Baz Luhrmann's achingly romantic "Moulin Rouge!" is an ultra-stylish "jukebox musical" that also happens to be a triumph of feeling. The gleefully anachronistic musical numbers (Madonna's "Material Girls" and "Like a Virgin," Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," et al.) would be unbearably cutesy were they not staged and performed with such irresistible enthusiasm and visual inventiveness, and Nicole Kidman's riveting portrayal of the terminally-ill Satine is so magnetic - and her chemistry with co-lead Ewan McGregor so white-hot - that it's almost impossible not to give yourself over to the world Luhrmann has created with his A-list production team. That he wasn't nominated for Best Director at the following year's Oscars - despite nods for Best Picture, Actress and Cinematography, among others - is one of the great snubs in Academy history.

 - Chris Eggertsen