I still think Baz Luhrmann taking his Romeo + Juliet dialogue from the original script and having the direction and visual design bear the weight of the conceit was really well done

and that with that and Moulin Rouge he did takes on the grand old American cinematic genre of the musical, and with Australia and Gatsby the Technicolor epic, that were basically honest updates incorporating all the post-stagey advances in moving pictures from Riefenstahl to MTV

and that that merits some respect