Shattered Glass

Pros: Excellent acting and direction--a compelling story that isn't told often.
Cons: None.

Have you ever wanted to see if you could get away with something? Something that you wouldn’t do under normal circumstances. Cheat on a test? Lie to a close friend? Steal something right under the security camera? I’ve wondered those things before. ...

Pros: Excellent cast and direction, very well presented
Cons: None at all!

Shattered Glass is a true story about a gay pathological liar. There, I said it. He’s gay. The movie alludes to it, and in the interview with the real guy, you can tell. I think his closeted homosexuality explains a lot about why he did what he did – ...

Pros: excellent writing, direction, pacing and performances
Cons: dialogue heavy, making it more fit for the little screen

"Ian Restil, a 15-year-old computer hacker who looks like an even more adolescent version of Bill Gates, is throwing a tantrum. 'I want more money. I want a Miata. I want a trip to Disney World. I want X-Man comic [book] number one. I want a ...

Pros: Strong acting, smart writing, impressively handling of a difficult subject matter
Cons: Perhaps the material is too insular for general consumption

A personal anecdote... feel free to skip ahead. In the fall of 1997, probably October of my junior year at the University of Pennsylvania, the Penn student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, held its annual Marquez Conference, an annual event w ...

Pros: Billy Ray's Direction & Script, Look, Dyanna's Score, & Cast featuring Sarsgaard's Exhilirating Performance.
Cons: None.

A few years ago, the New York Times got under a lot of heat when they learned one of their contributing editors named Jayson Blair was exposed for plagiarism. The incident nearly crippled the highly respected publication as more journalists became ...

Pros: Interesting story, good performances.
Cons: Clinical feel.

I personally recall vaguely knowing of the New Republic Scandal as it unfolded in 1998. I knew the basics of it: that an eager young writer for the "In-Flight Magazine of Air Force One" (named Stephen Glass) had been discovered to have been submitting ...

Pros: Great movie. Thought provoking.
Cons: None.

Stephen Glass was a hotshot young writer at The New Republic. His stories were fabulous - too good to be true. If he couldn’t find a great story, he just made one up. He was the Janet Cooke of the late 1990s and the hot writer scandal boy before ...

Pros: Sarsgaard and Christensen's duel in the second act
Cons: few

He’s Stephen Glass. He writes for The New Republic, the in-flight magazine of Air Force One known for a youthful staff of journalists. He strolls the office in socks; he compliments the secretary’s lipstick with natural charisma; he pitches his story ...

Pros: Intriguing and true story, with excellent ensemble cast
Cons: Not particularly cinematic - as a movie; filmcraft is not really evident

For those of you who don’t know me all that well, let me tell you that I always keep a folded three by five index card in my left pant’s pocket. It’s not quite as weird as it might, at first glance appear, since I use that card to remind ...

Pros: The acting and script.
Cons: Virtually none.

Based on an interesting true-life tale about a young maverick writer for "The New Republic" who was caught out for making up fictitious stories and passing them off as fact, "Shattered Glass" is a brilliantly written and directed film. Set only a few ...

Pros: A great look at the real world of journalism and the truth.
Cons: None.

In the late 90’s the journalistic world was shaken at it’s foundation when it was revealed that a reporter for the much heralded THE NEW REPUBLIC was found to be creating fictional stories and presenting them as facts. It was a little known loophole in ...

Pros: Plot, humor, acting, script, pretty much everything
Cons: Nothing major, if any at all

November Movie Pick of the Month My Monthly Movie Picks are just movies I see once a month and review. They aren't the best or worst movies of the month, just something I say "I'll make this my Movie Pick of the Month" to. I decide what movies ...

Pros: Compelling story; superlative performances by Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard
Cons: May not appeal to audiences more interested in the fate of Zion

"There's so many show offs in journalism," Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen) states in writer/director Billy Ray's arresting new film SHATTERED GLASS. And he should know. In 1998, the rising young writer was exposed for a fraud, having fabricated in one ...

Pros: Super performances, and a tight, brisk, cynical and amusing script.
Cons: Doesn't truly draw the viewer in emotionally.

I reluctantly rented this on one of those days when you go to the store, and everything you think you want to see is already out. I had read a few good reviews of SHATTERED GLASS, but just didn't find the subject matter all that compelling. But I went ...

Pros: Cast, writing, story
Cons: Would have loved more backstory about Glass

Hayden Christensen, best known as Anakin Skywalker from STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, continues to pick smart, indie film projects in a clear and calculated career path to make sure he's known as an actor - not just a cute blond teen idol with ...