This is one of the best laid out true story dramas I've seen in recent months. "Shattered Glass" I best describe as one of those thrillers without being a thriller, similar to "The Contender."

"Shattered Glass" tells the story of Stephen Glass, a 24 year old journalist and associate editor with "The New Republic" magazine, who also moonlighted with other major publications like Harper's, George and New York Times. However, when digital media journalist Adam Penenberg, writing for Forbes online magazine, discovers facts from one of Glass's stories was fabricated with falsehoods, the Glass house of popularity begins to crumble.

The picture stars Hayden Christensen aka Anakin Skywalker from the new Star Wars trilogy is a very impressive performance. He plays Glass in a demeanor not too far off from the actual person being depicted. The "Shattered Glass" DVD disc contains a five year anniversary spot on the true life person and situation as aired on the TV news magazine show "60 Minutes." The extra feature adds to the belief that this picture is not only highly fair to the situation, but highly accurate.

Among those in the supporting cast are Peter Sarsgaard as the editor of the New Republic who investigates the truth behind Glass's submission. Rarely giving a serious dramatic role is Hank Azaria who sets the stage of the conflict after being replaced as New Republic editor.

The story in this feature is so simply and so well timed, it kept me always suspecting what was really going on, yet somehow always guessing what was next to be revealed at the same time. However, after recently coming off over three years of working as a journalist, I can say I have a biased towards the setting of the picture, and relate to much of its material where others may get bored. I doubt it though. As I stated, the picture is a thriller. Any viewer will quickly know where the plot is going and I'm sure would get pulled in. There are no explosions or gun shots. There's not even anyone running after another person, so action sequences are not to be found. Do not let my use of the word "Thriller" deceive you.

However, I strongly felt the movie was as exciting as any movie that has all those high end production values. This could possibly be the best picture I've seen on DVD this year. Rent it!

Benn - Where's the Humanity?