Ratatouille was simply amazing. I wish the puppet-control-hair-pull thing had been done differently; I couldn’t suspend my disbelief. But still, go see it.

By the way, every time I see a show about chefs I wish I could be one. They seem like the greatest geniuses on the planet. The create art in a medium that everyone can appreciate.

I saw 16 Blocks last night and nearly cried at the end. Bruce Willis was great at portraying a burnt-out alcoholic cop. At the very end, when he looked more like himself, it was jarring. He was a different person.

16 Blocks was obviously inspired by Clint Eastwood’s Gauntlet, even including the use of a bus. The time and distance were greatly compressed (as you can tell from the title) and there was no boy-girl interest (which worked fine).

It was an action movie, even with some “bullet time,” but it was much more realistic and less showy than the DieHard kind of action flick. No big explosions and he made it out of the close calls by being clever and surprising his enemies.

All the same, I think the burnt-out cop plot is getting old. A cop who was happily married and who had a family to protect would have been just as interesting. Imagine the temptation to look the other way and not risk your life so that you can keep your children from being orphans and your wife from being a widow.

Naturally, I completely ignored the “shocking alternative ending” on the DVD. The only time I ever watched an alternative ending was the end of the first season of 24 so that I could see the way the show should have ended. And then I never watched another episode ever again.