Sling Blade - Director's Cut (Miramax Collector's Series)

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DVD details

Actor: Brent Briscoe, Kathy Sue Brown, Lucas Black (II), Natalie Canerday, Sarah Boss
Brand: THORNTON,BILLY BOB
Primary Contributor: Yoakam, Dwight
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 135 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Miramax

DVD Reviews of Sling Blade - Director's Cut (Miramax Collector's Series)

DVD Review: Slingblade: Masterful
Summary: 5 Stars

Slingblade offers a very touching look at the relationship between a mentally ill man and a young boy who seemingly needs any semblance of a father figure in his life. Billy Bob Thornton acts so well in the film that he physically doesn't resemble himself. The late great Jon Ritter offers little masculine comfort to the boy as he is gay in the film, but provides priceless moments in his attempts to understand this mentally ill man who has forged a bond with a family he holds dear. All the while, Doyle (the mother's boyfriend) provides some of the funniest and despicable moments in film with his conservative red-neck views on all things. Inevitably Billy Bob Thornton's character callously succumbs to the beckoning of his nature and kills again for what he believes are the right reasons. His strong sense of misdirected justice draws you in and leaves you to question whether or not he should be blamed. A powerful film that I use for instruction. It is entertaining from the word go, and a jewel in film seldom discussed.

DVD Review: Socio-Psycho Drama
Summary: 4 Stars

Top drawer performances by entire cast. Having grown up in a small town in the rural south, the film is not only believable, but also probable. Provides brilliant insights on our poor understanding, lack of funding, and related inadequate treatment of our warehoused non-mainstream population. While the film makes an important statement, it certainly should be recognized for the wonderful telling of beautiful story with an unfortunate ending. Learn something new with every viewing.

DVD Review: One of the BEST movies ever made! A Masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars

The film starts with Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) being released from the State Hospital (a mental ward) and telling his story to two young college student reporters. Karl is retarded, and spent his childhood in a dirt-floored shed in back of his parents house - they didn't want him in the house and treated him like an animal they'd picked up. Around the age of ten or twelve he caught his mother having sex with a bully from his school and he mistakenly thought his mother was being raped. So he killed the boy, Jesse Dickson, with a sling blade. When he found out his mother "didn't mind what Jesse was a'doin to her", he killed her too.

Freshly released from the hospital, Karl returns to his hometown but "doesn't know how to be a free man". He helps a young boy, Frank (Lucas Black) carry his laundry home and the two become fast friends. He gets a job, with help, working at a small engine repair shop. Karl is like an idiot-savant, hardly able to live on his own but a genius at fixing small engines. "Lawnmowers and whatnot". Frank's mother Linda (Natalie Canerday) invites Karl to stay in their garage instead of out in back of the repair shop, so Karl moves in.

There's just one problem. Linda's boyfriend, Doyle Hargraves (Dwight Yoakam) is a mean, intolerant man. He hates Frank, and abuses Linda and Frank verbally nonstop. He doesn't like a "mental retard" living in Linda's garage. He also doesn't like Linda's best friend Vaughan Cunningham (John Ritter), the gay manager of the dollar store Linda works at. Doyle can't even get along with his own friends.

'Sling Blade' is the story of Karl's "free" life and his friendship with Frank. It's a story of awakenings, one that will leave you breathless with the beauty of it. It's about the purest form of love, and the ugliest side of domestic abuse. I was deeply moved by the hidden bravery of Vaughan, who's terrified of Doyle but stands up for Linda and Frank even though he knows he's incapable of physically defending them. There's the quiet reflectiveness of Karl, who's spent a lifetime inside his own head and now has to deal with people on a daily basis. You'll see the "battered women's syndrome" in Linda, a kind soul who only sees the beauty in every person, even Doyle. And there's the viciousness of Doyle, from his everyday spoken words to his threats to beat and kill Linda, Frank, and Vaughan.

The acting in this movie is outstanding. Billy Bob Thornton, who also wrote and directed the movie, is amazing as Karl. He's honestly captured the motions, speech, and spirit of the mentally challenged Karl. And where the heck did Dwight Yoakam learn to act so well? He gives a stunning performance as the sadistic Doyle, he makes the role as real as life, an absolutely amazing performance. Yoakam's performance and Thornton's writing really captured the unexpected violence of the domestic abuser, the "walking on eggshells" routine those around them must live. Yoakam and Thornton are both naturals in front of the camera. There's also a short cameo appearance by Robert Duvall as Karl's father.

The question is, can Karl save Linda and Frank from a life of abuse under Doyle's cruel behavior? In the end, will he sacrifice himself for them? Just how much love does Karl have for the boy he's become so attached to?

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. It's a low budget film that introduced Billy Bob Thornton into the filmmaking industry, as a writer, director, and actor. The talent in this film is astonishing. It's never dull or slow. This is a film I believe that everyone should watch, no matter what your genre preferences are. Ten Stars! Enjoy!

DVD Review: Sling Blade
Summary: 5 Stars

If your a Billy Bob fan this one is his best. I've watched it several times I can't get enough of Karl.

DVD Review: I LIKE TATERS
Summary: 5 Stars

I RECKEN I LIKE THIS HERE MOVIE I WOULD SAY IT IS A 5 STAR MOVIE I RECKEN.

Description of Sling Blade - Director's Cut (Miramax Collector's Series)

The Miramax Collector's Series proudly presents the two-disc release of the powerful motion picture applauded by critics and moviegoers alike ... written, directed, and starring Billy Bob Thornton (1996 Academy Award(TM) Winner, Best Adapted Screenplay and Academy Award(R) Nominee, Best Actor). Twenty five years after committing an unthinkable crime, a quiet man named Karl (Thornton) is finally returning home. Once there, he is befriended by a fatherless boy and his mother. But when his new-found peace is shattered by the mother's abusive boyfriend (Grammy-winner Dwight Yoakam), Karl is suddenly placed on a collision course with his past! Also featuring Robert Duvall (OPEN RANGE), John Ritter (BAD SANTA), and J.T. Walsh (BREAKDOWN) -- SLING BLADE is an unforgettable movie experience!

Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in this mesmerizing drama with haunting overtones of To Kill a Mockingbird. Thornton plays a mentally retarded man who has spent 20 years in a psychiatric hospital for killing his mother and her lover. Released into the community from which he came, he befriends and protects a lonely boy regularly harassed and abused by his mom's boyfriend (a terrific performance by Dwight Yoakam). The story is ultimately about sacrifice, but Thornton certainly doesn't get twinkly about it. Some of the best material concerns the hero's no-big-deal efforts to integrate into a "normal" life: working, eating fast food, earning admiration for his handyman skills, and attaining a semblance of community among other damaged souls. John Ritter has a great part as a gay shopkeeper who tries to assuage his own loneliness by spilling his guts out to Thornton's uncomprehending character. --Tom Keogh

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