Series Review: The Office (U.S. Version)

This review is a lot more casual than my average review, as it was initially a Facebook status addressed to friends. It's a brief overview of my thoughts on the series, and it does not address the story, premise or characters in any detail.

I recently finished all nine seasons of the U.S. version of the sitcom The Office. When I started the show, my mindset was something along the lines of, "...What the heck am I watching?" As it turns out, I was watching what would eventually become a hilarious and amazing show that would bring me great enjoyment for nearly two months of binge-watching.

It's true, the show is pretty consistently stupid. It's full of crude humor and facepalm-worthy moments, but it's also full of quality humor, great one-liners and lovable characters. While it's designed so that you can watch most episodes without having seen the rest of the show, the subplots make it absolutely worth watching in order.

The Office does something that no other show I've seen has been able to successfully achieve. All of the characters have this perfect blend of being unrealistic for the sake of comedy, and being very believable and real. This is particularly apparent in the first few seasons, but it is noticeable throughout the series. Most similar shows completely butcher that attempted blend.

My personal favorite episode is "Niagara, Part 2". It's the only episode that I watched more than once before finishing the show. (I actually watched it thrice.) However, this episode will mean absolutely nothing to you without five seasons of build-up and context.

I realize the show's not for everyone. It can be very inappropriate, and I only recommend it to people who are not easily offended by crude humor. (Trust me, it can get bad.) If that's not a problem for you, I'd also like to point out that if you're really turned off by the first few episodes, stick around for a while. It very definitely gets better. Oh, and be prepared to cringe whenever the character Todd Packer comes around. If you think Michael Scott is bad... geez.

So yeah. There's my super short, not-very-in-depth review. It's a great show. Well, it's great when it's not being super stupid. Which, to be honest, does happen a lot. Still, I may have cried near the end. Like, legitimately cried. Because storytelling can be awesome.

Titanic

Note: This review is far more casual than my average review, for the reason that it was initially a Facebook status addressed to friends. I'm posting it to my blog as well, after I was recommended to do so.

I set aside a number of hours a couple weeks ago to do something I only kind of wanted to do: watch Titanic, for the first time ever. Figured I'd finally get more culturally up to date.

Well... that was certainly an interesting movie. Freaking long. A lot of work was put into the thing. I mean a lot of work. The writing was kind of poor, and so was a lot of the acting, and yet some of the acting was superb. I recognized a lot of actors, and that was probably one of the coolest parts. The music... dang, the music was gorgeous. The production value was huge.

I can understand how this movie became a timeless classic, but I still had problems with it. It probably could've been a lot better if they'd shaved off an hour of it. Or perhaps half of it. I was bored and unimpressed for, like, the entire first half. Sure there were some humorous scenes, but not really enough to make up for the almost agonizingly slow pacing.

Overall, there are so many things that could have been done better, the writing and a lot of the acting included. However, as I stated before, some of the acting was superb.

Here's a list of the actors I recognized:

Bill Paxton ─ I recognized his voice more than I recognized what he looked like. You have to understand, I'm used to seeing him look over fifteen years older. He was probably one of the best actors in the movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio ─ Well, he was just as difficult to stand as my dad always told me. It's strange, since he's a brilliant actor in everything else he's in. He certainly did have his great moments, though. Overall I didn't care for the character.

Bernard Hill ─ He was probably the easiest to recognize, since he looked and sounded very similar to how he did playing Théoden in the Lord of the Rings movies a few years later. He didn't have a whole lot of lines, but they were very well-delivered.

Victor Garber ─ I knew I recognized him from something, but I just couldn't place it. I finally looked him up mid-movie (by that, I mean about two hours in), and found out that I'd seen him in one episode of one TV series, ever, and that was it. Somehow I was able to remember him enough for him to make an impression on me, I guess. That being said, I think he was probably the best actor in the entire movie. Played his part brilliantly.

Bernard Fox ─ Now, this made me geek out a bit. All these actors I recognize from parts they played years and years after Titanic, and here's an actor I know from many decades previous. I know Bernard Fox from 60s sitcoms like Hogan's Heroes, F-Troop and The Andy Griffith Show. Now here he was showing up in a 1997 movie! I geeked out.

Now, do I recommend this movie? If you like being bored, yeah. There were moments that made it worth watching, but you have to endure a lot of boredom to get to them.