Steve Zissou

In the end credits of Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," there's an acknowledgement that Steve Zissou (played by Bill Murray) is a real person. No, it's not a joke. Though writer-director Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums," "Rushmore") made the name up, the script clearance department at Buena Vista Pictures found a real Steve Zissou. That Zissou is a criminal trial lawyer based in Bay Side, N.Y., not a burned-out underwater explorer.

Once in a while the Criterion Collection, which has built a reputation for classy, well-researched digital editions of vintage American movies and documentaries and international art house fare, offers a contemporary film. This week brings the latest of U.S. director Wes Anderson's films, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" ($33).

On the face of it, Wes Anderson's new movie, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," is an adventure tale about a Jacques Cousteau-on-the-skids-type who decides to pull an Ahab on the shark that ate his buddy. But mostly, like all Wes Anderson movies, it's about being 11 1/2 -- it's a recurring motif, anyway -- sometime around the late '70s, an age-era axis favored by Anderson and at least partly attributable to his current age of 35. But Anderson doesn't make nostalgic movies, exactly.

In the end credits of Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," there's an acknowledgement that Steve Zissou (played by Bill Murray) is a real person. No, it's not a joke. Though writer-director Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums," "Rushmore") made the name up, the script clearance department at Buena Vista Pictures found a real Steve Zissou. That Zissou is a criminal trial lawyer based in Bay Side, N.Y., not a burned-out underwater explorer.

WILLEM DAFOE conjures up the image of coiled intensity. During his quarter of a century on screen, he's played more than his share of villains and madmen. By his own admission, he was never "the boy next door." Starting out as an extra in the ill-fated "Heaven's Gate," the actor was cast as a postmodern heavy in 1985's "To Live and Die in L.A.," his breakthrough film, and nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar as the title character in 2000's "Shadow of the Vampire."

Once in a while the Criterion Collection, which has built a reputation for classy, well-researched digital editions of vintage American movies and documentaries and international art house fare, offers a contemporary film. This week brings the latest of U.S. director Wes Anderson's films, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" ($33).

Bill Murray gets defensive when told he has a reputation for being difficult. "If it keeps obnoxious people away, that's fine," the star of "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" tells Time magazine. "It makes me think of that line, 'You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.' People say this to you with a straight face, and I always say, 'Who wants flies?' "

Go figure: Films starring Jim Carrey and Bill Murray walked off with honors at the seventh annual Costume Designers Guild Awards. Colleen Atwood, who dressed Carrey and company in "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," won for excellence in a fantasy/period film, while the award for contemporary film went to Milena Canonero for "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," starring Murray. Atwood is also nominated for an Oscar.

Saturday is Fish Amnesty Day, when you're supposed to give the angling a rest and the gilled creatures among us a brief reprieve. Of course, that makes it Worm Amnesty Day, too, but that's a whole different story. Since you won't be heading out to the pond, stream or mighty Pacific with a pole in hand, we suggest that you mark the holiday with a fine meal--all turf, no surf. Even Michael Cimarusti, the executive chef at the celebrated seafood restaurant Providence, approves.

Source: Exhibitor Relations Co. Los Angeles Times *--* MOVIE 3-DAY TOTAL VENUES AVG WEEKS (STUDIO) GROSS (Millions) PER (MILLIONS) VENUE 1 Meet the Fockers $28.5 $204.3 3,527 $8,080 3 (Universal) 2 White Noise $24.1 $24.1 2,261 $10,665 1 (Universal) 3 The Aviator (Miramax) $7.5 $42.8 1,867 $4,013 4 4 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unusual $7.4 $105.6 3,343 $2,225 4 Events (Paramount) 5 Fat Albert (Fox) $5.7 $41.0 2,675 $2,149 3 6 Ocean's Twelve $5.3 $115.3 3,010 $1,764 5 (Warner Bros.

On the face of it, Wes Anderson's new movie, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," is an adventure tale about a Jacques Cousteau-on-the-skids-type who decides to pull an Ahab on the shark that ate his buddy. But mostly, like all Wes Anderson movies, it's about being 11 1/2 -- it's a recurring motif, anyway -- sometime around the late '70s, an age-era axis favored by Anderson and at least partly attributable to his current age of 35. But Anderson doesn't make nostalgic movies, exactly.

WILLEM DAFOE conjures up the image of coiled intensity. During his quarter of a century on screen, he's played more than his share of villains and madmen. By his own admission, he was never "the boy next door." Starting out as an extra in the ill-fated "Heaven's Gate," the actor was cast as a postmodern heavy in 1985's "To Live and Die in L.A.," his breakthrough film, and nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar as the title character in 2000's "Shadow of the Vampire."

James Cameron takes his underwater obsessions further with "Aliens of the Deep," another Imax-size exploration deploying teams of marine biologists and NASA researchers to ocean depths so far down the sun is an unfounded rumor. Yet, as the film discloses, life not only exists in such seemingly unpromising circumstances, it floats, eats, discharges waste and even messes with the intruders' equipment. But this isn't just a sightseeing tour. There's a cosmic angle to the proceedings.