Thomas J Taylor

Refreshingly inventive while retaining real humanity. It's very seldom I rank anything Five Stars, but so pleased am I to find fiction and reality so well combined, I'm awarding top marks. So relieved that shows such as this are making it onto the small screen when there's such a glut of absolute tripe and dross filling our diet of television entertainment. I find it compelling while being wonderfully intelligent and amusing. Accolades to all involved.

Amusing storyline with plenty of action, the story in part mimicking 1984 with the amusing inclusion of a heavily politically corrected speak which is the diluted language of the day. Wonderfully acted by Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock, also an actor I recognise from an American police drama series but cannot recall the name of. I've watched the movie several times over the years and I'm still engaged, entertained and manage to get get a good laugh from it. I'm sure I'll be watching it infrequently over coming years, to revisit the lighthearted, campishly portrayed characters which, for me, make the film something of a classic from out of the 80's.

I'm afraid this story does not cut it, not in any direction. There's not anything constructive to be taken from the story and all characters are one dimensional, with the protagonist being a complete buffoon and the least likely to succeed in anything. The movie was painful to watch. It fails to amuse, offers nothing in the way of life lessons and why anyone decided to waste money making the movie is beyond comprehension. McConaughey's decision to play the role of Moondoggy is also as mysterious and does nothing for the actor's reputation.

A visually great experience, but the movie is ruined so early on by a massive mistake regarding the star of the movie, gravity itself. The two remaining astronauts are hanging by a strap from the International Space Station, supposedly being dragged apart by George Clooney's weight. Really? They're weightless!! And in any case, Sandra Bullock could so easily have pulled him back towards her. I know they still have mass, but think it through. They got it terribly wrong, and the moment I saw this the movie lost all credibility. Any movie about space must be grounded in physics, and the moment reality is lost we enter the realm of science fiction. It was, for me, an unforgivable oversight, and the movie lost credibility along with my interest in that very moment. Mistakes like this are for amateurs.

The over dramatization of small events, the host's often needless explanations of events already witnessed by viewers and the slotting in of video vignettes of people pretending to be demon's or ghosts are some of the annoying aspects of a show which needs none of this, and which only detracts from viewer enjoyment. The subject matter is enough to attract interest, and the interaction through electronic devices and video capture of otherworldly phenomenon is proof enough to convince us that restless souls really can be caught between worlds after death. Evidence of intimidation, malevolent interference and even possession is occasionally astounding and especially rewarding when the show's on-call exorcist team free those suffering from demonic infestation within their homes and even possession. Such as these are truly frightening and act as ample warning to all that messing with ouija boards and anything to do with the occult is foolish in the extreme, possibly leading to unimagined horrors and even death, with the real chance of one's soul being enslaved and usurped by things too hideous even to contemplate. That the show educates and illustrates all the dangers involved is a major plus for viewers, although voice over explanations of the bleeding obvious does, at times, tend to detract from educational value of the program. Regardless of the host's bombastic tendency to overdramatize and become tediously repetitive, these negatives are fortunately overshadowed and outweighed by the teams knowledge of the subject and obvious courage employed in their investigations. I for one commend the fact that this strange and often dangerous aspect of our reality is being brought out of the shadows and into the light, hopefully educating all while dissuading the foolish from tampering with the order of things in this world, where all but the initiated and those knowledgeable in the field should not tread. A fascinating, educational program and a valuable addition to television. With their healthy financial investment in everything from vehicles, private in-home cinema and array of electronic tools and gadgets, the Ghost Adventures team are one of the best outfits in their chosen field of endeavour. There could, however, be greater probing into the dimensional environment where their subjects (ghouls, ghosts, elementals, alien lifeforms, imps, night crawlers and demons) inhabit. Viewers are left wondering about what exists beyond the veil, and why these dimensions overlap the way they appear to do. All in all, though, an excellent deviation from the usual plethora of uninteresting, uninformative rubbish to be found on television. A great show, but there's still room for improvement.

If I am to accept the portrayal of events taking place in The Mauritanian, and I confess that I have no evident reason not to, the well made and very competently acted movie only augments my disgust at a US government who endeavours to take the high moral ground at every opportunity while perpetrating gross and inhuman acts on good and decent people without regard for the most basic notions of justice. I applaud any book or movie shining light on the ugliness we as people are capable of perpetrating or allowing to continue through hatred, appathy or outright cowardice by ignoring such practices and seeking to justify them by fuelling paranoia among the mindless and by misrepresenting the entire concept of torture. I hope to see more such stories reach the world community. I might add that many still regard Russia as "The Evil Empire." What then might be said of the USA? Of course neither is correct; the populace are not, but we are witnessing in our world the uncontrolled rise of Evil as we begin to feel powerless to curb it's proliferation. . . and how I wish I were wrong about that. Highly commendable.