Jeff, DUDE, the Romeo & Juliet set in modern (slightly futuristic) times was very good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I tell you what sucked was this play I saw where they set "The Two Men of Verona" in the early 60s.... whoooo that stunk. ------------------ DREAMer's Rocket Page
I just came from seeing Moulin Rouge, and I think it was fabulous. I have to admit, I wasn't in the mood for it at all when I sat down...and throughout the first half of the film I seesawed back and forth between real enjoyment and not wanting to be in the same room with it. But it won me over, plain and simple. You ask what it was trying to be? Nothing more than it claims.....a simple love story set in and saturated with comtemporary music. It's not telling a new story...nor is it claiming to be. It's telling an old story in a completely fresh way. It's bold, daring, and provocative. Does it succeed 100% of the time? No.....nothing does, and certainly no film. But it succeeds in being what it claims.....a new look at an old, old story. ------------------ Gascon
http://movies.swirve.com/review.cgi?view=moulin ------------------ www.swirve.com "Pre-born, you're fine, pre-school, you're f*****."-George Carlin
Can anyone think of a movie starring Nicole Kidman, other than Dead Calm, that was good? ------------------ God help me, ...I was only nineteen. Current Rocket's Salary & Contract Info
I thought To Die For was pretty good. ------------------ I always thought "With my talent, it's only a matter of time before I'm discovered". Now I think "With my talent, it's only a matter of time before I'm found out".
Review (****): There was a time when most of the songs on the Hit Parade (back when there *was* a Hit Parade) had their roots in stage or film musicals. Radio allowed people to grow familiar with the songs, but they started in film (presuming one didn't live near Broadway). Musicals and their influence on pop songs took a hit with the advent of teen "rock" songs in the 1950's, and then in the 1960's as the songwriter model (popularized by Bob Dylan, the Beatles, etc.) injected pop with a new life separate from showtunes, and yet just as well written. Ten years later, film musicals were on the last legs, with Grease, by my reckoning, being the last of its breed to attain blockbuster status (and it did so with mostly a soundtrack of... pop songs). Moulin Rouge revitalizes the film musical by recognizing the last 40 years of pop songs (and plenty of music before that too), creating a pastiche of a story woven around lyrics. One might too easily say that the melodrama is paper-thin when one removes the lyrics, but to remove the songs from a musical is like taking the sex out of a porno. If one feels listless when the music stops, you've hit upon the power of the musical; you're supposed to long for the songs again. The story of Moulin Rouge is a play-within-a-film which mirrors the romantic longing between a courtesan with a heart of gold, Satine (Kidman) and a starry-eyed poet, Christian (McGregor). Check your cynicism at the door, because Baz Luhrmann delivers a full-on fantasy akin to the films of Terry Gilliam or the collaborations of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children; Jeunet's new film, Amelie, is also set in Paris' Montmartre district). Luhrmann gives us a Paris that feels like a live-action Looney Tune at times, with a high-pitch fever state of high jinks, vaudeville, and physical comedy mixed, all helter skelter, with music. Moulin Rouge is daring. I should note that I was not a fan of Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, but the same things that felt artificial and too much like a music video there work in Moulin Rouge because, removed from the Bard, he's free to create fully a fantasy world where his imagery stands on its own. Carefully chosen lyrics (mixing such "uncool" sources as Phil Collins, Joe Cocker, and Dolly Parton with songs by Bowie, Queen and U2) provide the depth that might be lacking from some of the unsung portions, but as a whole, it's all so energetic, joyful, exuberant, flashy, and fun that I can't nitpick. The absence of the musical has also been more-or-less matched by the absense of a sense of imagination and fantasy in mainstream films. Sometimes, things don't have to always make sense (watch out for the singing character borrowed from the Georges Melies 1902 classic, A Trip to the Moon), if the film is very clear that it's all fantasy and fancy-free, and maintains that sense of abandon. Abandon, that's a funny way of saying it, because it really takes a great deal of control to maintain the level of energy, zaniness, and out-for-everyone-to-see-it sentimentality this film has. It's funny I've gotten this far and I haven't talked as much about the music as I should. First off, this film would have sunk if all of the performers, especially Kidman and McGregor, couldn't sing. Kidman's singing is excellent (though she lacks a certain "zing"), and McGregor's, which I had to warm up to, won me over as I realized he has a certain Bono-ness in his voice... he belts songs out (note: of U2, not Sonny). Most of the songs in the film appear either as medleys or in some cases, just lyrics interlaced into dialogue. Other songs, however, including "Your Song" (Elton John), "Like a Virgin" (Madonna), and "Roxanne" (The Police) are showcased, usually twisting them into versions unlike what we're used to, but somehow, making a lot more sense now ("Roxanne" fit wonderfully, especially if you like the throaty, dirgey Nick-Cave-like way Jacek Koman sings it). The songs might work best if you're at least partly familiar with them (ie, you know pop songs of the 1970's-1980's along with some showtunes), but I've got no way of knowing for sure, since I knew about 90% of them. For example, people who aren't David Bowie fans (or who live in a country where "Heroes" wasn't a hit, like the USA) might not feel the same sense of excitement when Kidman and McGregor trade "Heroes" lines back and forth. There's also a wonderful Indian theme running through the film that gives a deserving nod to Bollywood, the Indian cinema that has kept the romantic musical alive while it's died elsewhere. In a way, Moulin Rouge is a film that delivers MTV-style visuals to a VH1 audience (but is marketed to both), because I have a feeling that kids who are used to the frenetic visuals of MTV are probably less receptive to what they might consider old-hat than older audiences to whom this approach (especially to a historic topic like the Moulin Rouge) can be seen as daring and risky. The counterside to that is that there's a big difference between maintaining a roller coaster sensation through a three-minute video (usually without dialogue) and doing the same thing with over two hours, an actual script, etc. Bottling the previous memes up, I'll cap it up by saying that Moulin Rouge has something for everyone, especially if you can accept its freewheeling approach to 1899 (like the "Zidler Rap"!), and just enjoy a ride... a ride that with this summer's Hedwig & the Angry Inch does a great deal to revive the musical genre. If Hedwig is like the new Rocky Horror, Moulin Rouge is like the Star Wars of romantic musicals, reinventing and revitalizing the genre in one gutsy burst of cinematic glam and joy. ----------------------------------------- I havent seen it and dont really want to, but the reviews seem to be good. ------------------ I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
slcrocket, I just have to say that you reply has to go down as one of the top 10 posts of all time. Pure genius!!!! ------------------ Don't think....just throw. Don't think....just throw.
slcrocket captured the horror and utter disgust that this movie portrays on screen. Thank you slcrocket. ------------------ the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be.
Just wondering genius, did you even see the movie? ------------------ www.swirve.com "Pre-born, you're fine, pre-school, you're f*****."-George Carlin
#1 - It was pure eye candy, from a purely cinamatographic standpoint it was incredible, if perhaps a bit overdone. Something tells me many tabs of LSD were consumed in storyboarding this film. #2 - I'm still not sure if the movie was good or not but I will say one thing - it was intresting. I mean that in the sense that you were constantly confronted with the amalgamation and synthesis of new unexpected things from two completely unrelated ones... in fact it was a clear progression from the concept behind 'Romeo and Juliet'. #3 - There were several points where I laughed out loud because I was so completely suprised by something that happened. Much of a relief from the formulaic pattern of so many Hollywood movies. The only other movie that I've seen this year that keep me paying as much attention was Momento(a movie that unlike this one, I'm sure is good. #4 - I though John Leguzamo did a great stylised Tolouse Loutrec and I normaly hate Legusamo. Loutrec also happens to be a really intresting figure -- the only impressionist I can think of who's work could be called 'depressive', he was, like 4 feet tall and his two feet were not as long as each other. ------------------
No genius, I wouldn't waste $7 dollars on it. The previews and reviews speak for themselves. A ghostly actress and men frolicking around in tights. What am I missing? ------------------ the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be.
Rocket River: Me too, although Van Gogh did a similar painting that I thought was better. ------------------ Lacking inspiration at the moment...
Yes. Oh man. I don't know what to say right now. It's the night after, and I'm still at a loss for words. That was HORRIBLE. I mean, I realized it would be a chick-flick. I realized that Ewan McGregor looks like he's struggling to get through puberty. But in no way was I prepared for the spectacle that I witnessed last night. You know a movie is bad if you don't even pay for it, and you walk out ASHAMED. However, that is EXACTLY what I did. What WAS that? It was painful, that I'm sure of. I've never been in a movie where I contemplated ending my own life so many times in so many places in the movie. I think at one point I collapsed, and blacked out...I'm not sure. It's all a hazy blur of bad singing and GLEAMING WHITE skin. First off, Nicole Kidman as a PROSTITUTE? Let me get this straight: people were paying HER for sex???? You've got to be KIDDING!!! I've never had sex with SUNGLASSES on, but I imagine that would be necessary..... And then, I'm sorry...it might as well have been Crouching Tiger, Hidden Moulin Rouge with some of the unbelievable CRAP that went on. OK, you're dancing, you're singing (badly), I get that...so the camera scrolls up to the sky, and the sky explodes into freaking DIAMONDS? WHAT??? And then, because that's ALL TOO believable apparently, the moon bursts into spontaneous song, with his billowing cheeks filling with melodious tones. HORRIBLE. I can't believe this happened. I refuse to EVER speak of this horrible event with this girl EVER again. I, to be honest, am not sure that our relationship can survive something like this. If I always think of her as "the girl who I went to Moulin Rouge with," I'll never look her in the eyes again. If I had been PAID twenty dollars to see that film, there is NO way you could convince me, quite honestly. I would rather spend a year in a Romanian prison where I would be beaten and raped daily than EVER see this film again. What was with the "Like a Virgin" hour??? I'm sorry, I know it started out with the INTENTION of being funny (although I have NO idea how that came about), but that was ludicrous. I think I actually cried because of the physical pain I felt during that movie. And, no, it wasn't just the AMAZING GLARE from Ms. Kidman's disgusting flesh, which, although she is near-naked, could all be covered up with a handkerchief. I'm done. I can't think about this movie any more. This was the most devastating experience I've ever had. I hope God has mercy on those who made this film after this life. BTW, for what it's worth, I liked the Romeo & Juliet adaptation. ------------------ Jazzkiller
All that from someone who didn't like Shrek, so take it with a grain of salt. ------------------ www.swirve.com "Pre-born, you're fine, pre-school, you're f*****."-George Carlin
Ding ding ding ding, we have a winner. ------------------ Can't I just give you some of my sperm? It's really good!
You guys giving props to this movie is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. ------------------ the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be. [This message has been edited by hitman21 (edited June 20, 2001).]
Taste and the ability to keep yourself from looking stupid. Yes, because everyone should like the same movies. If they actually have a differing opinion, they are stupid. ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.
