Rating: 
Summary: Suffer for your Art, please!!
Review: With yet one more adaptation of the La Traviata (fallen woman) tale (how many more do we need?), I wasn't expecting much. And I got a little more and a little less than expected. This movie wasn't fabulous and I'm not raving mad about it. It was OK. and just OK. It took me two viewings to enjoy it, and addition of my favorite roommate (a Moulin Rouge-lover) to make it enjoyable.
The plus is Luhrman's comic-book, super-colorful, nearly grotesque blur of action and characters. It is well cast, and Ewan is always cute, and my they all can sing!! And as much as I don't like musicals, this one was not bad. The oddness of incorporating modern songs into this traditional story works surprisingly well.
My big irritation spot with this movie: Nicole Kidman's portrayal of consumption is LAUGHABLE. A couple coughs and some wheezing before she falls on the floor? C'mon, people. If you thought she was really sick and that she could die from THIS affliction, please refer to your medical dictionaries.
As an actress, the stunningly beautiful and talented Kidman is well capable of coughing believably! She just didn't deliver. I blame the director.
TB should have been portrayed as the horrible debilitating disease that it is: racking, painful, horrid-sounding wheezing, phlegmy coughs that make the victim unable to stand much less dance, as well as the presence of Abundant blood, not a couple drops on a hanky, and PAIN and frailty. Fainting daintily isn't something a consumptive would do. Falling down hacking as though they were coughing out a lung would be much more believable. Gaity, drinking, parties and emotional and physical exertion would also bring on these fits. It irritates me that this wasn't well depicted in a movie which centers SOLELY around a consumptive prostitute. In order to breathe even slightly normally after one of these fits, a woman would have had to undo her corset and sit just breathing for a long time. She would not have recovered well otherwise, as the first wheezing scene with Kidman seems to suggest.
Read Dumas fils' Camille: The Lady of the Camellias for the more realistic story.
Or, get cultured and watch the REAL La Traviata (Verdi's opera with Solti conducting, and the beautiful Gheorghiu as a spot-on believable Violetta. find it here at amazon.)
Rating:
Summary: my head will explode
Review: I give this two stars for some of the cinematography and the costumes. But in every other way this movie is a mess. Grossly overdone in the tradition of Natural Born Killers, a movie that gave new meaning to the cliche"sometimes less is more". I did want to like this movie, but it was far too chaotic and bloated. Makes me wonder what the director is like in person. plus I was dissapointed that this was supposed to be a musical and very little of the music was original, mostly covers of pop music. The visuals though interesting at times jumped from one idea to another too quickly making me dizzy. The main characters were also a bit vapid, even for protagonists in a love story.
Rating: 
Summary: Glamorous Visual Diarrhoea
Review: After almost 1700 customer reviews I'll just say this - only buy this DVD if you really, truly loved the movie. I liked it plenty, but having purchased the double digipack edition, I've never actually watched the film again - just the extras (which, by the way, are the absolute best in terms of content, variety and quality that I've ever seen on a DVD).MR is a phsychidelic, visual, loud, brash and fun love-tragicomedy, and worth buying for the Extras DVD alone. For lovers of the story, the disc with the movie on it is a nice little add-on :-) For those of us who weren't as blown away by the actual plot, rent it first...
Rating: 
Summary: A reimagination of film art
Review: Wonderfully imaginitive and emotional film. DVD extras are nothing special, however.
Rating: 
Summary: Oui, no.
Review: Look, I hate the be a spoilsport in the midst of all these mega-glowing reviews, but in my view this film's worst sin -- and I'm surprised no one has mentioned it before -- is that it's about as French in feeling, sentiment, accent, attitude, etc., as a bunch of soggy french fries. It might as well have been set in Baghdad for all that it mattered. Call it by any other title than Moulin Rouge -- about as French as a title gets -- and I would have enjoyed being dazzled by this colorful and genuinely imaginative production on those terms. But for what it was, there was little of anything that struck me as particularly French in feeling whatsoever, and it was so obviously lacking that I found it offensive and was unmoved by its hyper brilliance. Imagine the original Moulin Rouge -- okay, not a musical but it did have music! -- with Jose Ferrer and it's French attitude and French accents and French flavors and scenes and gaiety and hues and art, and at least the film was deserving of the title Moulin Rouge. By contrast, this other Moulin Rouge could have been entitled Progressive Experimental Adventuresome Generic Musical set anywhere in time and French in name only. Other than the lack of a French accent and attitude, this sincere experimental producion in hyper-creativity has helped to regenerate the musical genre in dazzling fashion. The producers went all out and took some risks. Bravo!... I also thought Nicole Kidman was exceptional... She continues to surprise me with her versatility.
Rating:
Summary: SURPRISINGLY GOOD!!!!
Review: I'm normally not a big fan of movie remakes. In my experience Hollywood botches it good; especially when the first film was a smash hit. That said, I went in expecting a mediocre film and got blown away. The strength of this film is not only in the love energy between our star crossed lovers, but, additionally, in the humorous mix of contemporary music (i.e. Madonna's LIKE A VIRGIN; Sting's ROXANNE; THE LIFT IS UP WHERE WE BELONG (not sure if that's the title); IN THE NAME OF LOVE; etc). Expect zany style humor with a great deal going off to the sides. You will need to sometimes be a bit quick to pick up on everything, but, that's okay, because this is the new MOULIN ROUGE!!!
Rating:
Summary: A perfect DVD for an excellent
Review: I could go on for pages about just how wonderful the 2001 sensation Moulin Rouge is. But I won't bother. As I'm sure you've gleaned from all the other reviewers right now, it's a film that many people love passionately and many others hate just as passionately. For that reason, you should probably head down to your local rental store before you buy this one. Whether you like it or not, you can't fail to be impressed with how amazingly put together it is. The look of the film is very distinctive -- it's hardly surprising that it won an Art Design Oscar. Likewise, the set design and costuming (an Oscar win in Costuming, too) are top-notch, recreating the whimsical, sexy merger of pop culture with 1890s France that creator Baz Luhrman is for. It's worth looking at even if you don't think you'll like it. But if you do like it, then this DVD is a must-have. Don't settle for the one-disc edition; I don't care about the cost. Save up a little longer. It's worth it. This is quite possibly the best DVD set ever produced, utilizing the format to its fullest. Disc 1 features two commentary tracks, both extremely interesting, but the real beauty of the set is in disc 2. It's there that you'll find the script excerpts, sketches, and discussions that show the film's fascinating evolution. It's there that you see the music videos that seem obligatory for a film accompanied almost entirely by pop music. But that's not the real magic of this presentation. What really makes it special is the uncut dance numbers. Uncut, multi-angle dance numbers. Not only do you get to see those energetic, magical sequences from the film come to life -- but you can choose how to see it. ... It's great. To summarize: If you're the cautious type, you'll probably want to see it before you buy it. But if you can find it in your heart to like it at all, then you'll adore this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Great songs but..
Review: With such an all-star cast, Moulin Rouge was one of the biggest movies released that year. However I'm one of those who disagree with the great ratings it received... There's nothing wrong with the acting... just the plot is so ridiculous and I felt silly watching it. It tries to be fairy-tale-like in an adult sort of way... to me these 2 just don't mix very well... I'd prefer either the one genre or the other. The songs were great remakes of old-time classics from musicals and bands, which I really enjoyed being a music lover myself. I think if not for the songs, I would have walked out of the movie 30 minutes into the show. Perhaps its true what people say : you either love this or hate this. Watch it at your own risk (of disappointment, of course).
Rating:
Summary: Very Underappreciated Work
Review: I think this movie was frankly genius. And the guts it took to make it...I mean musicals haven't been "in" since the 70s and no one could forsee this one being any different. But Baz Lurhman took a big leap and gave a rebirth to the movie musical in excellent fashion. The casting didn't hurt either, but this story is timeless and an immediate classic. Both Ewan and Nicole did really well in this movie. And they had to strike a good balance between the broad comedy and romanticism and drama this movie throws together in the same beat sometimes. Nicole sounded great and also proved her vocal chops along with Ewan on the soundtrack(s) to the movie. But the 2 of them together were the real magic (along with Baz's unique vision for storytelling) and I only wish more people would accept this movie as one of the greatest not only musicals but movies ever. And without this big gamble, there would be no Chicago.
Rating:
Summary: When Good Cinametography mixes with Bad Plots...
Review: Toss in a bad plot, throw in some musical remakes, mix in some good actors, sprinkle some good cinametography on top and what do you get? "Moulin Rouge." Cranky thinks this is the best musical in the world? What the...? Does he know anything about plots? None of the music is original, and the scenes flip so fast it's irritating. At leaed "Chicago" had really good acting, dancing and singing and had original songs. The music is fun but what annoys me is that it's songs that were already sung by good artists. The originals were so much better. This is not a classic musical. It's merely a mix of old pop songs with a horrible story and good cinamatography. Get "Chicago" or "Cabaret" instead.
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