I think iMovie '08 is great. I wasn't a heavy user of iMovie HD, but since '08 is simpler to use, I have found myself using the program more. I have no gripes. If I wanted more, I'd buy a pro app.
Steve loves you. OK - he probably thinks pretty highly of me as well, given how much cash we send Apple's way. However, the missing features are pretty significant and, one would think, pretty easy to add back in since they are in every other video app they have. It wouldn't have been that hard to allow one to highlight the effects area, have a tab next to the text, transition, etc. tool bar, and apply. I had a nice short clip of our cat flipping around chasing her tail - the kids love it. I wanted to put it to music and do a slo-mo.....
Rip from camera - OK
Put in iMovie '08 - OK
Grab part of clip to put in slo-mo - OK
Select effects - hmmmmm those used to be around here somewhere - check help - ah there they are - surprise just in help, not the app - TOTALLY missing.
Export section for slo-mo - OK
Import into iMovie 6 - OK
Slo-mo - OK
Export back to iMovie 08 - OK
Finally get a movie created and sent to iWeb and then .mac - OK
Now - that's not an editing process I expect from a company like Apple. I actually buy my own computer to use at work because I want to use a Mac and not a Windows box, so this is really disappointing to me. I really hope they fix this prior to iLife '10.
There are a lot of new features I really like, but this special effects was one of those previously highly touted features that made iMovie really fun.