Go outback tonight

The only thing plain about Baz Luhrmann’s Australia is the title. But that’s just how the Aussie director behind Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge likes it. Set at the dawn of WWII, the film stars Nicole Kidman as an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch in the northern part of the continent. As she and Hugh Jackman’s stockman drive a heard of cattle across the desolate outback, they witness the bombing of Darwin firsthand. It’s a romantic epic, and another devil-may-care effort from the unique palette of Luhrmann. Rated R.