Cornell Cinema presents three recent films starring Nicole Kidman

She's off Cruise control and on a hot streak: After a season on the front page of the tabloids, when her marriage to Tom fell apart, Nicole Kidman is making headlines on her own with talent and smarts as dazzling as her looks. Cornell Cinema presents three of Kidman's recent films -- "Moulin Rouge!," "The Others" and "Birthday Girl" -- in early May. Admission to each screening is $5 general/$4 students and seniors. All screenings are in Willard Straight Theatre unless noted.

Nicole Kidman, who has proven she can win at the Hollywood game, returns to her quirkier roots with a knockout performance in the comic thriller "The Birthday Girl." In addition to "The Birthday Girl," Cornell Cinema is presenting Kidman's "Moulin Rouge!" and "The Others" in early May.

The Aussie actress won over critics early in her career with promising performances in "Dead Calm" and "Flirting," but a long string of mediocre commercial fare, like "Batman Forever" and "Practical Magic," dimmed her reputation as a serious actor. She picked up awards and acclaim for her turn as a homicidal weather girl in Gus Van Sant's 1995 "To Die For," but it wasn't until 2001 that Kidman showed what she really could do.

At the Golden Globes, she won for her sexy chanteuse role in "Moulin Rouge!" (Cornell Cinema's top-grossing film of the year) and picked up a nomination for "The Others." She also snagged Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for "Moulin Rouge!"

Leave it to director Baz Luhrmann, who staged Shakespeare for Generation X in "Romeo + Juliet" and made the waltz hip again in "Strictly Ballroom," to reinvent the movie musical with this lush, outrageous spectacle about star-crossed lovers in fin de siecle Paris. Kidman and Ewan McGregor sing their hearts out as a jaded courtesan and the idealistic young poet who falls in love with her. Playing out its most amazing scenes in the racy dance hall of the title, Moulin Rouge is all red velvet and boudoir lace, saturated with glamour and pounding to a soundtrack that steals at will from the Beatles, Dolly Parton, Madonna and Nirvana. "Moulin Rouge" will be shown Friday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 4, at 7 p.m.; Wednesday, May 8, at 9:30 p.m.; and Thursday, May 9, at 7:15 p.m.

Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar's debut feature "Open Your Eyes" was remade in Hollywood as "Vanilla Sky," but he takes his own shot at English-language audiences with the edge-of-your-seat thriller "The Others." Nothing is as it seems in this chilling story of a family haunted by ghosts that only the children can see. Kidman stars as the strung-out mom of the brood. "The Others" will be shown Saturday, May 4, at 9:45 p.m.; Wednesday, May 8, at 7:15 p.m.; and Friday, May 10, at 11:30 p.m.

Kidman follows up her success of 2001 with a clever, kinky role as a Russian picture bride in "The Birthday Girl," a new dark comedy from British director Jez Butterworth. Ben Chaplin co-stars as a neat-freak bank clerk who visits the web site "From Russia With Love" and orders himself a bride. When Nadia (Kidman) arrives, she can't speak English, but she's fluent in the tie-me-up fantasies of her host. The pair seem headed for cross-cultural bliss until Nadia's sinister cousin (played by "Amelie" lead Mathieu Kassovitz) shows up, and the romantic comedy turns into a suspense thriller. "The Birthday Girl" will be shown Thursday, May 9, at 10 p.m.; Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Uris Auditorium; Saturday, May 11, at 10:30 p.m. in Uris Auditorium; Wednesday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m.