the main characters in "The Station Agent." Each is a journey that the person did not want to take. Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage) has spent his adult life dealing with and knowing about trains. He has worked ...

Pros: Excellent performances, interesting subject matter, realistic characters.
Cons: Ending seemed mundane.  Slightly sluggish at times.

I recently signed up for NetFlix, which allows you to rate movies in order to allow the database to suggest films you might like. The hundreds of movie reviews I have posted on Epinions made the task quick and simple, allowing me to enter enough data to ...

Pros: Interesting plot setup....
Cons: ...but it doesn't end properly. Rude characters, too.

The Station Agent is about a dwarf named Fin (Peter Dinklage) who works in a miniature train shop in a small town. He’s obsessed with trains and knows just about everything about them, though oddly enough he’s never ridden one. When the owner of ...

Pros: terrific cast, touching story
Cons:

lots of profanity

I've lately become a big fan of Peter Dinklage, his performances in P rince Caspian and P enelope having been the standouts for me in those ...

Pros: Dinklage, Clarkson, Cannavale, imagery, great characters
Cons: slooooow

There’s a fine line between friendly curiosity and nosiness. When a new person arrives on the scene, one wants to ask questions to get to know him, but it’s sometimes difficult to know when one has crossed over into prying territory. The ...

Pros: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannivale, who often make us forget they are acting.
Cons: The plot, such as it may be, is contrived and shamelessly manipulative.

In THE STATION AGENT, first time Writer-Director Tom McCarthy has created an amusingly respectful and gently respectable film on the themes of diversity, loneliness and grief. As the picture begins, Finbar McBride (Peter Drinklage) is in the back o ...

Pros: Great performances, fun story
Cons: Slow, over-the-top in one scene.

When his best friend Henry dies, Finn just wants to be alone and, because he is a train enthusiast, the abandoned train depot that his friend has left him seems like it might work for that.  After traveling to New Jersey and staying the night in the ...

Pros: If the Pied-Piper were a dwarf, living in New Jersey - would you be interested?
Cons: Meandering and implausible script, with only one compelling character and/or performance.

I just came home from watching The Station Agent at one of my local rep cinemas in Toronto. Typically, there was a fairly sparse crowd for a Friday night - perhaps 75-100 people. The filmhouse is in the trendy Little Italy area of Toronto, and to my ...

Pros: Wonderful acting, atmospheric locations, nice ending.
Cons: Impossible to think of any.

Life is not easy when you are not like other people. This is an every day truth for Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf who has been stared at and made fun of so many times, that he has more or less closed himself off from the rest of the world. He ...

Pros: Appealing film; wonderful performances by stars Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale
Cons: Story is decidedly slight and ending completely disappoints

Why is independent film the final frontier for interesting filmmaking with (For the most part) quality storytelling? As opposed to mainstream Hollywood? THE STATION AGENT is why! Where else except within the hollowed fabric of the pop culture machine is D ...

Pros: Quirky. Deadpan. Empathetic. Humorous. Slightly unpredictable. The three lead characters.
Cons: Too short.

"The Station Agent" is one of those movies that is just quirky enough to make you forgive its shortcomings. It's a small movie--indie-like--with a generous heart, superbly acted by its principles. At times goofy, tender, touching, and always thoughtful. ...

Pros: Truly amazing performances by Dinkelage, Clarkson and Cannavale
Cons: Slow on purpose, but a little sluggish at times

Though in specific this movie is about the trials and tribulations of life as a little person, it is in general about life on the fringe of what is considered "normal." Anyone who has ever felt him- or herself an outsider or a misfit will easily, almost ...

Pros: Wonderful script, cinematography and performances.
Cons: I can't think of one.

Very few actors can truly carry a film. Many can play a lead, of course, but they are usually supported by a range of distractions, be it action and special effects or a diverting subplot. Removing the distractions is a risky business, as anyone ...

Pros: The acting was top notch and the story well rounded
Cons: would like to see more about these characters but sequels are suicide

The Station Agent was a very nicely acted piece that did a wonderful job of staying away from the stale cliches of weaker films of the same variety. It left me feeling very grateful for the motley crowd of people that surround me everyday...those quirky friends that get on your nerves but are there when its important. The story (a debut from Tom McCarthy) was a bit minimalistic but I felt that the technique gave the relationships involved a more realistic quality. The movie seemed to take place in less than a few weeks time...it really displayed the truth about getting to know people...you don't just jump right in and grab someone's life story from the first moment you meet...people dance around each other...make discoveries...find the happy time and fall upon the sad ones. The acting was fantastic and while many are calling the story sparse...i believe it was rather full.