Howl

HOWL Blu-ray Review

by Harrison Pierce    Posted: January 24th, 2011 at 10:43 am

James Franco, 2010’s most oddly ubiquitous entertainer, played two real life figures onscreen last year: poet Allen Ginsberg and survivalist Aron Ralston. While Ginsberg is presumably still the better known name, far more moviegoers checked out 127 Hours than Howl, the little seen biography about the Beat founding father from acclaimed documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Although Howl marks the duo’s narrative film debut, they break from traditional biopic form by utilizing a unique mix of documentary-style interviews, Hollywood-style courtroom dramatics and animated sequences to depict the inspiration behind, creation of and aftermath of Ginsberg’s most famous poem, “Howl.” While pretty boy Franco is a somewhat odd choice to play the less-than-beautiful, but never less-than-charismatic Ginsberg, the actor adeptly portrays the poet’s repressed romantic yearnings, heartbreak over friend’s and family’s treatment by mid-century mental health professionals and, most importantly, his electrifying ability to manipulate the English language. The film itself, however, is a mixed bag: poetic where it should be prosaic; diffuse where it should be focused.  My review after the jump:

Oscilloscope Sets HOWL, Starring James Franco, for September Release

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 22nd, 2010 at 11:39 am

Distributor Oscilloscope will release Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Allen Ginsberg film Howl in theaters and on Video-on-Demand on September 24^th.  The film, which stars James Franco as Ginsberg, centers on the poet’s 1957 public obscenity trial.  The flick, which also stars David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, and Mary-Louise Parker, opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival to mixed reviews.

Hit the jump to read the full press release.

On Set Video Interviews HOWL – James Franco, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels and Writer/Director’s Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 19th, 2010 at 7:13 pm

Just a few minutes ago I posted the first footage from Howl.  While I thought that’d be the last of our coverage about the film until I see it at Sundance, I was just given some on set video interviews with James Franco, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels and writer/director’s Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman.

Even though I rarely post interviews that I didn’t do myself, it’s pretty cool to see everyone on set talking about why they wanted to do the movie and what it’s about.  Hit the jump to take a look.

4 Movie Clips from HOWL – Premieres at Sundance and Stars James Franco, Jon Hamm, and David Strathairn

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 19th, 2010 at 5:46 pm

Every Sundance, there are always a few movies everyone is talking about before the Festival.  You know…the ones with buzz. One of the movies at this year’s Fest that people are talking about is Howl.  The reason…it’s filled with an all star cast consisting of James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Treat Williams, Bob Balaban, Alessandro Nivola, Mary Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels.  Also, you’ve got Franco playing a young Allen Ginsberg and as the synopsis says, “it’s a legal drama, a character study and an animated trip into the magic and madness of the modern world.”

With Sundance set to begin later this week, we’ve landed the first footage from Howl and it’s four clips from the film.  If you’d like a sneak peak at one of the big films from this year’s Fest…take a look.  Also, the film plays this Thursday night in Park City, so reviews will be everywhere on Friday.

SUNDANCE Sends Filmmakers to 8 Cities to Show Their Films During the Festival

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 9th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

If you can’t go to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, don’t cry!  The Sundance Institute is making 2010 the inaugural year of Sundance Film Festival USA where eight filmmakers showing their film at the festival will show it to a major metropolitan area…so as long as you live in or near one of those eight major cities, then you don’t need to cry.

The films going out through the nation are The Duplass Brothers’ Cyrus starring John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill; John Wells The Company Men starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, and Kevin Costner (Brookline; The Safdie Brothers’ Daddy Longlegs; Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Jack Goes Boating starring Hoffman and Amy Ryan; Adrian Grenier’s documentary Teenage Paparazzo; Floria Sigismondi’s The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning; Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s The Extra Man starring Kevin Kline and Paul Dano; and Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Howl starring James Franco and Jon Hamm. All eight films will be shown on the night of January 28th with tickets available through each individual theater’s box office.  Hit the jump for the full press release to see which film is going to which city and who will be presenting.  The people of Ann Arbor, MI, Brookline, MA, Brooklyn, NY, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA, Madison, WI, Nashville, TN, and San Francisco, CA are going to be very happy on January 28th.  As for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, it will run from January 21-31st.

2010 Sundance Film Festival: New Photos for HOWL Starring James Franco and Jon Hamm

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 3rd, 2009 at 11:53 am

New photos for Howl, the upcoming film starring James Franco as revered beat poet Allen Ginsberg, have come online as the film approaches its premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  I find these images impressive because we’re once again forced to recognize that James Franco can do anything.  Look at these photos and then remember that he’s doing a guest stint on General Hospital and it could be part of an art project.  He was also hilarious last year in Pineapple Express.  These projects are so vastly different and yet Franco always excels and it looking like Howl will be no different.

For those unfamiliar with the project, Howl is about the 1957 obscenity trial against Ginsberg for his poem, “Howl”.  Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the film co-stars Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, and David Strathairn.  Hit the jump to check out the images.  The 2010 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 21-31st.

Competition Line-up Announced for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 2nd, 2009 at 2:15 pm

The Sundance Film Festival is where some of the great films of the year will get their first viewings, and if you don’t believe me, here’s just some of the great films this year that made their debut at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival: Precious, World’s Greatest Dad, Big Fan, Bronson, Moon and even (500) Days of Summer, which I didn’t care for but made a big splash.

The festival is where buzz starts happening and now Sundance has released the list of which films will be in competition for 2010.  Keep in mind that there are plenty of other films which play out of competition and can be just as great.  But some of the big names fighting for the crown are the Allen Ginsberg obscenity trial film Howl starring General Hospital’s James Franco, Hesher starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo’s directing debut Sympathy for Delicious, and then there are separate categories for domestic documentaries, foreign documentaries, and foreign narrative films and who knows what great treasures will be among those.  I’m sure we’ll hear from those lucky bastards who are attending.

Hit the jump for the full list of the films in contention.  We’ll bring you a list of films playing out of competition once we have it.

New Images From CLASH OF THE TITANS and HOWL

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 5th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

UPDATED: Hi-res versions for the “Clash of the Titans” image above and the one from a few days ago are now available after the jump.

From EW.com are new shots from Louis Leterrier’s remake of “Clash of the Titans” and the story of beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s obscenity trial, “Howl”.  This is the second official shot we’ve seen from “Clash of the Titans” and I have to say that that I’m digging the fiery and gritty look and now that I’ve actually seen a Sam Worthington performance, it’s easier to appreciate photos of the guy rather than some guy where you don’t even know what his voice sounds like (although hopefully he won’t be slipping in and out of his Aussie accent this time around).  And just as Worthington’s Perseus is about to tear up some Greek mythology, James Franco’s Ginsberg is about to tear up some beat poetry.  Or lay against another dude (co-star Aaron Tveit).  But that is part of the mastery of beat poetry.  Laying against dudes and smiling, being all adorable and lookin’ like James Franco.  They teach you that in high school.

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