sydgallaher Reviews

The Secret (2006 Video)

The Bait

[1/10 · 11 February 2007]

This Film is Just the Advertising Vehicle for the New Age, Hippy Dippy Cult Jerry & Esther Hicks started to bilk followers out of their money. Talk about the law of attraction, that's what this film is supposed to be. The bait.

This film proposes that you can swallow the equivalent of a mental "magic pill" and all of your problems will "disappear." It's just an age-old con, in a different form. And I too found it odious, that with the film insinuating that anything bad that happens to someone is the product of the victim's own negativity, all types of trauma and tragedy are blamed on people who do not deserve that sort of criticism. How terribly offensive.

John Gray? Please. Wasn't he a monk or something before he wrote those books on relationships and marriage?

Big Love (2006–2011)

Big Love is another HBO Home Run!

[10/10 · 3 June 2006]

When I first saw the ads for this show I said, "huh. Really weird premise to base a show on. Not to mention towing the line on being patently offensive. How good can it possibly be?" Well not only is it good, it's beyond wonderful. This is a series of many layers. It is at different turns screamingly hilarious, poignant to the point of tears and thought-provoking. Most of all though, it is just... human.

Think it's easy to be Poly?

How do you satisfy three wives without taking viagra? What are the risks of losing your eyesight - especially if you're taking a teensy bit more than prescribed. Is it really cheating if you're meeting one of the wives on the side in a hotel room without the knowledge of the others? Is the prairie skirt still a fashion statement? Who gets the kids if one of the wives dies? How long will your neighbors believe that your "babysitter" never has a boyfriend and conveniently has a house bordering your backyard? Who controls the money?

This show takes a subject which many of us have often wondered about, polygamy, and looks at both the bad and the good. It turns it around and examines all of the angles. Then very quickly it twists it into a Rubik's Cube of a puzzle and let's us watch a very talented cast including Jeanne Tripplehorn and Bill Paxton as they try to work it out under a very unconventional set of circumstances.

A MUST WATCH of a new series and definitely another home run for HBO!