Butterflies will continue spreading their wings through May 28 at the American Museum of Natural History (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
American Museum of Natural History
Hall of Oceanic Birds, Second Floor
Central Park West & 79th St.
Through May 28
Timed tickets: $25 adults, $14.50 children, includes museum admission
212-769-5100
www.amnh.org
butterfly conservatory slideshow
There are only a few more days to see hundreds of butterflies from dozens of species flying free in the conservatory at the American Museum of Natural History, using their amazing proboscis to suck up orange juice, resting on leaves, and eating a sugar-and-water mixture from colorful hanging disks. The butterflies will land on you, so don’t make any sudden movements or scratch that itch — it might be a blue morpho resting on your head. Many of these insects from the Order Lepidoptera live for only a few weeks, so there living life to the fullest while they can. Make sure to check out the pupae case, where butterflies burst out of their cocoons every day. (Don’t miss the golden necklaces that form on the queen casings.) For a taste of what you’re in for, visit the excellent Web site listed above; there you’ll find a live Web cam, prerecorded movie clips, a navigable virtual tour, and plenty of reading material on the butterfly’s anatomy, metamorphosis, evolution, and defense mechanisms as well as current methods of ecology and conservation.
Wes Anderson’s fourth film, following Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums, is, once again, zany, unique, offbeat, and creative, although in this case the sum of the parts do not add up to a worthwhile whole. Bill Murray stars as Steve Zissou, a minor-league Jacques Cousteau type who has been making cult underwater documentaries for years, but his last adventure could turn out to be his final one in more ways than one. His crew includes longtime right-hand man Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), who is jealous of the new guy in Steve’s life, a pipe-smoking Kentucky pilot who might be his son (Owen Wilson); a pregnant reporter profiling Steve for an oceanography magazine (Cate Blanchett); a Brazilian safety expert who has a fondness for playing acoustic versions of David Bowie songs in Portuguese (Seu Jorge); the bond company stooge protecting his company’s investment (Bud Cort); and Zissouss mad producer (Michael Gambon), among others. There’s also wealthy rival Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), who used to be married to Zissou’s wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston). After Zissou’s best friend, Esteban (Seymour Cassel), gets eaten supposedly by the rare “jaguar shark,” Zissou goes on a personal mission of underwater vengeance that is just too dry for its own good. Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) did the stop-motion animation of the sea creatures. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is screening May 26-27 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image retrospective “Wes Anderson’s Worlds,” being held in conjunction with the opening of Anderson’s latest, Moonrise Kingdom, which hits theaters May 25.
At a huge gang meeting in the Bronx (actually shot in Riverside Park), the Warriors are wrongly accused of having killed Cyrus (Roger Hill), an outspoken leader trying to band all the warring factions together to form one huge force that can take over the New York City borough by borough. The Warriors then must make it back to their home turf, Coney Island, with every gang in New York lying in wait for them to pass through their territory. This iconic New York City gang movie is based on Sol Yurick’s novel, which in turn is loosely based on Xenophon’s Anabasis, which told of the ancient Greeks’ retreat from Persia. Michael Beck stars as Swan, who becomes the de-facto leader of the Warriors after Cleon (Dorsey Wright) gets taken down early. Battling Swan for control is Ajax (Dexter’s James Remar) and tough-talking Mercy (Too Close for Comfort’s Deborah Van Valkenburgh). Serving as a Greek chorus is Lynne (Law & Order) Thigpen as a radio DJ, and, yes, that young woman out too late in Central Park is eventual Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl. Among the cartoony gangs of New York who try to stop the Warriors are the roller-skating Punks, the pathetic Orphans, the militaristic Gramercy Riffs, the all-girl Lizzies, the ragtag Rogues, and the inimitable Baseball Furies. Another main character is the New York City subway system. The Warriors is a gritty, tense, violent, funny, romantic, wholly absorbing movie, a brutal yet tender tale that will quickly work its way into your heart. The Warriors is screening May 25-27 as part of the IFC Center’s Wild Hill: Walter Hill at Midnight series, celebrating the career of the director of such films as 48 Hrs., Streets of Fire, and The Long Riders. The IFC Center will also be showing Hill’s underrated bare-knuckle drama Hard Times, with James Coburn and Charles Bronson, on June 1-2, followed on June 8-9 by the Hill-scripted Hickey & Boggs, starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp (who directed the film), and June 15-16 by Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway, which Hill wrote and stars Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw.
Wes Anderson takes viewers on a wild ride through India aboard the Darjeeling Limited in this black comedy that opened the 2007 New York Film Festival. Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody), and Jack (cowriter Jason Schwartzman) are brothers who have not seen each other since their father’s funeral a year before, after which their mother disappeared. Having recently survived a terrible accident, Francis — looking ridiculous with his face and head wrapped in bandages — convinces them to go on a spiritual quest together to reestablish their relationship and help them better understand life. Peter and Jack very hesitantly decide to go along on what turns out to be a series of madcap adventures involving bathroom sex, bloody noses, jealousy, praying, cigarettes galore, running after trains, and savory snacks. Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, 
