Big Fish really is wonderful, by the way. It's beautiful, funny, and satisfying. Of all the movies released this year, only Spellbound gave me more moments to remember and turn over lightly in my mind after the movie was over.

These "take-away" moments are what movies are really about, and there were some great ones this year. A few that come to mind: The five-alarm I'm-gonna-kill-you camera zoom into Uma Thurman's face in Kill Bill Vol. 1; Ewan MacGregor brushing aside suspended bits of popcorn as time stops in Big Fish; Geoffrey Rush growling "Arrr!" to Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean; those two shy, electric kisses on the cheek in Lost in Translation; and those three kids standing at the schoolyard fence in Spellbound.