The Nightmare Before Christmas

Still amazing, but the animation seems dated, believe it or not. Lots of advances, I guess, since 1993.

Little Children

Many really interesting and original things about this. I loved the narration. Great performances, especially Jackie Earle Haley of Bad News Bears and Breaking Away fame. Runs off track a lot, and doesn't add up to much, but high points for originality and daring.

Ikiru

Kurosawa weepie about a dying, old beurocrat determined to build a playground. Nice enough, but loooong.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

Forgettable dead-teenager horror flick made by AFI grads. Catchy title, but by-the-numbers "execution."

Running With Scissors

Really annoying, masturbatory, and pretentious. Wants to be John Irving or Wes Anderson "eclectic" but fails. Pretty sucky.

The Prestige

Second viewing.

Flags of Our Fathers

Confusing because of a jumbled flashback structure. Characters are hard to connect with. Could have been all about the Ira Hayes character. Didn’t resonate.

The Prestige

Tight, interesting, and well-performed. There's one slightly annoying deception, but it doesn't mar the overall enjoyment.

Man of the Year

There's nothing more UN-funny than Robin Williams trying to be funny. One of the worst movies I've ever seen.

The Departed

Definitely one of the best movies of the year. DiCaprio’s simmering performance eclipses the slight leaps in plot logic. Nicholson’s just doing his stock act, and comes off phoning it in a bit compared to Damon, Marky-Mark, et al. A movie with real balls.