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You're reading a really old version of matt-thornton's website. For example, if you're looking at the movie reviews... you'll notice that none of them are of recent films. Indeed, I leave them here for posterity's sake, but I doubt very much that they'll get updated anytime soon. So have a giggle.

You might, if you're lucky, find something recent from Matt at his blog matt's debates. Kernow bys vyken.

The Office

the verdict:

Finally got round to watching all of The Office now. If you don't know it, it's Ricky Gervais's satirical outlook on a typical UK office scene. He plays the boss, who is totally in love with himself, who thinks he's great and is full of marketing techspeak mumbo-jumbo. Whereas in reality, he's a self-obsessed, chauvinistic, racist, humourless, loveless, sad little moron.

It's hard to give it a decent treatment here, because simply put, it's absolutely brilliant. I hear it's done well over in the US, which is surprising, given the levels of irony and sarcasm which are subtly weaved into virtually all of the jokes. I wonder if the Americans take it at face value, believe it, and are now laughing at us thinking that it is for real. Who knows.

Anyway, I recommend having a watch. It's only about £13 on Play.com I think. You should also get the Christmas specials, two further editions where you see what has happened to the "characters" 3 years down the road. David Brent is a travelling salesman, doing bitpart "celebrity" performances now and then, Gareth is manager of Wernham Hogg, Tim is still there as a sales rep and Dawn is out in Florida. Needless to say, these two episodes really seal off the whole thing. Somewhat predictably, and somewhat unexpectedly. You see how the characters have developed over the time. Interestingly though, the message that you feel Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have been trying to say throughout every episode is made brutally clear. It's more of a philosophical discussion on what people need in their daily lives, and how an individual is able to reflect on themselves and decide if they're happy or not. It's good.

Even if you're not interested in that, watch it for the humour. But be warned, it's horribly cringeworthy virtually throughout, and you often find yourself wanting to hit everyone in it.