Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Sling Blade (1996)
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Thornton made his mark as writer and actor in One False Move, and his directorial debut (from his own Oscar-winning script) is similarly impressive. He gives a magnificent, hugely credible performance as a retarded man who returns to his hometown in the Deep South after spending years in a psychiatric hospital for having murdered his mother as a child. When he befriends a young boy, his life takes a dramatic new turn. Tender but rarely sentimental, beautifully acted, and shot through with dark humour, this sensitive, insightful drama avoids the usual stereotypes to powerful effect. (And catch the lovely Jim Jarmusch cameo.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Producer: Brandon Rosser, David L Bushell
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakum, JT Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, Robert Duvall, James Hampton, Jim Jarmusch full cast
Duration: 126 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now