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Just got back from it as well and also mostly enjoyed it. I also give Cuaron three out of four successes but a different three (it is Prisoner of Azkaban that I find deplorable).
The first long cut was well done, adding to the suspense of the scene, and subtle enough that if I hadn't heard about the long cuts beforehand I probably wouldn't have noticed.
The second one was just needless showing off and did nothing for the movie (and apprently had at least one unperceived cut anyway). The problem with our modern digital age is that I don't believe what I see on film is real anyway so long cuts for the sake of a long cut isn't really impressive.
I remember the forgetabble Nicolas Cage movie Snake Eyes and it started with what seemed to be a 10 minute single shot that was actually cleverly edited and masked digitally. That's pointless. The beginning of Touch of Evil, that meant something. The second one in Children of Men was somewhere in between but closer to Snake Eyes.
But it is a ballsy movie for many reasons and well worth seeing (unless you're someone who only goes to movies to be made happy).
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