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directed by Billy Bob Thornton
USA 1996

"Sling Blade" is an emotionally exhausting film experience which, primarily, helped introduce Billy Bob Thornton as one of the most complete multi-faceted talents in the business. This is a very  well-crafted story of a mentally challenged man with a stronger sense of justice than society itself. Carl's new 'father figure' aspect shows both his emotional maturity and sense of stalwart responsibility. Dwight Yoakam should also be recognized in a fine performance. A modern classic in a 'uplifting tragic sense' that has much to offer beyond the excellent characterizations, tight script and audience catharsis.  out of     

Gary W. Tooze

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 30th, 1996 - Telluride Film Festival

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Comparison:

Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

DVD Box Cover

Distribution Miramax Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC MiraMax - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 2:27:30  2:14:40.072
Video 1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.31 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 49,329,256,647 bytes

Feature: 32,791,025,664 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.29 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:  DVD

Bitrate:  Blu-ray

Audio English (Dolby Digital 5.1)  DTS-HD Master Audio English 3485 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3485 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS Audio German 1509 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / Dolby Surround
Subtitles English, French, Spanish, None English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, German, Indonesian, Korean, Malay, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Miramax Home Video

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1

Edition Details:

• Commentary by writer/director/actor Billy Bob Thornton

• Director's cut (13 minuets longer)
• Bravo Profiles: Billy Bob Thornton
• A Roundtable discussion with the cast
• A Conversation with Billy Bob Thornton
• A Conversation with Robert Duvall

• Mr. Thornton Goes to Hollywood (14-parts - 1 hour 10 minutes)
• "The Return of Karl"
• "On the Set" 3 part featurette
• "Doyle's Dead" with introduction
 
DVD Release Date: June 7th, 2005

Double Slim Keep Case
Chapters: 30

Release Information:
Studio: Miramax

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 49,329,256,647 bytes

Feature: 32,791,025,664 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.29 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Edition Details:

• Commentary by writer/director/actor Billy Bob Thornton
• Bravo Profiles: Billy Bob Thornton (43:23)
• A Roundtable discussion with the cast
• A Conversation with Billy Bob Thornton and Robert Duvall (8:28)

• A Conversation with Robert Duvall (7:53)

• A Conversation with Billy Bob Thornton and composer Daniel Lanois (22:58)

• Mr. Thornton Goes to Hollywood (14-parts - 1 hour 10 minutes)
• "The Return of Karl" (3:39)
• "On the Set" 3 part featurette
• "Doyle's Dead" with introduction by Billy Bob Thornton (4:22)
 
Blu-ray Release Date: August 4th, 2009
Standard
Blu-ray Case
Chapters: 25

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Addition: Miramax Blu-ray - July 09': 

NOTE: This Blu-ray doesn't appear to be offering the, roughly 13-minute longer, "Director's Cut" of the film that is available on the 2-disc 2005 DVD package. We should note that this may not be a error as most felt the pacing of the director's version slowed the narrative to the negative detriment of the film's impact. Many preferred the original theatrical cut to the DC.

The new Blu-ray shows the expected visual improvement in the areas of detail, colors and contrast.  Daylight scenes are brighter, darker scenes show more grain. There is a smidgeon more information in the frame and the 1080P transfer is in the precise 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The image is quite good and even shows a bit of depth. The feature takes up almost 33 Gig of space on the dual-layered disc with a competent bitrate of around 25 Mbps. I have no complaints with the way the Blu-ray looks.

Audio gets a healthy improvement with a DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3485 kbps. Unfortunately it kind of has no where to go as the films doesn't support a lot pf separations and has few effect noises. It exhibits a bit more punch in some of the later scenes and dialogue may be somewhat crisper. Daniel Lanois' score fits in so well you are hardly aware of its presence. There are German and Spanish language DUBs. Despite the box only stating English and Spanish subtitle options - the disc actually has foreign language 10 choices (although French is not one!?!). My Momitsu tells me this disc is region FREE playable on Blu-ray  machines worldwide.

 

This Blu-ray has a 'continue where left off feature' like Lost's "Season-Play". This is a positive in my mind. Aside from the feature film the rest of the disc is almost totally filled up with supplements - close to 17 Gig more! It appears to have all the past extras from the 2005 DVD package including the excellent commentary, roundtable discussion, conversations and 'On the Set' featurette. I especially liked the 1 hour 10 minute long, 14-part, Mr. Thornton Goes to Hollywood with input from many of the cast including Ritter and Duvall and some of Billy Bob's family and friends. The director/writer/star talks about growing up in Arkansas, his artistic leanings, love of Elvis and family support - it's very good and interesting to watch. Despite the ability to have all the extras accessible on one disc - there doesn't seem to be anything new from the older DVD though - and nothing in HD.

This remains a near perfect film in so many respects and a true modern classic that I'm very pleased to own on Blu-ray. It remains just as impacting over ten years later and we strongly recommend.        

Gary W. Tooze

 


DVD Menus


Disc 2

 


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Subtitle Sample - we can't obtain subtitle sample for Blu-ray yet!

 

Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


 

Screen Captures

 

Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

 


Miramax (2-disc Director's Cut) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Miramax - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

More Blu-ray captures

 

DVD Box Cover

Distribution Miramax Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC MiraMax - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 





 

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Gary Tooze

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