Gran Torino
It's a nice story and watchable, but somewhat overhyped in the press. Eastwood's performance is solid but nothing special. His character's opening up to the Hmong family next door, despite his prejudices, seems a bit too rapid. 3.5 / 5
Milk
It covers a lot of time so it skips through years of Harvey Milk's life quite quickly but it was a very interesting life and thus an engaging film. I would have liked to see more depth in his relationships with other people. Sean Penn is superb as the title character and Josh Brolin is very deserving of his supporting actor nomination as well. 4 / 5
Frost/Nixon
Fascinating story and great acting all around. The movie catches the mood of the 1970s and you get a sense of the characters of these two men and the tension between them as the Brit David Frost takes the first post-resignation interview from Richard Nixon. Frank Langela should probably win the Oscar. 5 / 5
Let the Right One In
A moody Swedish film about a young bullied boy and a young (looking) vampire girl. Takes a while to grab your interest with its slow, quiet plotting and bled-out color schemes but it holds your interest as you wait to see where the relationship goes and watch the protagonists coming out of their shells. Good young actors. 4 / 5
Cadillac Records
Like Milk, it has to speed through the years so you feel you miss some episodes of the characters' lives that would better explain them. You could almost classify it as a (music) history film and it's fascinating to get a view on how Chess Records popularied the people who invented Rock & Roll - Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry - and other stand-outs like Etta James. 3.5 / 5
Hollywood did put out a glut of quality films at the end of the year. Fortunately, many were tipped for Oscars so lots of DVD screeners which means lots of bit-torrent availability for those of us out here in places where we can't see them in English in the cinema

I've got Slumdog Millionaire, Changeling, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Doubt, The Wrestler, Benjamin Button and Vicky Cristina Barcelona still to watch. Would like to get a hold of Rachel Getting Marrieg and Notorious.