Am I Supposed To Still Hear You?

2007s Awake definitely has an interesting base concept, that of remaining conscious though unable to move, speak, anything whilst under anesthesia. It opens up a whole range of things that could happen to the patient or those around them. I guess, even the rest of the story in Awake, that secret wife Sam (Jessica Alba) has conspired with surgeon Jack (Terence Howard) to murder patient Clay (Hayden Christensen) for his wealth and the malpractice settlement, which would naturally go to the widow. It's just that the film is executed so terribly badly.

Who is Joby Harold? Anyone? He wrote and directed the film, with nothing listed on his IMDb page as far as previous credits go. He's married to the producer, though, so maybe that got him the gig. It looked pretty enough (helped by the presence of Christensen... did I get across that I think he's real perty here? In case I didn't, he's real perty), in a very generic Hollywood teen thriller kind of way. But the script is. Appalling. Everyone just muddles their way through (with the exception of the fabulous Lena Olin as Clay's mother! She's the only saving grace of the film. Well, her and Hayden's prettiness), so you never care overly much about what's going on. And then it's over - it's a short movie. I can see that it's trying to power along, it kind of almost gets there in points, but it doesn't ever hit the mark. It's just not a very good film. I'm sorry. It's not.


Why is Hayden doing roles like this, when we know what he can do from Life As A House? Did he just get lazy after the success of Star Wars turned him into a marquee name? Such a pity. Apparently he replaced Jared Leto in the role as well, so no matter how it had turned out, it was going to be pretty. Small favours. 1.5 stars.

Are You Mad At Me?

I'm putting it out there, and I'm not ashamed: I have a crush on Hayden Christensen, and I have since Life As A House. There, I said it. I even watched the second Star Wars film because he was in it (though I couldn't bring myself to sit through the third. Please forgive me, Hayden.) I also think that he does have some acting chops (see Life As A House again) but I think often he doesn't put them to as full a use as he could. That's fine - many better actors do the same (good morning Robert De Niro.)

(he's writing down my phone number. I swear it.)

So, I watched Shattered Glass. Deal. It also has Peter Sarsgaard in a Golden Globe nominated role, and Chloë Sevigny, who is another I love. Though, and no disrespect intended, who the hell is Billy Ray? The director of the film is a bit of a mystery to me.

Shattered Glass is apparently the true story of one Stephen Glass, a young reporter and, subsequently, associate editor of The New Republic, a highly-regarded American journal that, at the time the film is set, was suffering from rapidly declining readership, despite the fact that it was the 'inflight magazine of Air Force One.' Glass (Christensen) is precocious and an incredible story-teller - he seems able to get the most amazing stories, pitch them in a very entertaining way, and them write them very well, all the while whilst being a very nice guy to all those at his workplace, no matter how overworked he may have been. The only problem is - was he making them up?

Hank Azaria plays his very good initial editor Michael Kelly, who is fired and replaced by Glass' colleague Chuck Lane (Sarsgaard.) The story that creates the whirlwind of forgery accusations revolves around a hacker's conference and a very young hacker who seems to have signed a major contract with a tech firm that he hacked in order that they may police their security better. Forbes Digital journalist Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn) begins to investigate, as this is exactly the sort of story they would like to run with, and begins to find massive inconsistencies in the story - and this is where the story goes.

It's a pretty lightweight film, but entertaining enough. Sarsgaard does an excellent job, but I do wonder why more attention wasn't given to Christensen, who seemed to pull through his freaky happiness and utter despair with a constant look of fear hovering somewhere in the background of his eyes. He was never quite trustworthy, no matter how well he sold his credentials and stories, and that isn't an easy feat to pull off.

Oh well, I don't think this is the last we've seen of Christensen (I bloody well hope not, at least.) Bring on some more drama though, boy. You can do it, you've shown it. Push yourself.

Shattered Glass: 3 stars.