I am trying to explore more and more titles from the past to watch that I have never seen that maybe had some critical acclaim. That is why I chose to watch today’s film Sling Blade which was written, directed, and stars Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa). Karl Childers is a mentally challenged individual who has spent most of his life inside of a metal institution because of the fact that he killed his mother and her lover when he was 12. When he is finally released because he was deemed well by the state, he is released into the real world where he befriends a child named Frank (Lucas Black) who lost his father. Watch as Karl tries to adjust to real world and all the challenges that it brings his way. The film also stars John Ritter (Bride Of Chucky) as Vaughn Cunningham, Robert Duvall (The Godfather) as Karl’s Dad, Dwight Yoakam (Panic Room) as Doyle Hargraves, J.T. Walsh (A Few Good Men) as Charles Bushman, Natalie Canerday (Walk The Line) as Linda Wheatley, James Hampton (The China Syndrome) as Jerry Woolridge, Brent Briscoe (The Dark Knight Rises) as Scooter, Christine Renee Ward (Tree) as Melinda, and Rick Dial (Crazy Heart) as Bill Cox.
This is a very interesting film and an amazing performance from Billy Bob Thornton who subsequently won an Oscar fro Best Screenplay, but did not win the Best Actor award. It was crazy to see a young Lucas Black in the film, but he deserves a nod for doing a great job playing alongside Thornton. One of the the things I liked right off the bat from the film was when a couple of girls were going in to the hospital to interview Karl. They’re talking about how he’s a murderer and there’s J.T. Walsh talking about murdering a girl to Billy Bob Thornton tricking you into thinking that J.T. is the murderer the girls are talking about. There’s no action in the film, but there is plenty of drama and great acting. John Ritter does an amazing job playing a gay man in Arkansas who battles the fact that he isn’t socially accepted. Instead of being scared of Billy Bob Thornton’s character Karl, everyone seems to open up to him instead of Dwight Yoakam’s character who is the antagonist of the film. He’s the guy that represents everything that was wrong about Karl’s childhood and what set him off then. The ending is kind of shocking, but you understand why it happened and you kind of commend him for doing it. In a way he was saving the boy from a life of agony because it was right in his mind. I absolutely loved the film and I recommend watching it. I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.
When I first heard about the film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, I was excited to see it because of the acronym WTF. So it’s safe to say that I thought this would be a laugh out loud comedy considering it stars Tina Fey (Sisters). Fey stars as Kim Baker, a desk jockey at a news station that takes a job in Afghanistan to try and see if she can change her life or the better. What she doesn’t account for is all the difficult choices she’ll have to make when she is over there from dealing with relationships, the culture differences, and other war time journalists. The film also stars Margot Robbie (The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Tanya Vanderpoel, Martin Freeman (Captain America: Civil War) as Iain MacKelpie, Alfred Molina (Raiders Of The Lost Arc) as Ali Massoud Sadiq, Christopher Abbott (A Most Violent Year) as Fahim Ahmadzai, Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa) as General Hollanek, Nicholas Braun (How To Be Single) as Tall Brian, Stephen Peacocke (Me Before You) as Nic, Evan Jonigkeit (X-Men: Days Of Future Past) as Specialist Coughlin, Josh Charles (Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead) as Chris, Sheila Vand (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night) as Shakira Khar, and the film was directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
As I said above, I originally thought that the film was going to be a laugh out loud comedy, but what I didn’t expect from it was all the drama. It’s kind of a very serious movie especially for Tina Fey’s character who is on a journey of discovery. She feels as though that she has wasted too much time in her life and she feels that she should be able to do so much more. That is essentially why she takes the job in Afghanistan because otherwise you’d have to be crazy to do so. Margot Robbie who’ll be playing Harley Quinn this summer in Suicide Squad looked fantastic in the film and she actually does a good job with the role she was given. Martin Freeman was a very good addition to the film as he made the film more interesting. The cinematography was great in the film even though the story could have been a little bit better in my opinion. I get that the film had some elements of feminism in the film in the form of empowering women considering it takes place in a country that does not allow women to do much. You can’t really watch the film for anything else other than that. It’s a decent film that you can afford to watch once and call it a day. I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 