I love all Baz Luhrmann movies like I love all Danny Boyle movies, although I will confess that I have yet to see "Australia"--his homeland epic. Vonne was so impressed with "Moulin Rouge" that she subsequently went to see Luhrman's Broadway staging of the opera "La boheme," which thrilled her to no end.
I just re-watched this with my older daughter and my mom, who got up about ten minutes into the viewing and said, "I thought this was the one with Jose Ferrer!" and then stomped out. My daughter Em loves the movie so much she can sing almost the entire soundtrack, which I can find annoying in the home theater.
Anyway, what I love:
- I love Jim Broadbent in the ringmaster role; I smile every second he's on screen;
- I think this was the one that Nicole Kidman should have won her Oscar for; she was perfect here;
- I like Ewan McGregor in almost all things (the great Boyle-Luhrmann bridge!), but found him especially appealing here--to include his heartfelt singing.
- But most of all, I loved how Luhrmann re-imagines the modern musical as a sampler of recent songs and I especially loved all his cinematographic trickery here; he is a showman of the highest order--Sergei Diaghilev caliber.
I hope the guy never gets bored with film.