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Moulin Rouge

Actors Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor camp it up in this musical fantasy

A A A Comments By Chris Gray Thursday, May 15 2008

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After reimagining William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as a Pulp Fiction-style shoot-’em-up, director Baz Luhrmann applied the same swashbuckling production values to old-school MGM musicals for 2001’s Moulin Rouge. The film has a score fashioned from a jaw-droppingly diverse array of pop and rock sources — Elton John, David Bowie, T. Rex, Madonna, Offenbach’s “Can Can,” Nirvana, U2, the Police, The Sound of Music. Moulin Rouge never stops moving (or singing) long enough for viewers to notice its plot might be a bit thin (Nicole Kidman as a tubercular nightclub chanteuse torn between a gentrified suitor [Richard Roxburgh] and a poet [Ewan McGregor]). Still, the production numbers are as lavish as they come (especially the delirious opening scene), and McGregor turns out to have a decent set of pipes. Watch for Kylie “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” Minogue as the Green Fairy. 11:55 p.m. Friday and Saturday. River Oaks Theater, 2009 West Gray. For information, call 713-866-8881 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com. $6 to $9.
Fri., May 16, 11:55 p.m.; Sat., May 17, 11:55 p.m., 2008