Thursday, September 30, 2010 6:55PM - By JC
James Franco gives a career-defining performance in this weekend’s limited release, Howl, directed by Oscar winning documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Franco portrays American poet/Beat movement founder Allen Ginsberg, alongside Jon Hamm, Mary Louise-Parker, and Jeff Daniels. Though unlikely to sway commercial audiences due to its funky, unconventional nature, the film provides an innovative spin on contemporary storytelling. Though a slightly premature shot to call, Franco should sweep awards season with this one…
Check out the review below…
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Monday, September 20, 2010 1:12PM - By Laura Aguirre
Jon Hamm just scored big with Ben Affleck‘s The Town. Not only are people enjoying it, but it’s also making big money at the box office — it came in at number one this weekend. But now, Hamm has something new to look forward to, and it’s not “Mad Men,”… not yet anyway. His movie Howl, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, is hitting theaters this coming weekend.
In Howl, Hamm plays Jake Ehrlich, the defense attorney who helped Allen Ginsberg against charges of obscenity. Hamm intentionally had to make a few adjustments to his character and wardrobe because he was worried that audiences may wonder what Don Draper (his alter-ego on “Mad Men”) is doing in the courtroom.
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Monday, February 1, 2010 12:10AM - By Brendan Walsh
Howl, the film whose premiere opened the 2010 Sundance Festival, is perhaps the most artistic and experimental storytelling displayed at this years festival. It is a presentation and exploration of Allen Ginsberg’s timeless poem of the same title, directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman and starring James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Bob Balaban, Jeff Daniels. It manages to capture both a moment in time from the beat era of the late 1950s, and reflect on the relevance of the poems message of isolation. It is told through firsthand accounts from different eras, and different visual styles and media. Howl delves into the concept of measuring the value of art, while standing apart from the other films of the festival as a true work of art itself. Read more about this film after the jump…
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009 2:05PM - By sergiosoto
Jon Hamm has officially been cast for the upcoming film, Howl. The movie revolves around Allen Ginsberg’s historical trial in which a poem that inspired a censroship war and kicked off the 1960′s Beat Generation. The poem titled “Howl” was deemed “obscene” and caused the publisher Ferlinghetti to arrested. In a breakthrough case, Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that the poem was not obscene, and “Howl” went on to become one of the most popular poems of the Beat Generation.
The cast has a group of varying talents. We’ve got classics like Alan Alda and Jeff Daniels, but we also have some younger faces like Paul Rudd and James Franco (who will be playing Ginsberg). Hamm (of TV’s Madmen) will be playing the attorney Jake Ehrlich (the inspiration for Perry Mason).
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